Ms. Naylor’s Academic Expectations:

Class time is for exploring science and focused learning!  If you choose to use class time for personal activities, you are expected to complete your work on your own time or not pass the class due to missing work and low test scores.  Students should NOT be checking socials, texting - even with parents, streaming content, or playing games in class.

Environmental Science is an “a – g” college prep year long course with specific requirements and expectations designed to provide rigorous learning opportunities aligned with the state framework and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).  Students need 30 credits of science to graduate – 10 physical science, 10 life science and 10 more of any kind of science. The CAST (CAlifornia Science Test) covers biology, chemistry, physics and earth science and is taken towards the end of 11th grade by all students. Scores on the CAST as well as letter grades received in class are reported on students’ transcripts as part of their academic record.

Students are expected to work in and outside of class on a variety of activities. Activities are a mixture of solo work, group work and collaboration. All assignments should be completed in a reasonable timeframe.  A variety of assessments (including traditional quizzes and tests) will be used to assess student mastery of content.  Technology will be used to monitor the use of class time, the collaboration process and to timestamp the completion of assignments.

It is impossible to learn something for another person. Each student is expected to work with the materials and “do their own work.”  In the adulting world, no one is paid to duplicate someone else’s work that has already been done. Copying is a form of cheating. If students wish to share the work when not collaborating, they can split the points for the work. There are many forms of software to check for originality and if I ask a student to write something, I will read it.  Collaborative assignments should show a fair amount of input from everyone in the group and have specific guidelines for correct collaboration.  Full credit will not be given for groups not following the collaboration guidelines as described in the grading rubrics. Identical individual assignments or group assignments that are “copies” (Identical text in separate files, single images submitted by two students, large sections flagged as copied from the internet by software) will have the points for the assignment divided among all students involved in the copying - whether giving or receiving the information copied.

Students should keep digital copies of their work and their physical Notebooks for the ENTIRE year. Please do not recycle/discard any work at the semester break.

Students who fall behind are expected to talk to Ms. Naylor about their individual situations for help catching up.