Mathematics Level D

Core-Plus Mathematics

Course Description

You can click here to view the publisher’s description which is much more detailed than I will provide.

Student Materials

….at school

Standard spiral notebook or 3-ring binder

Composition notebook (Toolkit)

Graph paper

Pencils and Pens

….at home

Scientific calculator – it is recommended that students who will be continuing to take mathematics beyond the minimum requirement have a graphing calculator. We support TI products and the 83+ or 84 are suitable. If they are going to be taking AP Calculus it is required that they have their own graphing calculator at that time.

There are a number of graphing calculators available for check out in the HS library.

Straightedge

Compass

Protractor

Expectations for the classroom are very straight forward and simple.

Come to class prepared – have assignments completed and bring all of your “tools”

Come to class ready to learn – students must be ACTIVE participants in class.

A Typical Day

10 minutes to discuss yesterday’s assignment. During this time ALL students need to be making corrections and improvements to their own work.

40 minutes to work on the topic of the day. Students are assigned an investigation that they work on with their peers at their table. During this time they need to keep track of their discoveries and make whatever notes they deem appropriate. Students will be asked to present their discoveries and I will be making clarifying remarks and notes.

10 minutes to get started on the homework assignment. It is critical that assignments be completed as the next day’s discussion will be directly impacted by their efforts.

Daily Work

Student will have the opportunity to use an online CPMP – Tools at http://www.wmich.edu/cpmp/CPMP-Tools/index.html. This has graphing utilities as well as spreadsheets and geometry tools.

Homework is graded by EFFORT and not entirely by correctness. Homework is practice and expectations are that they will not get everything correct, but they can give a real effort. It is critical that when homework is being discussed in class the following day that the student make corrections.

Being an actively involved in the classroom is essential to the success of student. They will be expected to communicate effectively within their group and to the classroom as a whole. This may take the form of note taking, informal group discussions, working together on an activity, answering questions posed by the teacher, presenting solutions to homework problems on the overhead, creating a poster to be presented to the entire class, or just following directions.

In order to be fully involved in the everyday activities each student need to come to class and come to class prepared. This includes being on time, bringing their own book, notebook, and other supplies. It also means that they need to have their homework from the previous day completed. Often the activities of any given day will refer to and require the homework assignment.

Exams and Quizzes

There will be a major exam at the end of each unit. There will also be periodic quizzes that can assist me with evaluating the student’s progress.

Grades

Grades are assigned on a weighted scale so it would be incorrect to total all the points earned and divide by the total points possible. For more information on how to calculate weighted grades click here.

Assessments 55%

Daily Work 45%