Passing Period: The Best Time to Fix a Lesson

During first period, the review of Hardy-Weinberg equations garnered a bunch of blank stares.  We expected that students would come into class with questions, but we got nothing.  I was completely unable to assess the students' comprehension.  The students who understood the concepts answered the questions quickly and got the correct answers.  The students who didn't understand it copied the answers from their sharing neighbors.  At the end of the period, my master teacher and I looked at each other and we knew that we had 5 minutes to come up with something better.

So, in the next 300 seconds, we floated a bunch of ideas ranging from more practice problems to short essays explaining each step of the equation.  But we didn't know where the students were having problems.

Then, I recommended a pop quiz.  At first, my master teacher wasn't thrilled.  She said that we didn't need more papers to grade, Scantron forms are too expensive for a super-quick assessment, and that we didn't really have time for a quiz.  I countered:  the students didn't know it wouldn't be for points, and I promised to keep it short.  I got the green light.  I was about to give the first pop quiz of my life!

It worked.

Each "question" was a logical step of a rather basic Hardy Weinberg equation.  The "quiz" part of "pop quiz" set the right tone in class.  After the initial wave of groans, the students were quiet and attentive.  As the students wrote out out their answers, I was able to walk around and look at their work.

I got the information I needed and spent about 10 minutes addressing the weak points in the students' problem solving.

Reflection
I realized on the way home that this is something I'll not be able to do every day.  This was an emergency assessment piece and a pop quiz will lose its "pop" if done too much.  It worked in a pinch and it's something I'll come back to if I manage to get myself into a bind again.

The students needed another set of practice problems to really solidify the concept.  They wouldn't like it, but it would have been best for them.

Assignment review is an essential part of the learning process.  The next time I teach a difficult concept, I'll need to be much more rigid, providing a step-by-step guide.  Once students get -a- method, they can then take the logical leaps that streamline the process.  Once this happens, they're ready for the next application.  This will be in the back of my mind when I get together with my peers to review the pacing calendar.

Handing Back Papers: A Strategy

Before I ever stepped foot into a classroom, I knew that strategy was key and that I'd need to think through everything.  Little did I know how much this "everything" would entail.  Today I learned that, yes, I even needed a strategy for handing back assignments.

I was eager to hand my first batch of graded lab reports back to the students, and I was interested to see how they would react.  As is the custom of the class, I handed the papers back at the beginning of the period.  This may not be the best method.  There was a sense of frustration in the class and we hadn't even started class yet.  Most of the students did well; the bell curve was toward the higher B, low A range.  But, not all of the students performed as they expected.

The next time we have papers to hand back, I think I will wait until the end of class.  Even if the students did well and their grades met their expectation, there's an element of distraction where the students are eager to review and compare results.

I may have found an even better way.  Despite being graded and recorded, the assignment still has instructional value.

Even though I added comments to their papers, there may be an even greater benefit to explaining answers in class once the papers are handed back.

There is a lot of instruction that happens before and during the lab, but simply because the papers are turned in and the students can't update their answers doesn't mean that the assignment has no further instructional value.  Sometimes that "Aha!" moment comes after a failure; it is often here that the student is ready to learn.

For next time, here's the plan:

• Low-Point Assignments - Hand back at the end of the period and be available for questions.
• Mid- to High-Point Assignment - Make the time in my next lesson plan to spend a few minutes reviewing questions, especially the ones that were commonly missed.

Small Rudders Turn Big Ships

My master teacher was out again today and will probably be out tomorrow, too.  As I muddle through, I am having a great time and learning a lot.  Today, I learned a valuable lesson about being strategic with everything I say.

Continuing from our discussion on the historical context of Charles Darwin, we jumped into more detail about the famous 5 year voyage on the HMS Beagle and the observations he made on that trip.  After the lecture, we watched the first part of an old VHS video titled The Evidence for Evolution.  The plan was to watch half of the film today today and the other half tomorrow.  To help students pay attention and get value from the video, my master teacher developed a 30 question fill-in-the-blank worksheet to be filled out during the video.

First period was the test run.  We got through question 15 of the worksheet, which ended up being a good place to stop.  So, 15 questions became the benchmark.  Second period confirmed that we could do the lecture and get through question 15 of the worksheet.  All was well.

Third period is where I made my mistake.  In preparing the students for the video, I added that we'd probably get through question 15 on the worksheet and then watch the remainder during tomorrow's class. Well, after the students get the answer for question 15, they began to pack up and talk to one another.  There was still about 2-3 minutes of film before the stopping point!  These three minutes had good explanations and helpful graphics that helped explain the content!  Despite not having a blank to fill in, the content was still valuable.

When I noticed the students packing up, these thoughts ran through my head in about 2 seconds:

1. I shouldn't have told them that we'd only get through question 15.
2. I most definitely will -not- do that next period.
3. It's not on the worksheet and the information in the video won't be on a quiz or test; it's more for enrichment.
4. I can force them to sit down and watch it, but that would only build resentment of being forced to do something with little value.  

I don't know if I made the right choice, but I let it go.  The students continued to pack up and the bell rang soon afterwards.  We got through the lesson and I think they're understanding and comprehending the content.  In my questions I have been able to ask some higher level questions.  I don't think the situation will hurt the students' comprehension.

So, today's lesson: Be strategic in -all- communications.  Even little statements you think are helpful at the time can come back to bite you in the tail later if you're not careful.

PS:  

On the topic of questioning, I was rather proud of myself.  I asked a simple question.  "What is an example of an adaptation?"  Then I waited.  The wait seemed like it would go on forever.  This class, in particular, is a quiet class so I didn't know what to expect.  When I thought the students would stare back at me forever, one girl piped up with an example.  Then, another student piped up with another example of an adaptation.  Increasing wait time works!