26 Mar
Today was the day before spring break. One of my 6th grade double periods was total anarchy. The other was a 6th grade mutiny. It got so bad that one girl came up to me to let me know she felt bad for me. Haha.
Here’s to all the teachers on the day before break!
24 Mar
I really wish I could attend this, but I will be in Las Vegas by then. I highly recommend you go.
Details:
24 Mar
A couple weeks ago a friend and I were walking down the street when we saw this:
Somebody slept through Chemistry class…good thing it was only Nitrogen!!
24 Mar
Here’s a lesson based on the FOSS Populations & Ecosystems curriculum. It is basically a summary of the unit with a really fantastic bead model of the 10% Rule!
And just to give you an idea of what 1111 beads look like:
24 Mar
I’m working on developing a high school Physics magnetism unit. The lessons I’ve written so far are posted on the Lesson Plans page. So far, it consists of an introductory lesson, two lessons on magnetic fields, a computer-based lab connecting electricity and magnetism, as well as an end of unit project.
Since I am relocating to Las Vegas, NV, I am working to connect each of my lessons to the community. This unit easily demonstrates the science associated with the hydroelectric generators at the Hoover Dam. I can’t wait to bring students there for field trips!!
18 Mar
Sadly, I cannot attend the NSTA conference this year, but have an exciting announcement. The other day GM Education contacted me and wanted to let you all know they will have a booth in the exhibit hall with a Chevy Volt chassis and lots of giveaways.
They also sent this super cool picture of the Chevy Volt chassis:
Since I had no idea what a “chassis” was, I did some research. A chassis is the “backbone” for a man made object; for a car, the chassis includes the frame, engine, suspension, and other mechanical aspects.
As I mentioned, the GM booth will include a chassis as well as free USB drives, programs, and other handouts. It sounds like there could be some great resources for lessons on energy, environmental science, and engineering. So, if you’re heading to the conference in Philly this weekend, stop by GM and say hello!
16 Mar
I just discovered that GM has an incredible wealth of resources for educators!
First, there’s Teach Green, the education blog. It is written by science and technology teachers with tips and commentary on teaching students to be environmentally literacy. As written on the website:
This section of GM Education was created as a gateway for “green” educators to share their experiences and inspirations for teaching lessons about the environment. To educate. To inspire. To, well, teach green.
You can contribute your ideas a stories by emailing Educationeditor@gmblogs.com.
Second, the general education page for GM is chalk-full of excellent resources for energy and environmental lessons for all grades:
I am really looking forward to getting to know this resource better – I am certain that students will enjoy it as well!
9 Mar
I just succumbed and joined Twitter. I’m not sure if I’ll be using it for long, but I figured I’d try now so I could use it more successfully in my own classroom in the fall if the opportunity arises.
So…if you’re on Twitter as well, follow me @frizzlescience.
9 Mar
David Rose is the Chief Education Officer for CAST and also lectures as part of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Rose has recently developed a neurological condition where he frequently loses vision. “There’s a wonderful irony in spending your life working with disabilities and to finally have one!” Rose admits intimidation at being sandwiched between Bobby McFerrin and Queen Latifah, but I am not concerned because the title of his talk gives weight to an important issue.
The National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard defines the mandate for all digital files to be accessible in several formats. This means that students with vision and print disabilities should be able to receive their textbook in a format they can easily use and learn from. As a result, across the country, students with print disabilities are being given the digital copies (internet, Braille, etc.) from the textbook publisher. You can get copies of these from your local NIMAS representative.
Learning Disability v. Print Disability
Print disabled students include students with blindness, visual disabilities, physical limitations (can’t hold a book or turn the pages), and reading disabilities resulting from organic dysfunction. This has been the definition since the 1930s.
Advances in our understanding of learning
All learning and related disabilities are organic. Rose shows PET scan images of the human brain seeing and hearing words. The brain lights up in different ways as it sees, hears, and learns. As a person learns something, the front of the brain lights up. After the student has practiced the task several times, the lit section becomes dim – less brain energy is being used. “This ability to watch learning happen has changed how we research it and how we approach it.”
We can see the Zone of Proximal Development by watching PET scan images – the brain lights up when it is acquiring new information at just the right difficulty level.
“How many of you are brain damaged? You are wildly underestimating yourselves. How many of you have had wine or coffee to drink or has driven behind a bus in New York? You are all organically brain damaged, it is just the degree to which you are damaged.”
Advances in our understanding of disability
“We think that when we are showing students the same thing we are standardizing things.” This view goes against the grain how our brains work. Rose shows an example of students with Williams Syndrome and Down Syndrome and how the first sees the details of an image (the Y) and the latter sees the big picture (the D). Neither sees the same image even though on paper the image includes the details and the larger picture.
Students struggle with reading because they do not have the recognition networks, strategic networks, and affective networks. They cannot recognize words, have a plan for reading, or do not have the scaffolding to be able to read.
“Disabilities used to be thought as residential in the individual…disabilities are in the exchange between the individual and his or her environment…what are the demands of the environment around you?”
In order to provide classroom materials for students with different print disabilities you might need to use paper, a computer, different colors, Braille, audio, etc. Changes and adjustments can be made for individuals.
Advances in technology and media
Buying digital books through Scholastic, etc. can be expensive. This is why Rose and CAST are partnering with Google to provide digital books for teachers and classrooms.
Check out CAST’s Bookbuilder, a free e-book building site for you and your students to use.
Essentially, Rose is encouraging teachers to use print as a tool in the classroom, but not to confine the use of print to books. “Unfortunately, we’ve constrained our teaching to what print can do.” We have lost the essence of the content because we are so concerned about fitting it into a textbook.
8 Mar
Phew! Another quick week…
MONDAY – By far my most insecure day yet. I didn’t spend as much time planning and prepping as usual and I felt that it showed. I planned too much material and had to cut stuff during the lesson. I also chose to cram one more new topic in at the end instead of taking the time to summarize what we had discussed. The second period went a bit better, but I still was not confident with how it went. I saw two girls in the hallway that are in that first period who are pretty honest about their comfort/frustration level and asked them if they were completely confused – to my surprise, they said they were actually more comfortable with the content than they usually were with my cooperating teacher.
The last thing I needed was positive reinforcement for a bad habit!
Even in the midst of frustration, I’ve been reminding myself that my student teaching supervisor commented that I have the confidence and skill of a seasoned teacher. I am thankful to know that I’m a bit ahead of the curve.
TUESDAY – Tried station work today. 32 students had 2-3 minutes at each of 9 stations to discover and explore different aspects of sound, standing waves, and pitch. At first there was a lot of resistance and the kids refused to work fast enough to get through any of the thinking questions. The questions were designed to guide their thinking, not to be a complete assessment. Eventually they calmed down and maybe even enjoyed the different activities. We repeated the literacy exercise of the KWL chart; I really like forcing them to synthesize what they are learning!
Had a student approach me with a concern about her project grade. I reviewed her project with her arguments in mind and ended up granting her the points because her error was only written in the script and she corrected it in her video.
WEDNESDAY – Review for the quiz day! A new challenge sprang up today – how to teach unmotivated kids on a rainy day when you’ve got a migraine and short temper :) I did okay this morning, but started to get upset when two girls insisted they needed to review for the quiz in a different way than I had designed. Can’t they trust that I know what’s on the quiz and they don’t, so maybe I know what material we should cover?!
This was also my first “why did you not hand in your project that was due 2 weeks ago and what are you gonna do about it” meeting. She never showed up. :)
THURSDAY – a frustrating day. One of those days when I was frustrated with the institution of student teaching because I don’t have enough time to really get to know the kids and them get to know me. Really looking forward to having kids from the beginning of the year from more than 4-6 weeks!
One week of high school placement left!
Just Call Me Ms Frizzle 