Welcome to Riverdale High School and Mr. Vaughn’s Class! I intend to have a great year getting to know you and helping you develop the skills necessary to succeed in the future. The year will be over before you know it, so buckle down and work hard! The first few weeks can determine the rest of your high school career...make them good!
Expectations:
Grading Scale: Students will be graded according to the school grading scale which may be found in the Handbook. Students should keep all papers returned to them in their Chemistry/Biology Notebook, so as to maintain a running log of their scores in case of a discrepancy. Students can also expect periodic Notebook quizzes. The grading proportions for each grading period are as follows:
Tests = 40 %
Quizzes = 20 %
Homework = 20 %
Participation/Lab = 20 %
Make-Up Work: All assignments are expected to be turned in on the due dates, unless prior arrangements are made or it is due to an excused absence. It is the responsibility of the student to make up all missing assignments within FIVE (5) days of the student returning to school. Make-up work will only be accepted from students with excused absences. Unexcused late work will result in a zero.
Exams: All students must take the comprehensive mid-term. Students who qualify will be exempt from the final exam, at the teacher’s discretion. Students may not use Mole Bucks or BioBucks to drop test grades. Some exemptions will not be allowed, for instance any End-of-Course (EOC) or Gateway Test.
Mole Bucks/ BioBucks: Students may be rewarded for exceptional work. Mole Bucks or BioBucks will be considered quite valuable since they will allow the student to drop a low grade or missing assignment.
Reward System:
1 Buck will be rewarded for two consecutive weeks of perfect attendance.
1 Buck will be rewarded for a 100% on any pop quiz.
1 Buck may be rewarded for any other reason the instructor deems appropriate.
Exchange Rate:
1 Buck can replace a homework assignment.
2 Bucks can replace a quiz grade (with the exception of signed progress reports).
2 Bucks can replace a Lab Report.
Tutoring: Students desiring help in Chemistry or Biology may attend before-school or after-school tutoring sessions. Tutoring sessions will not be available every day, and are subject to cancellation at the teacher’s discretion. Students should not rely on tutoring sessions to complete assignments.
Other Class Policies:
1. Respect the teacher and other students at all times.
2. Do not litter, eat, drink, or put on makeup in class. Water is acceptable as long as we are not in lab.
3. Students will be marked as tardy if they are not in their seats by the time the class bell stops ringing.
4. The teacher will dismiss the class - not the bell.
5. We will turn in papers written only in pencil and grade papers only in red ink.
6. Cheating in any form constitutes an ethical infraction of the most serious nature. It will be punished by an automatic zero and may not be made up.
The student has 24 hours to notify his/her parents; otherwise, I will contact the parents in 48 hours... this will not be a pleasant experience for you.
7. Behavioral disruptions will not be tolerated. Prompt discipline will follow.
FAVORITE QUOTES:
"If I could remember the names of all these particles, I'd be a botanist."
"Statistics: The only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions."
"Torture numbers, and they'll confess to anything."
"If your result needs a statistician then you should design a better experiment."
"When I die, I'm leaving my body to science fiction."
"Crash programs fail because they are based on theory that, with nine women pregnant, you can get a baby in a month."
"No one should approach the temple of science with the soul of a money changer."
"Should we force science down the throats of those that have no taste for it? Is it our duty to drag them kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century ? I am afraid that it is."
— George Porter (1920- ), British chemist
