Teacher:  Andrew Helm

Email:  andrew.helm@lacenterschools.org

Phone:  263-1700 ext 5152

 

Classroom Rules:

• Be Respectful, Proactive, Inquisitive, Prepared, and Punctual.

• Be on time and be prepared (bring all materials) at the start of the period

• Items not allowed: not closeable beverage containers, food, any other items that will disrupt the learning environment. Cell phones are only allowed at teacher discretion. 

 

Materials for in class AND home use:

• Lined College Ruled Paper.

• Graph Paper.  Get your ‘free’ graph paper via printing at: http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/

• Pencil or Pen (Blue or Black ink ONLY!).

• Recommended 3-ring binder (at least 1.5 inches) exclusively for this class.

• School issued chromebook.

 

Materials to keep at home:

• Protractor, ruler, and mathematics compass.

• Scientific calculator (or graphing calculator). Although a graphing calculator is not required for this course, it is a good investment for students planning on taking more advanced math.

• Colored pencils, glue sticks

 

Course Topics for Algebra 1:

• Searching for patterns, Exploring constant change, Investigating growth and decay, Describing distributions, Maximizing and minimizing 

Course Topics for Geometry:

• Reasoning with shapes, Establishing proof, Investigating proportionality, Connecting geometric and algebraic descriptions, and Making informed decisions.

Course Topics for Algebra 2:

• Analyzing structure, Developing structure similarities, Inverting functions, Investigating periodic functions, Relating data and decisions.

 

Textbooks and Online Resources

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Students will be issued a consumable student workbook. This will be used quite often in daily lessons. In addition, students will be issued a username and password that will give them online access to the textbook at carnegielearning.com, an electronic version of their consumable textbook is found here along with an online program called Mathia, this program is a powerful learning tool that gives immediate feedback and connects with the workbook.

 

The workbook and Mathia together are designed for students to explore and investigate topics in mathematics working along with other students. This requires students to be disciplined, cooperative, and most importantly willing to struggle and make mistakes. It is often through mistakes that the most enduring understanding is developed. They must stay focused and on task so that they can fully appreciate and understand the objectives of the lesson. 

 

Since, students will use their school issues chromebooks and workbooks in class, both must be brought to class everyday. In addition, all La Center students have a Google email address that can be used to access khanacademy.org, which contains math resources, notes, videos, and practice problems that give immediate feedback.

 

Outside of the teaching materials provided there is a nearly unbounded amount of online resources that can be accessed by simply doing a web search.

 

Classroom Dynamics

 

Times are changing as access to technology provides more learning opportunities. It is now the expectation, rather than the exception, that students become more resourceful and responsible for their independent learning. As outlined above, the barriers to access to information and instruction are being removed. No longer is the teacher the sole possessor of knowledge that is passed along through lectures and demonstrations. This does not mean that I will not be providing direct instruction, but rather that it is easily supplemented with additional resources. 

 

Grades

 

Two categories, daily activities and exams, are used to calculate grades. Daily Work, which includes ‘homework’ and “in class work”, constitutes 25% of the final grade and Assessments (tests, quizzes, and projects) make up the remaining 75%. In order to pass the class, in addition to a passing grade, students must demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the essential concepts of the course on assessments at the end of the year.

 

Assessments may be comprehensive and each semester may have a comprehensive final. A student must continue to review and study past material to be successful as math builds on itself.  On all assessments, emphasis will be on the explanation of the process and showing work, not just the answers. With performance on assessments providing the majority of the grade, if an assessment goes poorly, it is the student's responsibility to meet with your teacher to help the student with their next steps in developing a plan towards improvement. If a student is absent for an assessment, it is the student’s responsibility to reschedule a time to take the assessment. 

 

Daily work is mostly assessed by the student’s effort. These are considered practice and therefore should not be expected to be perfect. However, do not misinterpret this and think that trying to get it right is not important. Daily work assignments are expected to be completed in a timely manner as will be communicated in class. Extenuating circumstances will be addressed as appropriate on a case by case bases. Successful math students are diligent and consistent about doing daily work. Class work and daily work is essential to your success, practice is required to acquire full understanding, and reflection over how and why a process is used is important. Over the years, it is consistently true that students that do make consistent and focused efforts and reflect upon them on daily activities perform better on exams. Although many daily work activities will be graded on completion, some will be graded on accuracy. In addition, there will be daily work assignments that will be graded on accuracy. I expect students will help each other learn and improve their knowledge working together during daily work. The ability to ask questions, explain, and work with fellow students is the hallmark of learning, solidifying knowledge, and preparation for working with coworkers after high school. However, this does not take away that a student must take responsibility for their own learning. 

 

Skyward is always available for students and parents/guardians to monitor student progress. If there are any discrepancies please let me know ASAP so we can discuss it and I can correct the situation. If an “ * ” appears in the gradebook, it is because the student was absent and needs to complete the assignment in a timely manner or it is an optional assignment (test recovery) that need not be completed or the assignment has not been graded yet. Assignments that are marked missing, even if they contain a score, can still be finished and turned in for more points.

 

It is the student’s responsibility to determine the assignment missed during an absence and make arrangements for these to be assessed upon completion.

 

Communication

 

My first line of communication will be directly with the students. I believe that it is important that they take responsibility for their behavior and efforts and that I establish a positive relationship with every student. It is very important for students to understand that I have high expectations and standards for them, and myself. I will challenge them to do their best and hold them accountable.

 

I will reach out for additional encouragement to improve student effort and behavior if it becomes necessary. My first choice of communication is through email so I encourage all parents/guardians to be sure that they have the correct contact information in Skyward.

 

Expectations

 

I firmly believe that every student has the ability to be successful in learning the concepts of this class. I expect students to take responsibility, initiative, and determination for their learning. This is an attitude, a mindset, that is required not just in this class, but in the world beyond high school.

 

 

Conferences

• Mr. Helm will always meet with students and/or parents.

• Fortunately, I am involved in two sports, cross country in the fall and track and field in the spring. However, if sufficient time is given to me, I can make arrangements for longer meetings after school if that best meets your needs.

• Please give at least 24-hour notice prior to a desired meeting time.

 

Make the best of the year ahead!

 

Sincerely,

 

Andrew Helm

 

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