Dear Parents or Guardians and Students:


    Today's student (born after 1980) will be the generation that goes to Mars. The person that is best qualified for the mission will have the fundamentals of high school and AP physics. 

    "One-half of the American public does not know that the earth goes around the sun 
      once a year and believes that the earliest humans lived at the same time as the 
      dinosaurs." (National Science Foundation, (NSF), 1996, p.8)

    In accordance with the school administration, I use Classroom Learning System (CLS). I am encouraging each student to keep a portfolio of his or her work.

    I encourage each parent or guardian to ask their student if their homework, problems and reading, assignment is complete and clearly written. There will be homework on the average of 7 days per week. Every student must practice the subject at least 20 minutes per night. I will try and keep the homework to a maximum of 45 minute per night. Again, there are reading assignments. Every student is expected to be prepared to discuss the required reading and homework on a daily bases. The purpose of this is to allow the student to exercise their public speaking skills and show their preparation for the subject. The student selected at random for the presentation will be evaluated on the knowledge and presentation ability. More specific course information follows. 

    The course structure is such that each chapter is reviewed or lectured for approximately an hour followed by an hour of Q&As, an hour of lab, and a brief quiz. So there is only 4 hours of classroom time per chapter. The student must read each chapter ahead of the lecture. I realize this is a tight schedule. Sorry!

    My school email address is marc_wilson@places.pcsb.org. Please feel free to email me if just to say hi. I will check my email daily as I do my voice mail. My school telephone number is 669-1131 ext. 155. I will try to respond within 24 hours. My home phone number is in the white page telephone book.

For AP or IB Parents or Guardians and Students:
    All AP or IB Physics students please make sure your portfolios are kept in my classroom, up to date, and complete with tabs and a table of contents. 

    For IB exam reviewing purposes, you must keep all your work and my handouts, including homework, in the junior and senior years.

    Although the IB program does not endorse any reference textbooks, a colleague of mine, Dr. Asif Shakur, Professor of Physics, Salisbury University, and I are drafting an IB Physics book. Obviously, I consider this an excellent reference source for preparation for the IB Physics examination. My students will be exposed to my draft and should take notes of the examples.

    I have collected enough spare college physics textbooks that each student can leave their college physics textbook at home and still have a book for class. However, some students are inadvertently taking home the classroom set. Please encourage each other not to abuse this benefit.

    Assignments are due as posted. I give assignments out thirty days in advance. Illness or absenteeism is no excuse for not having the home on the day your student returns to school. I will reduce the grade by one letter for each day a project, report, homework, or assignment is late. Exceptions will be made on a student-by-student basis. The IB student will be given only 24 hours to turn in past due assignments.

    As a parent who had a daughter graduate the IB program, and awarded the diploma, I thought you would like to know what to expect. I have updated this website for your information and assistance. It is under continuous construction. I also repeated myself in a number of spots. This was done intentionally.

    As you know the AP and IB courses are rigorous. I need your cooperation and understanding to make this challenging experience a rewarding one, too. I am excited and pleased to be part of this program, but can only do so much. The lion's share of work is on the student. The student needs to practice the subject matter as a musician would their instrument. The more one practices the better one performs. 

                                                                 In physics as in life I remain respectfully yours,

                                                                                  Marc  Wilson