Mr. Christian Day
Home: x272-6115 Work: x1396
Email: cday@emma.troy.ny.us
IM: cday87

• We will continue to use the "Tapestry" book from last year.
• Supplementary materials for the AP exam will be given in Adobe Acrobat format. If you do not have it already, you should get the Acrobat reader.
• Having a computer in your room is helpful, but by no means required as you can always use the lab.

[ Adobe Acrobat Reader ]

All students in Computer Science courses are expected to fulfill all requirements of the course they are taking to the highest level they possibly can. The highlighted areas below are guidelines that will be followed when your grade is being determined at the end of the term. Students are encouraged to inquire about their grade as often as they would like.

You will be graded in each of the following areas:

Each student begins the term with a 100 in class participation in the course. Daily comments on student participation in class will be recorded, and the class participation grade will be updated accordingly. Class participation includes, but is not limited to:

• Attendance.
  • Unexcused absences and latenesses count here. The Emma Willard school has strict rules about class attendance, including this one: "The student with a fourth unexcused absence in the same course will lose credit for that course." In addition to that, in this class, an unexcused lateness or absence will effect your grade as follows:
    • First unexcused absence: A non-recoverable 10% deduction of the class participation grade.
      Second unexcused absence: A non-recoverable 25% deduction of the class participation grade.
      Third unexcused absence: A non-recoverable 50% deduction of the class participation grade.
      First unexcused lateness: A non-recoverable 2% deduction of the class participation grade.
      Second unexcused lateness: A non-recoverable 5% deduction of the class participation grade.
      Third unexcused lateness: Counts as an absence, see above.
      The effects of these non-recoverable points are cumulative, so that by the time you have acquired your third unexcused absence, you will have lost a cumulative 85% of your class participation grade. Please see me if you have any questions on this policy.
• Willingness and ability to help others according to the assistance guidelines listed below.
  • One of the most important skills you will gain from this course is the ability to help others. Your efforts in assisting classmates will be noted daily and will count most significantly towards your class participation grade. Your efforts outside of class will also be noted here.

  [ Assistance guidelines ]

Out of class homework is broken into two types of work:

Assignments are generally given daily, but will often take more than one night. These are often reading assignments (with a short writing component) or short computer programs. Homework assignments will generally take less than one hour of your time.

Projects are larger homework assignments that are intended to take a week or more of your time. When there is a project, I will give you time in class to work on it. Your attendance is required even if you are finished. In the fall semester, there will only be one project (the final), which will count 20% of your total class grade.

An optional portion to each assignment or project will be given. These optional portions will tend to be difficult and time-consuming, but can increase your grade by 5%. It is possible for a highly motivated student to end up with a 105% average on her out of class work on an assignment.

Every effort will be made to have a short (30 minute) test every two weeks of the class. Tests will be narrowly focused on one or more clearly defined topic(s).

You may rewrite any test that you wish and receive 50% credit for the effort. Test rewrites are always due at the beginning of the next class following the return of the graded test. Test rewrites will have to be completed in addition to your regular homework for that evening. Only one rewritten test will actually count towards your grade. This may be best illustrated by an example.

Each student has the opportunity to complete an independent student project of some kind during the course of the semester. This project is optional, but please note that any student wishing a grade higher than a B+ must complete one of these projects. These projects may take any of a number of forms. The instructor must approve whatever you choose for your ISP first. Some examples of possible projects are:

• Maintainance of a daily journal.
• A community service project.
• Materials that could be used by other students to learn or reinforce a concept taught in the class.
• Artwork that is relevant to the class.
• A set of web pages.
• A timeline of computer history.
• Exploration and demonstration of some software (e.g. Flash, an Imovie, etc.).
• Completion of a challenging problem. This could be an extension of a class assignment or a new assignment, but it must be created by the student.

Communication with a classmate will be vital to your success during this class. Students are allowed, and encouraged to interact with each other while working on take-home assignments or projects. Unless otherwise specified, these guidelines will not apply to tests.

1. No person may touch your mouse or keyboard while giving you assistance.
2. You may not look at another person's work in any format while typing or using your mouse.
3. You may not accept completed or partially completed work from any other person in any form.
4. You must give written credit to any person who assists you in any way on your homework assignments. Failure to credit any person who assists you will result in a failed assignment.
5. Every program that you write must contain the following "disclaimer of possession."

Assignment, projects and grades will be returned with a numerical grade indicating the assessed value of your work. The following grade scale can help you determine what this numerical grade means:

95-100 A Exceptional work
92-95 A- Excellent work
89-92 B+ Very good work
86-89 B Good work
83-86 B- Fair work
80-83 C+ Needs improvement
76-80 C Incomplete or incorrect
72-76 C- Substantially incomplete or incorrect
69-72 D+ Indicative of poor effort or a lack of comprehension
65-69 D Warning!
60-65 D- WARNING!
60 or below F Failure

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