Chemistry I Syllabus

 

Instructor: Mr. Brandon W. Collins
Room: 216
E-mail: collinsb@gnasd.com
Webpage: http://teacherweb.com/PA/GreaterNanticokeArea/CollinsB/

 

Required Materials:

The following items should be brought to every class period:

Students will also be responsible for bringing a laboratory notebook to designated laboratory and classroom periods. Students will be informed when they need to bring these notebooks with them to class.

 

Class Format:

Class Periods:
Each day there will be one or more short response questions listed on the board for you to answer during the first few minutes of class. Upon arrival in the classroom, you need to answer these questions since they will be part of your daily grade. During this time, homework will be checked or collected and attendance will be taken.

 

Laboratory Periods:

As part of your successful chemistry education, it is essential that you take part in hands-on chemistry experiments and demonstrations. Each chapter we will devote at least one class period to conduct scientific experiments that pertain to the subjects that we are studying in our class. Upon arrival to the lab, you will be required remove all unnecessary books from the table tops and put on your safety equipment.  You will receive more information regarding the format of these experiments. Students who have not returned the laboratory safety contract or cannot safely conduct themselves in the lab will not be allowed to take part in experiments.

 

Attendance and Tardiness Policy:
Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class period. In order to be able to take part in the daily lesson and receive a quality education you need to be present in the classroom. Let’s face it, in reality we all get sick or have situations arise that may cause us to miss a day of class. This is understandable.  However, having three or more unexcused absences in a single quarter will begin to negatively affect your participation grade. Students are encouraged to get to class on time.  Please make every effort to make it to class on time. If you are late, you need to have a signed ADMIT SLIP from the office or the appropriate teacher before coming to class. Arriving consistently late for class will negatively affect your participation grade and possibly lead to further disciplinary action as defined in the student handbook.


Students are reminded that they are responsible for obtaining and completing any work they may have missed due to their absence. As required by the student handbook, students will be given five (5) days to make up any assignments in which they have missed due to absence. After that time, no credit will be issued for the assignment. There will be no exceptions to this rule.

 

Assignments:

All homework assignments, projects, lab reports, etc. will be given a due date in which the assignment must be completed and returned to the teacher for credit.  The due dates for these assignments will depend on the nature of the assignment, length of the assignment, and the difficulty of the assignment. Below is a listing when assignments will typically be due:

 

Homework Questions or Worksheets: Start of the following class period

Pre-Lab Assignments: Due at the start of our  lab period.

Informal/Formal Lab Reports: Typically one week from the end of the lab period.

Projects: Due dates will vary but will be no less than two weeks time.

 

Late Assignments

You will be penalized 10% of the value of pre-laboratory assignments, laboratory reports, and projects that are handed in late. Late homework assignments will not be accepted for any reason. There will be NO exceptions to this rule.
 
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the practice of taking written work of another individual and passing it off as your own original work. Please be aware, Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this class. Students caught plagiaizing papers will be given a zero for the assignment and may be referred to the office for further disciplinary action.
 
Plagarism will be defined as:
 
1.Taking a small portion or an entire paper from another individuals book, magazine, or website and passing it off as your own work. (ie. cut and paste from the internet)
 
2. Using the same assignment a student has used in the past while claiming it is your own work. Students cannot resuse the work of other students from the current or prior school year.
 
Students are encouraged to do outside research and include quotations from other people's work. However, you are expected to cite the material used in the paper using a reference or works cited page.

 

Tests:

During a marking period, there can be up to four in-class tests that will be given, commonly after completing a chapter or unit in the textbook. These in-class tests will be pre-dominantly composed of multiple choice, sentence completions, matching, and true-false questions and will be worth 100 points unless otherwise noted. Short answer, essay questions, or chemistry problems may also be given on these tests. 

Students are urged to be present on the day of the test! Students absent on the day of the test (except for school related activities and other activites as defined in the school handbook) will take a make up test composed of short answer questions and essays upon their return to the school or other scheduled time.  An additional 10% will be deducted for each additional day from the scheduled make up time that the make up test has not yet been completed.  Incomplete tests will be recorded as a zero grade at the end of the marking period.

If you know you are going to be absent on the day of a test and cannot avoid being absent on that day, please let me know so that arrangements can be made for you to take the test a day early or earlier in the school day.

 

CHEATING WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! As required by the administration, any student(s) caught cheating will be given a failing grade on the test or assignment and referred to the office for further disciplinary actions. Remember, the person next to you may not even have the same question or test as you do! DON’T DO IT!
 
Examinations:
There will be school mandated final exams. Information regarding the length, points value, and the date the exam will be given will be announced at a later time in the school year.
 

Homework:

Students will be assigned various activities for homework which may include reading, writing outlines, worksheets, lab reports, or other work. Homework will be checked or collected daily and will count towards your daily grade. 

If applicable, homework will not necessarily be graded based upon correct or incorrect answers. Rather, homework will be graded by the effort put into the assignment. Simply writing down an answer without supporting details or mathematical work will not fair as well as answers that have supporting explanations or mathematical calculations.

 

Quizzes:

Quizzes, whether announced or unannounced, will be given during a marking period in order to gauge student understanding.  These quizzes will be no longer than ten questions and students will be given at least ten minutes of time to complete these quizzes. 

 

Daily Participation:
One of the keys to success in a chemistry class is asking questions and being an active member of the classroom. Although I don’t expect you to answer every question, I do expect to you participate in some way during each class and laboratory period.