Appraoching the Final Stretch...

US History AP/ACC:

• Remember that payments to Saint Louis University are due by December 1st or students will be dropped from the SLU course. This will not impact their enrollment at Belleville West. If you have questions about enrollment at SLU, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at bhentze@bths201.org.
• As with last triad, all the content quizzes are now open and can be taken by students at any time before December 14th. Make sure you encourage them to pace themselves and not wait until the last minute before taking the quizzes!
• Students have their term papers assigned so you should be seeing them working on their research. Papers will be due the week before final exams. You will be asked to sign a signature card showing the you have reviewed the first draft and final draft with your students.
  

United States Government and Politics AP

• The final test will be administered before seniors are released for the semester. The test will count as 50% of their grade- so encourage studying early and often.
  
• Term papers have been returned- there over 70% scored in the A-B range.
  
• Triad quizzes will be due on December 14th, make sure to remind your son or daughter not to procrastinate in getting these done!
  

Triad Grades and College Payments

The US Government and Politics class opted to bypass their midterm exam in lieu of a final exam for the semester. This means that there will only be a few incremental grades this triad as I finish grading their semester papers. The final exam will now weight 50% of their total grade. SO far I have seen a decline in daily homeowrk and online participation from the students. I would encourage you to talk wtih them frequently about keeping up their senior grades. Contrary to popular belief, the last two semesters DO count for college admissions. Schools will rescind admission and scholarship offers if final semester grades are lower than anticipated.

The United States History AP class should be fully registered at SLU by now. Payment should be mailed directly to the university. Any students who are not paid will simply be withdrawn from the course by SLU. Just a reminder that all students will be encouraged to take the Advacned Placement test in May as another opportunity for college credit. The juniors did complete the midterm exams, and I have one test left to administer for a student who was absent the day of the exam. Once this studnet makes her appointment, I can begin calculating the curve and transfer the grade over to the new online system.

College Application Day

I have heard from quite a few parents that their students are really procrasitnating on completing college applications. I thought it might help if I hold a "college applicaton day" on Sunday, October 25th starting at 2:00PM. I invited all of the kids to bring in their applications, and we will all sit down and get them completed together. Nothing like a little peer pressure to get the job done!

Midterms, Field Experiences, and Papers= Oh, my

It is misterm exam season already, and the parents of juniors have already noticed the frantic look that overtakes their children at this time of year. The junior midterm is complete as of today, and the kids have really impressed me with their preparation. I browsed through some of the writing and it is looking good from the initial glances. They should have this back in about 2 weeks. The forced choice portion of the exam is today, and those results are immediate so the kids should have an idea of how they scored. Each part of the exam counts as 50% of the exam grade.

Tomorrow the juniors go on their field experience. They are to wear "wedding clothes" , but I recommended jackets as well since the weather will be chilly in Alton. It should be an exciting day for them, and I look forward to hearing from you on what they think.

The seniors are voting now on their midterm. They did not have the sense of urgency that the juniors did about preparation, and I am very concerned about their readiness for the exam. I have given them two options in order to "shock" them into action. They can either move the midterm back one week so they have more time to prepare, or they can not take a midterm and just have a final exam that is 50% of their grade (as of now the midterm is 24% and the final is 25%). We will go with the majority vote using an online polling tool. They should know the results on Friday.

Midterm Exams

I apologize for the delay in posting to the blog. I got caught up studying for an exam that I had to take at SLU, and I lost track of my last post.

The Midterm Exams have been scheduled for the next few weeks. Students should begin studying now in order to prepare for the exams. I recommend that they form study groups to go through the content chapter by chapter. Of course, there are several online resources available to help as well.

The US History AP exam is scheduled for October 20, 21, and 22.

The US Government and Politics AP exam is scheduled for October 26 and 27.

The field experience for each class is the day immediately following the exam.

US History papers are due on Monday, October 19th.

Field Experiences

US Government and Politics AP just completed the first of two field experiences last week. The visit to the Federal Court House was an exciting experience. We were able to visit three trials both at the circuit and appellate levels. The kids met two federal judges, a United States Attorney, and a US Marshal. From their reflections it seemed like a valuable learning experience.

I am in the process of planning their second experience for the end of October. We will be visiting the Veto Session of the Illinois General Assembly and meeting staff from the Office of the Governor. I am working with Senator Clayborne's office to finalize the details in the next few days.

The United States History AP classes will be taking their trip on October 23rd. We will be going to the Old Court House in St. Louis to re-enact the trial of Dredd Scott in the original setting. From there we will depart for Alton, Illinois where we will receive a guided tour of the Underground Railroad sites in the city. There will be a nominal cost to the students of $5 to cover the guided tour.

I look forward to seeing our students benefit from seeing their learning come to life!


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Triad Grades

I have finished calculating the triad grade for the first grading period. As in the past, the first grading period is usually a shock for students in Advanced Placement courses. There are only a small number of points awarded the first triad, so any missed work will result in a significant decline. Overall the grades were good with a majority of students scoring in the A and B range.

Students who scored below a B usually did so for one of two reasons. First, the student missed an online quiz and received a zero for this grade. This is usually the first wake-up call that planning must be done to complete quizzes on time. Second, students failed to complete their online coursework such as posting to discussion forums or completing online note-taking over articles or web pages. Online class participation is a significant part of the overall course grade (both course syllabi are available online with the grade breakdowns included).

The good news is that there are significantly more points (hundreds!) left in the semester. As I mentioned at parent night, grades can make serious "swings" as the weeks progress.

The grade breakdowns by course are as follow:

US History 5-6AP
27 A's
12 B's
6 C's
5 D's
2 F's

United States Government and Politics AP
21 A's
10 B's
13 C's
4 D's
8 F's