Welcome to Chemistry 2017-2018

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Welcome to Chemistry 2017-2018

Welcome to Chemistry 2017-2018!!! People come into chemistry with many ideas of what the class is like and what it may do to them. About the only thing I can guarantee about the year is it won’t be what you expected. Chemistry can be a hard subject; most of it is new to you, it has some math involved, and it is sometimes difficult to visualize things like atoms or electrons. However, I will try my best to make this class one you will enjoy (at least most of the time). The basic requirement for success in this class is effort. No matter what your skills if you will continue to give it your best, I’ll do all I can to help you succeed. So for those of you worriers, put the ulcer on hold. For those of you who never worry, great, just make sure you keep working hard. Let’s have fun and do a little SCIENCE! Here are some suggestions to help: Hints to Succeed!!  You are college prep (supposedly mature) students; act that way. Come to class on time, prepared, and ready to work. Do a little work each night; don’t wait until the last minute. Note the schedule on the board; it has a color scheme. We have school/classroom policies for infractions; don’t make me use them. USE YOUR PLANNERS! USE THE BLOG!  A scientific calculator is helpful (and in some chapters needed)  Remember all those rules from the safety contract. They will keep you safe and make sure we have a happy and successful year. -RIDERS (The Roosevelt Way): Respect, Integrity, Dedication, Excellence, Responsibility, and Service will serve you well in life and in this classroom. If what you do in this classroom fits in the Roosevelt way, it’s good; if not, it’s bad. Simple enough. -WEB STUFF: One valuable resource is my school blog. If you go to my blog you should be able to view a video file of good old me explaining the concept, and/or someone else doing the explaining. Also you should be able to find (and print out) extras of any problems we are working on and any other sheets I give out in class. Also there will be various helps from the web on the topic we are covering. -ASK FOR HELP! Ask each other, ask other teachers, ask your parents, ask your dog (not a cat, they have an attitude), but especially ask me. Ask me in class of course but I’ll also be available after school for you (M,W,F until 3; T & Th special study sessions/testing until 4:30). You can also email me (ke_mlambert@kentschools.net). Remember; no question is stupid, half the class is probably wondering the same thing. I will do my very best to help, but you are not empty glasses I pour chemistry into; you have to work with me on the process. -ATTENDANCE: When you miss school you deprive yourself and others of the benefits of your presence. Get any notes you missed from my blog or a friend, any missed papers from the blog or the “missed assignments”, check the schedule for upcoming events, and quickly schedule make-ups (the longer you wait, the less likely you will succeed). Remember our school policy for the length of time you have for missed work.

-GRADES!: As we continually work to improve the quality of education you receive we are always trying new research-based ideas. The science department grading policy divides student work into practice (things you can work together on such as lab practice), and performance (things you do alone to demonstrate what you know), commonly called assessments or tests. Most of your grade comes from performance (85% or higher for this class). Most units will have 10-25 points of practice and a 100 point summative assessment. Welcome to Chemistry 2017-2018!!! - HOMEWORK: Good news! There is no homework score to hurt your grade. Bad News! There is no homework score to help your grade. Usually we will talk about a concept, and then work on it in class together (problem set). If you don’t get finished or need to practice more you will work on that “at home.” Often, on days that follow a concept, you will be given a very short formative assessment to show if you know the previous day’s stuff. If you do, you will get all those points (nothing tricky); if not, we will know what we need to work on a bit more. -LAB PRACTICE: We have many, many laboratory experiences (labs) through the year (usually about 50). You will work with a partner (constantly rotating through the class) on the concepts we are studying. Grading laboratory work is done in many ways: assessing on the concepts, writing a lab report, or by you performing the lab itself while I assess you with a rubric. -ASSESSMENNTS: Most of your grade coming from a test can seem a little frightening, but it’s not that bad at all. To help you along, you will have multiple opportunities to “show what you know.” There will usually be three summative assessments (100 point tests) per chapter with only the best one of them counting. We’ll grade the first test (Test A) with feedback to help you figure out what you need. The second test (Test B) will be for those who scored below a 90% on the first test or if you want to improve your score. After the second test if you still aren’t satisfied with your mark there will be a third test (test C) after school on Thursday the week after test B. I will always take your highest score regardless on which test you performed best. But note; each version will be a little more difficult (for example I might add stuff from previous chapters) because I want you to give it your very best from the beginning. -TEXTBOOK: We will follow along as the world slowly moves away from physical textbooks. We have a classroom textbook for everyone and a digital version always available online (Blog). If you wish to sign out a textbook for a short time at home, we can usually accommodate that wish. We are always looking for ways to increase “reading in the content area” so don’t be surprised to see some multiple choice questions from the text on your assessments. -CELL PHONES/TABLETS in the classroom: We live in an era now where many of you walk into the classroom with what are small computers. Like many other things in science, the technology itself is not the problem, but how we chose to use it. One of my jobs is to show you the proper classroom use of this tool:  Always have your device silenced  During assessments, no devices can be out, at all, period!  YOU CAN USE YOUR DEVICE TO: o Be your scientific calculator/stopwatch o Find help on the web during group work o Take a picture or video as data collection in a lab setting  YOU CAN NOT USE YOUR DEVICE TO: o Text/Contact ANYONE during class, you have 4 min. an hour for that purpose. (And, YES, we can tell; you aren’t that slick) o Try and blackmail your teacher by posting embarrassing YouTube videos of him teaching o Do or view anything inappropriate, disruptive, or that may be seen as cyber bullying Welcome to Chemistry 2017-2018!!!

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