My expectations for you are high. Your expectations for yourself should be high as well. Don't settle for anything less.
In simple terms, I expect you to push yourself every day to be a better student, better learner, and, ultimately, a better citizen-scientist.
Have grit. Be assertive. Be attentive. Be critical of your own performance and constantly strive to be better.
Encourage others to be better. Be helpful. Be supportive. Be kind.
Help is always available.
Good students immediately seek help when they are struggling. So, be a good student. Recognize when you are struggling. Recognize when you don't understand something. Act to immediately rectify (fix) the situation. Don't let problems build and snowball. Eliminate them as soon as they arise. Be your own best advocate. Be assertive. Ask questions. Get help.
I won't know if there's a problem unless you communicate with me. I have a lot of good skills when it comes to teaching. Mind-reading is not one of them.
The QPL (Question Parking Lot) is available 24/7. Use it if you have questions outside of class. It's a simple way to get your questions answered remotely.
If needed, make an appointment to get some extra help after school.
Students are expected to read the Daily Class Announcements every day. In fact, it is part of your warm-up activity every single class day.
Always CAREFULLY READ all of the daily announcements and CORRECTLY FOLLOW any directions listed.
In short, if you miss school, you miss out. No amount of make up work (even for excused absences) can ever replace what you miss in the classroom.
Arrive early. Show up prepared. Be in your seat and ready to work when the bell rings (if not before).
If you are late, be sure to come into class with a pass. Enter the room quietly and find your seat. Take a couple of minutes to try to figure out what is going on without disrupting and/or interrupting the rest of the class. I will get to you as soon as I have a chance.
The school attendance policies, as outlined in the Student Handbook will be followed.
Your personal time is your personal time. You can use it how you want. However, please treat our live instruction time as dedicated/prioritized school time. Show up fully prepared and commit yourself to fully engaging in all our class activities and be a positive role model for your classmates.
Avoid the following during class ( . . . or, better said, save the following personal activities for your personal time):
Streaming of audio or video that is not directly related to class activities.
Personal electronic devices use that interferes with class activities.
Game playing (digital or analog).
Accessing personal accounts
We have very few assessments in this class (work that actually is graded and counts toward your grade). The majority of what we do in class is what I call practice or exploration. This is the work we do to get ready for our in-class assessments.
You are expected to do all your work - graded or not. The practice assignments allow you to build your skills and gain confidence in your ability so that you can be successful on the assessments.
Take advantage of every opportunity to make yourself a better learner and a better student.
Periodically, we will have assessments. In this class, assessments do not necessarily equal traditional tests (although those are included, as well). We use this term to distinguish which "assignments" in the gradebook are scored (and contribute to your overall grades) vs. the other assignments that we do for practice.
Students must do the following on all assessments or the assessment may be graded later . . . not be graded at all:
Name: Students must put FIRST and LAST names on all assessments. Any assessment that does NOT include basic name information runs the risk of NOT being graded.
Clean, polished artifacts: Assessments are formal assignments. You are expected to produce a quality artifact (paper, model, report, etc.). For example, if you are submitting a paper assessment, make sure that paper is free of rips, tears, or doodles. Any paper presented with rips, tears, or doodles will likely be returned without grading.
Original Work: While we use the Internet frequently for research, students must produce their own original work on assessments. In some cases, borrowed work can be used as long as it is used with permission AND it is properly cited. Using other's work without permission is a violation of copyright. Using other's work without proper citation is plagiarism. If you use other's work without permission and/or you pass it off as your own work (intentionally or unintentionally), you are committing Academic Dishonesty. Depending on the severity of the offense (and history of prior offenses) you could end up losing credit for your work and/or not being allowed to make up your work and/or being referred to your AP for Academic Dishonesty and/or you could be drop/failed from the course. Bottom line. Do your own original work.
Your final course grade is determined on how well you do on your assessments. See the Grades page for a detailed breakdown on the class grades.
Generally, there are no make-ups for exploration/practice work. You either did the practice work or you didn't.
For most major assessments there are DUE DATES and DEADLINES. The DUE DATE is when the assignment is going in the gradebook. The DEADLINE is the last day the assignment will be accepted. In this case, anything submitted during the grace period between the DUE DATE and the DEADLINE is considered late (but not penalized). However, NOTHING will be accepted after the DEADLINE. Period.
The grace period between the DUE DATE and the DEADLINE varies depending on the nature of the assignment.
Occasionally, assignments only have a DUE DATE (and no deadline). In this case, any assignments received after the DUE DATE will be late and can only earn a maximum of 50% credit.
Bottom line: Do your own work, complete all of the assigned work, and submit your work on time.
Students are expected to conduct themselves as exemplary "digital citizens" while using any school resource and/or completing any school assignment/project. This includes abiding by the user agreement that each student signed to use the school issued Chromebook and district/school resources.
As an extension of Digital Citizenship, all students are expected to follow the copyright guidelines and fair use guidelines for educational multimedia. Work that does not comply with the educational rights and restrictions of both general copyright, and Creative Commons (if applicable), will be returned to the student for further revision(s) OR, for more serious violations, students could be referred to the school administration for Academic Fraud/Dishonesty.
Academic Fraud/Dishonesty, including (but not limited to) the copying of another person’s work and trying to pass it off as your own (or allowing another to copy your work), is not acceptable. School policy, as outlined in the school’s “Behavior Code,” (Student Handbook) will be followed.
In short, do your own work. Always.
When you have permission to use the work of others in your projects/assignments, be sure to always give proper attribution.
Treat all our spaces as "learning studios." We want an environment that fosters and encourages creativity and challenges each student to push themselves to achieve personal and academic growth. Everyone is expected to show up on time, fully prepared for class, and ready to work and learn.
This is considered “satisfactory” conduct.
Students desiring an “O” (outstanding) conduct mark on their report card will go above and beyond satisfactory conduct and positively contribute to the class each and every day.
On the other hand, in terms of your conduct grade, any of the following could result in an automatic “U” (unsatisfactory) conduct mark at the next official grading period:
One or more truancies in a single grading period.
Two or more unexcused tardies in a grading period.
Violation of any of the the GUHSD Responsible Use Policies/Agreements
Academic Fraud/Dishonesty (which includes but is not limited to: intentional copyright violation/infringement and/or plagiarism)
One or more behavior referrals in a single grading period.