Expectations & Processes

Student Expectations and Class Policies:

1. Follow school rules.

2. Be prompt and prepared. Make sure to have your supplies with you at the beginning of class. A student will be counted tardy if the student is not in their assigned seat when the bell rings to start class.

3. Be polite and respectful when participating in discussions, lessons, activities, etc.

4. Be productive. Use your time wisely and use electronic devices appropriately for educational purposes at the appropriate times. Students are expected to use every minute in class to answer questions, ask questions to improve understanding, and make progress on assignments.

5. Be positive. You can be successful in this course, and I am here to help you.  Students are also expected to communicate to the teacher any failure to understand a lecture or assignment. Don’t say, “I can’t do this,” instead say, “I can’t do this, YET.”  Please seek help when needed by asking me (during class, during tutorials, or request an appointment), your classmates, or use appropriate available resources in your Canvas course and other internet resources. Students are also expected to communicate to the teacher any failure to understand a lecture or assignment.  Success in the class may be gained by/from active participatory learning, studying, doing assigned work, asking questions, and seeking help when difficulties arise. 

6. Prepare your technology so the classroom is an excellent learning environment for everyone. School issued iPads should be used during appropriate power up times and for appropriate educational purposes. Personal telecommunication devices (including but not limited to cell phones, earbuds, and smartwatches) should be off and stored according to school board policy during the entire instructional day (which includes class time, passing periods and lunch).

7.   Unless specified, you must ALWAYS show work.  NO WORK=NO CREDIT!!!! Showing your work and justifying your answers will be crucial to getting full credit on class assignments and assessments.

8.   Absences and Makeup work: Students are counted absent if they miss more than 15 minutes of class. Students are responsible for making up work due to an absence (extra-curricular or personal). 

a. Any assignment due the day of the absence will be expected to be turned in the day the student returns to class. 

b. Students will have the same number of class days they were absent to make up a quiz or assignment.  After the allotted time given, the student will not be able to make up the assignment or quiz. 

c. Tests are scheduled at least one week in advance and require the student to email the teacher regarding the absence.  The student will be expected to take any missed test on the next class day.

  9.     NO LATE WORK IS ACCEPTED.  Pay careful attention to due dates which are listed on the calendar in Canvas.  Communicate any problems regarding assignment dates as early as possible, so that alternative arrangements (if warranted) can be made. Students are encouraged NOT to wait until the last minute to begin work on assignments. Repetition is a key to learning in mathematics, and that works best when the repetition occurs over several days (instead of one marathon learning session). Additionally, if a student waits until the last minute and then encounters technical issues, a late assignment will not be accepted.

10. Be honest.  Try your best, ask for help when you need it, and only submit work that you have done. While studying with other students is appropriate and encouraged, this is not meant to replace individual effort. Students who attempt to take credit for someone else’s work commit a serious offense, and those offenses will be dealt with according to the code of conduct. During tests and quizzes all extraneous objects are to be removed from your workspace.

For this course, academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to:

A) Working with anyone else on quizzes and tests

B) Copying someone else’s work/answers or allowing another student to copy your work, on any assignment (homework, quizzes, examinations)

C) Allowing someone else to do any of your work in the course for you

D) Using unauthorized resources that leads to you submitting answers and/or work that is not your own work and answers.

11.  Students can expect a Do Now at the start of every class period to gauge understanding to prior knowledge or material from the previous class day or to prepare for the new material for the day.

12.  Cold Call, a way to have student participate in class, will be used in class to check for understanding of material in class.  Students may or may not be alerted they will be called on to answer questions in class. 

13.  AI access and usage: Students in grades 8th to 12th may access AI using tools approved by HCISD (such as: Microsoft Copilot, No Red Ink, Notebook LM, Magic School, Adobe Express, Curipod, Diffit, Google Gemini, Khanmingo, and Snorkl) for approved educational purposes under the following conditions:

a. Parental Consent: Parents/Guardians must provide written consent allowing their child to access
generative AI tools for educational use.

b. Teacher Permission: The student must receive prior approval from their teacher outlining the permitted
educational task(s) for each use of generative AI.

c. Responsible and Ethical Use: Students must use generative AI responsibly at all times, adhering to all
district technology usage policies. Usage must follow data privacy, academic integrity, and district policies.  Personal or non-educational use on school devices is prohibited, including non-approved AI tools like ChatGPT.

Grades: There will be a minimum of 12 grades per quarter.   

• 25% Unit Tests/Projects 

At least 2 major grades will be given every 9 weeks.  

Retests will be offered if more than 25% of the students in the class earn a test grade lower than 70.

Semester and Quarter Exams are excluded from the retesting policy.

• 75% Daily Grades – Quizzes – Homework            

Homework assignments will be given almost every class day and will be due the following class day, unless otherwise specified.

If there are enough grades, the lowest homework grade may be dropped at the end of the nine weeks.

At least one quiz will be given during every unit. Quiz grades will not be eligible to be dropped.