Back to School Night

Which famous person did Ms. Hero shake hands with at Carlmont when she was a student?

• Coolio

• Bill Clinton

• Dana Carvey

• Michelle Pfeiffer

Answer explanation

When a junior at Carlmont, Ms. Hero got to shake hands with President Bill Clinton when he spoke at Carlmont and signed a memorandum about new legislation related to school safety and guns in schools.

When Ms. Hero was a freshman, she saw Michelle Pfeiffer, who was visiting Carlmont before filming Dangerous Minds which was based on Lou Anne Johnson's book, "My Posse Don't Do Homework." Coolio's Gansta's Paradise from the soundtrack will always transport me back to when I was a student.

Dana Carvey did graduate from Carlmont, but before Ms. Hero was a student.

What topics will be covered this year in biology?

• Ornithology,
  Environmental Science,
  Anatomy & Physiology
  

• Genetics,

  Cells,

  Body Systems,
  Classification and Taxonomy

• • Nature of Science,

    Ecology & Energetics,

    Climate Change,

    DNA & Inheritance,

  • Protein Synthesis & Biotechnology,

  • Evolution

• Forces,
  Motion,

  Acceleration,

  Magnetism

Answer explanation

These are the four main topics in the 3 course model of the Next Generation Science Standards, which have been adopted by the State of California.

What must your student bring daily to class?

• Text book

• School-issued Chromebook

• Earbuds/Headphones

• Cell Phone

Answer explanation

Required Materials (Bring to Class Daily)

1. - Chromebook with charger

2. - Earbuds/Headphones (with microphone preferred)

3. - Blue/Black pens or pencils

4. - Ultra-fine tip Sharpie (Black)

5. - Highlighter

6. - Spiral Notebook or binder paper

7. - Biology Specific Binder or Section of shared binder 

8. -Optional:  colored markers, calculator, colored pencils, scissors-

If your student is absent, where will the find out what they missed in class that day?

• Students won't have to make up any work if absent.

• In the calendar on Canvas.

• In Canvas on the assignments tab.

• The agenda on our Canvas homepage

Answer explanation

The agenda embedded on the Canvas homepage will show any announcements, assignments that are due, homework, and what we did in class that day.

If your student has to leave school early for a doctor's appointment,

• they must bring a parent/guardian note to the attendance office before school or at lunch, and get a permit to leave. They will show that to their teacher at the start of class.

• they can just leave class after telling the teacher they have an appointment.

• they just need to show their teacher a note from their parent/guardian.

• a parent/guardian must call the classroom teacher to excuse the student from class. The student can then leave at the correct time.

Answer explanation

A parent/guardian can also call the attendance office in advance, however the student needs to pick up the permit to leave before school or at lunch. A student should not show up to class with the parent note, they must have the permit to leave from the attendance office.

What is SBG?

• Sweet Baked Goods

• Student Body Government

• Standards Based Grading

• Surface Biology and Geology

Answer explanation

-Standards based grading is an instructional approach that measures a student's progress towards learning goals, rather than their behavior or how long it takes them to learn.

-Standards Based Grading is most likely new for students and parents. However, it has been used in elementary grades for generations.

-The difference is that in High School, student mastery needs to be converted into a letter grade.

• -Be sure to pick up tonight's handout - "Biology Grades Explained/How to See How a Student is Doing"

The grading categories "practice" and "assessments" count as how much of a student's grade?

• 0%

• 25% each

• 50% each

• 100%

Answer explanation

Both count as 0% of the overall grade.

Assignments in the PRACTICE category don't count directly towards a student’s letter grade. However, if they don't do these assignments, they won't do well on Assessments.

Assignments in the ASSESSMENT category are weighted 0% of the grade.

Students are evaluated on their mastery of learning outcomes, using a rubric with categories of Exemplary, Mastery, Approaching, Minimal, or No Evidence, not with points. Students are provided with written feedback and are assessed on the same outcomes multiple times throughout the semester.

The mastery scores show up in the LEARNING MASTERY GRADEBOOK and are calculated with a decaying average.  Numerical scores then go into the LEARNING MASTERY category as a number out of 4 points.  These are what determine their letter grade.  So student scores ultimately come from their assessments.

In this class, what letter grade would this student earn with a 64.07%?

• A

• B

• C

• D

• F

Answer explanation

When using SBG, each letter grade covers a span of 20%. While a 64% would be a D in a traditional grading scheme, in this class it would be a B.

Where can you find out more about SBG in this class?

• On the Carlmont webpage

• On the handout provided tonight

• On the SBG FAQ button on the Canvas Biology Homepage

• Google it

Answer explanation

You will find videos, how grades are calculated, and an explanation of how to "read" the TWO gradebooks (Learning Mastery & Assignment Gradebooks) on the SBG FAQ button on the biology homepage in Canvas. The handout tonight can also be found there.

What is the best way to get ahold of Ms. Hero with questions?

• Email [e-mail]

• Snail Mail

• Carrier Pigeon

• Canvas Messages

• Voice Mail

Answer explanation

Emailing Ms. Hero directly at [e-mail] is the best way to reach Ms. Hero. If you send a message through Canvas, Ms. Hero can't reply with images and screenshots which can be helpful in many cases.