IT’S COURSE SELECTION TIME!
Hard to believe that we are already looking at the 2012/2013 school year, but we are. The process of course selection is beginning this week. Here are a couple of important points about the process itself:
- Counsellors will be going into all their classes over the next weeks in order to work with individual students around their selection of courses for next year.
- Students can access the full range of course descriptions by clicking on to the DT website and clicking “course descriptions” where students will be able not only to see all the courses offered in particular departments, but also the descriptions of each of those courses.
WHAT SHOULD STUDENTS BE THINKING ABOUT AS THEY SELECT COURSES?
Students who are currently in Grades 9, 10 and 11 planning for next year need to think about a few important things, as courses in Grades 10, 11 and 12 are part of the Graduation Plan.
- Only students in Grade 12 may have a ‘Study Block’, and only if they have at least 4 difficult academic subjects on their time table. We encourage all Grade 12 students to take 8 credits.
- All other students must be enrolled in 8 courses.
- Please be thoughtful and realistic. If a student got 52% in Math 10, it would be wise to sign up for Apprenticeship and Workplace Math 11, as opposed to Principals of Math 11 (see below for a commentary on Graduation courses)
Let me take this moment to talk about one aspect of Graduation requirements: In order to graduate in BC students must have a minimum of 80 credits, a number of which are particular required courses. (A complete description of the required Graduation program is available on the DT Website mentioned above.) Typically each course is worth 4 credits.
WHY TAKE 8 COURSES EACH YEAR WHEN I ONLY NEED 80 CREDITS?
A little math will show that if the student is taking 8 credits for all three final grades, they will get 96 credits. There are a number of reasons we encourage 8 credits throughout, including taking courses that are not directly linked to their post-secondary academic goals.
- Universities are increasingly depending for their acceptances on “supplemental” material from prospective applicants. They want to see a wide variety of courses and activities, and these supplemental activities will often make the difference in whether and when students are accepted into such universities as UBC.
- Courses taken in areas of Dance, Tech, Music, Senior PE, and so on, expand the students experiences, and may lead to new interests and skills. Brain research tells us that people are at their prime ability to learn during adolescence, and challenging the brain with new skills makes people smarter.
- Courses are still free in High School. Engineering students at UBC who did not take a Tech course at High School are now having to pay to take a Grade 10 woodworking course at the University. Makes sense to do it here!
CAN A STUDENT TAKE MORE THAN 8 COURSES?
Yes indeed, and many students do, particularly off-time table music courses. We do like to encourage students not to take a 9th course unless they are very secure in their regular 8 courses.
WHAT ABOUT COURSES ON LINE?
On line courses can be an excellent option for students. Many take courses that they cannot fit into an already busy time table, or to make up for a failed course. An important thing for students to know is that Vancouver On-line learning has different time lines from the regular school, so for that reason Honour Roll and in-school scholarships are determined with in-school marks only.
A WORD ABOUT ENGLISH VERSUS COMMUNICATIONS FOR GRADUATION
Many students are worried about signing up for Communications 11 or 12, Apprenticeship and Workplace Math 11 and Science and Technology 11. All three course are alternatives to the more heavily academic English 11 and 12 , Principles of Math 11 and 12 and Physics 11/12, Biology 11/12 or Chemistry 11/12.
All of these courses are excellent, rigorous, general knowledge courses that fully meet the requirements for Graduation with a Dogwood diploma. Students may attend any college (Langara, Douglas, etc) and some BCIT programs with these courses. Students who wish to go on to University from their college program at a later date may upgrade as needed.
We hope that students will be thoughtful as they sign up for courses as changing a course when it is found to be too difficult can be problematic and requires a letter of permission, especially as courses fill, and there may be no room in the desired course. As well, class changes are not permitted after Term 1.
CHOOSE WISELY! |
