Information for second semester

Happy new year! As second semester begins, I wanted to re-share some important course information about the course website and course structures, and discuss the final grades for first semester.

Course website
We use this website for a number of purposes:

1. Communication: The main section of the website is reserved for postings that communicate course information, including the schedule for review sessions and assessments
2. Daily activities, notes, and homework: Each day after class, I post the day's activities, notes, and homework to the website.  These can be accessed and downloaded via the "class activities..." link in the "class links" box on the right side of the page.  When students are absent, they should check this link to find the work that they missed.

Please plan to read this website often to stay current with class news.  You can receive an email each time the website is updated by entering you email address in the "Follow by email" box on the right, or you can subscribe via RSS in the "Subscribe to" box.

Support and extensions

We try to provide support and challenge for all students.  

Extra support: Each week we offer after-school review sessions for students to get individual help with questions.  I announce the schedule for the review sessions in class, and I post the schedule on this website.  The school also offers an after-school tutor session called iGrad.  Finally, the school offers a targeted support class for students in Algebra I.  If you are interested in this support class, please email me.  If your student is struggling to master some of the Algebra I objectives, please encourage him or her to take advantage of these support opportunities.

Extra challenge: Each night we offer two levels of homework -- "challenge" and "regular" -- so that all students can engage in appropriate levels of problem solving.  If your student feels that the course is not challenging enough, please encourage him or her to choose the challenge level of homework.

Quick summary of course policies

(These policies are elaborated in the course syllabus, which can be accessed via the "daily activities" link in the "class links" box on the right side of the page)

Homework: We have homework every night.  This homework provides the foundation for the following day's activities, so it is very important that students come to class prepared with their homework completed every day.  If students do not have their homework completed, they will receive an after-school detention for that day to complete the HW.  

Organization of the grade book: The gradebook in Infinite Campus is organized by topic, rather than by assessment type.  During the first semester, we studied three topics: (1) Single variable equations, (2) systems of equations, and (3) functions.  The gradebook is organized around these three topics, which means that students and parents can easily determine how well students mastered each topic.  Because Algebra I is a year-long course, these topics will remain in the gradebook for second semester, and we will continue to add new topics as we study them.

Final exam and final grades

You will notice that there are three final exam grades, one for each topic in the gradebook.  These grades represent the student's score on the final exam problems related to each topic.  I'm not going to pass back the final exams, but I do want to give students the opportunity to get one-on-one feedback on their exams.  Any student who want this feedback should sign up for a meeting time with me.  The sign-up sheet will be posted in class.  I will also schedule mandatory meetings with students who did not demonstrate mastery on any topic on the final exam.

The grades in Infinite Campus represent the final grades for the semester.  However, if students feel that their grade is not representative of their mastery, they can retake any assessment from first semester to improve the grade.  I will then change the official grade with the school's registrar.