Letter to a Future Biology Student

      My name is Eman Ahmad. I am a freshman and I started the year at 14 years old. I went to Redwood Middle School, so I have been in the district since the beginning of middle school. I came into the school year being very interested in biology, specifically anatomy, and math. This year I took all the basic classes (math, bio, Pe, English etc.) and Spanish 2 and drama. Science has always been my favorite academic subject, but my favorite class and activity is drama. I enjoy acting and performing and I would like to pursue that when I grow older. When I came into high school I was a bit nervous, but I soon realized that there was really nothing for me to worry about. 

      Mr. Orre's class is a flipped classroom, meaning we learn at home and we discuss in class. Almost all of the work we do is in our notebooks, which is the most important supply in this class. A huge part of this class is also your blog, which is where you write all you labs and other assignments. When you first come to class you look at the agenda and do the do now. Afterwords, we usually discuss the vodcasts and then spend the rest of the time working on labs, blog posts, or other activities. All the labs we do are very unique, but we write our lab conclusions in our blogs. Our daily homework is always vodcasts and the occasional textbook notes, and these are all done in our notebooks. The homework takes about 15-30 minutes depending on how long the vodcast is. In our notebook, we do all of our vodcasts, textbook notes, and do nows. We keep this organized with a table of contents. Our blog is where we do all of our lab write ups and reflections. At the beginning of the year I wasn't really sure how to write in my blog, but now I have the hang of it. My personal favorite blog post was my Unit 9 Reflection. In this class we have no quizzes, just tests after every unit. They are usually 50 multiple choice questions about the vodcasts and CFUs (the short quizzes that don't count for a grade that we take after the vodcasts). Over the course of the year I have become way more confident in the daily routine of the class. I advise that you talk to Mr. Orre if you ever have a question because it's a way of solving your problems easily and proving that you're responsible and that you actually value the learning experience.

       Mr. Orre has a few pet peeves, so here's some advice: 

• Never put your chairs up before the bell rings.
• Don't talk when he is talking
• Clean up VERY WELL after a lab 

It is not hard to earn good grades on assignments as long as you actually try and put in effort. The homework and daily assignments are weighted 35% so it is very important that you do it. In order to receive a good grade on a test you have to study in advance and not just the night before. It is also important that you actually pay attention and try to learn during vodcasts and not just watch them for the sake of getting points. Asking questions is also very helpful in this class. This year these are 3 mistakes that I made:

• I usually procrastinated when studying, and even though I still usually got good test scores, it was more stressful than studying in advance. 
• My method of studying at the beginning of the year was just to read over my notes. It's way more helpful to study actively (ex. quizzing yourself)
• I did not use my class time to the best of my ability, and I ended up doing more work at home that I could have avoided. 

By being aware of these mistakes, I was really able to succeed in this class.

      Overall, I really enjoyed this class more that I had expected. I wasn't sure that the flipped classroom would really work for me, but I actually really enjoyed it. I learned a lot and this was one of my more fun classes (especially because of the labs). Next year in terms of science I will be taking Chemistry honors, because I ended with a very good grade in this class and I really enjoy science. Always do your work and take the above advice and you should really enjoy the class.

-Eman Ahmad