Intro and Overview
August, 2015
Psychology
Mr. Aiello
Behavioral Psychology
I. What is this course? – By your being in this class, I am assured that you have the ability to make
intelligent decisions, for you have chosen to take the best class CHS has to offer! I believe you will
find this class to be very enjoyable, and educational, as long as you maintain that ability for good
decision-making. I ask you to keep an open mind and be willing to try some new ideas, and share
your thoughts and experiences when appropriate times surface.
II. Attendance & Tardies – It is very important that you are in class and on time every day. We
will begin when the bell rings, at which time significant tasks will be undertaken immediately.
• You are responsible for all work that is missed due to an excused absence or tardy. You need to
ask the teacher, not just a classmate, for all the information and materials necessary to make up the
assignments. Handouts are located on the shelf, ask the teacher for help.
• If you have an excused absence on the day of the scheduled unit test, you are expected to take
the test on your first day back after the absence. Ideally, you will come in on a free period, but a
second option is to take it during class (meaning you will miss what we are doing that day). If you
are not ready to take the test that day, you may wait until the next day, but lose 50% off of the grade
you earn on the test.
• Students will serve an after-school detention for their third, and every subsequent, tardy.
Consistent problems with tardies and unexcused absences will be dealt with on an individual basis.
III. Class Participation – My approach to school can be summed up in these two sentences:
1) Who is responsible for learning in the classroom? 2) The teacher cannot “learn” you something.
Therefore the students need to take a very active role in their own learning. I recommend a couple
of basic methods to accomplish the goal of maximizing your education. Come prepared to
participate in class no matter what the activity. If it is a discussion based on a previously assigned
reading or film, read or pay attention to the film. If it is a lecture, take notes and ask questions
whenever you are unclear about something. If it is a group project, participate and pull your weight.
• You are expected to listen to and respect the opinions of others. You need not agree with all that
you hear, but you must let each idea and opinion be stated and discussed when appropriate.
• Do not put your head on your desk to sleep. If you are feeling ill, ask for a note to the nurse.
• There is no seating chart, so all desks/chairs are first-come, first-served. Please do not move
chairs and desks around. Find the best combination for you. However, if your seat or your location
get in the way of you or others making the most of their learning environment, you will be moved.
• Please do not bring food or drink into this classroom. For special occasions, we can make
arrangements for a little party with snacks, but as a general rule you should eat in the Commons, not
the classrooms.
• Please leave your desk and area at least as neat as you found it. Please keep your materials under
your desk and out of the walkways.
IV. Graded Activities: - There are four main ways to earn points in this class. Grades are based on
the very traditional 90%s are As, 80%s are Bs, and so on.
• Collected assignments – usually these are in-class activities or a homeplay assignment, but they
also include research projects and presentations. You will always be told about the due date when
they are assigned. Late assignments may only be made up for three days, with a 10% reduction in
the grade per day. After three days, the grade is a 0.
Intro and Overview
August, 2015
Psychology
Mr. Aiello
In my 29 years of teaching at Clayton High School, I can unequivocally state that the single
biggest factor in students’ grades is their assignment completion rate. Some students are “smarter”
or “quicker” than others, but the factor that trumps all others is how much effort they put into
completing and understanding the in-class and homeplay assignments that I give to them. Much
emphasis is placed on this activity.
• For each chapter in the textbook, I will identify the Key Terms and Concepts for the students
to define and explain. These will be turned in according to the syllabus, and 65% of the points will
be for the definitions, and 35% of the points will be for the student’s application, example, or nonlinguistic representation (picture) of the vocabulary.
• In addition, there are Key Contributors listed at the end of each chapter. Students will need to
explain each contributor by coming up with a “hash tag” or term for their contribution to
psychology, and then provide a 2 – 3 sentence summary of their contribution.
• Finally, for each assigned chapter, students will need to go to the Myers textbook companion
website and complete one of the two multiple choice quizzes. Students may take each quiz as
many times as they wish, I will record only the highest score the student earns. (10 points)
Repeated low performances, or missed assignments will result in spending
extra time with me or in the Learning Center making up the work.
• Unannounced reading quizzes – these “pop” quizzes will be open note and over the previous
two days’ reading assignments. Most will be multiple choice questions, but others will have shortanswer questions. Collectively these quizzes add up to at least 150 points, more than a unit test!!
• Essential Questions – On each syllabus, there will be a series of questions for the unit. They
will be in chronological order, and most of the information needed to answer the questions will
come from the text readings. Students will need to write out a paragraph (or in some cases fill in a
chart) for each question, using specific information to support the basic answer. Putting
information into your own words is always required. Be very careful with how much you
collaborate with other Psychology students on these; too much similarity will result in “shared
points” (each student gets half of the total points). Late work on EQs is not accepted!!
• Assessments – a fancy name for tests, these are major, end-of-unit exams, for which study
guides and online review sites will be given and some reviewing will be done during class.
Contacting Mr. Aiello –
The best way to get in touch with me is by email –
davidaiello@claytonschools.net
If you need immediate assistance, call the main office and they will get me a message. I will return
your call as soon as I can. My phone number is 314-854-6630. However, I do not spend much time
in there nor do I check voice mails very often.
I am free 1st, 2nd, and 6th periods and am usually in my classroom. In addition, I can meet with
students (or a parent) before or after school. I usually leave at about 3:30, but I can make
appointments to stay later if asked ahead of time.
Intro and Overview
August, 2015
Psychology
Mr. Aiello
V. Extra Credit – There will be several opportunities to earn extra credit in this course. No matter
how many points you may earn through any of these extra activities, they can only change your
quarter and/or semester grade by one increment (e.g. from a B- to a B, from a C+ to a B-, etc.)
1. Television Documentary - Every so often, there will be a documentary, usually on channel 9
(PBS) that is especially relevant to this course. Mr. Aiello will inform the class of the
upcoming show, and you will need to watch it live or record it for later viewing. After
watching, you will need to write a report that contains the following:
• A one page description of the show, in your own words, with heavy emphasis on explaining
any original research done by the producer, or used by the producer. If possible, summarize
and explain an experiment that was done or cited.
• A one-half page description of how the documentary tied into the unit, and what specific
knowledge you gained from having watched it.
• If applicable, you can also go to the related website, spend some time on it, and include a
short description of the material, and it’s relevance to the class.
This report will be due about four or five class days after it aired, and will be worth up to ten (10)
extra credit points.
2. Cartoons or Psychology in the News – Using the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, peruse the front page
and news analysis sections, and the section that has the comics, to find either full articles about a
new study or research results, or a cartoon that deals with psychological issues. For the news story,
you will follow the guidelines for the tv documentary as above, but the article will probably be less
detailed and scholarly. For the cartoon, you will need to explain, in layman’s terms, the
psychological principle(s) being used and why it is funny. You must include the original article or
cartoon with your review/explanation.
3. Scholarly article review – Once a quarter, you may find a full-length scholarly article that relates
to a topic/unit from that quarter, and write a review of the article. All articles must be previewed
and approved by Mr. Aiello! There will be a handout with more specific directions.
4. Film review – Once this semester, each student may watch a feature-length movie that relates to
any of the topics/units from this first semester of psychology, and write a scholarly review of the
film and its portrayal of the psychological issues. Again, all movies must be pre-approved by
Mr. Aiello!