Stapley Junior High » Course Syllabus

Course Description:

Honors Geometry progresses at a very fast pace covering the great breadth and depth of concepts. Students are expected to have mastered the skills and thoroughly understood the concepts covered in prior courses. The student is also expected to have retained this past knowledge, which will generally not be reviewed in the course. Mathematical concepts are often introduced at an abstract and theoretical level, new ideas are often developed through student investigation with minimal guidance from the teacher. Students will be expected to apply their knowledge to open-ended and non-routine problems. Students will sometimes be expected to learn material by reading the textbook and/or solving problems on their own. Typical classes include minimal review of homework and previously covered material. Students are expected to be highly self-motivated, taking the fullest responsibility for their own learning and seeking help when needed. The course is designed to meet the needs of a student who thrives in a more independent learning environment.

Previous success in math class is important for being successful in Honors Geometry. However, being successful in previous math classes does not necessarily guarantee success in Honors Geometry. Attributes that are important for success in Honors Geometry include attempting every problem of each assignment, making mistakes on problems and correcting them, participating in class, asking questions at the time that they occur and studying the concepts and vocabulary on a regular basis.

Behavioral Expectations:

The teacher plays a role in learning but ultimately, you are responsible for the quality of your education. In order to maximize your learning experience, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you attend classes on a regular basis?

• Are you on time to class?

• Are you prepared for class -- pencil/pen, notebook, compass (if necessary)?

• Do you do your homework everyday?

• Do you pay attention in class, participate in discussions and ask relevant

questions?

• Do you treat all other students with respect and allow for open educational debate?

• If you are absent, do you make an effort to find out what was covered and make up

the work?

• Do you seek extra-help as soon as possible if you did not understand something in

class?

• If you miss a quiz or test, do you take the initiative to arrange a make-up?

These are the behaviors that make for a good student and a good learning environment. You are expected to be such a student.

Homework:

In honors geometry, one should expect homework on a nightly basis. DO NOT LET YOURSELF GET BEHIND! One major goal of this course is to dissolve bad study habits and establish a strong work ethic. If you are not ready to work, you’ve signed up for the wrong class.

I expect you to do your homework every night. This means attempting every problem. Initial perfection is not necessary. I will be checking off homework for completion credit occasionally. I may also collect homework for rigorous inspection sporadically. Keep all homework together in your binder as I will collect it at the end of each chapter. You will fill out a homework inventory at the end of the chapter. I will grade it and return it to you for you to study from.

Be prepared to ask questions in class about the problems that stumped you. In a class this size, I guarantee you won’t be the only one with a particular question so please do not hesitate to ask. It is EXTREMELY important that you ask questions. If you never get a problem wrong all semester, then you didn’t learn anything. If you get problems wrong, but never ask a question about how to get it right, then you didn’t learn anything. Making mistakes and errors is part of the learning process. You need to attempt every problem even if you know your answer will be wrong. You miss 100% of the questions that you never attempt.

Ask for help as soon as you feel yourself starting to struggle. If you wait until test day to ask for help, it is too late. You need to take responsibility for your learning and communicate with me on a daily basis during class. If you do not ask questions and participate in class you are missing out on an important part of the learning process.

You have two assignments every night. The first is the one designated in class, but the second is probably more important. You must correct all mistakes from the previous night’s homework. To make sure this process is carried out, there may be periodic pop quizzes over the homework material. Questions will be taken directly from the homework. Redone problems should be on a separate piece of paper and placed behind the original homework in one’s binder.

There is quite a bit of writing in geometry (at least for a math class). Therefore neatness will count. I reserve the right to not accept any homework assignment on the basis of neatness. I will require you to recopy it, due the next day (not penalized for lateness). Homework turned in on paper ripped from a spiral notebook or done in pen are instant rejections.

Assignments:

• Graphs must be done on graph paper.

• Pencils are required for all homework, tests and quizzes. Homework must be neat,

with no doodles, nor scribbling out work. If you use a spiral notebook please remove

the sloppy edges.

• Copy the original problems from the book before beginning to work them out. Instead

of copying the entire word problem, the important information must be copied,

followed by the equation which will be used to solve the problem. “No” answers must

be accompanied by a reason, written in a complete sentence. If there is a formula it

must be your first step with the second step being the inserting of the

values specific to that problem. If a picture is implied, one must be drawn and

correctly

labeled.

• Work must be shown. “Bald” answers (ones without any work) are not acceptable.

• “Solve” means to find the value(s) of the variable that make the statement true,

therefore the answer to an equation must be in the form “variable = answer(s)”.

• The heading in the top margin must include your name, period and the assignment,

including the problem numbers. Nothing else should be written in that top margin.

• Skip an entire space between problems vertically, and skip an equivalent amount of

space between problems horizontally.

• Solve the problem vertically – not sideways. Show all work. Just an answer is

unacceptable. Equal signs should be in a somewhat straight vertical line

• Only put ONE line of writing in each space and at most two problems across the

page.

• Problems should be numbered sequentially. Do not skip around.

• Give exact answers whenever possible as well as approximate answers correct to

three decimal places.

• Even answers are available in the textbooks. All answers to the questions from the

book are available on the web.

• You are responsible to check your answers each night in order to be ready to ask

questions in class the next day.

Grading:

20% - Homework/Classwork

• Homework assignments will make up 20% of your grade. Some of them will be

graded on an effort basis, and some of them will be graded for accuracy. I refer to

both the homework section and assignment section of this syllabus for my

expectations.

80% - Quizzes and Test

• You will have both announced and un-announced quizzes (better known as

pop-quizzes). Expect these to happen up to once a week. For announced quizzes,

you will be told about these 1-3 days in advance. The purpose of quizzes is just to

allow you to monitor how you are keeping up with new ideas – these are not major

assessments.

• Tests will usually come at end of each chapter or major unit. You will always be

given advanced notice of when to expect a particular test.

Academic Dishonesty:

Any form of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. I define academic dishonesty

as cheating, plagiarism and passing information about test and quizzes from one

period to the next. If a student is guilty any form of academic dishonesty they will

receive a zero for that assignment and be dropped from Honors Geometry. A

disciplinary referral will also be placed in their file.

Course Summary:

If there is a concern about the progress in this class, please encourage the student to initiate contact with me first before you call me. I think that it is important that the student should take the initiative to contact me with questions and concerns about their grades. They are the student and should take responsibility to ask questions and resolve issues and questions that they have.

More than likely, at some point during this year a unit of study is going to feel quite challenging, maybe even `too hard.’ It is at this point, that the student should immediately speak up! I can only cater my instruction to meet the student’s specific needs, if the student do your part – give me necessary and timely feedback. Telling me, the day before a test, “I just really had trouble understanding everything in this unit…” is probably less than useful. What I need is daily feedback. When I ask, “How did the homework go last night?” I really want to hear honest and thoughtful answers. Only then will I be able to re-work my daily plans to best suit your immediate learning needs.

I am here to help your child succeed in Honors Geometry as well as all classes and activities that they are involved in at Stapley Junior High and beyond. I have set the standards of this class to help insure the students success in future math classes. If at any point during this school year the student does not meet the expectations that I have set for this class, they may be dropped from Honors Geometry. I want the student to understand that being accepted to Honors Geometry does not mean that they may sit back and coast through the year. I expect the students to continue to strive to become a better student through out the entire year.

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