Course Syllabus
Honors Advanced Algebra- Overview and Policies 2020-21
Mrs. Bell – Room 428- bellc@wellesley.ps.org
Website-https://wellesley.instructure.com/
“What music is to the heart, mathematics is to the mind.”
-Amit Kalantri
Course Overview: Topics include the absolute value, polynomial, power, exponential, logarithmic and trigonometric families of functions. Students enrolled in this course will be expected to synthesize the skills they learn from direct teacher instruction and the text and then independently apply them to larger conceptual problems during group work in class and on their own. A graphing calculator is required for this course. Students will be assessed both with and without their calculator.
Materials: You will need pencils, pens, a TI graphing calculator, graph paper, a highlighter, and a math notebook or binder section. (I suggest using a spiral bound notebook for HW and class notes and folders or a small binder or binder section for handouts and old quiz and tests.) You will access our textbook through pdf documents posted on our Canvas page. Please see me if you want to sign out a text book or are concerned about getting any of the materials and we will make it work J
Grading Breakdown:
- Class participation and Homework - 20%
See Class Participation learning goals and grading for more details on that grading. Homework will be a combination of Delta Math assignments and textbook or worksheet assignments
2. Assessments- 80% - Quizzes or challenge problems will usually be remote through Canvas, Unit Tests usually in-person. Expect 2-3 quizzes/challenge problems and 1 test each unit and 3 units per semester. Also if your unit quiz average is above a 70% and your unit test score beats your unit quiz average, then your assessment average for the unit will rise to your test grade. Learn from your mistakes along the way!
Basically, you will get a grade for each unit based on the above weights, and then the average of your 3 unit grades will be your semester grade. The average of your semester grades is your year grade.
(*Adjustment, due to time and other factors, for semester 2: There are only 2 units, units 4 and 5. Unit 4 will 40% of your semester 2 grade and Unit 5 will be 60% of semester 2 grade.)
Attendance: You are expected to be present for all in-person and remote classes. Attendance will be taken and reported on Power School for each class meeting. If you cut class or are absent unexcused, you will not be able to make up the work you missed for credit. And you shouldn’t think that a 5 minute class recap from someone, even me, is equivalent to being in class asking, listening, thinking and problem-solving. Do your best to get to class!
Excused Lates and Absences: When you are out, please check our Canvas Class Page for information and check with classmates about what you missed. Any previously assigned work is due on the day you return to school. You can also always reach me via email.
Other Class Notes:
1.COVID-19- You must keep your mask on at all times in the classroom and keep 6ft. distance between you and others. Remember to wipe down your desks when you enter and to wash/sanitize hands throughout the day. Please help us keep our community healthy, keep our school open, and get through this pandemic!
- CAMERA ON- When you are remote on Zoom and we are working together, please keep your camera on as much as possible, especially in the breakout rooms. It will be good for us to connect face-to-face and make it easier for you to avoid distractions. I know there will be technology issues and privacy concerns. At the same time I hope that the majority of the time you can have face-to-face interactions. Please let me know if having the camera on most of the time is not an option.
- MATH LAB & Extra Help- The Math Lab schedule is posted on our Canvas page. It is a place you can go for help from a math teacher during school hours when you have a free block. Use it, it’s a great resource! (And this semester, I’m the math lab teacher Thursdays Gray block and Fridays Purple block.) I will try to be available for extra help as well. I’ll post any extra help hours on the Canvas calendar each week that it’s scheduled in advance. But feel free to email me if I don’t have hours posted and hopefully we can find a day to set up an Extra Help Zoom at 2:45ish.
- Food, Drinks, Electronics- Cell phones should be on silent and out of sight, unless I announce that they are permitted for class time use. No food in class. You may have drinks in class, but school rules apply. Please help keep our school and classroom clean. And, please recycle!
- Fire exit/emergency – Please adhere to the designed route and policy when we need to leave the building. Fire Alarm Exit Plan- RIGHT out door and then RIGHT down END of HALL STAIR WELL and outside to SEAVER ST. Be quiet, move with speed and stay with your classmates.
- Leaving class- If you must go to the restroom, sign out on the sign-out sheet and check off again when you return. Try not to leave class much, we’ll have a 5ish minute break most classes so that should help you stay present otherwise.
- Academic Integrity- When submitting work be honest about the sources used to complete the assignment. Do not pass off someone else’s work as your own. Any incident of cheating will result in a grade of zero and a phone call home. Repeated incidents of cheating could result in a zero for the course/year. It’s never worth it to compromise your integrity!*
*Refer to the Student Handbook for other details on academic integrity and for general WHS classroom rules and more on WHS Attendance Policy.
- See our “Class Contract,” if we write one together, for other agreed behaviors that everyone is asked to commit to so that our classroom (even when it’s remote) is a nice place to think, work, learn and just be.
- Enrich our classroom. You have the power to make our school and this classroom better! Be a positive force. Be respectful of all people and things. Do not get in the way of your own or others opportunities for learning and thinking and having a good day. We are all counting on you. Please. And thank you in advance!
Our Class Website- CANVAS:
Go to your Canvas page and login- https://wellesley.instructure.com/ Click on Advanced Algebra.
You will find the textbook by chapter in pdf. documents. I will post assessment dates and homework assignments. I will post Smart Board slides from class at the end of each week, Wednesdays for us, and the learning goals for each unit. Other learning resources like videos and online graphing calculator tools will be there as well. We will periodically use the Discussion tab on our Canvas page to discuss “Overarching Questions” that you would each post a responses and replies to. This way we can “discuss” and hear from everyone without taking up too much class time.
Other Assessment Notes:
-If you have accommodations for assessments, please be sure to check-in with me at least 48 hours before the test so that the accommodations can be arranged in this hybrid year.
-Test dates will be announced at least a week in advance. We will likely have 3 unit tests semester 1.
-There are NO make-up/re-take tests students whose absence from class is unexcused.
-If you are excused absent and miss a test, email me ASAP to schedule a makeup time to take the test. (As it says in the student handbook, “A student needs to meet with their teachers immediately upon his/her return to school to schedule makeup work.”) Even if we do not have class the day you return to school, email me the day you are out or the day you return. I will need you to make up the test/quiz within 2 school days of your return to school unless you have missed more than 1 class leading up to the assessment. Makeups can be scheduled to start anytime between 7:30 and 2:30 on your in-person school days.
“Accumulate learning by study, understand what you learn by question.”
-Ming jiao, Jiufeng
Advanced Algebra- 2020-21- Welcome Challenges- Make a Plan- Show Your Work!
Course Summary:
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