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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

NetLogo - Technology and Models

For the past week we have been learning about Ecology.  I have a number of old resources that I have been asked to use in the classroom.  With the recent talk of NGSS and STEM I was looking for ways to integrate some sort of meaningful technology into the classroom.

As I was poking through several videos on the Bozeman Science website, Paul Anderson briefly mentioned NetLogo as resource he uses in his classroom.  NetLogo is a piece of software that creates computer models of all sorts of scientific or statistical situations.  The software helps model everything from basic traffic patterns to game theory.  I found a model that helps visualize relationships between predator and prey and I was able to use it in class with great success.

The need in the classroom:

1. To quickly visualize the relationship between predator and prey over generations.
2. To quickly visualize the results of messing with the balance of predator/prey relationships.
3. To visualize and analyze the results of the corresponding data.

Gathering this type of data to has been a lengthy process in the past.  It ends up usually being too general or too painstakingly lengthy to make the exercise meaningful.  And, generating data where one of the variables changed is hypothetical and equally time-consuming.  NetLogo provided a way to quickly generate data for the situations we were looking at.

The Old Way.  *sigh*

Downloading and installing NetLogo was pretty simple.  It's a Java based program so it can be installed almost anywhere and I was impressed that it ran so smoothly on my lightweight laptop.

Here's a screenshot of the Wolf Sheep Predation model.

Shiny!

Now, here's what I'm most excited about.  The model produced data that really helped scaffold good questions.  The students were interested in the modeling and were mostly impressed at how fast data could be generated.  The data allowed me to assess the students' understanding of the principles we've been talking about in the last 4 class periods.

In each class we ran a basic simulation and we talked about the ebb and flow of both predator and prey but we were also able to play with the variables.  In one instance we had a situation where the number of sheep dipped too low and the wolves went extinct within our digital biome.  I got a reaction from a lot of the students!  I was surprised and very excited at the empathy!

After the demonstration we moved on to other classwork, but I continued to get questions about the predator/prey relationships, what-if questions, and questions about running the software themselves.  For a small investment of classroom time and an hour of my personal time I got quite a satisfying result.

NGSS Breakdown: The Space Station View

I thought I'd write out a bit of what I understand about the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).  This is not even a birds-eye view of NGSS, it's the space-station view.  There are plenty of better reviews, but here's mine.

NGSS is based off of A Framework for K-12 Science Education, a brief 400 page explanation on how we need to be teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, or STEM, from Kindergarten to 12th grade.

NGSS is intended to be a benchmark for the science that all informed citizens must know.  Not everyone needs to know the clotting cascade but everyone should know how to interpret a graph and understand basic ecology.  Students interested in honors and AP courses for college transcripts can still take them, but all students must meet the minimum NGSS Standards.

NGSS is concerned with these three branches of science:

1. Earth Science - Earth & Universe, Earth's Systems, Earth and Human Activity
2. Physical Science - Matter & its Interactions, Motion/Stability, Energy, Waves
3. Life Science - Organic Structures, Ecosystems, Heredity, Evolution

NGSS Breakdown

NGSS delivery has 3 Dimensions:

1. Dimension 1: Science and Engineering Practices - This is concerned primarily with what all students must be able to Know and Do.
   There are 8 subtopics
1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)
2. Developing and using models
3. Planning and carrying out investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting data
5. Using mathematics and computational thinking
6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions) for engineering
7. Engaging in argument from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
2. Dimension 2: Crosscutting Concepts - This is primarily concerned with Fundamental Questions and Bridging Concepts.  After all, you can't really teach biology without understanding basic earth and physical science.
   There are 7 subtopics
1. Patterns
2. Cause and effect: Mechanism and explanation
3. Scale, proportion, and quantity
4. Systems and System Models
5. Energy and Matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation
6. Structure and function
7. Stability and change
3. Dimension 3: Disciplinary Core Ideas -  This is concerned with Content delivered in a logical Progression. Here we get to specific science content.  In 1st grade, a student may learn about using their senses to tell whether something is warm or cool; in 11th grade, students may learn how to take the temperature of a substance using different thermal scales.
   There are 44 subtopics that I will not include here.  Take a look at how the core ideas are presented over a student's entire K-12 career: K-12 Core Disciplinary Ideas (.pdf)

Bozeman Biology has an excellent YouTube channel and a terrific website, BozemanScience.com, that offers a range of science-related videos.  Paul Anderson does a good job explaining NGSS and is in the process of producing individual videos on each aspect of the standards.  

I'm very optimistic about the state of science education once this is all rolled out.  At its core, NGSS works on leading students beyond data memorization and information regurgitation to critical thinking and problem solving.  The current No Child Left Behind (NCLB) standards are quite long in the tooth and NGSS is coming.  ...eventually.  ...maybe in 5 years.

Can We Have Class Outside Today?

Can we have class outside today?  Yes!  Yes we can!  And, there was much rejoicing!

We began a unit on Ecology and it seemed fitting that we actually go outside.  After all, we're all very much a part of the local environment and getting into the environment seems like a good first step.

During the beginning of class students wrote down as many observations about the local environment as they could.  Before going out we had a discussion about some of the things that make up environments.  Then, students were asked to be silent, observe, and write things down.

Students responded well.  They were very funny too.  One student 4th period wrote down "Mr. Davis," much to the enjoyment of his buddies.  It was a good jumping-off point to discuss human impact on the local environment; one of the major parts of our study of ecology is recognizing that we all have an impact on the environment.

When I discussed my plan with my wife, she offered some suggestions:

1. One, the time outside needs to be finite.  Too long and the students will get bored.
2. The students need to have a goal to work towards.  I asked each student to come up with at least 20 observations in the 10 minutes we were outside.
3. The students need to be spread out from one another; too close and they chat.

The 10 minutes flew by!  The students came up with great observations that we were able to incorporate into the following lecture and discussion.  This is a lesson plan I'll definitely use in the future.

Here's a shot of the local environment from the classroom door.

Teaching First: Project Worksheet

Well, here it is.  My first Project Worksheet (pdf)!

I adapted it from several sources to meet the needs of the our classroom.  Teachers, please note the appealing lack of Comic Sans.  I used Arial, a font for grown-ups.
The method of the project I found at the University of Georgia website.  Click here to look at the entire packet; it was created for a much more extensive project that includes a 10-15 minute presentation.
I also took the rubric method from a book on grading from Robert Marzano.

I'm sad that I have to send it to the district copier.  In a perfect world I would make the project worksheet available online and the students could refer to it electronically and print it out themselves only if they wanted a hard-copy.

This will accompany a poster the students will use as a model when I present the project.  This helped keep the worksheet to one page.

I'm really looking forward to the student's response to the worksheet.  I'm sure there will be a version 2 to stick in my electronic filing cabinet to pull out and adapt for next time.  The biome projects should be pretty good.  My students have proved themselves to be rather creative.

Here's how I created the published PDF worksheet

1. Create document in Microsoft Word
2. Save as PDF
3. Upload to Google Drive
4. Find document in Google Drive, select it, and then hit share.  Under the "Who has access" section, click on the "Change" link.
   
5. Click on the "Public on the web" radio button, then click "Save."
   
6. Distribute the resulting link.  Copy and paste it into your favorite electronic platform.
   
   I would use the Google URL Shortner to make communication easier.  Bitly also works nicely.
   See the Wikipedia article on URL Shortening here:  URL Shortening
7. Resolve to print fewer pieces of paper.

Happy Valentine's Day from Mr. Davis

To: You, My Dear Reader
From: Mr. Davis