Reminder: Pro-D Day Tomorrow!

This is just a reminder that tomorrow will be a district-wide professional development day (Pro-D). School will NOT be in session.

When school returns on February 20, it will be a Day 2.

Please also note that the lunch envelopes for the month of March will be due on February 20 as well.

Thanks!

Course Planning: FAQs

Finally, some answers to the frequently-asked questions regarding course planning:

Q: Can I take more than one science/math course?
A: Yes. For post-secondary application, some schools actually require a completion of two science 11 courses, in addition to a science 12 requirement. Please check with the post-secondary institution directly to make sure. For math courses, any one of the math 11 courses would fulfill graduation requirement. For admission requirements at various post-secondary institutions, please check their admission requirements directly, as they may change without prior notice.

Q: How many courses am I expected to take at Templeton? Can I have a spare? CS?
A: Full-time students generally take eight courses at Templeton. If you have an off-timetable course, one of those courses will not be meeting during regular scheduled times, thus giving you a slot where you can use as study. The service course for grade 11 students is peer-tutoring 12; community service (CS) is a service course reserved generally for grade 12 students only.

Q: Can I change my mind on courses I want to take after I submit my course request form?
A: You can. However, I would encourage you to think very carefully before submitting your course requests. When course requests are collected, the administrators use the submitted information to determine the courses that would be offered for the next school year. By not submitting your course request for a course, there is a possibility that your desired course(s) may either be full, or may not be running at all.

Q: What grade 11 courses should I be taking to prepare for post-secondary school?
A: The best way to find out is to visit these school's websites directly. Most post-secondary institutions' websites have designated pages for prospective students. There, you can browse through the different programs that the school offers, and the admission requirements for each program. A list of post-secondary schools and the links to their websites can be found on the right panel of this blog. (see red circle on the screen shot)Q: What about summer school and/or online courses? How do they affect course planning?
A: You can take a maximum of two summer school courses. Some students take remedial summer school to pass a course they did not pass during the year; others take a completion summer school course to "get ahead." If you are taking a summer school or online academic course, please notify me. This can potentially free up your timetable so you would have more room to choose an elective course, or an academic elective.

Course Planning: Off-timetable Courses

There are five off-timetable courses you can pick as an elective for your grade 11 year. Off-timetable courses can be used in one of the following ways:

• As your ninth (or tenth) course on top of the eight courses you are taking
• As your eighth course - this would allow you to have an empty block during the regular eight-block schedule, thereby giving you a slot where you can use as a study block (Please note: having one such block does NOT mean you have a spare).

Students may choose one or more off-timetable courses as their electives. Of course, you should carefully consider your overall course load - a course load that is too heavy may result in you not being able to do as well as you want.

The five off-timetable courses are:

• Chef de Cuisine (home economics)
• Annual Production 11/12 (fine arts)
• Choir 8 - 12 (off-timetable option) (performing arts)
• Jazz Band 10 - 12 (performing arts)
• Theater Criticism 11/12 (performing arts)

Course Planning: Academic Electives

For students entering grade 11, there are a number of academic electives that you can take, in addition to the required courses you must take in the four core academic areas (language arts, social studies, science, and math).

English Electives (in addition to English 11/Communications 11):

• English Literature 12
• Writing 12

Social Studies Electives (in addition to Social Studies 11/Canadian Studies 11):

• First Nations Studies 12 (can be used as a grade 12 elective, or to fulfill the grade 11 socials requirement)
• Social Justice 12
• History through Film 12

Science Electives (one of the following must be taken to fulfill graduation requirement; additional science courses can be taken as electives):

• Biology 11
• Chemistry 11
• Physics 11
• Science and Technology 11
• Astronomy 11 (can only be used as an elective, not a science requirement)

Mathematics Electives (you must complete one of the following to fulfill graduation requirements):

• Apprenticeship and Workplace Math 11
• Foundations of Mathematics 11
• Pre-Calculus 11
  

Course Planning Basics (Part 2)

In this entry, I want to talk about the differences between graduation requirement, post-secondary admission requirement, and post-secondary program requirements.

What is the difference? In a nutshell, graduation requirements mean the courses you would need to complete to obtain a graduation certificate for high school. Post-secondary admission requirements are the school-specific requirements they have to review a student's application. Finally, post-secondary program requirements are faculty or department-specific requirements for students who are interested in entering a specific faculty or program. Basically, just because you have completed the graduation requirements does not mean you will qualify to be admitted into a post-secondary school; and just because you have the basic admission requirement does not necessarily mean you will be admitted into a program of your choice.

Here are two examples to illustrate the differences:

• Student A wants to study to become an engineer, and wishes to enter UBC's Faulty of Applied Science. For high school graduation, he would need to complete the 80 credits of grades 10 to 12 courses (see my previous entry for details). When he applies for UBC, he must ensure that he has English 12, and three other UBC-approved grade 12 courses. That is the general admission requirement. However, to enter the Faculty of Applied Science, his approved grade 12 courses must include Pre-Calculus 12, Chemistry 12, and Physics 12. These three courses would be used to calculate whether he would be admitted or not.
  
• Student B wants to go to SFU to study business. For high school graduation, she would need to complete the 80 credits of grades 10 to 12 courses. For general admission purposes at SFU, she must complete English 11/12, a Language 11, a science 11, Pre-calculus 11 or Foundations of Math 11. For admission into the Bachelor of Business Administration program, she must have completed English 12, Pre-calculus 12, and two additional SFU-approved grade 12 courses.
  

As you can see, every school, and every program, probably has its own specific requirements. The best way to find out what program-specific requirements are for the program(s) you are interested in is to check the school's website - all BC post-secondary schools have very up-to-date websites that provide such information.

As a general advice to you, it is best to think about what area(s) of studies you are planning to go into. It is always a good idea to keep several options available too. Don't hesitate to come in to see me if you have any concerns/questions.

Course Planning Basics (Part 1)

There are many pieces of information you need to know during the course planning process. In this entry, let's talk first about the graduation requirement for all students.

In British Columbia, under the current graduation program, a student must complete 80 course credits. For a linear school such as Templeton (i.e. where courses go from September to June), each course you are taking are worth four credits. This means, in total, you would need to complete 20 courses, required and electives, to qualify for graduation. The breakdown of these required credits go like this:

Required Credits

• Language Arts 10 - 12: 12 credits
• Social Studies 10 and 11 or equivalent: 8 credits
• Science 10 and 11: 8 credits
• Mathematics 10 and 11: 8 credits
• PE 10: 4 credits
• Planning 10: 4 credits
• Applied Skills or Fine Arts 10/11/12: 4 credits
• Graduation Transitions: 4 credits
  

Elective Credits

• Grade 10/11 Electives: 16 credits
• Grade 12 Credits: 12 credits

People are sometimes confused over how the elective credits can be calculated. Here are a few examples:

1. Student A has taken Food Studies 10 and Mechanics 10 in his grade 9 year. In this case, one of his courses can be used towards the applied skills/fine arts credit. The other course, subsequently, would be counted towards his grade 10/11 electives credit.
2. Student B is taking Biology 11 and Chemistry 11. In her case, one of these courses would count towards her science 11 required credits, while the other will count towards her grade 10/11 credits.
   
3. Student B went on to take Biology 12 and Chemistry 12 in her grade 12 year. In this case, because she has already fulfilled her science 11 requirement, both her courses would be counted towards her grade 12 elective credits.

One final, but very important note about graduation requirements: completing your graduation requirements does NOT mean you have met the basic admission requirements nor the program-specific admission requirements for post-secondary schools. I will talk more about admission requirements in my next entry.

Course Selection Calendar

As we begin the course planning process, I'm please to let you know that the course planning calendar for 2012 - 2013 can now be viewed online on the school's website!

Go to the school's website at templeton.vsb.bc.ca. Once you are at the site, you will find a tab called "course planning guide" (see screen shot below). Click that button, and you will see a list of all the courses listed in the course calendar. Click each course's link, and the course's description will come out.The course selection calendar can be viewed from the Templeton website twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Of course, if you have additional questions about a course, you can always come to see me during the school day, or ask me when I visit your English classes to go through the course planning process with you.

See you soon!

Mr. Leung's Course Planning Schedule

Course planning for the 2012 - 2013 year will officially begin next week. I will be visiting your English class during the week from February 7 to February 10 to talk to you about graduation requirements, post-secondary course requirements, and courses you can take in grade 11 and beyond. Below is a rough timeline:

• Week of Feb 7 to Feb 10: I will visit your English classes to give out course request forms and to introduce you to courses available for next year
• Week of Feb 13 to Feb 16: Time for you and your family to discuss course request choices for next year, and to ask me any questions regarding course planning
• Week of Feb 20 to Feb 24: Collection of signed and completed course request forms
• Feb 24 (Friday): Last day for me to collect course request forms from you.

I will be visiting your English classes on the following dates:

Date	Block	Teacher	Room	Time
Feb 7 (Tue)	2.1 (E)	Vadacchino – English 10	223	10:10 – 11:35
Feb 7 (Tue)	2.4 (H)	Smith – English 10A	305	12:20 – 1:41
Feb 8 (Wed)	1.2 (B)	Bird – English 10	202	8:35 – 9:55
Feb 8 (Wed)	1.1 (A)	Smith – English 10	305	10:10 – 11:35
Feb 8 (Wed)	1.3 (C)	Bird – English 10	202	1:46 – 3:07
Feb 9 (Thu)	2.2 (F)	Leung – English 10 modified	131	10:10 – 10:50
Feb 10 (Fri)	1.2 (B)	Ramsey – English 10 mini	326	8:35 – 9:55
Feb 10 (Fri)	1.4 (D)	Ramsey – English 10 enrich	326	12:20 – 1:41

See you all soon! Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding course planning!

Calendar of Events: February 2012

We are still in the winter season, but thankfully, there has been some days with sunshine! I hope you can take a moment to take in the fresh, cool air - it is certainly very refreshing!

Below is a list of important dates for the month of February:

• Wednesday, Feb 1: Iron Chef Competition
• Friday, Feb 3 to Monday, Feb 6: District Closure Day; school not in session
• Tuesday, Feb 7 to Friday, Feb 10: Grade 10 Course planning (see future entries for details)
• Friday, Feb 17: Professional Development Day, school not in session
• Monday, Feb 20: Regular Day 2 classes
• Friday, Feb 24: Last day to return all grade 10 course request forms to me (see future entries for details)

As you can see, course planning is just around the corner. What courses you can take depend greatly on how you finish this year's courses. We are at the half-way point of the school year - it is certainly not too late to catch up, but you need to start NOW! Please don't hesitate to come in to see me if you need any assistance!