PSYCHOLOGY I

COURSE SYLLABUS 2014-2015

Teacher: Mr. Van Winkle
Room: C370
Email Address: dvanwinkle@bettendorf.k12.ia.us
Office Hours:
Welcome to Psychology I! I encourage you to take an active role in your education. Be proactive on
your own behalf. Ask questions during class. If you have a question about something, you can be sure
there are others who have the same question. I also encourage you to see me when I am available before
and after school:
7:30-8:10 am Morning Study Sessions (Exceptions: All Social Studies teachers will be
involved with meetings on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, so I will be unavailable to meet
with you those mornings, ALTHOUGH YOU CAN MAKE UP WORK THEN.)
3:10-3:30* pm Monday - Friday: after school
By appointment During my planning block (Q1, Q2, Q4- 1st block. Q3-3rd block) during B
lunch, or * later than 3:30 pm by appointment.
Materials needed for class:
Charged iPad. Devices can be used only for teacher-approved activities, not texting or any
other personal use such as Twitter or Facebook.)
Pen (preferred) or pencil
**Optional: Loose leaf paper for assignments and notes (NO SPIRAL FRINGE!)
**Optional: 3-Ring binder or pocket folder to keep any paper notes, handouts, and
assignments. (The final exam will be comprehensive, including all of the units that we study
throughout the term, therefore, do NOT throw away or delete your note sheets after each unit
because these will be your study guides for the final!!!)
** In an attempt to be environmentally-friendly and encourage the development of 21st century
technology skills, we will make every attempt to go as paperless as possible. This will include
using online resources such as Edmodo, Google Docs, Web 2.0 tools, Naiku, iPad apps, and
others for class activities as well as tests and quizzes. See me if this presents difficulties for you
so we can resolve them together. Our #1 priority is to facilitate your learning.
Visit: http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/thinkingaboutpsychology3e/
for helpful resources from the textbook publisher!
Units of Study:
Unit I: Introduction & Perspectives, Research Methods
Unit II: Learning
Unit III: Memory
Unit IV: Biological Bases of Behavior
Unit V: Nature, Nurture, and Personality
Grading:
Your final grades will be determined by your performance on the following (No rounding you
must earn the full point value):
Assessment
Weight
Tests and quizzes
55%
Assignments
35%
Participation
10%
Grading Scale:
A+
A
A-

98-100%
92-97%
90-91%

B+
B
B-

88-89%
82-87%
80-81%

C+
C
C-

78-79%
72-77%
70-71%

D+
D
D-

68-69%
62-67%
60-61%

F=
below
60%

Participation:
In a course like psychology, class participation is essential. The subject mater is inherently
interesting and connected to your life. You have experience and insight that are valid and important to
our class discussion. Please be willing to contribute your experiences and ideas to the class discussion it makes the course more meaningful and memorable for you and your classmates. We will also be
having many class demonstrations and activities that require your participation. These activities are
chosen to help make the material more meaningful and to help you remember it. Brain research shows
that your active participation in these activities will improve your learning.
Attendance is important. Being on time is important. Your participation score, given every
unit, constitutes 10% of your course grade. Unexcused absences, tardies, forgetting materials,
causing other classroom interruptions, or sleeping/talking/not attending/not being productive in the
classroom activity will result in loss of points here. The expectation for a full score is that you come
to class prepared to learn and participate.
Make-up Work:
Making up work due to an absence is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. I will not chase you down. You
need to be proactive on your own behalf.
If the excused absence is anticipated, you should make every effort to find out what you will be
missing ahead of time and turn in the work upon your return.
If the excused absence was unexpected, upon return to class (or before) you should:
1. check online to see what you missed (Edmodo, my website, etc),
2. borrow any missed notes from a classmate (copy on your time, not in class),
3. look at the schedule/calendar for updates (Google Calendar, Edmodo),
4. make arrangements with the teacher to make up any missed quizzes or tests. For
assignments/daily work, you will have 2 days for every day missed to make up the work.
For tests, you will have one week from when you return to make it up. Put absent on
the top of an assignment that you turn in late due to being absent on the day it was
collected.
Work missed because of an unexcused absence will not receive credit.
Late work:
Assignments not turned in when collected are considered late.
A late assignment may receive 50% credit up to the day of the unit test. After that, no late work
will be accepted. In a course where assignments are worth 35% of your grade, you are shooting
yourself in the foot if you allow a zero to go into the grade book! Assignment grades can be a
good buffer against test scores that are not as good as you want them to be.
Students may be kept after school if assignments are not completed and turned in.
Expectations:
RESPECT yourselves, others, and property.
All school rules are in place in this classroom. NO EXCEPTIONS. (No cell phones or
music for personal use in class, no dress code violations, no food or drink except water)
CHEATING-Your honor is worth much more than a few points. Do your own work and
expect your classmates to do the same. Credit on the assignment will be lost for both the
cheater and the cheatee. No copying or allowing someone to copy from you!!!
BE HERE ON TIME. If you are not in the classroom when the bell rings, you are tardy.
Tardies will result in deductions from the participation portion of your grade and detentions
to be served with the teacher. Failure to serve detentions results in administrative referral.
Per SHS policy, three tardies is equivalent to an unexcused absence. After 5 minutes, a
tardy becomes an unexcused absence. If you are more than 5 minutes late you will need to

go to the attendance office to get a pass into class (you will receive credit for the work
done.) School policy will be followed.

Student Name:_________________________________________

Student Signature:_______________________________________

Parent/Guardian Signature:_________________________________