Letter To An Incoming Bio Student
Hi I'm Will, and I am a freshman. I went to Saratoga Elementary and then Redwood Middle School before coming to Saratoga High. Some of the classes I took this year included Biology, Geometry Enriched, Spanish 2, and Intro to Computer Science. I expected this class to be hard, however if you do all your homework and take good notes on the vodcasts, you will be fine. I also played basketball this year, and I would recommend playing any sport in high school because they are good to relieve stress from all of your classes.
Mr. Orre expects you to be honest and to stay on task. If you didn't finish your homework, don't try to do it during class. The first thing I do when I come to class everyday is look at the board to look at the "DO NOW". This usually consists of writing a small summary of the previous night's vodcast in your notebook, or taking out your assigned chromebook. The beginning of a typical day of class usually starts with a recap of last night's vodcast. Then, we are usually working on one of the numerous interesting labs such as dissecting a pig, or gel electrophoresis. To prep for the lab, I would review the material that we have learned concerning the lab. The homework for this class stays relatively the same throughout the course of the school year. We have a vodcast everyday, and sometimes we have to finish a lab write up or a unit reflection because we didn't finish it in class. The homework does not take very long if you stay on task. However, the homework can take a very long time if you get distracted by your phone. I learned this the hard way. Once I put my phone away, the homework took around 15-20 minutes at most. The quizzes and tests will come very easy to you if you pay attention during class, and during the vodcasts. I would also advise looking over the vodcast notes, and maybe even rewatching a few vodcasts that may have been confusing to help study. Your biology notebook is very important so make sure not to misplace it. All of your vodcasts and "DO NOWs" will be going into there. Also, the occasional chapter notes at the end of a unit. We use chromebooks very often to publish posts on our blogs. I really enjoyed the blog because I like typing much more than writing. I also like how you can customize your blog to look however you would like it to look. I enjoy the blog because they contain all of my digital work for the year in one easy spot to access. The blog is also good because it shows your progression throughout the year. You can see how your posts and summaries have changed. My favorite blog post was my unit 9 reflection (http://tinyurl.com/ydboj3pw) because it was my final unit summary. I can see the progress from my initial unit reflection all the way to this one. The most important thing is to do the vodcasts everyday, and always check canvas to make sure you know when everything is due, because in the second semester Mr. Orre will give a 0 for any late work.
One thing you should not do is be a rookie. Being a rookie consists of asking where to get papers from, where to turn something in, not writing a relate and review to your vodcast, forgetting to turn something in on time, forgetting to do a CFU, and much more. Also, do not ever try to talk over Mr. Orre. Pay attention to him and give him your respect because it is probably important for whatever you are doing at that moment. Just mainly be respectful and to Mr. Orre and do not be a rookie. What I did to earn a good grade in this class was that I never missed a single vodcast or textbook chapter notes. This alone will guarantee a good portion of your grade. Another thing I did was constantly check canvas to make sure that I did not have any late assignments. I also never procrastinated on any labs or blog posts, and finished them in class or when I got home. Homework is essential for receiving a good grade in this class. I am not the best test taker, but I completed all of the homework and blog posts so I received a good grade in this class. To earn a good grade on a test, as I said earlier I would review vodcast notes and rewatch a few vodcasts. This will be very helpful in raising your test score. To get the most out of this class, I would not slack off. Pay attention to the vodcasts and the labs, because they are very good sources for learning. One mistake I made during this year was that I forgot to do my hot questions for my vodcast (a rookie mistake). I tried to do them in class but Mr. Orre saw me and then he gave the class a speech about academic integrity. It was embarrassing. Another mistake I made was forgetting to do a CFU (another rookie mistake). Of course with my luck, the one CFU I forgot to do was put into the Summative Assessment category. I never forgot to do a CFU after that. The third mistake that I made was procrastinating on a vodcast. I woke up early in the morning to do it, and that wasn't the smartest thing because I do not think I retained the information very well.
Overall, I really enjoyed this class. The labs and all of the interactive learning was very fun. I also liked the "flipped classroom" model, where most of the learning was done at home with the vodcasts, rather than in class. This way, I could pause the lecture to take notes and rewind if I didn't understand something. Next year I am going to take Chemistry Honors because I am interested in chemistry, and also because Mr. Orre recommended it. The main point of advice I can give is to make sure you are always checking canvas and the board for upcoming assignments and make sure you are on top of everything.
Mr. Orre expects you to be honest and to stay on task. If you didn't finish your homework, don't try to do it during class. The first thing I do when I come to class everyday is look at the board to look at the "DO NOW". This usually consists of writing a small summary of the previous night's vodcast in your notebook, or taking out your assigned chromebook. The beginning of a typical day of class usually starts with a recap of last night's vodcast. Then, we are usually working on one of the numerous interesting labs such as dissecting a pig, or gel electrophoresis. To prep for the lab, I would review the material that we have learned concerning the lab. The homework for this class stays relatively the same throughout the course of the school year. We have a vodcast everyday, and sometimes we have to finish a lab write up or a unit reflection because we didn't finish it in class. The homework does not take very long if you stay on task. However, the homework can take a very long time if you get distracted by your phone. I learned this the hard way. Once I put my phone away, the homework took around 15-20 minutes at most. The quizzes and tests will come very easy to you if you pay attention during class, and during the vodcasts. I would also advise looking over the vodcast notes, and maybe even rewatching a few vodcasts that may have been confusing to help study. Your biology notebook is very important so make sure not to misplace it. All of your vodcasts and "DO NOWs" will be going into there. Also, the occasional chapter notes at the end of a unit. We use chromebooks very often to publish posts on our blogs. I really enjoyed the blog because I like typing much more than writing. I also like how you can customize your blog to look however you would like it to look. I enjoy the blog because they contain all of my digital work for the year in one easy spot to access. The blog is also good because it shows your progression throughout the year. You can see how your posts and summaries have changed. My favorite blog post was my unit 9 reflection (http://tinyurl.com/ydboj3pw) because it was my final unit summary. I can see the progress from my initial unit reflection all the way to this one. The most important thing is to do the vodcasts everyday, and always check canvas to make sure you know when everything is due, because in the second semester Mr. Orre will give a 0 for any late work.
One thing you should not do is be a rookie. Being a rookie consists of asking where to get papers from, where to turn something in, not writing a relate and review to your vodcast, forgetting to turn something in on time, forgetting to do a CFU, and much more. Also, do not ever try to talk over Mr. Orre. Pay attention to him and give him your respect because it is probably important for whatever you are doing at that moment. Just mainly be respectful and to Mr. Orre and do not be a rookie. What I did to earn a good grade in this class was that I never missed a single vodcast or textbook chapter notes. This alone will guarantee a good portion of your grade. Another thing I did was constantly check canvas to make sure that I did not have any late assignments. I also never procrastinated on any labs or blog posts, and finished them in class or when I got home. Homework is essential for receiving a good grade in this class. I am not the best test taker, but I completed all of the homework and blog posts so I received a good grade in this class. To earn a good grade on a test, as I said earlier I would review vodcast notes and rewatch a few vodcasts. This will be very helpful in raising your test score. To get the most out of this class, I would not slack off. Pay attention to the vodcasts and the labs, because they are very good sources for learning. One mistake I made during this year was that I forgot to do my hot questions for my vodcast (a rookie mistake). I tried to do them in class but Mr. Orre saw me and then he gave the class a speech about academic integrity. It was embarrassing. Another mistake I made was forgetting to do a CFU (another rookie mistake). Of course with my luck, the one CFU I forgot to do was put into the Summative Assessment category. I never forgot to do a CFU after that. The third mistake that I made was procrastinating on a vodcast. I woke up early in the morning to do it, and that wasn't the smartest thing because I do not think I retained the information very well.
Overall, I really enjoyed this class. The labs and all of the interactive learning was very fun. I also liked the "flipped classroom" model, where most of the learning was done at home with the vodcasts, rather than in class. This way, I could pause the lecture to take notes and rewind if I didn't understand something. Next year I am going to take Chemistry Honors because I am interested in chemistry, and also because Mr. Orre recommended it. The main point of advice I can give is to make sure you are always checking canvas and the board for upcoming assignments and make sure you are on top of everything.
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