Psychology/Sociology

 

Mr. Stokes

 

During this semester we will discuss two major areas of the social sciences; psychology and sociology.  An easy way to tell the difference between the two is that psychology is the study of individual human behavior, while sociology is the study of group behavior.  I know many of you in the class are preparing yourselves to attend college. By taking this class I hope to give you a good foundation in these two areas so that you could take an introduction class into either Psychology or Sociology and be very familiar with the information that would be presented.  I am also going to do some other things in class that will hopefully give you some help preparing yourselves for college classes. I’ll discuss these later.

 

Supply Needs

 

1. pen (black or blue)
2. Optional – 3 ring binder for notebook (Loose leaf paper for notebook)

 

Class Rules

 

1. Respect the teacher
2. Respect your classmates
3. Respect the classroom
4. Respect yourself

 

This is an elective class open to Upperclassmen, which means you had to sign up for this class.  I expect you to show your maturity and behave in class. We are going to do a lot of fun activities, by we can only do these with y'all cooperating.  Sitting in class sleeping everyday is not participating and it will hurt your grade. In order for this class to be fun you must participate in activities, discussions, etc.  I enjoy having fun in class, but remember there are limits to jokes, humor, and writing that need to be acknowledged and adhered to.

 

Electronics

 

This is your warning!  If I see you use an electronic device (cell phone, MP3, PSP, etc.) while I am talking/we are watching a video/or I am doing something else I will take it.  You will be able to get it back at the end of the class. If I see it out again during the day it will be turned into the office and there procedures for return will be followed.  NO EXCEPTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Bathroom Policy

 

You are allowed one “free” bathroom visit per week.   If you have a problem that requires you to use the bathroom more frequently, please tell me privately and we can deal with that on an individual basis.

 

If class behavior is good the policy above will be in effect.  If however, the class feels the need to misbehave, the bathroom policy will change and no one will be able to use it during class time.

 

*** If there is a substitute in for the day, no one will be allowed to use the restroom unless it is a

      dire emergency

Grading

 

Grading in this class is based on a points system.  Everything you do in class is worth points and depending on how well you do on the assignment you earn those points.  At the end of the 6 wks/semester, I count all the points you could have possibly gotten. I then count all the points you received.  I divide the number of points you received by the total number of points possible. I will then multiply that number by 100. This gives me a percentage that I will round up if it is .5 or above

 

For example, you had the opportunity to earn 1200pt throughout the marking period.  You earned 1075 pts for the semester

 

1075

1200   = .895  x 100 =  89.5 rounded up to a 90

 

*late work will be accepted, but at a greatly reduced value

-if you plan on getting by turning everything in late you will flunk this class

 

Journals/Lumosity

 

Everyday you come to class there will be a journal topic on the board for you to write about or we will work on Lumosity.  I expect that if there is a journal it will be at least 200 words We will use about 15 minutes in class to write and discuss the Journal topics or work on your Lumosity.  If this time is abused it will disappear and journals/Lumosity will have to be completed on your own. If you are absent from class, you are still responsible for the journals/Lumosity. (get what you missed from a classmate)  These Journals will be collect at the end of each 6 weeks for a grade.  Lumosity will be checked at the end of every week.

 

Classwork

 

In this class there will be a lot of writing required.  I want you to be aware of this before we start so there are no surprises.  Any assignment that is to be written(except for journals) should adhere to the following guidelines.

 

Default settings on Google Docs.  (Most of the writing will have a word amount on it, so it doesn’t 

matter how big you write.  It matters how much you write)

 

Unit Summaries

 

At the beginning of each unit, I will hand out to you a Unit Summary that list the activities, videos, information, etc. that we will be going over.  I will do this normally after the test from the previous unit. This must be signed by a parent/guardian and returned to me the next day in order for you to be able to participate in that Unit’s activities, etc.