Meeting 32 - Oct '15

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Science Department Meeting
Thursday, October 29, 2015 (7:20am – 7:50am)
H103 – BioHazard Meeting Room



  1. I. Looking Ahead – Important Dates to Note
    1. a. Midterm Grades Due Today
    2. b. Midterm Grades available on Q – Nov 2
    3. c. Parent Conferences – Nov 11
    4. d. President’s Dinner – Nov 14
    5. e. Thanksgiving – Nov 26
    6. f. Next Meeting – Nov 20 (modified from calendar)
    7. g. Open House Preparation Meeting–Dec 10
    8. h. Open House (Mandatory Event) – Sun, Dec 13
Parent Conferences (Nov 11) – Any parent with a C or below, parent will be able to make conferences. Might want to call parents if they need to be aware ahead of time – reach out to the parents earlier.

  1. II. BioHaz Mornings (Thank you Kimberley and Paul)
Check the calendar for your days – send a reminder to the department a day before.

  1. III. PD Plans (Finalize this week and submit to Rick Monday)
PD Plans – Fawzia met with most of us this week already, any revisions please email Fawzia by the end of the week to submit to Rick on Monday.

  1. IV. School Profile – GPA / SAT / ACT / Subject Test Data
School Profile – comparing GPA, SAT, ACT from 2015-16 and 2013-14
  • GPA is a bit lower
  • SAT has stayed steady
  • ACT – more students are opting to take this – ACT science has increased a bit, as has reading and English. Science ACT section – read passages and analyzing data, graphs and charts. Might be a good idea to work with the freshman and sophomores on the ACT practice questions.
  • Subject Tests – why are the bio numbers for the SAT 2 subject test so low? Taking
  • AP results – more and more students are taking AP exams

  1. V. Math/Science Alignment
    1. a. Continue Mike’s work
    2. b. Hybrid Math / Freshman Physics meeting in Period 5 PLC
    3. c. Spreadsheet
A few years ago Mike sat down with the math teachers to put together a spreadsheet on what they taught and when – this was shared with the physics teachers to align what they were teaching with the freshman physics and math.
Gerry – met with math / physics PLC – updating spreadsheets to have visibility to see what the math teachers and physics teachers are teaching and when.

  1. VI. Formal Observations
    1. a. observe 20-30 minutes of a class period
    2. b. feedback from 2-3 students
    3. c. meet with the observed teacher immediately following the lesson
    4. d. use the science department observation protocol form
    5. e. Sign up sheet in BioHaz
Formal Observations – in the next couple weeks Fawzia will observe 20-30 minutes of class period. She will put up a sign up sheet in Biohaz. Pre and post meeting for the observation - using the science observation – talking with the students while in the lab as a part of the observation – then will meet immediately following the lesson to review the observation. Starting next week for a span of about 3-4 weeks. Periods 2,3,4 are open for observations.

  1. VII. NSTA Reno (update from Andrew)
Andrew – not here - said it was about 2000 people a bit smaller, It’s about time is looking into doing an Active Biology.

  1. VIII. Department Share
    1. a. PLC Visitations
    2. b. Student midterm grades and new schedule?
PLC Visitations – any comments or observations? Very helpful – Gerry – getting a sense of the “vibe” across the campus – diversity of their classroom experience, walking in the student’s shoes. Visited two teachers – found out that student behavior management was okay. A chance to see other classes and where your class fits in. Kimberly – visited Teri Kawamata – great use of electronic resources – Socrative and Kahoot.

Midterm Grades and New schedule – Fawzia noticed that grades are a bit lower – could be because of the crop of students or new schedule.