Geometry, AP Calculus AB, AP Statistics 10/27/2003

Name: ________________________

Mr. Hansen’s Clarifications
for the start of the second quarter

Dear Students,

         There is very little that is new in this handout. The main purpose is to clarify or to emphasize things that you already know, or mostly know.

                                                                                              Sincerely,

                                                                                              Mr. Hansen

1.	Start time. Class begins when Smokey plays the “Charge!” song. Before the song, you have a 5-second warning to take your seat. In order to be counted as being on time, you should have your textbook and notebook open, and you should be finishing the last few words of your socializing. In other words, we are ready to begin. By the same token, I should have Smokey out, my textbook open, and any handouts for the day in a pile for distribution. If there is to be a homework scan, El Cubano should be set up and turned on. If any of these items are not in place, or if for some reason I am not ready to begin at the start time, then the students present are entitled to a bonus point. On test days, you should put all your papers away and have desks properly spaced for testing before the “Charge!” By the same token, if I am delayed in the copier room and cannot distribute the tests at the very beginning, then any students who are ready to start when I arrive are entitled to 1 point per minute (or fraction of a minute) that I am late. In general, make-up tests do not qualify for a bonus. The rules for tardiness will remain in effect: 1 point off per minute or fraction, with 10 free points per quarter. If I am tardy, there is 1 point bonus per minute or fraction for the people who are seated and ready to start when I arrive. Students who are walking around, sharpening pencils, visiting the men’s room, or otherwise being less than 100% prepared do not qualify for the bonus. If you leave your books in the room and have my permission to go to the men’s room, you are not considered tardy if you return shortly after class begins. However, you may miss out on a bonus if I am unexpectedly delayed. Talking in a normal “inside voice” is fine, as long as you end promptly when class starts.
2.	End time. Class ends promptly at the Smokey signal. If for some reason I hold the class beyond the Smokey signal, the class is entitled to an early dismissal on another day.
3.	Minor infractions (too loud, no jacket, wrong socks, sloppy tie, shirt untucked, talking out of turn, using mild profanity, sitting on desktop, etc.). Each occurrence will be, at my discretion, either a warning or a deduction of points. I seldom write referrals for minor in-class infractions unless the problem is habitual. Socks must be “crew style”; do not waste time pulling your ankle socks up over the ankle. You are required to wear socks even if you have trousers, but I seldom notice sock infractions with trousers. Hooded sweatshirts are not permitted, period. You must wear a jacket, but you may remove it after you enter the classroom if you wish. Regarding hats, remember that only women may wear hats indoors. (Why is that? I do not know. That’s just the way it is.) Note that when you are in the rest of the school, stricter rules apply, and I generally give only one warning. Double infractions (e.g., shirt untucked and no jacket) may result in a referral without a warning.
4.	More serious infractions (horseplay, fighting, showing disrespect, etc.). Infractions of these types may result in referrals to Mr. Andreoli and/or steeper point penalties. Horseplay is acceptable outdoors—after all, we are a boys’ school—but fighting is never acceptable. Although showing disrespect is a serious matter, I generally give a warning on the first occurrence. You must show respect to your classmates as well as to me. Unacceptable behaviors include mocking, belittling, using any but the mildest sarcasm, shouting down, ridiculing, yawning, eye-rolling, and saying “Shut up.” Interrupting is sometimes acceptable, but it must be done in a respectful manner. By the way, all these rules apply to me as well. Last year, when a student respectfully pointed out to me that I had used sarcasm against him, I met with him after class and we negotiated a suitable resolution.
5.	Avenues of appeal. If you disagree with a decision of mine (for example, a 3-point penalty for tardiness when you think you were only 2 minutes late), please do not waste class time by arguing. This is disrespectful to the rest of us and is inappropriate. It is certainly acceptable to say, “Mr. Hansen, could we discuss this at the end of class?” You may raise grading issues during class, but if it becomes clear that only a few students are affected, I will ask that the issue be postponed to the end of class. You have the following avenues of appeal for any decision that I make: · First, please speak to me after class, in my office, or in the Math Lab. There is a good chance that we can negotiate a solution in private. · If you are still unhappy with the outcome, I will be happy to speak with your parents. If you prefer to leave your parents out of it, you may proceed to the next step. · You may ask the administration to intervene. Please respect the chain of command. Mr. Kelley, my department chair, should be able to handle all but the most serious matters. Mr. Ware is next, followed by Mr. Wilson.
6.	Honor code. Our honor code states that you will not lie, cheat, or steal. One difference between our honor code and those at some other schools is that if you know of someone who is violating the honor code, you are not required to turn him in. An ethical obligation that you have when you know of violations by another student is that you should confront the violator and encourage him to turn himself in. Although this is not part of the honor code, it falls under the category of doing the right thing and encouraging others to seek redemption and forgiveness. Regardless of your religious beliefs, these are good things to do. Acceptable: “Was the test hard?” Answer: “No comment” or “Pretty much what Mr. Hansen had told us.” Unacceptable: “Were there any of those hard quotient rule problems?” Answer: “A few. But overall, the test was easier than I was expecting. The inverse mapping wasn’t covered at all.” Unacceptable: “Were there any Always/Sometimes/Never questions?” Answer: “About six of them. I think all but one of them were ‘Sometimes.’” If you know of any honor code violations, I would also ask that you tip me off (anonymously, if you wish) so that I can change my security procedures. As you know, my practice of giving make-up tests that are similar to regular tests provides an opportunity for cheating. Geometry A and B usually receive identical tests, providing a brief window for students in one class to tip off those in the other. I have no evidence that any of this has occurred, and in fact (thankfully) I have strong evidence that my students are honest. However, if anything changes in the future, please clue me in so that I can change my procedures. You don’t need to give me all the details.
7.	Absences. First, let me emphasize something from the homework guide taped inside your textbook: If you are absent for any reason, you are responsible for getting your homework scanned outside of class. You are also responsible for obtaining class notes from someone and for keeping up with the new assignments. For unplanned absences (sickness, death in family, etc.) I generally grant a one-day extension for you to get caught up for each class day that you missed. For planned absences (college trips, field trips, family vacations, etc.) I require that work be made up in advance whenever feasible. For example, if you have an out-of-town weekend sporting event that will wear you out so that you cannot attend class on Monday, Monday’s test should be taken the previous Friday. Make-up tests sometimes have to be given after the rest of the class has taken the test, but such make-up tests are suitable only for unplanned absences. More details about my absence policies are on the Web at www.modd.net/contact.htm.
8.	Tips for learning. (If you are a good student, you may already have discovered some of these on your own.) · Always listen to other students’ questions, not just to what the teacher says. · If something in the textbook or class discussion makes no sense, don’t simply drop it. Try to work it out on your own, and if that fails, make a note to ask your teacher or a classmate so that the confusion can be cleared up as soon as possible. · Be polite. Reserve the heated words for a clash of ideas against each other: debating the merits of a conjecture, for example, or deciding whether a theorem is standard (Þ) or biconditional (Û). · Everything works out in the end. · Homework is for stumbling. The important thing is to learn from your mistakes. If you think your knowledge is so spotty that you aren’t even trying the problems, and you’re simply leaving placeholders in your homework papers, then you are depriving yourself of a valuable struggle. · Homework is a bit like weight training. We don’t do it for the output; we do it for the side effects. The output of homework is pointless—why solve page after page of problems when computers could do the job faster and more accurately? Why lift weights, when a backhoe (or, for that matter, a skinny kid with a block and tackle) could accomplish the same task, though perhaps not as impressively? The answers have to do with side effects. If you are good at math, you have a certain type of mental fitness. If you are good at weightlifting, you have a certain type of physical fitness. · If a homework problem is baffling, choose a similar problem for which the answer is in the back of the book. Then, using the answer as a clue, see if you can use backward chaining to figure out at least a few of the steps. (For calculus and statistics, this is easy, because neighboring problems are usually similar, and the odd ones have answers in the back of the book. But even in geometry, you can use this trick.) · If you use shortcuts in homework at first, be sure to “firm up” that knowledge later on. · Think while doing your homework. Otherwise, it can tend to be somewhat boring. · Pay attention to what the teacher says but especially to what the teacher writes. Remember, it takes a bit of extra effort to write things on the board or in the margins of your graded papers. Those words must be things that your teacher thinks are worth knowing. · Take most of the time and effort that goes into figuring out what you need on the next test or exam in order to earn a ________ [insert desired grade here], and spend the energy instead on learning the subject matter. A little bit of grade focus is okay if you care deeply about grades—see next item—but too much is unhealthy. · Try to find some reason to care about the class and the subject material. Perhaps not all of it is interesting, but with a bit of creativity you can always find something to draw you in. This is your key task as a learner: finding the “button” or “switch” that changes you from not caring to caring. If the same emotional hook worked for everyone, your teacher’s job would be easy indeed. Having an emotional connection with the subject is the key to learning. · If you really, really want to learn something, try teaching it to somebody else.