Hello students and parents:

I hope that you have had a restful summer.  At least as the summer heat would allow!  I am looking forward to working with you throughout this 2011 -12 school year.  

I am looking forward to this 20th year of teaching because I am able to say that I still love what I do!  Teaching, mentoring/modeling and prayerfully making a difference in the lives of some of our students.  Believe it or not my students have also impacted my life as well.   That's what a good education will do for you.  I believe "a good education isn't evident until others benefit from it".

Tips for a successful first year in high school Algebra 1:

1.  Have all supplies, pay attention, do your home work and ask good questions (related questions).  An example of a question that isn't good would be "I wasn't paying attention, would you repeat what you just said". 

2.  If trying your BEST and you stil don't understand get extra help from someone  (See my Syllabi for other resources).  I will offer tutorials during B day lunch and after school 3:15 to 4:15 on Tuesday and 3 to 4pm on Wednesday.  No tutorials on Fridays unless by appointment.   I will announce to the students if any changes to this has to be made.

3.  Parents please don't (do not ) give the freshmen rope until the end of the first semester.  This will prevent them from playing catch up.  As a general rule, Freshmen are still maturing, not organized and finding themselves by comparing themselves to others.

For a successful year in Geometry:

1.  The first two rules are the same, however for you, I hope that you have learned from any prior mistakes!  

2.  Make the proper corrections to excel towards a bright future. What you don't know, "ask" and often what you think you know, it probably won't hurt to verify!

**As a general rule, I say " studying ( working problems out ) at least 30 minutes a day (even if you don't have the class that day) will keep bad grades away".**