Welcome to College Algebra
· Married 32 years to my high school sweetheart, Sandy, who is a music teacher at Northview Elementary in Olathe.
· Two grown children (out of the home). Both graduated from Olathe South, Mandy in 1997 and Jason in 1999 and are 2002 graduates of Manhattan Christian College. Mandy is married to Anthony Inchaustegui (who also graduated from Manhattan Christian College in 2002). Mandy also graduated from KSTATE in 2002 with a Secondary English degree. She currently is teaching at Project SOAR. Anthony is the high school youth pastor at our church, Legacy Christian Church 101st and Antioch (LCC.org.) My wife and I are proud grandparents of Xander who was born on May 19th, 2005. Jason was the high school youth pastor at our church for 2 years and is now employed by a church in Los Angels. (Mosaic.org) He is in his 2nd year in getting his masters in Theological Studies with an emphasis in global leadership this fall. We have a miniature schnauzer named Sophie.
· email: heschools.com
· All policies in the planner will be followed. Please review the tardy and dress policy.
· Please turn you cell phone off, not just in the vibrate mode.
· A TI 83 or 84 graphing calculator is required for this course. TI 86, 89 or 92 may not be used in this course.
· Homework is given daily. Each homework assignment is worth 10 points. Approximately 30-45 minutes a day outside of class should be spent preparing for this class. If you miss a day, usually the next assignment on the syllabus was assigned. You should have someone in class or another College Algebra hour that you can obtain the lecture notes. Also, you should obtain a “study buddy” in order to help you at home when you a miss class or are struggling with an assignment.
· Quizzes are given over each section. All quizzes are open note but not open book or open neighbor.
· Tests are given at the conclusion of each unit. They have a 100 point value. All tests are announced well in advance.
· If playing games on the calculator cause the calculator to run poorly or creates a poor learning environment, games could be deleted from the calculator. No games may be loaded on rental calculators.
Procedures
· Upon entering class, write the practice problem number(s) from the previous day’s assignment that you did not understand on the front board. During the first 10 minutes of class I will discuss up to 20% of the previous day’s assignment. Homework is graded on a completion basis and is self-assessed. Assignments will be collected in groups with well advanced notification. If you have an average of 87% or above from the last quarter, you may request a no homework option. This will mean that your grade will be comprised of quizzes and tests only. This request will stay in effect for the entire quarter.
· Quizzes will be given the last 10-13 min. of class. All quizzes are 10 points. Quizzes are announced. If you take 90% or more of the quizzes, your lowest quiz grade will be dropped. If you miss a quiz you have 3 options: 1. make up the quiz prior to the quiz being handed back (before or after school, media night, seminar). 2. Take the quiz prior to a known absence. 3. Don’t make up the quiz. If option 3 is chosen, the grade will be recorded as excused. As long as you take 80% of all quizzes given in a quarter there is no problem. But, if you do not take more than 80% of the quizzes, the quizzes under that level will be recorded as a zero. Long extended absences will be handled on an individual basis.
· Missed tests will need to be made up during seminar, before or after school. Please do not ask not to take a test immediately prior to the test. Please do not ask to come in from another class or ask to take a missed test during the College Algebra hour. There is a no retake policy in effect. (See the JCCC handout for retake information for that course) If I deem it necessary to for the entire class to retest over selected information, then all students will have that opportunity.
· With parent connect in effect; student progress should be viewed after each test. I will email progress reports after each test. You must provide me with a workable email address for you and your parent.
· Your grade is comprised of homework 20%, quizzes 30% and tests 50%.
· Three hours of JCCC College Algebra credit may also be earned during this course. See the handouts concerning that information.