MR. KEN JOHNSON

BIOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCE

Welcome to my class!!! I hope the year in this class will be a great and positive learning experience for all of us. As you know in any class, the environment of the class is dependent upon all of our attitudes and it is your attitude about learning that will be very important in your success. This guideline is to give you some understanding of what my expectations of you are and hopefully clear up any questions you may have.

BASIC EQUIPMENT: The following items must be brought to class every day:

1. Writing Instrument (pen or pencil)

2. Textbook

3. Notebook (including plenty of paper.

4. A positive attitude about learning

CLASSROOM GUIDELINES
Behavioral Expectations	Make Up Work	Participation Points
Grading	Class Activities	Notebooks
Lab Write-ups	Handouts	Teacher Evaluation

BEHAVIORAL EXPECTATIONS:

It is important that the atmosphere of the class provide the best possible learning environment for each student. In order for this to occur, I expect each student to follow the guidelines to promote a positive learning experience.

EACH STUDENT WILL:

• Listen and follow directions the first time they are given.
• Be ready and in assigned seat when the tardy bell rings by taking care of personal needs before class.
• Respect yourself , your school, and others.
• Be courteous when someone is talking, by listening with your mouth shut.
• Be responsible for your own actions and materials.

*** In addition to the above, other guidelines will be presented later for different classroom situations. (example: labs, lecture, demonstrations, and quiet time.

ALL SCHOOL RULES ALSO APPLY.

CONSEQUENCES

The student is given a choice to either follow the guidelines or not to follow them. The following are the actions the teacher will take to both decisions.

NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES:

1. Warning (either verbal or nonverbal)
2. Loss of participation points; lowering of grade potential (Talk after class)
3. 30 minute detention
4. Contact parents
5. Office referral/ out of school suspension, etc.
6. Removal from class with loss of credit

POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES:

1. Daily participation points awarded (explained later)
2. Free class time, games time, less work load
3. Positive notes sent home

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MAKE UP WORK POLICY

***Make up work will only be allowed for EXCUSED ABSENCES ONLY!!!!!

***ALL DAILY WORK MUST BE made up within 2 days after the absence occurs.

***ALL TESTS MUST BE made up within 5 days after the absence. (oral tests for make-up)

***Failure to make up work within the appropriate time will result in a zero.

***ABSOLUTELY NO LATE WORK ACCEPTED IF YOU WERE IN CLASS; if you develop a habit of not turning in your work, you will be subject to detention time after and before school.

You are personally responsible for getting your missed work. You may find out what you missed by asking a friend, looking on the board, or asking me personally. If you decide to ask me, ask me before or after school. During class is often a bad time, because of the limited time we have during the period for planned activities.

If for some reason you find it difficult to get your assignment or have problems meeting the deadlines, special arrangements can be made providing you see me before the assignment is due.

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PARTICIPATION POINTS POLICY

Everyday you are in my class you will have the opportunity to receive 10 participation points. These points are extremely important to your success in this class. In other words YOUR ATTITUDE COUNTS.

***Every two weeks I will inform you of your total of participation points earned.

TO RECEIVE YOUR DAILY PARTICIPATION POINTS:

2. FOLLOW THE CLASSROOM GUIDELINES FOR EACH SITUATION.

2. FOLLOW THE BEHAVIORAL EXPECTATIONS (SEE BEHAVIOR EXPECTIONS).

*** If you choose not to follow the guidelines, I will give you ONE warning and then if the activity continues you will loose your points for the day. If the behavior continues further, I will respond by following the negative consequences.

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GRADING POLICY

In this class you will be graded on the total number of points you have earned (daily part. points + assignment & test points), divided by the number of total points possible during the grading period.

GRADING SCALE:

94-100% = A 90-93% = A- 87-89% = B+ 83-86% = B 80-82% = B- 77-79% = C+

73-76% = C 70-72% = C- 67-69% =D+ 65-66% =D 64-0% = F

***Every week to two weeks the grades will be posted in the room so everyone can figure their grades and therefore there will be no surprises at the end of the quarter.

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CLASS ACTIVITY GUIDELINES

Lecture:

Lecture is a time for me to convey information to you that I feel is important to the course objectives. During the lecture time you are to be recording and comprehending the information that is given. I do not tolerate anyone talking, unless you have a question, nor do I tolerate anyone reading material that is not pertinent to the course of lecture.

Guidelines:

1. Be polite by letting the person talking finish.
2. Raise your hand if you have any questions or comments.
3. Be on task by showing good listening skills.

Demonstrations:

As often as I can I will demonstrate specific activities and concepts during class. These demonstrations are to stimulate interest and enthusiasm.

Guidelines:

1. Stay in your seat unless instructed otherwise.
2. Be attentive to the demonstration.
3. No question is consider dumb, therefore if you have one don’t be afraid to ask.

Quiet individual work time:

There will be times when it is absolutely necessary that you quietly work at your desk .This time is designed so you can work on assignments or test without being disruptive. I consider any noise or action that I can or you can hear disruptive.

Guidelines:

1. Work quietly on your own.
2. Raise your hand if you need help to get my attention and then go on to something else until I can help.
3. If you finish with your work early, work on other homework quietly and constructively.

Transitional time:

This room is a state of the art science lab with the purpose of doing labs. To make a use of this room and the shorter periods it is vital that you move to your labs quietly and effectively. If this does not occur this room will not be safe; therefore we will not be able to use the labs as much as we would like.

Guidelines

1. Go to the assign lab stations quietly and effectively.
2. Be prepared for directions by looking at the teacher.

Lab Activity:

While you work in the lab you will always have one partner and one assigned station. The lab can be a hazardous place if proper knowledge and precautions do not occur. If any horse-play or carelessness occurs, you will immediately sit down, you may also get a referral and if the incident was serious enough, you may be dropped from the class.

Guidelines:

1. Be safe by following directions and being prepared.
2. Respond to the teacher’s signal and directions immediately.
3. Use the computers properly and at the appropriate times.
4. Leave your lab stations clean.

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Notebooks:

Throughout the year you will be graded on your notebooks. Each notebook grade will be up to 75 points. Therefore if it is due three or four times a semester, your grade can be affected by not turning it in or having a poor quality notebook. Along with the handouts about grading, makeup work, etc., this handout is designed to help you organize your notebook and help you understand how it will be graded.

Your notebook needs to be the 3-ring binder type, with enough room to store your assignments and extra paper. (generally a medium size one will work nicely) NO SPIRAL PAPER.

In addition to the notebook, dividers are required. For little cost, you can purchase a package or you can make your own.

If anyone has trouble finding the above materials contact me. It is very important that you get your notebook early and do no delay.

The following are the required section headings in the proper order:

ENTRY TASKS

NOTES
ASSIGNMENTS
QUIZZES/TESTS
LABS/ DEMONSTRATIONS
JOURNALS
ARTICLES
SEMINARS

GRADING BREAKDOWN:

Neatness/Organization 15 points
Papers in proper section 10 points
No spiral paper 5 points
No loose paper 5 points
First three pages 15 points
-Assignment Log
-Guidelines
-Make up work policy
Assignment log complete 15 points
Overall completeness 10 points

total: 75 points

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Lab Write-ups

The purpose of writing a lab write-up is to organize information in such a way that you can communicate with other individuals about a given topic. A lab write-up contains certain topics that are organized by categories.

All write-ups need to be your best work. The sentences need to be complete, and each category needs to contain specific information. The following are some suggestions to help you make a write-up.

The following is an example of each section you need in your write-ups:

Title

PURPOSE: Discuss why you are doing the lab. Explain the reason

PROCEDURE: Write a brief list of steps how to perform the lab. This needs to contain enough steps, so anyone with the right materials could follow the directions for the procedure and do the lab.

HYPOTHESIS: Write a sentence stating what your "guess" about the results might be. This is only a guess so it might be. This is only a guess so it might be right but more likely it may be wrong.

OBSERVATIONS: In this section you will write down what you observed during the lab. You will answer questions about what happened by observing through the senses (seeing, smelling, etc.)

DATA: This section will usually be a table or a list of data you found out by doing the lab. It might be the measurements that you did.

CONCLUSION: This is probably the most important section of the write-up. This will be a paragraph that you write describing the results of the lab. You will answer questions from the lab. It will also state whether your hypothesis was correct and generally what did you learn from your results.

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