BIG CHEM-- COURSE INFORMATION SHEET

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Big Chem is the study of the great reactions and principles outlined in the contents of the text along with the magnificent Semi- Micro Qualitative Analysis.

GOALS: The students will write explanations, perform labs, and solve problems on the above topics.

A NOTEBOOK IS REQUIRED: It must be BOUND (spiral recommended) and kept in INK! Print your name in large lettering on the front cover and initial each page.

ASSIGNMENT POLICY-- NOW GET THIS AND GET IT WELL! LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED--

DEFINITION OF LATE :
1-- Not in at BEGINNING OF PERIOD.
2-- Not in within ONE day after return from ILLNESS.
3-- Not delivered on DUE DATE for NON-ILLNESS excused absence. (For example, field trip or athletics). Bring it in BEFORE SCHOOL or send it in by SPECIAL COURIER! EXAMS missed with excused absences must be made up at lunch on the day you return to school!

BE SURE TO SAVE YOUR RETURNED PAPERS in case you ever have to prove you did them.

WARNING: Vacations are UNEXCUSED ABSENCES. You will not be allowed to make up work missed during vacations taken on school time!

GRADING: Your grade is determined by the system whereby 90% = A, 80% = B, 70% = C, 60% = D.

A BONUS POINT is given for an exercise completed while the roll is being taken. Five bonus points are deducted for each tardy.

CLASS RULES:
You must ATTEND REGULARLY and BE ON TIME! Tardiness will not be tolerated! You will lose 5 bonus points for each tardy and get detention on the third tardy.
You must BRING TO CLASS each day your TEXT, NOTEBOOK, and TWO PENS.

ASSIGNMENTS:
All assignments must be done in INK and turned in AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PERIOD. LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS must include OBSERVATIONS, the QUESTIONS and a CRITIQUE. HEAD YOUR PAPER THUS:

..................................................................... Big Chem
NAME ____________ Date____________ Period____________ Assign____________
 

[What follows is not part of the student handout. It's a few tips the same teacher supplied for beginning teachers. As with the example information sheet above, I am not necessarily endorsing these tips as good or bad; I simply thought you might find them interesting.]

------------------------------------------------------------- THE DAILY BONUS Five years ago, one of my colleagues came up with this idea which is so successful that our entire science department is using it. Other teachers are also using it, and administrators rave about it. Wow! We all have our own names for it such as "Daily Bonus, First Thing, Point of the Day".

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS: Before class starts, the teacher jots a review question or problem on the board, which is designed to take the kids two to five minutes to answer. It is open book and notes so that all can do it. As the students enter, they immediately sit down, take a half- sheet of paper, and go to work on the question or problem while the teacher is taking role and doing the other pre-class paper work. When the teacher is done, he has the kids zip in their half-sheets. Class is now ready to start with the kids all quiet and ready to go.

WHAT THIS HAS ACCOMPLISHED:
--The kids are arriving ON TIME because they lose this point if they are tardy.
--The kids are SITTING DOWN and GOING TO WORK instead of talking and making a ruckus during roll.
--No time is being wasted.
--The teacher can relax and do his roll in a quiet classroom.
--The student can improve his grade.
--The students are LEARNING as they write their bonus instead of wasting time.
--The teacher has a couple of extra minutes to finish setting up a demo or lab while the kids are busy (make the bonus longer if you need extra minutes).
--The teacher gets big brownie points on his administrative evaluation. (In our school, one is penalized if he wastes so much as a minute of class time!)

HOW IT IS GRADED: Ah, here is a very nice thing. The teacher spends only a couple of minutes per class (or no time if he has a TA to do it instead). Because it is extra credit, you need not grade it carefully. Just skim through it, and if the kid has made a decent attempt, mark a tally on a class roster (not in your roll book or computer). The kids don't want these back, so you don't even need to mark their papers, just chuck 'em. At the end of the grading period, sum up the tally marks and make a single entry into your gradebook for extra credit.

OTHER BENEFIT: Because these bonus points are extra credit, it is legal to dock kids if you want to penalize them for anything, like say tardies.

------------------------------------------------------ THE TARDY OR OTHER OFFENSE NOTICE: Print these up in big fancy fonts in advance all ready to hand out. Just give it to the miserable offender without disrupting the class with explanations: -------------------------------------------------------------------- CONGRATULATIONS You have just acquired a mandatory 15-minute conference in this room at 2:45 TODAY! Should you choose not to appear, you will receive a referral to the Vice Principal for the issuance of a one-hour detention or possibly a Saturday School. BE HERE AND SIN NO MORE!

EDSS 450C