Recent Changes

Science Department Meeting
Monday, October 10, 2016 (Faculty Inservice Day)
H103 – BioHazard Meeting Room
I. Looking Ahead – Important Dates
a. Friday October 14th Happy Birthday Gerry
b. Saturday October 15th President’s Appreciation Dinner
c. Wednesday October 19th Testing Day
d. Friday October 21st Professional Development Plans Due
e. Midterm Grades Due Thursday October 27th
f. Midterm Grades available on Q on Monday October 31st
g. Next Department Meeting Thursday Nov 3rd (7:20 am)
h. Open House Sunday Dec 4th
II. Open House Flyer
a. Discuss Updates Needed / NGSS
Open House – Sunday Dec 4th – reviewing the Open House brochure making changes and modifications to the brochure.
- NGSS – needs to be added to the brochure – add the California State Standards with the NGSS. Some of our parents know that key NGSS word – include both NGSS and CA Standards language.
- Change the pyramid to a rectangle – including a 4th box with AP and Elective options.
- Remove cockeyed box and pyramid and replace with photos of students in the lab actively doing science.
- Remove 150th logo
- 10th year of physics first in 2017, started in 2007
- The Science Dept. Believes that….revising the back side – only including the top / most important statements.
III. Grades - School Profile (GPA / SAT / ACT / Subject Test Data) and discussion about overall department grades
Looking over the overall School Profile and dept. grade discussions -
Percent of A+ on the Spring 2016 final grades in other departments is quite large – science dept. is 0.
- Concern expressed in our school wide GPA’s increasing since 1999.
- Students taking more “easy A” courses on campus – more students are taking Health on campus as opposed to off campus.
- It would be nice to look at the data without Health, Theo, & Fine Arts.
IV. Discussion on Policy regarding awarding A+ grades (Proposal from Andrey)
- Draft of policy proposed from Andrey – not quite sure yet how to officially “publish” the policy.
- A student who goes beyond high scores – someone who has gone beyond the scope of the course in greater depth, or something outside the requirements of the course.
- The A+ should be just ornamental, not a GPA bump. Take it off the grading scale, and school wide- take it off the pressure of the kids, etc. If you are not getting extra GPA credit, take it off completely, since it is just cosmetic.
- Our dept. feedback – we do not give A+, and will continue to not give A+ - take it off school wide, especially since it does not impact the GPA. Take it off the grading scale all together.
- Students taking a schedule now where there are more opportunities to take courses in departments that are easier to get high grades in.
- It should not boost the GPA – just a cosmetic feature – it will thereby remove the subjectivity. If college admissions know that is the case, that it does not boost the GPA, and know the Loyola policy.
- Percentage part taken out of the policy – if the GPA is a 5.0 anyways, it is a teachers subjective call.
V. Formal Observations
(observe 20-30 minutes of a class period; pre/post meeting with the observed teacher)
- Formal Observations – Fawzia has a sign-up sheet for formal observations at a time of your choosing, period 5,6,7. This will be paired with your PD plan discussion.
VI. Professional Development Plans (Due Friday, October 21 latest)
a. Last year’s plans were emailed in September
b. Write this year’s plans and update last year’s plans with status (completed/in-progress/not completed); include both in document
c. Discuss plans (schedule on October 24th to 28th) or during pre/post observation meeting
- Submit to Fawzia by October 21st at the latest – try to get it to her by the time of your observation, that way it is all one meeting with Fawzia PD and Observation discussion. Pre and post meeting and PD plans all in one meeting.
VII. BioHaz Mornings – Thank you Kimberly and Paul (next)
VIII. PLC’s Updates from subgroups
- PLC updates – Physics subgroup – observation made – last year time we spent with teachers in subgroups was outside of classes. Now they can get much more done with the time during PLC. Quality of what they are doing is working well.
- Chemistry subgroup – ability to meet just with Chemistry, updating and discussing syllabus and common labs and demos – whatever you want to do just document what you are doing. Robb – observing Eddie during Period 2 – Bio PLC is period 4.
IX. Move down to L006 (Time for groups to work with learning glass)
- Learning Glass available in Andrew’s room anyone that would like to try it out.

Science Department Meeting
Thursday September 1, 2016
H103 – BioHaz Meeting Room
I. Important Dates
a. Birthdays (Fawzia 9/6, Robb 9/14, Andrew 9/20, Mike 9/29)
b.Back to School Nights
Frosh/Soph Wednesday 9/7
Junior/Senior Tuesday 9/13
c. September 9th – last day for AP and Honors to drop without permission
d.September 30th – last day to for AP and Honors drops by teacher or petition by student
e. NSTA: Portland Nov 10-12 (Regional); Los Angeles Mar 30-Apr 2
(National)
II. Letter of Recommendation Questionnaires
Gina – letter of rec. Questionnaires – 1 form for the kids – one general question that the counselors would want to know about, and then each department would come up with a questionnaire that was more particular for your department. Just one or two questions that could be incorporated into a questionnaire on their Naviance. The counselors would also be able to access it to see their responses. Subject specific questions to include on a questionnaire – in depth on maybe 2 questions that are very subject specific. Generate a couple questions and send to Gina. More detailed about one specific accomplishment, etc. that is very detailed and gives much more light into a student. Particularly important to know if the student is planning on majoring in the sciences or elsewhere.
Fawzia – will do a shared GoogleDoc of the questionnaire and develop a couple questions for students to answer specifically in depth.
III. PLC’s
a. Update from group leaders
b.NGSS alignment; update Science Department Handbook
PLC’s – group leaders updates, etc. on what you decided to do during the PLC time. Set our own goals for the PLC’s.
- Kimberly (Chemistry): discussing the NGSS alignment, revisiting chemistry demos-spent time going on the electrolysis of water demo new activity for our chemistry students, etc. 70-minute planning and how it is working for us and the AP courses, etc. BTSN prep.
- Lee (Physics): started with looking at the common final exam – move some curriculum into a different semester to give some scope and sequence. A bit of a redesign, how they are using technology. Sent Rick the updates of what we are doing, etc. Quality time to sit down and look at questions for the common final exam, etc.
- Stefan (Biology): different subjects in the PLC group, a bit of a difficulty with the PLC group. Stefan and Paul, Gary (on own), difficult to find in depth subject related things to work on. Spending the time producing some videos, lecture videos, etc. using Andrew’s broadcasting room experimenting with that. Robb – PLC time better used sitting in on Eddie’s class during Period 2 to better utilize his PLC time, waiting on confirmation from Rick and Frank. Robb setting up the SparkView Element – tablet that has the equivalent of capstone on it already and sensors already on the device itself, wireless sensors on the device itself. Wireless probe to connect to phone Bluetooth – pair with Element and sparkview app (they can download the app on their phone and use it with the wireless probeware).
NGSS Alignment – align our Loyola science standards to the NGSS standards – Biology is done on a wiki – Physics has redesigned the course to hit all the NGSS points. Chemistry – need to get our alignment done and as long as it is documented on a course outline, etc.
IV. Documents to update
a. Open House Flyer
V. Reminders
a. PD Plans (due early October)
b.Department Calendar/Biohaz mornings
c. Next Department Meeting – Thursday, October 6th

Science Department Welcome Back Meeting
Friday August 19, 2016
H103 – BioHaz Meeting Room
I. Welcome Back!
II. What we did in the summer
a. Summer School – Kimberly Summer Science Coordinator
b. Summer Sabbaticals – Quick share from recipients
c. AP Conference - attendees
d. Registration- More Physics C, AP Bio, APES
Andrew – 3 conferences: JSM with a group of people from LHS met with videographer from others schools, etc. Went to ISTE – maker space projects 3D printers, etc. C3 conference at LMU had a lot on blended learning and flipped classrooms. Learning glass ready to go if you want to schedule to do some filming with Andrew.
Robb – leadership conference in Redondo (educational leadership with Ken Robinson); Europe – started building a sustainable hydroponic garden, EU conference in London for 3 days – a lot of professors presenting research on published papers. Online Chemistry course to prep for Chemistry through UC Berkeley.
AP Conference – Kimberly & Paul – went through the exam, AP Capstone presentation (research program) – some issues with it in terms of our curriculum. Fawzia – AP Chem debrief. Garry – Physics debrief from the Exams.
Registration – seems like we might need more Physics C, and Juniors are hungry for more AP Bio. Push for rigor on transcripts is real – colleges want to see the rigor on the transcript. On Monday Andrey will tell students that we still have your petitions and no need to contact dept. chair.
III. Important Dates
a. Monday 8/22 Freshman mini-schedule
b. Tuesday 8/23 First day of classes
c. Back to School Nights: Frosh/Soph Wednesday 9/7
Junior/Senior Tuesday 9/13 (6:30-10 pm)
d. NSTA: Portland Nov 10-12 (Regional); Los Angeles Mar 30-Apr 2
(National)
Fawzia will share the Google calendar with us – be aware of the BTSN nights, coming up quickly
NSTA – plan accordingly – let Fawzia know if you are going.
IV. First Day Activities
a. NOS / Active Inquiry
b. Course Documents (syllabus and safety)
NOS Activities – Physics: build towers out of marshmallows and spaghetti. Bio – Junior year mystery tubes. Chemistry – Inquiry cubes pattern identification. Seniors? Gary does with one with the rulers and washers – build a cantilever.
Be sure to email Fawzia your syllabus and first day documents.
V. PLC’s
a. Groups/Leaders/Topics
PLC’s – Groupings – freshman Physics (Lee leader), Bio group (Stefan leader), Chemistry group (Kimberly leader).
Fawzia spoke with Rick – he indicated that the guidelines are for depts. without certain visions. As long as you have a plan and document it – you can go off script just be sure to document it and have a clear plan.
VI. Documents to update
a. Open House Flyer
b. Science Department Handbook (shared Google doc)
Copies of last year’s open house flyer – take a look and at the next meeting we will talk about changes we want to make for it. Next meeting Sept 1st – before school
Science dept handbook – Google doc make changes as needed.
VII. 2015-16 New Schedule
a. AP Scores and ACT scores – same within margin of error
ACT scores – final results will be on the website – Fawzia has copies of the ACT score data. From AP and ACT scores nothing has really been affected – still waiting on the SAT scores.
VIII.Coming up
a. PD Plans
b. NGSS
c. Department Calendar/Biohaz mornings
d. Next meeting Thursday September 1st
Coming up – Fawzia will be sending copies of PD plans will need to update them for this year. As a part of Fawzia’s doctoral program she will be working on something with NGSS and effective PD for NGSS.

Science Department Meeting Agenda
Friday April 22, 2016 (7:15 am)
H103 – BioHazard Meeting Room
I. Important Dates
Friday, April 22 - Registration and petition forms are due
Monday April 25 - Department chairs receive rosters of students successfully registered for restricted courses
- Fawzia will pass along to the teachers, we have until June to accept. Fawzia has handed out petitions to the teachers. Be sure to consult teachers involved.
- Let Fawzia and Andrey know who to add to the registration list. Notify Fawzia, Andrey and the student if they are admitted. Let know as soon as a decision is made.
June 20 – Chairs send updates to Andrey about petitions
II. Updates
Offering 1 more section of AP Chemistry due to increased number of students choosing to take AP Chem/Phys/Bio
- This year Eddie and Fawzia had numerous Honors Chem students willing and able to take AP Chem. Robb will be taking 1 section of Active Chem. Juniors 2 AP Bio, 2 AP Chem, 2 APES options. This gives us flexibility, so if there are years where we have qualified students for a third section of AP Bio we would be able to adjust.
III. Debrief general PreReg process
- changes needed? Issues?
- (need weighted math GPA; indicate more than one first choice for seniors, APC students allowed enrollment in AP1, demand for more AP Physics with Math department changes,)
- Physics teachers need a weighted math GPA
- Can we have students mark if they are taking 2 science courses? We currently have about 30 seniors every year who takes 2 science courses.
- High demand for Physics C – so Seniors taking 2 AP’s did not get into Physics C – this was fixed, but is there a way to delineate in the future?
- If someone is in AP Physics C, but decides not to take it, can they automatically level down to AP Physics 1? If you are accepted to the highest course, you are technically qualified for AP Physics 1. Revisit the distinction between AP Physics C and 1. College board paid a lot of attention to qualitative and conceptual assessment in AP Physics 1. How to market and differentiate AP Physics 1.
- Google spreadsheet for all the prereg data to see who is accepted, etc. for next year.
- If things stay on tract with all seniors ready for calculus – Juniors will be ready to take AP Physics 1. AP Physics 1 is most effective when taking precalc. concurrently and AP Physics C when taking calculus concurrently.
- If we have a Junior taking AP Physics 1 – do we now offer AP Physics E & M? AP Physics 2…or E & M version of AP Physics C. There might be an interest in a couple years for this path. AP Physics E & M is a 1 semester courses. Could students taking AP Physics C, take both the AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C exam? Could they get credit for both? The AP Physics 1 exam is 3 hours, the AP Physics C is 90 minutes.
- To make room for E & M – is it possible to mesh AP Physics C and E & M into one course? Probably not…some schools offer E & M and mechanics in one year, but we do not in order to go in the depth.
- High demand for students to do AP Chem, AP Bio and AP Physics – those that want to be science/engineering majors. They have to double up senior year.
IV. Grades (distribute handout)
- Agree upon department policy on A+
- Midterm grade spreadsheets – compare percentages/numbers with the department.
- Department policy on A+ - no A+’s in our department. A+ is a legitimate grade. Above 99% is an A+ - some teachers give bonus points and extra credit. GPA effect in AP courses (5.3) – effects the weighted GPA. Regular courses A+ and A is the same GPA wise. A+ stand out on the transcript.
- Grade inflation makes it difficult to explain denial of admission into restricted courses
- Careful about grade inflations – something to keep in mind, as long as you are consistent with the other teachers taking the courses. Universities are admitting that students are competing with each other from our school – we are messing up the top end kids by moving everyone up higher. Hard to justify and explain if they are getting A’s and they are not admitted into the higher level course. Certain depts.. are better than others. Foreign language and English are brutal, no grade inflation there. Science is probably one of the top three, we are inflated relative to the rest of the school.
VII. Insert letter about science department for Freshman parents
- email Fawzia if you have changes to the Freshman letter
V. Looking ahead
- Senior Science Awards for Excellence – Fawzia will get an email about senior science awards – look for an email from Fawzia. Look at students taking 2-3 science courses.
- Summer Sabbaticals – Andrew – got a sabbatical for broadcasting, learning blast Beta testing today. Kahn Academy with a human face – Gerry. Robotics – teacher for the summer session. The new math teacher will be the robotics coach for next year – he is new and will need to learn everything. Any possibility he will be teaching the Robotics class?
- PLC groups – posted in the Faculty room – will be updating the NGSS next year in PLC’s
VI. Time to Review Course Petitions

Science Department Meeting
Friday, February 19, 2016 7:20 am
H103 – BioHaz Meeting Room
I. Important Dates
a. Thursday, Feb 25 - AP Exam Registration and Payments due
Remind students to register and pay for AP Exams!
b. Friday, Mar 4 – Career Day / ACT Prep Class
Email will be sent out regarding assignments for Career Day – Spring ACT prep course with Fawzia and Jason Schmidt – open to Juniors (sophomores only if space is left) – great for students taking the April ACT.
c. Mon, Tue & Wed, Mar 7, 8 & 9 – Pre-Reg Meetings (Homeroom 12:50 – 2:20)
Right after lunch 90-minute homeroom period from 12:50-2:20pm – meetings and kids will immediately register at that time.
d. Wednesday, Mar 16 – Science Department Meeting
We will also meet again with restricted course teachers to go over course lists.
e. Thursday, Mar 17 – Midterm Grades Due
Stefan’s birthday March 17!
f. Saturday, Mar 19 – Interchange
g. Wednesday, Mar 23 – Retreat/Easter Break
h. Thursday Mar 31 – NSTA Nashville
Fawzia, Andrew, Jim and Stefan going to NSTA Nashville
i. April 6 – Parent Teacher Conferences
j. Birthdays
Eddie’s daughter is coming soon!
II. Registration Reminders (Refer to Handout for Timeline)
a. Last week’s info meetings - feedback
b. Pre-Registration Meetings Mar 7, 8 & 9 (Talking Points Handout)
c. Top 100 – guaranteed in AP or Honors
d. Bottom 100 – not admitted into AP or Honors
e. Restricted Course lists due to Fawzia by 8:00am on Wednesday, April 13
f. Restricted Course lists will be posted on Canvas on Friday, April 15
In terms of the meetings – turnout was good for the Honors Chem meeting, day two was the Junior level courses, good turnout. Day 3 – Physics, Day 4 – Oceanography, Robotics and Anatomy and Physiology – low to no turnout – perhaps combine with the Physics/Honors Astronomy day next year.
March 7-9 – Pre registration meetings – note your location and be there, if your name is not on there they are backup. Monday is sophomores, Tuesday is Sophomores, Wednesday is for Juniors.
Talking points – freshman should know – pre register for Honors Chem if interested – otherwise you will be placed in regular Chemistry – there is no essay section
Sophomores – AP Bio, AP Chem, APES – if they do not apply for any of the restricted courses they are placed in regular level Biology.
Juniors – have a bigger selection, refer to the handout for course options and talking points. – AP Chem – really encourage them to take it their Junior year. AP Chem left off of Naviance – if interested they can talk directly with Fawzia. Honors Chem is NOT officially a pre requisite for AP Chem – but generally highly recommended to enter from Honors Chemistry – regular level students would need a special summer assignment to prepare.
CalStates and CalPoly require life sciences, but we had two seniors admitted early to MIT and Princeton without a life science – but it does give them more options.
Top 100 are admitted to AP/Honors – bottom 100 not admitted. We do not have a lot of non-restricted science courses anymore – our “regular” science courses are jam-packed. 60-70 students who want to take anatomy – and he can only take 27 students. If we can open up the restricted courses a bit more that would be helpful. 3 sections of oceanography and 1 Anatomy/Physiology – we have seats left open in AP courses – if we could take more students in AP courses that would be ideal. AP Program at Loyola has grown dramatically – class sizes are rather low school wide. Generally average class size is high teens to low twenties class size.
Ideal class size is 24 – manageable class size – this would reduce strain on the regular senior science courses.
We will have a meeting for restricted course teachers prior to April 13 – submit your lists to Fawzia by April 13 – very hard deadline.
March 14 – is the preregistration deadline for the students – remind students of their options for next year in your classes.
III. PLC’s for next year
a. Subgroups
PLC’s for next year – very good groups! Organized in our subgroups – foundation for next year’s schedule is the PLC groups – much more intentional PLC groupings. Fawzia will email out that list.
We need to align our courses with the NGSS standards and have this as a written document – mid year WASC review – PLC project will be to work on the NGSS standards and our handbook – everything aligned with the NGSS standards.
b. Alignment with NGSS
c. Summer Sabbaticals
IV. Other
a. BioHaz Mornings
Try to keep BioHaz mornings going – if you need to change the date, totally fine, just email everyone to inform them of BioHaz

April 15 Acceptance lists on Canvas
April 18-22 Petitions/students register on line using Q
March 9-12. Main competition is Saturday. Gerry will send out info about the event and link with the information.
Andrew – Broadcasting room is completely redone – Dan wants to do live broadcasts – will be doing announcements 8:00-8:05 live broadcast sometime next semester.

Science Department Meeting
Friday, January 15, 2016 (7:30am)
H103 – BioHazard Meeting Room
I. Looking Ahead – Important Dates to Note
a. Finals (Jan 20 – 22)
b. Semester Break (Jan 25 – 29)
c. Restricted Course info meetings (Feb 8-12)
II. Schedule Feedback
- meeting with Frank – he talked about his vision and feedback, and rationale,
- another meeting where the dept. chairs presented their feedback from the departments
- no changes being made – but Frank is open to hearing our feedback – open to suggestions but no decisions have been made
- other departments do echo our concerns
III. Finals
a. Copies of Finals (to me and Rosie)
b. Proctoring assignments – will be emailed by the end of the day
IV. Restricted Course Info Meetings (Otero Reserved) (11:30-1:00pm)
Monday 2/8 - Honors Chemistry for current freshman (Qazi, Hairston)
Tuesday 2/9 –APES, AP Biology and AP Chemistry (Gorr, Picard, Simon, Qazi) for current sophomores and juniors
Thursday 2/10 – AP Physics C, Honors Astronomy (Cacnio, Artistov)
(for current juniors)
Friday 2/11 – Robotics, Anatomy & Physiology, Oceanography
(for current juniors)
V. Registration Schedule
Feb 1- Mar 4 Teachers hold meetings for restricted courses – next meeting Fawzia will give the talking points
Mar 7 – 9 Homerooms Preregistration with counselors and teachers – 3 days of homeroom – at the end of the homeroom they will actually register on Naviance right after the homeroom – drawback is that the essay portion will be omitted from the registration process. During the petitions, they can then give why they want to take the course, etc.
April 13 Restricted lists due from departments
April 15 Acceptance lists on Canvas
April 18-22 Petitions/students register on line using Q
Robotics – Gerry – 4-5 faculty members are helping out, build season has started 5 more weeks and then done – Competing Long Beach March 9-12.

Science Department Meeting
Friday, November 20, 2015 (7:20am – 7:50am)
H103 – BioHazard Meeting Room
I. Looking Ahead – Important Dates to Note
a. Thanksgiving – 11/26 and 11/27
b. Open House Preparation Meeting – 12/4 ( 7:30 am )
c. Happy Birthday Gina 12/6
d. Open House – Sun 12/13
Open House Prep Meeting - 12/4 - 7:30ish, meet to prep for Open House on 12/13
II. BioHaz Mornings (Thank you Eddie…Andrew Next Month)
III. Formal Observations
Past couple weeks Fawzia has been doing formal observations - post observations still in progress. It has been great seeing what has been done in the classroom and getting ideas.
IV. Grades (Compare with school, department and other teachers teaching the same course)
Grades - where we are compared to the school and to other departments and within your subgroup. Compare your percentages now, strive to give a common experience in the classroom and grades should be similar as well. Important to discuss in subgroups and people who have the same subject to ensure that grades are comparable.
Compare to other schools - would it be possible to see other Jesuit school grades and grade inflation - Gina - email to the Jesuit list serve - Andrey - ask other Assistant Principles for data.
V. Next years Budgets Proposals Due 12/11 (if same email Andrey or submit proposal for increased amounts)
Next years budget's - proposals due on the 11th - if budget amount for this year is okay for next year - you do not need to do anything. If want increase - have to go through the process of requesting money. Due 12/11.
VI. Open House (refer to assignments) – Handouts (Fawzia) and Prezi (Fawzia and Robb) are being updated and new images are needed (pictures of students / lab facilities)
Open House Assignments - big event, show off what we do - update slide show - email pictures to Fawzia to be incorporated into the slide show. Work on this soon so that the slides can be set up. Fawzia - coordinating the exploratorium. Exploratorium moved into H104 - and presentations in H101 and H100. Will meet again on D12/4 to talk details about rooms and cleaning. Meet again on 12/4 to discuss details. Robb - help updating Prezi, and new images and data. Mike Lew - will be coming back for the presentations. Moving back and forth in assignments is an option as well.
*AP Bio students in Exploratorium to explain activities - good reliable students volunteers to explain demos. Maybe we can have a Kahoot in the exploratorium - set up with a TV with a couple students leading 5-6 kids in a Kahoot. Fawzia will send the draft of the science dept. brochure. Physics, and dry chemistry based demos and Probeware - safe solutions for the hands on.
VII. Science Olympiad – Gerry (Would any science teachers be willing to award some token extra credit to students who do well (definition TBD) in the Science Olympiad? What requirements/criteria/evidence should be tied to such extra credit?)
Gerry - Science Olympiad - science club participates in this - multiple events and competitions, about a dozen kids competing. Will science teachers be willing to give token extra credit to get students involved? If open to it, look out for an email from Gerry with more info. 5-6 kids in science club that are very proactive this year - they might approach you independently about extra credit. Will not be a department wide policy - case by case basis and freedom to choose. Regional, state wide and national - Science Olympiad on kids resume is a big deal, counselors and application evaluators like to see this. 15 students total can compete.
VIII. Science Department Handbook (In process of updating electronic version)
Science dept handbook needs to be updated - will be electronic - will be sending different parts to different subgroups to update. Due date is January.
IX. Google Doc (New schedule feedback)
Schedule feedback - google doc out there for any thoughts on the new schedule and feedback - Frank will be asking dept chairs for feedback
X. NSTA Nashville National Conference (March 31 – April 2 2016) – Spring break is March 24th – April 3rd 2016
NSTA - National Conference is in Nashville - it falls at the end of Spring Break - last couple days is the NSTA. Fawzia is thinking of going. If anyone else is interested let her know - there is money to go, so let Fawzia know soon if you would like to go.
XI. Submit Proposals for Los Angeles National Conference (March 30 – April 2, 2017)
2017 - National Conference NSTA will be in Los Angeles - submit proposals if interested.
AP Conference in July will be in Los Angeles as well
XII. Department Share
a. PLC Updates
b. Math/Science Alignment
Updates from Frank - doing observations, but other PLC activities are unknown? Probably need to start getting together.

Science Department Meeting
Thursday, October 29, 2015 (7:20am – 7:50am)
H103 – BioHazard Meeting Room
I. Looking Ahead – Important Dates to Note
a. Midterm Grades Due Today
b. Midterm Grades available on Q – Nov 2
c. Parent Conferences – Nov 11
d. President’s Dinner – Nov 14
e. Thanksgiving – Nov 26
f. Next Meeting – Nov 20 (modified from calendar)
g. Open House Preparation Meeting–Dec 10
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.
II. BioHaz Mornings (Thank you Kimberley and Paul)
Check the calendar for your days – send a reminder to the department a day before.
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.
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
V. Math/Science Alignment
a. Continue Mike’s work
b. Hybrid Math / Freshman Physics meeting in Period 5 PLC
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.
VI. Formal Observations
a. observe 20-30 minutes of a class period
b. feedback from 2-3 students
c. meet with the observed teacher immediately following the lesson
d. use the science department observation protocol form
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.
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.
VIII. Department Share
a. PLC Visitations
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.

Science Department Meeting
Friday, September 25th, 2015 (7:20 am – 7:50 am)
H103 – BioHaz Meeting Room
I. Important Dates
a. September 28th – last day to for AP and Honors drops by teacher or petition by student with four signatures (counselor, parents and 2 teachers involved)
b. September 29th – Happy Birthday Mike
c. October 12th – Faculty Inservice
d. October 14th – Happy Birthday Gerry and Testing Day
e. October 16th – Professional Development Plans Due
Sept 28 – last day to drop AP/Honors
Mike – Switzerland, visited Einstein’s house, super collider, etc.
Oct 12 – faculty in-service, first part is VIRTUS training, 2nd part – science dept. teachers are presenting to the department.
Oct 16 – professional dev. Plans due to Fawzia – include last year’s plans and update on progress for each item. For this year’s plans – meeting with Rick feedback helping to form the plans. Once Fawzia has them – between Oct 19-23rd meetings with Fawzia to discuss during free periods.
II. Shared Calendar
a. Department meetings and BioHaz hosting schedule (Thank you Kimberly)
b. Next Department Meeting – Thursday, October 28th (Thank you Paul) – Thursday morning
III. Professional Development Plans (Due Friday, October 16)
a. Last year’s plans were emailed
b. Include this year’s plans and update on last year’s plans with completed/in-progress/not completed
c. Meetings with Rick
d. October 19th to 23rd will schedule short meeting to discuss plans (via email)
IV. PLC’s
a. Second meeting mini inservice
b. No meetings week of October 12th
c. October 19th second and third meetings
PLC’s – 2 meetings in computer lab – tech info. The next two are mini inservices – Oct. 19th second and third meetings begin.
V. Technology Department
a. Lance wants to make videos highlighting cool projects/tech implementation (will contact active teachers)
Lance emailed Fawzia – he wants to make videos on each department and what goes on during the school year.
VI. Discussion (Updates/Department Goals)
a. 70 minute periods
i. Time for Student Reflection
ii. Pacing
b. “Homeruns”
c. Science Practices (future discussion – vertical alignment)
a) 70 minute schedule – updates – time for student reflection? How is the pacing? More time for student reflection – Robb – first unit had to cut out some info, looking forward what can be pulled out to be made shorter – Paul – able to have them connect a bit better the different types of learning in the course. – Joining things up in the class a bit more. Kim/Fawzia – block schedule nice for the AP courses and the labs. On pace with planning – going faster – something to gauge as the year goes on – effect on students. Stress level of students? After a couple more weeks – inquire how the stress level is for the students. Eddie – talked to a few students – multiple days to do a homework assignment – only that free if you are on task.
Exam pacing? – Only using the 50-55 minutes – how to use the rest of class? Review discussion before – study process – work after? Exam beginning of the class – end with hook for the next chapter that we are going to start. Start next unit/lab prep – finished some exam review before hand or working after the exam.
b) Homeruns – Anything interesting happening in the classroom? With Flex time – Chemistry club Seniors what they have learned in Psychology vs. Biology course – making the connections. That Physics is the foundation for all sciences – nice to hear that type of discussion among the students. Jim – student reflection and thinking through the inquiry methods. Making frequent connections between experience in chemistry and what they are seeing in Biology.
c) Science Practices – first 8 from NGSS, last 7 from AP Science Practices. Look over the science practices for future discussion for vertical alignment and how we are doing with the practices in the fresh/soph courses in preparation for AP courses.