Group Work.  We will frequently work in pairs and teams, particularly in the laboratory.  Sometimes I will allow you to choose your own partner, at other times I will assign students to work together.  I expect you to accept these assignments without complaint/whining.  Although we will do lab work in teams, each student will write up his/her own lab report.  During group work, answers and solutions may be freely shared, but all members are expected to contribute.  Simply copying answers from another lab report, homework, etc. without having helped to produce the product is plagiarism and will be treated as such.

Attendance.  Regular attendance is very important if you plan on succeeding in IB biology.  The attendance policy corresponds with the school-wide policy; see the student handbook.  Most of the labs, presentations, videos and other assignments are difficult, if not impossible, to completely make up. 

Extra Help Opportunities.  There are weekly study group sessions scheduled for every Monday after school.  I will be available on those days for lab make up and extra help.  I hold evening review sessions prior to major tests so that people with after school commitments can attend.  In addition, please feel free to email me or call me with questions or to set up a one-on-one study session.  Although I am a very busy person, I will do my best to help you learn biology at your convenience.  

Missed Class Make Up. If you miss an assignment due to an absence, it is YOUR responsibility to seek and schedule a make-up, not my responsibility to seek you out.  If you are absent, visit the class web site at Biology for Life to see what you missed.  If the work we did in class is not linked on the site, upon your return to class check the “Today in IB Bio” binder to pick up any assignments or handouts you missed.  You have one week to make up any assignments missed due to your excused absence.  If you missed a lab due to an excused absence, it is YOUR responsibility to schedule a lab make up session within two weeks of your absence.  Missed labs may require actual lab make-up or completion of an alternative assignment. You may not make up assignments, activities or labs missed due to an unexcused absence. 

Late Work.  Late work due to an excused absence will be accepted without penalty if it is turned in on the day you return to school.  All other late work will be accepted with a 20% penalty up to five school days late.  Work more than five days late or after the unit test will be accepted with a 50% penalty.  Late work must have a late work admit slip attached prior to handing it in.

Lab Safety.  Each student must have returned a lab safety contract, signed by student and parent before being allowed to do lab work.  See the Issaquah School District lab safety rules.

Laboratory Equipment Fines.  If you damage, brake or misuse laboratory equipment during class, you are responsible for paying a replacement fee for the item.  A fine slip will be written, and you will be required to pay your fee directly to the ASB book keeper. 

Hall Pass.  One person may leave the classroom at a time with a hall pass.  You may not leave the classroom during direct instruction (i.e. lecture or giving directions).  Before you leave the classroom you must fill out the hall pass sign-out sheet.  To sign out, legibly sign your name, list the time you are leaving class, and where you are going.  When you return to class, mark the time you returned to class.  Although there is no set limit to the number of times you may leave the classroom, if you choose to abuse this privilege you should expect disciplinary action.

Electronics Use.  Listening to music is not permitted during direct instruction, group work, or lab experiments.  You may listen to music during individual work time.  You may not use a calculator for game play at any time during class.  Except for use as calculators, timers and cameras during labs, use of cell phones is not permitted (including text messaging).  Turn off all cell phones prior to coming to class.  If you choose to violate these guidelines, your calculator, cell phone, or headset will be confiscated for the remainder of the class period. 

Textbook.  The textbook for the course is the sixth edition of Neil A. Campbell and Jane B. Reece’s Biology.   To access the book on-line, go to http://www.aw-bc.com/campbell/.  The website is also linked from the homepage.  Click the green book entitled “Biology”. Sign in as an established user using the user name “skylinespartans” and the password “watsoncrick53”.   In addition, if you click the link for the E-book, you can access the entire text of the book on line (you will be asked to re-enter the user name and password). Once you have logged in, you are able to access the full content of the most amazing biology textbook ever written on the face of the planet.  Now, whenever you want to see what the textbook would say, you can check on-line.  There are cool animations and self quizzes that you can access. 

Cheating.  Cheating will not be tolerated and is clearly a violation of course and school policy.  The following acts of cheating are examples of behavior that will result in disciplinary actions as outlined in the student handbook. 

·         Passing calculators during a test, quiz, or other assessment

·         Copying someone else’s test, quiz, homework, assignment, or report

·         Letting someone copy from a test, quiz, homework, assignment, or report

·         Looking at notes during a test, quiz, or other assessment

·         Sharing questions from a test with students who have yet to take the test

·         Listing someone else’s data with out giving credit, or worse, making up data to fit the expected answer.  It is acceptable to present your own data, to state the reasons that you feel the results should be disregarded, and then to present another student’s data (making sure the source is acknowledged)

·         Using opinions, facts, ideas, charts, data and direct quotes from research papers, newspapers, magazines, textbooks, websites, or another person without citing the source.

It is assumed that Skyline students are honorable people.  Only those lacking in intelligence believe that cheating on academic work is profitable.  Students are here to learn; cheating makes learning impossible. 

Grading Policy.  You earn your grade; I do not “give” grades.  Grades will be updated and posted on-line on a regular basis.  The final grade for the class will not be a surprise to you.  I DO NOT ROUND GRADES (I feel I give ample opportunity for you to earn extra credit to raise your grade).  The following grading scale will be used in IB Biology:

     You will earn points in this course based upon scores in the following categories:

Tests (30% of course grade).  Tests are given once per quarter and will be patterned after the end-of-course examinations.  They will be detailed and comprehensive, including multiple-choice, calculation problems, and essay/discussion questions.  Tests are curved in a manner that allows 5% of students to earn extra points on each test.  In other words, if I have 100 IB Biology students, instead of setting the curve at the highest test score in the class, I set the curve at the 6th highest overall score.  The five students that scored above the 6th highest score would earn extra test points.  I do this because the tests are hard and are all cumulative in nature.

Laboratory Work (25% of course grade).  See the details about lab work here.

Quizzes (25% of course grade).  There are two types of quizzes:

Syllabus statement quizzes are based on the syllabus statements assigned in class and will usually occur once per unit of study.  Quizzes will be either individual or completed in a group.  Upon occasion, you will be allowed to use your “syllabus statement” book on the quizzes. Quizzes are based on past IB test exam questions.

Vocabulary quizzes are matching quizzes on which you match words with their definition based on the prefix and suffix of the words.  Students in the past have commented that these quizzes help them tremendously when learning the vast amount of new terms encountered in a science class and, as a bonus, helps prepare for the SAT tests.  These quizzes are designed to "boost" you quiz score IF you study!

Class Work and Notebook Checks (20% of course grade).  Notebook checks and all assignments completed throughout the course (including assigned syllabus statements, concept maps and reflective writing) considered class work.  The supplemental reading assignment and all extra credit points are added into the class work category of the grade.

·     Internet Use.  I will be publishing information for students and parents on the class web site on a regular basis. Many homework assignments will include activities which must be done on Internet. Not having Internet at home is not an excuse for not being able to do the homework. There are other ways to access the World Wide Web (at school in the library, at a friend's house, at public libraries.  When I do give a homework assignment on Internet, be sure to start it early.  Computers have a way of not working when you absolutely must finish something for the next day!