“We’ve talked about the fact that we all learn in different ways and at different times.  I think we all agree that it doesn’t make sense for everybody to do the same work at the same time, and that means we need some kind of structure that will keep everything organized.  What I’m handing out right now is that structure.  It’s called a learning contract, and we’ll be using them from now on to organize everything we learn.

“Let’s look at the back of the sheet first.  At the top, you’ll see there is a list of Essential Questions.  I’ve summarized the concepts you will be responsible for understanding by the end of this contract in the form of questions.  If you can answer all these questions in depth, you will have mastered the necessary concepts.  I won’t ask you any questions on a test that aren’t covered by this list.  

“Right under those questions is a section called Essential Skills.  I will always tell you what skills you need to master by the end of the unit, which equations you will need to be able to use proficiently.  Between the essential questions and skills, you have a complete list of what you should know and be able to do at the end of the unit.  In other words, these form the learning goals of this contract.

“Below that is a calendar that shows you all the due dates for required work.  Now turn to the front of the contract.

“There are a number of features built into this sheet - it has been evolving with lots of feedback from generations of students over the past twenty years.  It is a highly evolved tool.  This side has a list of all the activities you can do to master the learning goals we just looked at.  The bold items on this list are required of everybody.  They are, in my opinion, essential for everyone to be able to master this material. 

“All the items that are not bold are optional.  A number of these are review items to back up problem sets you need to continue practicing, or hands-on labs to reinforce your understanding.  Some of these optional items, labeled “A&B” for Above and Beyond, are enrichment items - they allow students who have mastered the learning goals to challenge themselves even further, to dive in deeper into the topic.  No one should ever be bored or find themselves doing busywork.

“You’ll notice there are a few blank lines, ready to be filled in.  That’s because sometimes you may find something you want to pursue on your own, something you want to read or do that’s not on the contract.  Once you talk to me about it, you can do something that I haven’t thought of yet.

“The other reason for the blank lines is that sometimes it becomes clear that there needs to be another problem set to allow for more practice, or another topic to work through that becomes clear while we’re in the middle of the contract.  In other words, the contract can change and grow to respond to your needs.

“At the bottom of the sheet it says that you need to do a minimum of fourteen items.  Since there are nine required items, that means you get to choose five that are the best for you.  You can always do more than fourteen, if you need to practice some more, for instance.

“On the left are spaces for you to evaluate each item you have done, and at the bottom, when we’re all done with this contract, you will evaluate all the work you’ve done.  You’ll turn this sheet in along with your journal at the end of this unit.  I’ll look at your work and how you evaluated yourself, and write down whether I agree or disagree.  I almost always agree, because coming up with a final grade is usually pretty obvious.