Teacher Handwriting

A few years back I picked up a book called Write Now, a penmanship program that teaches cursive italic.  I don't have exemplary handwriting, but it's worked and I've even enjoyed compliments on my neat writing.  ...until now.

To show students how to work a density problem, I used an ELMO, an overhead projector, and it really highlighted my handwriting.  The students noticed two things.  First, they observed my fountain pen.  Second, they observed that they couldn't really read my handwriting.  I was happy to talk about the pen, but I was perturbed by the trouble they had to read my handwriting.

So, I'll revert back to my old all-caps handwriting for using an overhead.

Pause for Spring Break

I got a lot done during Spring Break.  I did homework, went bird watching, cooked for 250 people, did some work on refining my Classroom Management skills, read Divergent (meh), started Foundation (woo hoo!), planted peppers, bought two plants destined for bonsai trees, worked on lesson plans, and got a tortoise.

Though I enjoyed Spring Break, it's good to be back in the classroom.

Homework: Two Tales

I had two interesting encounters with students and their homework yesterday.  In the first situation, an incredibly smart student made a conscious decision not to do homework, and in the other situation I discovered that homework was causing a good amount of stress in an already stressful home.

Homework and the Intelligent 

In getting to know the students the past few weeks, I have paid attention to how students spend their time between classes.  Some students sit down and prepare for their next class, most are engrossed in conversation with friends, and there are a few who read.  Of those that read, most read the typical YA fanfare.  I noticed one student with an old, tattered, red book.  I asked him what it was and was surprised to hear him say, "Plato's Republic."  Turns out that this kid is familiar with the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and could speak intelligently about it.  In class he uses large words correctly, is interested in learning new things, and does very well on quizzes and exams.  

Knowing he's a high-level student, I was taken aback when he didn't turn in a homework packet yesterday.  When I asked him about it, he replied that he already knew the information, the worksheet was too easy, and he didn't want to waste his time. I couldn't argue with that; there's no doubt that he knows the information.  He knows the content and can articulately explain the standards we're working on.

I suppose I could make it an issue, but he has reached the standards; everything else is just "doing school."  

Homework can be used as an assessment piece.  I can see making a worksheet and escalating the questions from basic knowledge questions up to more complex analysis and evaluation questions, then allowing more advanced students to work on it backwards.  I can look at their answers and see where the students are excelling or having troubles.  Students that aren't reading major philosophical works can work from the beginning and work up to the more difficult problems, also giving me information about their understanding.

Differentiating for high-performing students seems like an easy win.  Escalating the questions on a homework assignment can do this well.

Homework and the Family

The second situation was much more eye-opening.  

I was able to talk to the parents of one of my students.  It turns out that the family is going through some tough times and the grades of my student are starting to slip.  The biggest factor is missing work.  Between the various pressures at home, the student doesn't have time to finish homework.

It was difficult to talk to parents about the student's missing work when I knew that the assignments contain mostly lower-level independent practice and review.  The value of the homework didn't justify the amount of stress it was causing in the family.  If homework is going to cause some disruption, it had better be worth it.

When I get my own classroom, homework will still be assigned but I'll be making an effort to ensure there's strategic value to the work by:

1. Making homework more of an assessment or enrichment piece.  
2. Moving a lot of the independent practice into the classroom where I can take a closer look at the work and check comprehension.
3. Reducing the amount of homework all together.

Both situations can be helped by making a few small changes to instructional strategies and the assigned homework.  

Flying Solo: Density Lab

My master teacher is out today and I'm flying solo.  It will be the first time I get to run an entire period on the Block Schedule.  I invited an Assistant Principal and the Principal of my school to swing by and observe the class.  I'm very excited about this.  Every day of student teaching is a job interview.

We have quite a bit to do today.  I'll hand back some homework while the students do a few warm-up exercises.  After that I'll need to model the lab and prepare the students for some of the math on the analysis section of the lab.  Then I'll turn them loose on the lab activity.

The students will be measuring density of sample cubes.  The cubes are metallic, plastic, and wooden.  Using electronic scales, the students will measure the mass of the cube and find the volume.  They can then then calculate the densities.

After the students find the density of the objects, the students will predict whether the blocks will sink or float then stick them in a tub of water to test it out.  I expect that this will be pretty fun; open tubs of water surrounded by hyped 8th graders is an invitation for a little mischief.  I have plenty of paper towels handy and plan to closely monitor the surrounding area.  I'm learning a great deal about how to channel junior high energy.

We have a substitute teacher; he should have a pretty easy day.  ...I hope.

Physics: Not as Funny as Biology

I had to think about this one.  Physics doesn't quite lend itself to humor like biology does.  But, the students are taking a quiz today on Force and Newton's Laws of Motion, so the drawing is fitting.  After this unit we'll be heading into Astronomy, which promises to be funnier.  What's not funny about quasars?

Teacher First: Creating a Science GIF

If a picture is worth a thousand words, is a 5 second gif worth five thousand words?

We're studying inertia in our 8th Grade Physical Science class and the teacher showed this demonstration.  I don't need to explain it because it's right here.   

This is pretty simple.  Afterwards, the students were asked to write out their observations and create a diagram showing the forces at work in this scenario.  The teacher performed the demonstration a few times; some of the students needed to see it again.  ...and again.  Tying the concepts of inertia, friction, and force to a real example is tough for any student, let alone an 8th grader in the spring time.  This creates a a problem that a gif can help fix.

The gif format can be embedded into a PowerPoint or a class website and allows the students to observe the demonstration as many times as they want.  This can be valuable for those students who want to review it again or for those students who missed the demonstration.

I used my iPhone and an app called 5SecondsApp that creates gif files from video.  It's free and moderately easy to use.  Plus it has the capability of syncing with DropBox.  Like Instagram, you can add filters and play with the video as much as you want; I don't know how valuable that is, but it's neat.  I didn't use a filter for this video.

And, using the gif-maker you can see what we did in class today.  That, in itself, is worth five thousand words.

Teaching First: March Madness

I enjoy a good athletic competition.  But to say I'm a casual observer of the sporting world is a great understatement.  Over the last year, I've probably watched three complete games, one being the Super Bowl.

My first week in Junior High is almost over.  I  have spent most of the time making observations about everything from classroom management to student penmanship.  My conclusion is that Junior High is a very, very different environment.

In observing student interests, I have noticed that quite a few of them are interested in March Madness, the annual NCAA basketball tournament.  And, by interested, I mean obsessed.

So, on Wednesday, with 15 hours before brackets had to be "locked" I set up my own.   ...blindly and based on unwarranted hunches.  And I've been keeping track of my predictions every few hours and catching highlights of the games.  This madness may have bit me.  Though, midway through the first round, I am sad to report that I will not be receiving a billion dollars from Warren Buffet. 

I'm not even close.

But, I have had a few good conversations with students, which was the goal.  Ohio State's loss has been the theme of most of the conversations.  In one instance I was able to talk to a student about their own college aspirations.  It's a small step forward in establishing relationships with my students.  And, just like Dayton, a win is a win, even if the margin is small.

Technology: Test Before Going Live

Google Docs is magnificent.  ...when it works the way you anticipated.

I'm student teaching in a class that has a class-set of acer netbooks and all students have Google Accounts set up through the district.

Google Docsis gaining traction with many of the teachers at this junior high.  I was a little surprised that this technology wasn't used that much in my high school placement, but it's very popular here.  Even some of the teachers that aren't inclined to use technology are enthusiastically using it.

Though Docs is very easy to use, it requires a certain method and a bit of planning to make the student experience as pain-free as possible.  Today was my first exposure to seeing the students actually using the netbooks with Google Docs.  Initially, it was smooth.

The students were able to grab their netbook in an organized fashion, log into their Google accounts (mostly), and get to the document.  Then chaos.

The teacher didn't have time to test it her document.  It broke.  Pandemonium ensued.

One thing I've learned about 8th graders, if they have a comment or a problem, they'll tell you about it.  There are 35 of them in this class and each one of them felt it necessary to tell the teacher they were having problems.  Not only was the teacher trying to find out what went wrong, but there are now 35 hyped junior highers all making recommendations, laughing, and demanding attention to tell you that they can't get their document open...again.

My Document

I'm preparing a lab where the students will be measuring the density of an object and my master teacher would like to use the netbooks to record and graph the data in Google Spreadsheet to make a comparison between the objects.

The easy part was creating the Graphing Data Spreadsheet.  I tested it out and it should work.

Here's how I tested it:

1. Create the spreadsheet and share it with anyone with the link. (Chrome)
2. In another browser (I used Firefox) I opened the link.
3. Sign in with a separate Google Account (I have one for teaching and a personal one)
   I also shared it with my master teacher who was able to view and save the document.
4. Make a copy of the document.   Rename it something nice before editing the document as your own.
5. Share!

All's Well

Fortunately, we were able to fix the teacher's document before the next period.  The next group of students were able to type away on their saved documents the way the teacher wanted.

New Home: Junior High

Here's a shot of my new classroom.

I'll be student teaching in a 8th Grade Physical Science classroom.  We're finishing up a unit on Force before heading into Density and Astronomy.  The students are pretty excited about Astronomy.

The next week will be spent making observation and getting to know the students.  Then, I'll ease my way into the teaching rotation.

Rubrics: Trial and Error

After grading a stack of biome posters, I went over the grades and comments I made on them.  The grades were abnormally high.  At first I thought this was a good thing.  Then, when students continued to score high I began to doubt that my rubric was an accurate measure of student performance.

High grades are good only when they're a reflection of the student's comprehension.  Upon more reflection and discussion with other teachers I realized that rubrics are more sticky than I realized at first.

As I talked with seasoned teachers, they told me rubrics, regardless of how good they are or how much work went into producing them, are always too lenient the first time around.  Teachers aren't familiar with them yet, and the vague wording needs to be tightened up.  This can only be fixed after they're assigned the first time.

The rubrics were and excellent method of communicating with students.  For each project I was able to give comments and feedback on the assignment, regardless of the grade.  When I handed back the rubrics and the grades, the students received the comments really well.

One thing I would like to try is to have students grade the quality of their own work before I grade it.  One teacher does this with major assignments and she's found that the students have a good estimation of the quality of their own work.  I like that students are reflecting on their own work; it's a good step away from "doing school" and towards internalizing material.

The next time I give this assignment I'll change the wording to be more specific, still give feedback on the quality of work, and try and have the students be reflective of the work they turn in.

Pause for the CalTPA

In the week between assignments I have churned out over 60 pages of work and over 25,000 words for  three major assignments.  The CalTPA took about 20 hours of work over several days.  I'll resume regular posts next week.

It's kept me busy, for sure.

CalTPA is Done!

I did meet my new master teacher on Wednesday, and I'll be teaching physical science!  The next few weeks will be concentrated on teaching density.

I'm really looking forward to teaching science to a younger audience.  The Honors Biology students were very bright and I could stretch their minds beyond what they were used to.  The 8th grade mind can be stretched too, but it will stretch in a different way and probably not as far.  I don't have as much experience with Junior High students so I'll be doing a great deal of observation, especially classroom management.

But, for now, I'm doing some reading, poking around physical science websites, and catching up on some podcasts I've missed over the past few months.

A Quiz on the Last Day: The Last Whiteboard Picture

Today's my last day of High School student teaching.  The students have a quiz on chapter 4 related to ecology.

Here's the final Whiteboard Picture.  The next one will come from an 8th grade Physical Science classroom in the same district.

The Dusk of my First Assignment

Well, I have finished my last heap of grading, the students are preparing for a quiz tomorrow, and my master teacher is starting to take back her class.

Tomorrow is my last day.  I will be glad to be in a different classroom at a new school and excited to continue my preparation, but leaving my students is a sad proposition.  They have been very kind and patient with a new teacher.

Though the first assignment is over, there is much work ahead.  In the next week I'll pound out the final portion of a Unit Plan, meet with my adviser to review the last 10 weeks of student teaching, complete the third CalTPA Task: Assessing Learning, meet with my new master teacher at a junior high in the district, prepare for teaching on the block schedule, and start looking for a job in the fall.

My honors bio students will continue their trek through ecology without me.  It would be great to be able to continue teaching them.  But, there is another group of 150 8th grade Physical Science students that are about to meet Mr. Davis.  And that is exciting.

Very, very exciting.

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.

Teaching First: Students and the Rain

Today brings the first major rain storm of the season and the first of my teaching career.

It's about 200 yards from the parking lot to the classroom and it takes about 4 minutes to walk the distance. I made it in 3 but not without getting wet.  Very, very wet.

I was curious to how the students would respond; my teacher friends agree that wind, rain, and full moons cause students to act strangely.  I haven't noticed too much odd behavior with full moons or wind, but the rain brought out student behavior out of the norm.

Here's how they responded to the rain.

Noise

Lots of screaming and yelling went on during passing period.  Also, students are excited to inform me that it's raining.

In Class

Students were a lot more squirrely today; many of them talked right through the lecture.  Even some of my quiet and studious students were chatty.  And, good gravy, the normally chatty students were off the wall!

Absent

And some students stayed home. 

Denial

Shorts and a T-Shirt.  Yes, I saw a young man in shorts and a t-shirt casually walking from the parking lot to his class.  I know we live in Southern California and all, but shorts and a t-shirt is not the most wise of clothing options.

It's been a crazy day.  I've dried out, the students have been pretty good, and the day's observations have been quite valuable.  Rain is rare and students respond differently to drastic change.  Yes, here in Southern California, rain is a drastic change.

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.

Whiteboard Picture: Cycles of Matter Quiz

We're taking a quiz on the Cycles of Matter.  One of the cycles is the nitrogen cycle, hence this encouraging note.

Videos: Worth a Thousand Words?

A picture, of course, is worth a thousand words.  But, is a video worth a thousand words?  With absolute certainty, everyone knows the answer to this question is "maybe."

A Lengthy Video

I find it hard to justify watching a video for an entire class-period.  Even if students are filling out a worksheet tied to the video, they are only being asked Knowledge based questions.  Unless a teacher is filling in a lesson plan for a substitute teacher dedicating an entire class period seems like a misuse of time.

If it's necessary to watch an entire video there's got to a significant assessment that goes along with it.  In English or Drama class, watching and analyzing a particular interpretation of a Shakespeare play may be valuable.  I can't think of anything in science that would justify this type of time investment.

Fortunately, many of the new science videos are short but highly informative. Take a look at the Pocket Mouse video on the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) website.  It's a minute long, well produced, and communicates information very well.  HHMI produces DVDs with longer segments and each portion runs for 10-15 minutes.

But, we're getting into short videos.  Videos that run longer than 20 minutes are, in most cases, time-fillers rather than the engaging material we'd hoped for.  And, the students know it.

A Short Video

Short videos, on the other hand, can help facilitate inquiry, curiosity, and discussion, all the things that we educators wake up in the morning eager to make happen.

Video segments can help students grasp difficult concepts or visualize instructions before going on to a lab. Not only do students take in the knowledge, but the surrounding time the video can be used for questioning and analysis.

Personal Experience

Perhaps I am biased based on my own experience.  I can not think of a time in my educational career where watching a lengthy video was an essential part of my understanding.  I also don't know of a single respectable teacher that does this as a regular part of their course.

So, until convinced otherwise, only short videos will make their way into my lesson plans.

Grading: Two Thoughts

We started a new unit and there hasn't been much to grade.  I am itching to know what the students know.

Grading papers helps me in two ways.  First, it gives me an opportunity to see what the students are learning and, secondly, it's another way to communicate with students.  Grading 186 papers is difficult work, but thinking about these two things keeps the grading engaging.

What do You Know?

I have determined that informing students to the purpose of an assignment helps them produce work that is complete and thorough.  Over the past two weeks I have stressed that assignments are a tool for me to know what you know; if you don't write it down, I don't know that you know the material.

Over the course of grading I can find weaknesses in the students' understandings and address them the next day.  I can also see where the students are excelling or what topics interest them the most.  Knowing students' strengths and weaknesses helps drive future instruction.

Communication

Grading is also a time to communicate back to students.  It takes a bit longer, but I want to make comments that will help students.  Even if I don't mark points off, I want them to know how they can do better work.  I may refine my ideas on grading, but it seems like the students deserve thoughtful comments on things they spent significant time on.  Unless students are given time to research stuff they got wrong, checks and "-1" next to answers doesn't communicate much to a student.


Today is a good day.  Students are turning in their first assignments and I am looking forward to grading them.

Whiteboard Picture: The Queen's English

Chapter 3 Quiz is on Wednesday.  Here, Sir. Mr. Davis holds a sign pointing to the bright red note on the board.