Each day we have specific College Board standards and objectives we will be working to master.  These will be clearly spelled out in the introductory PowerPoint we begin each day with

Language objective are very important and they emphasize what skills we be using to master course content for the day.

Content objectives specify what exactly you are required to know in order to be successful on the May APES CollegeBoard Exam.

This section is very important if you had to miss class due to illness, a field trip, or athletic event.  This is where you will find important information concerning what we did while you were out.

Learning academic vocabulary is essential for APES.  The CollegeBoard exam will use college-level vocabulary and you will need a complete understanding of these terms to be successful.  Academic vocabulary is important because the more extensive and varied your vocabulary is, the more thoughts you can think and the better you can clearly articulate your ideas to others.

Science is vocabulary dense with many new terms you probably aren't familiar with.  Mastering the "language" of environmental science is essential to your success in the course. 

Homework and additional practice is essential to learn new concepts.  Most research suggests that students need at least seven (7) repetitions of new content in order to learn it for long term mastery.

It's important to know where we are headed each day but it is even more important to know what our final destination is.  Most units we will be investigating take 2 to 3 weeks but having an overview of what to expect keeps things in perspective.

AP classes require more work than typical high school classes and even dual enrollment courses.  This is why they are so valuable!  You learn how to read difficult content, you learn how to think critically, and problem solve.  It's easy to get discouraged sometimes so I always try to include some words of encouragement to keep everyone going.