Instructor: Laura Bushwitz Room 4-209 Ph. 242-2080 ext 4714

Biology I Syllabus

Notebook: Students are required to keep a Biology interactive notebook (INB). This INB is to be used in class

daily by students to insure they feel they are mastering the Biology content. Cornell notes will be the practice in Biology class. This Biology class is a FLIPPED CLASSROOM. This means students MUST take notes in their INB, complete the appropriate activities and view the appropriate videos posted on Edmodo PRIOR to coming to class. Instructor provided notes, activities and videos are posted in the student’s Edmodo class. Students not coming prepared to class will not be allowed to participate in class activities and labs. Students should use the INB rubric as a guide for note taking. The student’s INB will be graded at the instructor’s discretion. The INB rubric will be the standard used for that INB grade. Students can expect their INB to be graded at any time.

Attendance: Refer to ERHS SCC for attendance policies. Students are required to complete ALL

assignments, tests, labs, etc. even if they are absent. It is the student’s responsibility to schedule an appointment with the instructor to make up work requiring access to the classroom before or after school. Student assignments/grades are posted routinely on Skyward. It is the student’s responsibility to remain aware of missing grades/assignments. In addition, the daily Common Board Configuration (CBC) will be posted on SKYWARD each day. On the Home page in Schoology, click the calendar. Click CBC to access the daily CBC document with classroom activities, assignments due, bellwork, etc.

Daily Procedures: The CBC (Common Board Configuration) including Bellwork, Agenda, and

Assignments will be posted on the board and in your Schoology class DAILY. Follow the instructions above to access this information.

Bellwork = work/assignments that will be done at the beginning of class while role is being taken.

Quote of the day JOURNAL ENTRIES, your FCIM STUDENT GUIDE and TEST PREP BOOK should remain in a folder in the classroom (your folder, your class file cabinet)

Agenda/Classwork = what material, content, activities, etc. the class will be doing each day.

Assignments/Homework = any assignments students need to complete outside the classroom. FOLLOW the EDMODO CHECKLIST posted in each folder to make sure you know which notes, videos and activities must be completed for each topic/biology standard.

GRADES: As mandated by the science department at ERHS, grades will be weighted as follows:

TESTS/QUIZZES/OTHER FORMAL ASSESSMENTS= 50%

Informal quizzes = 25%

ALL other assignments = 25%

Grades will be posted on Skyward on a regular basis. Skyward can be accessed via the Lake County Schools website http://www.lake.k12.fl.us/site/default.aspx?PageID=1 . Click the GRADE tab on the upper right to get to the SKYWARD login page. The student is responsible for keeping informed of the status of his/her grade. Points will come from a variety of the following:

Assignments: Check the CBC daily for assignments. Late papers are NOT accepted. It is the student’s responsibility to find out what assignments are when they are due. Assignments are weighted at 25%

Informal quizzes: Informal pop quizzes will be given at the instructor’s discretion. You may expect pop quizzes on a regular basis. Informal quizzes are weighted at 25% of your grade. Informal quizzes generally take place during class as content is being reviewed. Be sure you have/take good notes!!

Since informal quizzes CANNOT be made up, your 2 lowest quiz grades may be dropped.

Tests: Because students MUST pass an End Of Course (EOC) exam in May to earn Biology credit, test format/questions will follow that same format as the EOC. Biology is REQUIRED for graduation. Students NOT passing the Biology EOC will not pass Biology. If you are absent on test day, you will have 5 school days to make up the missed test. It is the student’s responsibility to schedule an appointment with the instructor to make up missed tests (due to an excused absence) before or after school. Tests not made up within 5 school days after a return from absence will receive a grade of 0. Tests are weighted as 50% of your grade. A mid-term exam and END OF COURSE (EOC) Exam will also be given. Midterm exams will be worth 25% of the student’s midterm grade. Students must pass the EOC exam to receive credit for the course regardless of the grades earned during the year. Any student passing the Biology EOC will receive no lower than a 60 as their final Biology grade. In addition, the Biology EOC Exam will be calculated as 30% of the student’s total final biology grade.

Labs: Labs are an important part of biology class. DO NOT MISS LAB DAYS. Each lab will be

assigned a point value. You will be given a format to follow for laboratory reports. If you are absent on lab day, you will have 5 days to make up the missed lab. It is the student’s responsibility to schedule an appointment with the instructor to make up work requiring access to the classroom before or after school. Labs not made up within 5 school days after a return from absence will receive a grade of 0. Lab time is NOT play time. Any student violating lab rules at any time will automatically be given 0 points for the lab, will receive a citation and will not be allowed to make up the lab. Students with inappropriate dress on lab days will not be allowed to participate in the lab. This will result in a grade of zero for that lab. Students will not be allowed to make any lab they could not conduct due to inappropriate dress.

Please note that as students choose their labs, they are responsible for insuring they complete those labs within the time frame allotted. These choice labs will generally be due on test day.

You must successfully (grade of 80% +) complete a laboratory safety test and have lab safety rules signed before you will be allowed to participate in any laboratory activities.

Labs will generally be graded as ASSIGNMENTS, however, occasionally formal lab reports may be classified as a TEST grade.

While students work together in lab groups, Lab reports are INDIVIDUAL assignments. Lab reports that are copied will receive a grade of ZERO for all individuals involved regardless of who copied who. When instructed, students may be allowed to submit one lab report per lab group. On these occasions, ALL students in the lab group will receive the same grade. Any student NOT wishing to receive the same grade as their lab partners on a combined lab assignment will need to discuss this with the instructor prior to the lab and the student will be required to submit their own lab report.

Journal: Students are required to make a journal entry each day. Journal entries should consist of

a brief (3-5 complete sentences) summary/reflection of the ‘quote of the day’. The quote of the

day will be posted on the board each day under bellwork.

Current Events: Each student may be required to research and present a current events article to

the class for discussion. This may be a live class discussion or as an electronic discussion through your Edmodo class. Your article of choice may be from any written source, however, the article must be current and pertain to the biological sciences. Several sources are available to you in the classroom. If you are not sure your article is acceptable, please see your instructor. A written reaction to your article is required to receive a grade for the assignment. This reaction must be a brief summary about the article's content, the articles pros and cons and include YOUR OPINION regarding the content of the article.

Research Paper: You may be assigned at least one research paper. This will require access to a computer/typewriter. You may also wish to have internet access for the purpose of gathering research information. Class time may/may not be used for this long term project. It is the student’s responsibility to fill out the appropriate paper work to allow computer access on campus. Due dates/deadlines will be posted for this project.

*****A PARENT/TEACHER/STUDENT CONFERENCE will be requested if a student’s grade drops

below a 70. Upon this request, a contract will be developed to help the student improve their

academic status. Skyward can be set to automatically notify parents and students every time grades are entered, any time assignments are missing, anytime a grade drops below a 70 and any time a student is absent/tardy to class. You are welcome to set up an appointment to meet by contacting me by email ( ) or phone. Please be advised the current phone system defaults directly to voicemail.

***** Students and parents will have all access to daily classroom activities through the Common Board

Configuration (CBC) posted DAILY on Schoology.

***** All class materials will be found in the student’s Schoology class. Parents can receive a parent access

code for their student’s Schoology account. If your student does not provide you with your passcode via their account, please email me at and I will be happy to locate and provide you with your code specific for your student. Your parent passcode will give you the opportunity to track your student’s activities on Schoology.

***** All students have their own outlook express email account through Lake County Schools Florida. In

addition to your Schoology, your outlook email account should be used routinely to communicate information. Follow these instructions to access your outlook email account: Access the Office 365 website at: outlook.com/student.lake.k12.fl.us Using your outlook account will insure email communication is not blocked. A class email list may be used to communicate information. HOWEVER, Schoology will be our PRIMARY form of group communication.

Your email address is: your password is your complete student ID number.

***** UPON REQUEST, parents may be included in their student’s email group. (if/when utilized)

Course Outline

Mandates require the curriculum posted on the Lake County Schools website at http://lake.k12.fl.us/page/94 (HS Biology I Block Schedule) be followed. The mandated curriculum will cover the Nature of Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Classification, Heredity and Evolution, Organisms, Populations and Ecosystems. Mastery in these content areas and their corresponding standards will be assessed on the Biology EOC in April/May 2017.

A calendar with the proposed schedule for covering the biology curriculum is posted in the student’s Edmodo class. This calendar is dynamic and may change slightly by class on any given day as outside forces impact our work in the classroom. You can expect, however, to have a TEST on the last day of any specific biology content standard.

The Florida State NGSSS for Biology I can be accessed via the FLDOE website at http://www.floridastandards.org/Courses/CourseDescriptionSearch.aspx An electronic copy of this document can also be found on my ERHS teacher website and in the student’s Edmodo class in the Biology Documents folder.