Contact Information: email: louissm@elderhs.net
voicemail: 921-3744 x3470
Office Hours: 7:15-7:45am and possibly 2:30-3:00pm in room 201
Text: Geometry from Pearson Publishing. The text will be put on your tablet for use outside of class and hard copies will be available in the classroom.
Class Rules: As Catholic young men at Elder High School, every student is expected to behave with the highest standards of decency and respect. This includes not talking until called upon to do so; treating each other, your instructors, and your classroom materials with respect; and generally behaving in a manner conducive to the learning environment.
Notebook: A notebook will be kept on a regular basis and will be graded for its neatness and completeness at the end of the year. All students should have a notebook with at least 120-150 pages to ensure that the notebook can be used for the entire year.
Calculators: A calculator is required for Geometry. It does not need to be a graphing calculator, but it does need to be a scientific one. If your calculator has the sine, cosine, and tangent keys, it will suffice for this class. You are welcome to use a graphing calculator if you have one, but there may be a few times throughout the year when you will not be allowed to use it because the material is all about graphing (I will have loaners available for those rare instances). Do NOT purchase a graphing calculator for this class.
Homework: Assignments will be given almost daily. These assignments must be completed neatly in pencil on looseleaf paper showing all relevant work and be ready to be collected at the beginning of the class period. You should be prepared to ask for help at the beginning of each class on any questions that may have caused you trouble (do this before I ask you to pass in your homework). These assignments will be graded based on all problems being completed with all work shown. Occasionally, the problems may be graded right or wrong and the grade will be adjusted accordingly, but most of the time, if you do all the problems and show your work when you are supposed to, you will receive 10 out of 10 possible points. I do not collect every homework assignment, but I try to get 10-12 per quarter. Assignments are updated daily on the website. All students are expected to consult this website whenever absent from class.
Quizzes: Quizzes will be given regularly and may or may not be announced. These will generally cover 2-4 sections of the textbook. At the Honors level, I drop the lowest quiz grade during the 1st and 4th quarters, as long as the student was present for all the quizzes that quarter.
Tests: Chapter tests will be given every two to three weeks and will generally be preceded by a class period of review.
Grading: The grading percentages will break down as follows:
Homework 20 %
Quiz Average 30 %
Chapter Tests 50 %