Exceeded Expectations: Biome Projects

After a week of working hard, the Biome Projects have been turned in and I am quite pleased with the results.

Here's the rubric I created: BiomeProjectRubric.pdf
I didn't want to scribble all over the students' work so I'll be printing off the rubrics to communicate back with the students.

Work In Class

In retrospect, we should have given the students more time to work on the project in class.  We asked that they worked with their lab-table partners; they couldn't choose their own groups.  This mitigated a great deal of laziness but because the students didn't know their groups well they weren't ready to work outside of class together.

One student used glue and sand to write "Desert" on the top of his poster.  Then, he donated the rest of the sand to the class.  It was very generous.

The Results

I was very pleased with the final products.  Many of the students went above and beyond the expectations on the rubric.

Not only is this a tri-fold poster, but the parrot is hand painted onto it.  I was expecting good posters, but I was very glad to see the amount of effort put into the project.

So, now comes the fun part: grading!  I hope as much work went into the research/writing part of the projects as went into making the projects look great.

Reflection

Here's a few things I'll do differently next time around:

1. Because I didn't let them pick their own partners I'll give the students more time in class.  Not knowing your partner makes working during lunch more difficult.  Plus, the project allowed a great deal of freedom; I found myself walking students through their own questions and helping them make decisions about their biomes.  
2. Emphasize communication when dealing with lazy partners.  I had one situation with a student who didn't do any of the project and relied on the effort of his partner.  But, he didn't say anything until after the project was turned in.  Had I known about the problem earlier I may have been able to intervene.  
3. Emphasize communication when encountering problems.  In the real world, stuff comes up and deadlines are somewhat flexible.  If students told me that their printer doesn't have ink or that their email wasn't working we could have found a work-around.

Here's what I'll keep:

1. The flexibility.  The ability to make decisions within parameters is a key aspect to one's education.  The parameters of this project were nice and broad and the students exceeded my expectations.  This is good.
2. Encouraging students to use cell phones for research.  Students know how to entertain themselves with cell phones but they don't realize that they have access to most of the world's knowledge through this device.  Like other technology, students need to be taught how to use their cell phones as a tool.
3. The rubric.  Students seemed satisfied with the idea that they need to communicate knowledge to me.  If they did so adequately, they would receive full credit.  This eliminates the "how many sentences do I need" questions and reduces the tension between giving high marks for excellent responses with fewer sentences and giving lower marks for responses that meet the sentence requirement.  

So, for my first big project of my career, I am very pleased.  Grading the projects should be quite exciting.

Security Breach: Testing and Cell Phones

Summative Assessments are an essential part of education.  Standardized testing is the wave of the future.  Testing is not going away.

Cell phones are another thing not going away.  Most students I teach have smartphones.  In an unofficial survey of my class more than 68% of the students had a smart phone.  Students are tied to their phones for social reasons and parents are adamant about maintaining constant contact with their students (not to mention protecting their students' expensive cell phone).

There is a great deal of turbulence where testing and cell phone use overlap.  In a recent staff meeting one of the APs showed us a screenshot of last year's STAR Results.  Under the heading, in bright red letters reads the following:

A security breach involving social media exposure of 2013 STAR test material has been confirmed at this school site. This school is not eligible for state or federal award recognition during the 2013–14 school year.

Apparently a student took a selfie with the cover of the STAR booklet.  It may seem petty, but under no circumstances is any part of the test allowed to be reproduced; the integrity of the test depends on it.

Now the school is trying to figure out how to prevent this from happening again.  One of the big hurdles will be establishing and enforcing rules that run contrary to school culture.  Teachers seldom have established procedures for preventing students from using cell phones during quizzes and exams.  Most of the time it's a verbal warning: "Don't use your cell phone during the exam."  Students and parents push back when cell phone use is infringed.

The ideas for preventing a "security breach" ranged from a school-wide ban on cell phones to buying a cell phone pouch grid that can be mounted to the wall.  I don't know what the official position of the school will end up being, but the whole topic highlighted the benefit of matching my classroom cell phone policy with that of standardized testing.

Folks get riled up when expectations are tightened unexpectedly.  Setting expectations from the beginning of the school year seems to be the best way to prevent a tornado of angry emails.  Once the standard is established students and parents will feel more at-ease when it comes to standardized testing time.

In Mr. Davis' Science Classroom, cell phones will be welcome tools for research and analysis, but unwelcome for classic quizzes and exams in accordance with standardized test rules.

On Cell Phones and Making Excuses

After yesterday's quiz, a student was simply sitting at his desk and staring out the window.  I asked him if he had a book to read.  Many of the students are studying The Odyssey in honors English, so I thought he might better use the time.

Mr. Davis: "Do you have a book to read?"
Student: "I forgot my book at home."
Mr. Davis: "Hmm... Got your cell phone?"
Student: "Um, yeah..."
Mr. Davis: "Good. Download one. You're reading The Odyssey in English right?"
Student: "Yeah..."
Mr. Davis: "It's free online. Google it."

A few minutes later he was reading his assigned reading for his English class.

Boy howdy, I love the age we live in.  There's a plethora of knowledge and art that can be quickly found using a device we carry in our pockets!

Week 1 Review

Here's a shot-gun post about my thoughts over the past week of Student Teaching.

1. There's a great opportunity to leverage technology.  This one sounds trite and overblown, but the specific win I see is this: Teachers can, and should, post homework, worksheets, notes, lectures, rubrics, and almost anything else to a place where students can access it online.  I see the biggest opportunity with students who need to make up homework.  This type of system also benefits a classroom's transparency. I believe that if the content is posted behind a student login there won't be issues with copyright.
2. Students need to be taught how to take notes.  During the PowerPoint notes, the students wrote every word on every slide.  Not knowing what to write down takes up a lot of class time; quick scribes are left idle while slower scribes take their time.  Teaching note-taking must be added to my literacy planning in the future.
3. Pick Battles. Between activities, I noticed students checking their cell phones.  I don't mind it.  It doesn't distract from anything during class, and cell phones will eventually have a prominent place in education.  For the time being, I'll follow the lead of my master teacher, but in the future I don't think I'll make it an issue.  If handled strategically, the students can begin to use their phones as a tool for in-class learning (spelling, fact checking, quick research, etc.) and should be held to that standard. There are other issues that I have noticed teachers come down hard on that don't seem to be that important.
4. Modeling is Vital - It took about 10 minutes to model how we wanted a particular assignment done.  The students were able to complete the assignment.  Only one student asked "What do you want us to do again?"  10 minutes saved answering questions unrelated to content.
5. Prep Period is Gold - Thou shalt not squander thy prep period.

That's only five things, but there are more I'll write up in more detail later.  I'm having fun, I'm teaching the standards (and then some), and students are making connections.  I am looking forward to getting paid to do this!