Biology Syllabus
Mrs. Macabobby
Course Information:
Biology is the study of living organisms and how they interact with their environment. This course will be divided into 4 major themes: Ecology, Cells, Genetics, and Evolution. Each theme will last approximately one quarter of the school year. A common assessment will be administered each quarter to determine student progress towards mastery of a number of different skills. I hope that you are excited to take on all of this new and exciting material!
Instructor Information:
I want to help you succeed in this class! If you are in need of extra help, please come to me so that we can arrange a time to make it happen. There are a few ways that we can go about doing this:
Ø Talk to me before or after class about coming in for extra help before or after school.
Ø You can email me at
Materials:
The following materials must be brought with you to class DAILY. Being unprepared for class will result in consequences including but not limited to: phone calls home, alternative assignments, and detentions. Make it easy on yourself and just bring your things to class!
ü Biology Textbook- Prentice Hall: Biology- 2006
ü Regular Notebook (strictly for Biology)
ü Composition notebook
ü Binder (strictly for Biology)
ü Pen AND Pencil
Course Policies & Expectations:
1. BE RESPECTFUL. Not only do you need to be respectful of myself as your teacher, but also of your peers and their opinions and our classroom at all times.
2. You must be INSIDE the classroom AND making your way to your seat when the bell rings. If you enter the room after the bell you will be marked tardy.
3. After the bell rings, immediately begin working on the warm-up question on the board. This should be done in silence.
4. You must come prepared to class. Bring your text, binder, pen/pencil, colored pencils, and paper. I will not send you back to your locker for anything.
5. Turn in all work assigned on time. I cannot grade what you don’t turn in. It is hard to pass a class with missing assignments. You are responsible for your work. If you are absent (and it is excused) you are to check the class assignment notebook the day you return and hand in all make up work the following day. If you do not do so, and it is more than one day late, I will not accept it.
6. Work will not be accepted more than one day late. 10% will be deducted automatically on late work. If this late policy is abused, it will be revoked.
7. Full name and period must be printed at the top of all your work. No spiral edges are accepted. Any work turned in without a name on it will have “NNWAS” written on it and no credit will be given should the supposed owner try to claim it later on. Write your name and period on it before you turn your work in!
8. Talk only when you are permitted. If you have a question or have something to say during instruction, raise your hand and wait to be called on.
9. Use your time wisely. Most work is begun in class. If you have questions this is the time to ask them, not time to socialize.
10. Follow directions! Listen carefully to all directions before doing any work, especially in lab.
11. Take pride in your work. Work that is turned in torn, dirty, sloppy, written or drawn on is unacceptable and will be returned for you to re-do.
12. Clean up after yourself. Make sure that your desk area and the floor around you are clean before you leave! This will always be a portion of your grade. Don’t throw garbage anywhere but the garbage can.
13. No eating or drinking will be allowed in the classroom. If you are caught with food or drink it will be thrown away and a consequence issued.
14. Stay in the area assigned to you in groups or lab. Do not bother other groups and stay out of others’ materials, including the teacher’s. The teacher’s desk and materials are off limits unless given permission.
15. Leave electronic devices/games at home. Cell phones are not to be on or visible. If I see you with your phone or it goes off in class, it will be confiscated and turned into the dean’s office.
16. Leave personal grooming to the bathroom or home. Any brushes, combs, mirrors, makeup, nail polish etc… will be taken away and not returned until the final in June.
17. Be responsible for your actions. You are in charge of you, and you will pay the consequences for your actions.
18. Academic dishonesty will NOT be tolerated. Students engaging in any form of copying, cheating, plagiarizing, etc. will be subject to very serious consequences. This goes for ALL assignments. If a student is caught copying off of the work of another student, both the student copying and the student sharing his or her work will be punished equally.
***See Student/Parent Handbook for District 228 policies. ***
19. If you have any problems in my class, see me. If I have a problem with you in my class, I will see you! J
20. Do your best! I want you all to succeed and will do everything in my power to make that happen. It is up to you to give me your attention and energy for 55 minutes each day.
Consequences for not complying with policies and expectations:
1st violation- warning
2nd violation- call home to parent/guardian
3rd violation- detention or referral
4th violation dean’s referral
*For serious infractions, an immediate referral to the Dean’s office will be given.
Absent Work:
1. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to check the assignment notebook about make-up work BEFORE or AFTER class. In the case that your absence is excused, you will have two days for each day absent to turn in work that was assigned while you were gone without losing credit. You are responsible for turning this in. I will not remember to ask you for it.
2. If you are absent the day before a scheduled test or quiz that you were aware of, you are still required to take it upon your return. There will be a quiz every Friday. If there is a Friday….there is a Quiz!
3. If you are absent the day an assignment is due, you must turn it in as soon as you return.
Late Work:
It is your responsibility to get your work turned in ON TIME. Assignments that are turned in late will automatically lose 10% of the possible points and will only be accepted one day late. Late work will also not be accepted once the assignment has been graded and returned in class unless the student had an excused absence.
Assignments and Grading:
Grades will be available to parents and students through Power School. I encourage you to
check these grades regularly so that there are no surprises at the end of the grading term.
Feel free to contact me at any time if you feel that there are issues with your grade.
There will be various assignments that will be given throughout this course. All assignments
are based on a point system and will be weighted the same (except the midterm and final
exam). The following examples are assignments that you can definitely expect in this class:
Tests and quizzes
You can expect a quiz every Friday. Test questions will include material covered in textbook readings, lab activities, classroom discussions, homework and other in-class assignments that have been covered during the week.
At the end of each quarter there will also be a Common Assessment Test. At the end of each semester we will take a Midterm or Final Exam. These tests will be cumulative for the grading term that they cover. The midterm and final exam make up 20% of the overall grade for each semester.
Labs and Performance Tasks
An important part of understanding science comes from the application of concepts that we are covering in class. We will be spending time working in the lab on activities that will focus on building, measuring, observing, and simulating “real-world” concepts. Lab work will be in the format of worksheets and both formal and in-formal lab write-ups.
Performance Tasks will be small projects that we complete at the end of each unit. The goal of these projects is to get you to apply the knowledge that you have gained throughout the unit in a creative way. For each performance task, you will be given a scoring rubric that outlines what you need to accomplish with your end-product.
Homework and Classwork
Homework and classwork is an important part of this course. Although I try not to give homework every night, there will be times when we need to work on things outside of class in order to reinforce the information that we are learning in class. Some typical homework assignments that you can expect are things such as workbook pages, chapter out-lining, practice problem sets, completion of analysis questions after a lab activity, etc. There will also be warm-up questions and word part of the day activities during class that are graded each week.
Extra Credit
Extra Credit is just that. I do not have to assign it, and you do not have to do it. Take advantage of all potential assignments. They are given randomly and maybe not when you want them. Any and all deadlines will be strictly adhered to. I will not accept any extra credit work past the assignment due date. Extra credit work may be turned in early, but never late. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!
Tardy Policy
All students are expected to come to school on time and to be in their classroom when the tardy bell rings. District 228 follows a strict policy for disciplinary action in regards to tardies, which are cumulative throughout the school year.
1st violation- detention
2nd violation- detention
3rd + violation- referral
Locker Passes
No Passes will be issued for any student to return to their locker at any time. Please be prepared everyday.
Positive Consequences
There will be positive consequences for exceeding expectations in the classroom. If you come prepared to class daily and ready to learn we will have a very productive school year. I would much rather spend time rewarding you for being successful than disciplining you for not following directions. Positive consequences include but are not limited to: positive phone calls home, extra credit, delicious treats, and other special privileges.