Closing Letter
Dear Mr. Wang,
As you know, my name is Simrit Singh and I’m currently in grade 11 in Louise Arbour Secondary School. I had university level, Grade 11 biology in the second semester of 2013 to 2014. This course has been a great journey from the beginning of the year right to the end. It almost feels like a roller coast ride where I faced many ups and downs. This course has provided me with loads of information. The knowledge learnt, advanced my learning from grade 10 biology. Moreover the learning in this course added to our knowledge in a very intellectual way. In the first few units, we were introduced concepts such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi that related to the Human Life better. These concepts were a lot closer to human life than the topics learnt in grade 10 biology. Therefore, I'm now able to make more connections within the different units than before.
In this course, we explored the biological world with high effectiveness and details. We learnt about Biodiversity, Genetics, Evolution and Internal Systems in many interesting ways. The study of genetics was informative since it answered most of my questions that were related to our inheritance. Towards the end of this unit, it becomes easy to understand that the genes of the parents are randomly selected to determine the offspring. Even though, understanding the punnet square concept wasn't a whole lot pleasing, it was very interesting visually observing how an offspring's chances can vary. During the unit of evolution, it was excited to discover how some organisms evolved through mutations to adapt their environment. I enjoyed watching Spider Man because it helped me understand the concept better. Thus, I would recommend more biology based movies or documentations for the upcoming students in the year ahead. The most fascinating was learning how to dissect a pig. Even though during some points in the dissection the whole scene made me feel sick to my stomach, it was by far the most interesting because we got a chance to observe the real organs whereas in the diagrams and pictures we saw in grade 10 were oppositely different.
In the beginning of the course, I had planned a learning strategy where I would complete all of my assignments/homework on time and succeed in planting the information learnt inside of the mind. This was all possible because of taking notes, reading, and reviewing the concepts daily. I believe that taking notes plays a huge role in understanding the concepts. Academically, success can be achieved by reoccurring exposure to the content learned. Notes can help us go back and review concepts that we have forgotten or do not understand. Personally, I have noticed that in the beginning of the course I didn’t review my notes and this obviously showed on my grades. When I started reviewing my notes, I had starting understanding and doing well on tests and quizzes. This course has taught me the importance of notes and now I use my notes to review, study for quizzes and test, and to create study sheets. Particularly, in biology I enjoyed taking notes since you made worksheet like lesson for us. I would recommend this for your future students as well, because it allows students to pay more attention rather than trying to copy down notes in a small amount of time.
For the improvement of the course, I would recommend to decrease the work load. Compared to other science programs, biology is a course where we have loads of assignments and presentations. Grade 10 to grade 11 is a great jump; in grade 11 students are required to grasp so much information at once that it could be overwhelming for some students. This could reflect ones marks. I would recommend more in group oriented assignments where each group member is assigned work by the teacher; this could provide the students and teachers with info. This could help students split work load easily and encourage those individuals in the group that do not contribute. This could help teachers understand each students work and their abilities. I would also like to encourage more in class assignments which would help the student balance out their work load at home. This could lead to an advantage for the students because they can seek help from you in class and this could eventually lead to better grades.
In your class, I got an opportunity to learn and explore new concepts that I once didn’t know existed. Being a student in your grade 11 biology class was a pleasure. I can’t do much but thank you for being the wonderful teacher you are, helping us succeed and motivating us to keep on going on. You have guided us and helped us understand difficult concepts that would help us in our future professions. I was able to learn with you as a teacher. I think you did a great job teaching this course and I hope to have you as a teacher again!
Your Student,
Simrit Singh
As you know, my name is Simrit Singh and I’m currently in grade 11 in Louise Arbour Secondary School. I had university level, Grade 11 biology in the second semester of 2013 to 2014. This course has been a great journey from the beginning of the year right to the end. It almost feels like a roller coast ride where I faced many ups and downs. This course has provided me with loads of information. The knowledge learnt, advanced my learning from grade 10 biology. Moreover the learning in this course added to our knowledge in a very intellectual way. In the first few units, we were introduced concepts such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi that related to the Human Life better. These concepts were a lot closer to human life than the topics learnt in grade 10 biology. Therefore, I'm now able to make more connections within the different units than before.
In this course, we explored the biological world with high effectiveness and details. We learnt about Biodiversity, Genetics, Evolution and Internal Systems in many interesting ways. The study of genetics was informative since it answered most of my questions that were related to our inheritance. Towards the end of this unit, it becomes easy to understand that the genes of the parents are randomly selected to determine the offspring. Even though, understanding the punnet square concept wasn't a whole lot pleasing, it was very interesting visually observing how an offspring's chances can vary. During the unit of evolution, it was excited to discover how some organisms evolved through mutations to adapt their environment. I enjoyed watching Spider Man because it helped me understand the concept better. Thus, I would recommend more biology based movies or documentations for the upcoming students in the year ahead. The most fascinating was learning how to dissect a pig. Even though during some points in the dissection the whole scene made me feel sick to my stomach, it was by far the most interesting because we got a chance to observe the real organs whereas in the diagrams and pictures we saw in grade 10 were oppositely different.
In the beginning of the course, I had planned a learning strategy where I would complete all of my assignments/homework on time and succeed in planting the information learnt inside of the mind. This was all possible because of taking notes, reading, and reviewing the concepts daily. I believe that taking notes plays a huge role in understanding the concepts. Academically, success can be achieved by reoccurring exposure to the content learned. Notes can help us go back and review concepts that we have forgotten or do not understand. Personally, I have noticed that in the beginning of the course I didn’t review my notes and this obviously showed on my grades. When I started reviewing my notes, I had starting understanding and doing well on tests and quizzes. This course has taught me the importance of notes and now I use my notes to review, study for quizzes and test, and to create study sheets. Particularly, in biology I enjoyed taking notes since you made worksheet like lesson for us. I would recommend this for your future students as well, because it allows students to pay more attention rather than trying to copy down notes in a small amount of time.
For the improvement of the course, I would recommend to decrease the work load. Compared to other science programs, biology is a course where we have loads of assignments and presentations. Grade 10 to grade 11 is a great jump; in grade 11 students are required to grasp so much information at once that it could be overwhelming for some students. This could reflect ones marks. I would recommend more in group oriented assignments where each group member is assigned work by the teacher; this could provide the students and teachers with info. This could help students split work load easily and encourage those individuals in the group that do not contribute. This could help teachers understand each students work and their abilities. I would also like to encourage more in class assignments which would help the student balance out their work load at home. This could lead to an advantage for the students because they can seek help from you in class and this could eventually lead to better grades.
In your class, I got an opportunity to learn and explore new concepts that I once didn’t know existed. Being a student in your grade 11 biology class was a pleasure. I can’t do much but thank you for being the wonderful teacher you are, helping us succeed and motivating us to keep on going on. You have guided us and helped us understand difficult concepts that would help us in our future professions. I was able to learn with you as a teacher. I think you did a great job teaching this course and I hope to have you as a teacher again!
Your Student,
Simrit Singh