Good Morning Parents and Students!

I hope that you all had an enjoyable spring break and that the transition back to school hasn't been a difficult one.

 

Your student is currently enrolled in my bioethics class. Bioethics is the application of scientific knowledge to guide decisions on what we should do when faced with the moral challenges of 21st Century, such as medical, health, and scientific technologies. As science and medicine push the boundaries of discovery, our global citizens’ respect, dignity, justice and humanity must be examined. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to bioethics as a field of inquiry and to enable them to develop ethical reasoning skills so that they can move beyond “gut reactions” to more nuanced positions on how to best use science knowledge and biological advances. We will be studying vaccination, stem cell research, genetic engineering/gene editing, and cloning/animal research.

 

Yesterday in Bioethics we went over the course syllabus, class structure and expectations for the class. Unlike my other classes, we will not be using a spiral notebook to keep work. Instead students should have a section in a binder to keep all their work organized for this class. There will be no formal "tests" in Bioethics; instead, after each of the 4 topics we investigate, there will be either a large research paper or project. Students will be practicing their writing on almost a daily basis and getting better at researching, citing sources, and using credible information. 

40% of their grade will come from class participation, seminars and homework. The other 60% will come from the unit papers/projects and their final. I have outlined all of these things in the syllabus was sent home yesterday. Please read through it together and sign and return it by tomorrow (Wed 4/3).   

 

To stay up to date on what we are doing in class, I encourage everyone to subscribe to my google classroom page- the codes are listed on the CMC website under students/classes. Students should get in the habit of checking google classroom daily because this is where I will post lessons, powerpoints, assignments, and students will complete discussion board posts with their peers.  

Lastly, I would like to invite all parents and students to join the Remind App and receive free texts or emails from my class. Remind App is a safe way for students, parents, and teachers to be in contact with each other without knowing anyone's personal contact information. I use remind in my classroom to send reminders about upcoming assignments, due dates and important information. I highly encourage you to join my classes. To subscribe via text simply send the following class code as a message to the phone number 81010. Class Code = @bioethic

Alternatively to sign up via email, head to www.remind.com/join and enter the class code and then your email address.

 

I look forward to teaching you (your student) and having a great third trimester together. Please feel free to contact me if you ever need anything or want to check in on your students' progress. I am always available via email [email protected] and I am in my classroom for office hours from 7:45-8:45 and 2:45-3:45 most school days.

 

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Andrews