I am so excited to be back in the classroom with you guys I can hardly contain myself! It was so nice to see your beautiful shining faces yesterday.

I’d like to give you a quick summary of how this course will work. We talked about this yesterday, but it’s nice to have it all written down in one place. So here goes.

Content. In General Pathology, we talked about the ways things can go wrong in the body (injury, infection, immune dysfunction, neoplasia) and also the general mechanisms the body uses to fix these problems (tissue repair, inflammation, immune responses). This created a nice little brick foundation for your pathology house!

In Systemic Pathology, we’re going to add floors and rooms to the house. The course is organized into organ systems (cardiovascular, respiratory, etc.), and in each system, we’ll cover the abnormalities and diseases that are most relevant for you for your future practice (and for boards).

Format. This course has the same components as General Path:

• Lectures: Lots of lectures. All of our lectures will be recorded, and I’ll post the recordings on our lectures page as soon as I get them (usually the same day as the lecture).
• Quizzes: We’ll do these in class, using Kahoot. You’ll be able to talk with each other and use your notes, like you did in General Path.
• Exam reviews: Same thing: in-class Kahoots. Only with exam reviews, there are prizes for first, second, and third place. Maybe the prizes will be coffee cards…maybe they’ll be cookies…who knows?!
• Exams: We’ll use ExamSoft, and you’ll have the entire exam day to take the exam.

Grades. We’ll have three quizzes, and four exams. At the end of the course, I’ll add all your quiz and exam points together (no weighting of exams or anything) to give you a final score for the course. Grades will be determined as follows:

• A = final scores greater than or equal to 90% of total course points
• B = scores between 80% and 90% of total course points
• C = scores between 70% and 80% of total course points

Also, I just want to remind you that I’m still your “mom.” Dental school is fun and interesting…but it is also really hard and overwhelming. You need to take care of yourself.  So I’ll be checking in with you from time to time to see how you’re doing, and to remind you that I am here for you. If you need to vent, or want advice, or just need to know that you’re not alone, email me. We can stick with email, or we can meet in person. Whatever feels best to you. I mean it. You are not alone.