Letter to a Biology Student

        Hello, and welcome to Orre's biology class! I'm Kole, a 10th grader still at Saratoga, that went to Noble elementary school, Piedmont Middle school, and Redwood middle school. I'm a huge band nerd, as I took Advanced Jazz and was a principal player in the combined freshman/symphonic band. I took, as you can tell, biology, as well as Geometry, English 9, French 1, and the required Health/World Geography course my freshman year. I am currently enrolled in a martial arts class, a boy scout group, and 4H. You're probably reacting the same way I did when I entered this classroom, not exactly nervous, but curious at what the teacher is like, and how he teaches, strict or lenient.
        Mr. Orre's class is a place that encourages growth and learning, but can get strict if certain lines are crossed. For example, when doing anything besides listening at the same time as Mr. Orre, he can become angry. Another example would be slacking off, or not doing your work. I made these mistakes during the last lab, and I emphasize the fact that you should, in fact, listen to this information. However, when these rules are followed, you can easily get good grades. Homework is essential to this class, being 35 percent of the grade received in the class. When homework is completed, it is usually easy to score a good grade on tests, but studying wouldn't help. My favorite unit this year was probably on taxonomy, as there were tons of interactive activities. My post to this is here.
        When I walked into class, there was a Do Now, which had you review what you had worked on the night before, followed by a class discussion on it. This class tries to utilize the memorization of ideas through repetition of them through many different ways. This is evident in the fact that you will use a notebook, and post on a blog. On the blog, you will post unit reflections, which summarize the unit. However, vodcasts, which are videos that you will take notes on for homework, will be written in the notebook.
        This class is a good class, and I think that you can learn a lot from it if you work hard. I am taking Chemistry honors next year, and think that this class takes most of the credit for that. From the many lessons covered repeatedly, to the amount of skills I learned, I think that you will have a great year.