First of all, you have to check out this video. It pretty much sums up all of biology class. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap3QcPH6saA
I am Sandhya, a current freshman and I am 14. The classes I took this year are Journalism 1, English 9 MAP, World Geo/Health/DrEd, Espanol 2, Alegbra 2 Honors, and Biology. My interests in school are writing, science, math, english, and Spanish. I play the piano, sing, and play volleyball.
On the first day of class, I had this expectation that biology and just freshman year in general would be super hard. If this makes you feel better, it wasn't.
Mr Orre expects you to do your homework (the vodcasts) and the CFU's. If you pay attention to them and do the CFU's, you will be fine and you'll meet the basic expectations.
Here is a typical day in class. You come in, and get out your stuff. Then you will do a "golden moment" of mindfulness, and then you look at the board and do the DO NOW. Then, in your groups, you'll recap the vodcast and later Mr Orre will review it as well. The rest of class you could either be working on labs, blog posts, or projects.
Homework is a vodcast every class and sometimes unfinished work such as lab conclusions and projects. For example, I am in class right now. If I don't finish writing this now, it becomes my homework.
Tests are all straightforward and multiple choice. You will have to set up a notebook to use for the rest of the semester to have all of your vodcast notes and DO NOWs. You will also be required to keep a blog of all of the major things you'll do over the year in biology. My blog is called the Brilliant Biology Blog.
My favorite blog post is linked below:
http://brilliantbiologyblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/pglo-lab-conclusion.html
It's the pGLO lab, which was really fun because we got to make bacteria glow!
Over the year, I am now better at reflecting on myself, being mindful, and assertive.
Another project that takes up a lot of class time is the 20 TIME project. For this, we got to choose something we are passionate about and devote an entire project taking up the whole semester to that. Here is the link to my 20 time blog.
http://notjusttrash.blogspot.com/
Mr Orre's pet peeves include not cleaning up after a lab, talking while he's talking, not participating in mindfulness, not doing the CFU's, not doing the Do Now, not doing the Relate & Review, not having your notebook set up properly, etc. Its fairly simple to get a good grade- do the required work and CFUs, and study moderately- I wouldn't stress. As long as you put in the work and do the vodcasts, you will have a good grade. For tests, use the CFU's and Do Nows to study.
The most frequent mistake I made was publishing a blog post but forgetting to submit it in Canvas. I highly recommend that you don't forget this last step or your grade will suffer. Also, always do the CFUs because sometimes Mr Orre actually grades them based on participation.
Overall, biology is an interesting subject and some of the labs were very cool. I enjoyed doing labs such as the Pig Dissection, the pGLO, and the Hunger Games labs. I'm not sure how exactly I felt about the blended learning because it involved a lot more work at home than an ordinary class would, and it is hard to watch long videos distraction-free. I would rate this class as a 6/10. Next year I'm taking Chemistry Honors because I think I will really like the subject and I plan on going into a career involving science.
Remember, biology is not as scary as it is made out to be by science teachers in middle school. As long as you do your work and study, you'll be fine. Good luck!
~Sandhya
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap3QcPH6saA
I am Sandhya, a current freshman and I am 14. The classes I took this year are Journalism 1, English 9 MAP, World Geo/Health/DrEd, Espanol 2, Alegbra 2 Honors, and Biology. My interests in school are writing, science, math, english, and Spanish. I play the piano, sing, and play volleyball.
On the first day of class, I had this expectation that biology and just freshman year in general would be super hard. If this makes you feel better, it wasn't.
Mr Orre expects you to do your homework (the vodcasts) and the CFU's. If you pay attention to them and do the CFU's, you will be fine and you'll meet the basic expectations.
Here is a typical day in class. You come in, and get out your stuff. Then you will do a "golden moment" of mindfulness, and then you look at the board and do the DO NOW. Then, in your groups, you'll recap the vodcast and later Mr Orre will review it as well. The rest of class you could either be working on labs, blog posts, or projects.
Homework is a vodcast every class and sometimes unfinished work such as lab conclusions and projects. For example, I am in class right now. If I don't finish writing this now, it becomes my homework.
Tests are all straightforward and multiple choice. You will have to set up a notebook to use for the rest of the semester to have all of your vodcast notes and DO NOWs. You will also be required to keep a blog of all of the major things you'll do over the year in biology. My blog is called the Brilliant Biology Blog.
My favorite blog post is linked below:
http://brilliantbiologyblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/pglo-lab-conclusion.html
It's the pGLO lab, which was really fun because we got to make bacteria glow!
Over the year, I am now better at reflecting on myself, being mindful, and assertive.
Another project that takes up a lot of class time is the 20 TIME project. For this, we got to choose something we are passionate about and devote an entire project taking up the whole semester to that. Here is the link to my 20 time blog.
http://notjusttrash.blogspot.com/
Mr Orre's pet peeves include not cleaning up after a lab, talking while he's talking, not participating in mindfulness, not doing the CFU's, not doing the Do Now, not doing the Relate & Review, not having your notebook set up properly, etc. Its fairly simple to get a good grade- do the required work and CFUs, and study moderately- I wouldn't stress. As long as you put in the work and do the vodcasts, you will have a good grade. For tests, use the CFU's and Do Nows to study.
The most frequent mistake I made was publishing a blog post but forgetting to submit it in Canvas. I highly recommend that you don't forget this last step or your grade will suffer. Also, always do the CFUs because sometimes Mr Orre actually grades them based on participation.
Overall, biology is an interesting subject and some of the labs were very cool. I enjoyed doing labs such as the Pig Dissection, the pGLO, and the Hunger Games labs. I'm not sure how exactly I felt about the blended learning because it involved a lot more work at home than an ordinary class would, and it is hard to watch long videos distraction-free. I would rate this class as a 6/10. Next year I'm taking Chemistry Honors because I think I will really like the subject and I plan on going into a career involving science.
Remember, biology is not as scary as it is made out to be by science teachers in middle school. As long as you do your work and study, you'll be fine. Good luck!
~Sandhya
