Ms. McAteer's Home Page

• The word "accelerate" means to progress more quickly. For some, the pace will be comfortable and for others it will feel hard and fast. 
• I believe that mistakes and struggles are the most valuable experiences in learning math. They create brain growth.
• I am happy to meet one-on-one with your student by appointment. I can be available with a couple days’ notice most days at lunch and after school. Also, I will hold drop-in office hours on Wednesdays at lunch. 
• We have established a department-wide grading policy. Assessments will contribute 90% toward the overall math grade with 10% for "everything else". If your student is dissatisfied with their assessment score (even if it is 90% or better!), they may retake the test. The retake will be structurally similar to the original with different problems based on the same concepts. It will be no less rigorous than the original. In the grade book I will record the retake score (even if it is lower) as it reflects the most current learning.
• Each end-of-unit test will occur very shortly after we finish the chapter so every homework assignment should be considered a "study guide". It is imperative that your student keep current with homework AND thoughtfully check their own work with the worked-out solution keys that I will post with each assignment. In the accelerated courses, we cover a year-and-a-half of curriculum and don't have sufficient class time to review homework in depth. I will be doing a spot check most days and will let you know if missing/incomplete homework is an issue for your student. I will not be posting each assignment in the SchoolLoop grading program. In fact, the grade book will have few entries. The best way to support your student is to look at their work, ask them about it, and help them find misconceptions and boo-boos (there's a difference!) by comparing their work and answers with the solution keys.
• I post assignments on Google Classroom and communicate with families from my "@orinda . . ." email address. It is pmcateer@orinda.k12.ca.us. Note that while my name is pronounced MAC-a-TEER, it is not spelled that way.

Please contact me (email is best) with any concerns or questions you have about your student's experience in my class.