Introduction to Astronomy

Teacher: Mr. Erler

Office Phone: (724) 741-2659 Office hours: 7:00am 3:00pm
Live Lesson Times: 10:15-11am Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Extra Help 11-11:30am in LiveLesson room

Dear Scholars:
Welcome to Astronomy! I am excited to get this semester started and I hope you are too. I
have been teaching Earth Science for 23 years now and this will be my third year to teach
Astronomy. This will be my sixth year at Connections Charter Academy and I have had
an opportunity to teach some amazing students. In this letter I will outline my
expectations and some suggestions about how to be successful in the course. If you have
any questions or problems please webmail me. I check my mailbox on a regular basis
from 7:30am to 3:00pm weekdays. If you would rather talk by phone you can call me at
the office during my office hours. The phone number is 724-741-2659. Be sure to check
your webmail often. Often times, my webmails will be reminders, or have information
that will be important for you to complete assignments.
LIVELESSONS
LiveLessons are an important tool for you to use in order to understand the material
covered in this course and you are expected to attend at least 10 LiveLessons
(participation grade). I feel so strongly about the Live Lessons that I drop your lowest
quiz grade, third portfolio, and semester exam if you attend more than 30 of them!
During the LiveLessons I will be lecturing on topics related to the assignment for the
week and they will involve cool graphics and videos with a traditional PowerPoint
presentation. On Wednesdays, I will be sharing review PowerPoints for your quizzes if
one is assigned during that week. I will also use Wednesdays to explain the portfolio
options when they are scheduled in your planner.
PLANNER
It would be a very good idea to add your LiveLesson times to your planner. Here are the
steps:
1. Open your daily planner.
2. Go to week view (Upper right hand corner).
3. Click in a blank area (Tuesday Thursday) and a New Appointment screen will
come up.
4. Add the name of the class Astronomy LiveLesson.
5. Uncheck the box next to All day.
6. Add start time 8:30am and End time 9:30am
7. Click on the box next to Recurrence.
8. Weekly should be checked already. However, you will need to click the days of the
week that you have the LiveLessons. For Astronomy you will click TuesdayThursday.

9. Save and you should see the LiveLesson times appear in your planner.
PORTFOLIOS
Each portfolio will have 10 options to choose from for full credit. Be sure to check the
message board for these options. Before you submit a portfolio be sure to save a copy.
Students who fail to submit a portfolio assignment three weeks after the original due
date will receive a temporary zero for that assignment. The student may still submit the
assignment but will be penalized 10% of the portfolios value. If the student fails to
submit their work within an additional three weeks that zero will become permanent. If

I receive a blank or unrelated document for the portfolio that is due I will
grade it as it is received. If you need more time I will grant you more time upon
receiving a respectful email or phone call stating this request and why. Be sure to put
effort in preparing your portfolio responses.
PHONE CALLS ARE REQUIRED!
One phone call is required each semester and will count as part of your discussion
grade. During these calls I will review your work and strive to help you improve your
grade with some extra points for answering some of my questions correctly. In short,
phone calls can only improve your grade not hurt it.
ASSIGNMENTS
There are three types of assessments that you will experience in this course. The quizzes
will involve about 8 questions and a PowerPoint review will be made available to you
during LiveLessons on Wednesdays. The portfolios will involve various activities or
exercises that you will need to complete. The options for you to pick from will be posted
in my message board. The message board can be found by clicking the blue pushpin at
the top of your screen when you log into Connexus. Please call me if you are confused
so we can navigate to it together. The final assessment will be the final exam. I will be
reviewing for this exam during the last week of this. We will not be completing the
discussion activities.
Copying your multiple choice, short answers, or essay answers from the textbook,
websites, or other students is considered cheating. The first occurrence will result in
an email to your Learning Coach , will result in a zero on that assignment, and the
school administration will be notified. I will be using CheckMyWork and TurnItIn websites to
identify possible cheating. These websites give me the webpage where information comes from.

I look forward to getting to know all of you and hope you have an outstanding year!
William C. Erler
(Astronomy Teacher Commonwealth Charter Academy)