Today I introduced the 8th grade to Erickson's theory of psychosocial development. After going through the 8 stages we were going to play a "charades" game where 2 people from a team were to try to wordlessly act out the conflict and their team was to try and guess the stage. We ran out of time for charades.
This blog is in some ways my attempt to struggle through resolving the stage of "generativity vs stagnation" and move me toward finding "integrity" in my life. I can easily paint the broad brush stroke of a 35 year career teaching children as a life with a giving focus. In that big picture there are the impressionistic dots of meaningless tests, forcing kids (who much rather be at recess) to pay attention to some bit of "knowledge" they won't recall after they leave the room, worthless assignments, work for work sake, teaching for the vacations, choices to teach kids of priviledge in private schools, ...
How many dark dots paint a picture of despair? How many bright dots paint integrity?
Today I've had 23 eighth grader dots thoughtfully considering the subconscious factors that might be driving the decisions they make about who they become - and 16 seventh grader dots silently willing me to set them free from a PowerPoint on their Linnaeus classification, so they can go to recess.
Net result - 7 brightly colored integrity dots in the picture of my life? Somehow I don't think it is going to end up working that way.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Katrina Remembered - Is It Time to Look for New Opportunities?
Five years ago today my wife and I were in south Florida after driving 15 hours through the night to escape Katrina. We arrived at our vacation cottage and turned on the tv to hear that "New Orleans had dodged the bullet." We shrugged and went to sleep figuring we would take a 6 hour nap and drive back to New Orleans when we woke up. But when we woke up our world and our attitudes about life began to change forever.
A month later I snuck back into New Orleans to inspect the 2 flooded sites that had been the International School of Louisiana and with a marvelous group of parents and staff prepared to plead with the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to let us reopen. Why the pleading was necessary I will never understand. Such is politics, I suppose.
Today (as we do pretty much every Sunday) my wife and I wrote in our "book" our most memorable sensations of the previous week. Then we made a list of the 5 Katrina caused opportunities that we embraced and found pleasure in.
Here is the list:
1. The best educational experience of our lives being part of ISL as it sprang back to life in trailers alongside a New Orleans' airport runway.
2. Learning to love trailer living.
3. Tearing our flooded house down to the basics and putting it back just how we like it.
4. Acquaintances who became great friends.
5. Evolving an attitude of fragile strength in which tears will quickly and shamelessly flow everytime we hear Bruce Sprinsteen's "My City in Ruins", but knowing we can endure endless Katrinas and continue to look for opportunities in the challenges.
A picture of a bridge over the river in the Honduran town where we now work was in the San Pedro Sula Sunday paper today. The area is in "Red Alert" for possible flooding. I walked to the bridge in the picture and stood looking at the water rising against the sheet metal barriers protecting the banks. There were about 50 of us discussing if the water was rising or falling and how much rain was expected in the next week. It was a weirdly Katrina-like moment. Like when you would be standing in line at the grocery store after the storm,and you and the person next to you would start telling your evacuation stories as if you had known each other all your lives. Then along came a guy pushing a cart of cotton candy up the bridge - an opportunist in the face of the approaching challenges.
A month later I snuck back into New Orleans to inspect the 2 flooded sites that had been the International School of Louisiana and with a marvelous group of parents and staff prepared to plead with the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to let us reopen. Why the pleading was necessary I will never understand. Such is politics, I suppose.
Today (as we do pretty much every Sunday) my wife and I wrote in our "book" our most memorable sensations of the previous week. Then we made a list of the 5 Katrina caused opportunities that we embraced and found pleasure in.
Here is the list:
1. The best educational experience of our lives being part of ISL as it sprang back to life in trailers alongside a New Orleans' airport runway.
2. Learning to love trailer living.
3. Tearing our flooded house down to the basics and putting it back just how we like it.
4. Acquaintances who became great friends.
5. Evolving an attitude of fragile strength in which tears will quickly and shamelessly flow everytime we hear Bruce Sprinsteen's "My City in Ruins", but knowing we can endure endless Katrinas and continue to look for opportunities in the challenges.
A picture of a bridge over the river in the Honduran town where we now work was in the San Pedro Sula Sunday paper today. The area is in "Red Alert" for possible flooding. I walked to the bridge in the picture and stood looking at the water rising against the sheet metal barriers protecting the banks. There were about 50 of us discussing if the water was rising or falling and how much rain was expected in the next week. It was a weirdly Katrina-like moment. Like when you would be standing in line at the grocery store after the storm,and you and the person next to you would start telling your evacuation stories as if you had known each other all your lives. Then along came a guy pushing a cart of cotton candy up the bridge - an opportunist in the face of the approaching challenges.
Friday, August 27, 2010
When does the right answer = learning?
We're doing this DNA extraction lab today. I have 2 groups of 7th graders, so I am doing the same lab as yesterday and think I have learned a couple of things about how to make it better. We're extracting DNA from bananas, papaya seeds, liver, and candle wax (hopefuly not finding any DNA in the candle wax). The first step is to blend up the stuff with a healthy pinch of salt added to about 200 mL of cold water. Then the strained "goop" has some (about 30 mL) of liquid detergent (I tried both liquid dishwashing detergent and liquid laundry detergent and it didn't seem to make a difference) added to it, swirl it around, and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
Yesterday I blended up all the "goop" and the kids added the detergent, but they could not wait the 10 minutes. They were on to the next steps (adding a pinch of meat tenderizer and slowly layering isopropyl alcohol on top) immediately.
Today I thought I had it figured out. I blended up 3 mixtures of goop (banana, papaya, and wax) and in front of the class added the liquid detergent. I then asked them (each team having to come up with the right answer) , "What is the only substance (goop) you are going to add liquid detergent to?" They all answered the liver. I then asked "How long will you wait after you add the detergent to the liver?" They all told me 10 minutes. Then I blended the liver and put them to work sorting their test tubes and going through the steps.
Of the 4 teams of 4 in the class, how many teams would you guess added detergent to all 4 goop mixtures? 2!
How does that happen?
Yesterday I blended up all the "goop" and the kids added the detergent, but they could not wait the 10 minutes. They were on to the next steps (adding a pinch of meat tenderizer and slowly layering isopropyl alcohol on top) immediately.
Today I thought I had it figured out. I blended up 3 mixtures of goop (banana, papaya, and wax) and in front of the class added the liquid detergent. I then asked them (each team having to come up with the right answer) , "What is the only substance (goop) you are going to add liquid detergent to?" They all answered the liver. I then asked "How long will you wait after you add the detergent to the liver?" They all told me 10 minutes. Then I blended the liver and put them to work sorting their test tubes and going through the steps.
Of the 4 teams of 4 in the class, how many teams would you guess added detergent to all 4 goop mixtures? 2!
How does that happen?
Thursday, August 26, 2010
I Made a 7th Grader Cry Today
It has been a couple of days since I blogged as I've tried to get on top of marking the "Greatest Mystery" position papers. I was hoping there would be some great middle school thinking on the mysteries of the brain, universe, life, & consciousness - but (although many were much better written than last year) the thinking was largely adolescent attempts to complete the assignment with minimal effort. Most seemed to have learned how to write to a rubric, though.
7th grade was doing a DNA extraction lab today and one kid kept swinging between 2 lab tables with test tubes rolling around on top of the lab table as he swung. I warned him to stop and that if he broke the test tubes he would be responsible for their replacement. (The careless unenforceable threat as I have no idea where to get these test tubes in Honduras.) About 20 minutes later he is dancing around between the tables and one of their test tubes falls and breaks. It was not clearly his fault - but HE had been warned. I lost it a bit, called him by name, and said, "Stop dancing around like a monkey". I took 20 points of his team. (20 points = 5 minutes during the free recess). The kid begins to cry and starts to work on an assignment due next week. At the end of the class I speak with the team and let them know if they replace the test tube they will get the points back and that I know it wasn't all the fault of the kid who was dancing around. The team accepts the consequences (realizing they will not be able to find the test tube) and everyone leaves a little sadder but (hopefully) wiser. I'm feeling a little guilty about making the kid cry and saying that about "dancing like a monkey".
At the end of lunch period I'm talking with the teacher in the classroom next to me. We are planning an integrated soc. studies/science lesson on an idea I read this summer about all species's survivals now depend not on natural selection, but on man. She is the homeroom teacher for the 'boy who dances like a monkey'. As we're talking the bell rings for the start of class and sure enough the boy who dances like a monkey is wandering around the class, not getting his books ready for his next classes, and ... he is called to the teacher's desk and she asks, "Where were you during lunch recess?" He had arranged to come to discuss an assignment with her and had forgotten. It was all enough to make me cry.
7th grade was doing a DNA extraction lab today and one kid kept swinging between 2 lab tables with test tubes rolling around on top of the lab table as he swung. I warned him to stop and that if he broke the test tubes he would be responsible for their replacement. (The careless unenforceable threat as I have no idea where to get these test tubes in Honduras.) About 20 minutes later he is dancing around between the tables and one of their test tubes falls and breaks. It was not clearly his fault - but HE had been warned. I lost it a bit, called him by name, and said, "Stop dancing around like a monkey". I took 20 points of his team. (20 points = 5 minutes during the free recess). The kid begins to cry and starts to work on an assignment due next week. At the end of the class I speak with the team and let them know if they replace the test tube they will get the points back and that I know it wasn't all the fault of the kid who was dancing around. The team accepts the consequences (realizing they will not be able to find the test tube) and everyone leaves a little sadder but (hopefully) wiser. I'm feeling a little guilty about making the kid cry and saying that about "dancing like a monkey".
At the end of lunch period I'm talking with the teacher in the classroom next to me. We are planning an integrated soc. studies/science lesson on an idea I read this summer about all species's survivals now depend not on natural selection, but on man. She is the homeroom teacher for the 'boy who dances like a monkey'. As we're talking the bell rings for the start of class and sure enough the boy who dances like a monkey is wandering around the class, not getting his books ready for his next classes, and ... he is called to the teacher's desk and she asks, "Where were you during lunch recess?" He had arranged to come to discuss an assignment with her and had forgotten. It was all enough to make me cry.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Millipedes and Boa Constrictors
I spent part of the weekend trying to fix the aquarium so my millipedes will stop dying. Internet research reported that they were very easy to take care of, didn't carry any known bateria or viruses that were harmful to man, and unless you ate one or got some of the mild toxin they might emit in a cut or your eye, they would not harm you. Sounded like the perfect science lab pet. I'm beginning to question my research as I am having a heck of a time keeping them alive. Hopefully none of the students catch something from the creatures.
My favorite 'beastie loose in the classroom' story goes back to when I was science specialist at a school in Caracas (1992-96) . The maintenance crew was always bringing me creatures they found - scorpions, tarantulas, snakes, .... Once they brought in this half-meter long snake which I thought was a constrictor except the snake's pupils were slit and the head was slightly triangular. This was pre-Google days, so getting a definite identification on the snake was taking awhile. Maintenance was assuring me it was a constrictor, and the snake was not aggressive.
I had been working with another teacher on a project where students were designing and building cages for snakes. I put the snake in what I considered the best designed cage. It had a very heavy lid and a series of sliding doors and ramps for putting in food and water and removing soiled matter from the bottom of the cage, so you never had to put your hand in the cage.
When I came in the morning after receiving the snake, it was gone. I didn't calculate the strength of the snake to just lift the lid off the cage. I went and told the principal, and we cancelled science classes while I tore the lab apart. No sign of the snake. I figured it must have escaped under a door onto a balcony and then back to the jungle that came down the side of a mountain behind the school.
About a week later I was setting station activities in the lab. I had an old (even then) Apple II-E computer that had some science games on it. I pulled the cover off the computer and there coiled on the keyboard was the snake. My heart stopped and I did not need an extra cup of coffee that morning. I scooped the snake up in a net I kept handy and set it free on the mountainside behind the school.
I've since read that a pupil with a vertical slit is a sign of a venomous snake, but that snakes have no eyelids, so in order to protect their eyes from bright light, and when they're sleeping, all snakes' pupils contract to slits. Also certain constrictors heads are definitely triangular shaped with a vertically slit eye.
My favorite 'beastie loose in the classroom' story goes back to when I was science specialist at a school in Caracas (1992-96) . The maintenance crew was always bringing me creatures they found - scorpions, tarantulas, snakes, .... Once they brought in this half-meter long snake which I thought was a constrictor except the snake's pupils were slit and the head was slightly triangular. This was pre-Google days, so getting a definite identification on the snake was taking awhile. Maintenance was assuring me it was a constrictor, and the snake was not aggressive.
I had been working with another teacher on a project where students were designing and building cages for snakes. I put the snake in what I considered the best designed cage. It had a very heavy lid and a series of sliding doors and ramps for putting in food and water and removing soiled matter from the bottom of the cage, so you never had to put your hand in the cage.
When I came in the morning after receiving the snake, it was gone. I didn't calculate the strength of the snake to just lift the lid off the cage. I went and told the principal, and we cancelled science classes while I tore the lab apart. No sign of the snake. I figured it must have escaped under a door onto a balcony and then back to the jungle that came down the side of a mountain behind the school.
About a week later I was setting station activities in the lab. I had an old (even then) Apple II-E computer that had some science games on it. I pulled the cover off the computer and there coiled on the keyboard was the snake. My heart stopped and I did not need an extra cup of coffee that morning. I scooped the snake up in a net I kept handy and set it free on the mountainside behind the school.
I've since read that a pupil with a vertical slit is a sign of a venomous snake, but that snakes have no eyelids, so in order to protect their eyes from bright light, and when they're sleeping, all snakes' pupils contract to slits. Also certain constrictors heads are definitely triangular shaped with a vertically slit eye.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Don't Worry - Only 35 Weeks to Go - Be Happy
It is Friday afternoon at the end of the first week - only 35 weeks to go!
We got an email from our principal yesterday to send in our personal and professional goals. I promptly sent mine back. My personal goal was to: Not have a personal goal, but to be happy and contented with myself. Then it hit me that that was a goal, so DAMN!! I already messed that up, but send button had been hit.
By the end of the day we had another email saying 'put our personal and professional goals on the attached form', so I was able to adjust my personal goal - while remaining happy and contented. The form had columns: goal/s, strategy, resources, assessment strategy, date of completion.
I based new wording for my personal goal on Bobby McFerrin's tune, "Don't Worry, Be Happy". I started to put my strategy would be to imagine administrative bureaucracy and cock-ups were water and I was a duck's back, but opted for something a little less controversial. Resources were listed as an occasional SalvaVida (local Honduran beer).
I have 4 student computers in my classroom. They have a special username for students, but for a week now I have not been able to get the password so students can use them. The tech coordinator (who comes 25 miles from San Pedro) was in my classroom to look at the computers. He then looked at me and said I would need to go to the internet site and fill in a work request for him to give me the password. Time for this duck to take his back home and pull a couple of resources out of the refrigerator.
We got an email from our principal yesterday to send in our personal and professional goals. I promptly sent mine back. My personal goal was to: Not have a personal goal, but to be happy and contented with myself. Then it hit me that that was a goal, so DAMN!! I already messed that up, but send button had been hit.
By the end of the day we had another email saying 'put our personal and professional goals on the attached form', so I was able to adjust my personal goal - while remaining happy and contented. The form had columns: goal/s, strategy, resources, assessment strategy, date of completion.
I based new wording for my personal goal on Bobby McFerrin's tune, "Don't Worry, Be Happy". I started to put my strategy would be to imagine administrative bureaucracy and cock-ups were water and I was a duck's back, but opted for something a little less controversial. Resources were listed as an occasional SalvaVida (local Honduran beer).
I have 4 student computers in my classroom. They have a special username for students, but for a week now I have not been able to get the password so students can use them. The tech coordinator (who comes 25 miles from San Pedro) was in my classroom to look at the computers. He then looked at me and said I would need to go to the internet site and fill in a work request for him to give me the password. Time for this duck to take his back home and pull a couple of resources out of the refrigerator.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Incomprehensibility of How We Comprehend
Yesterday I had a fantastic day. I even got shivers a couple of times when I felt that cosmic connection between a meaningful concept and student understanding. The meaningful concept was related to Einstein's quote, "The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible." Students were staring in wonder as they tried to reflect on how the 2 kg mass of water and cells they call a brain could make sense of everything from ideas about the Big Bang to their feelings about Justin Bieber.
Today 8th graders tried to figure out what affects the rate of swing of a pendulum. I gave them 4 variables to test: length of string, mass on end of string, height you drop the mass from, and if you give the mass a push or not. They made a hypothesis and away they went. No help. They had to come up with a data table that would present a valid organization of data from which to draw a conclusion. They struggled, but a few worked it out. .
Next week we look at cognitive development and Piaget. They will use some of Piaget's tasks (conservation of mass, number, and volume) to test pre-school kids' levels of cognitive development. I'll relate the pre-schoolers' inability to understand the seemingly obvious and simple conservation tasks (You can find loads of examples on You Tube.) with their struggles to work out how to organize an experiment on what affects the rate of swing of a pendulum, a Piaget test for formal operations. Many will gain a nice understanding that their brain and how they think is changing and that they possibly don't understand everything quite yet.
Today 8th graders tried to figure out what affects the rate of swing of a pendulum. I gave them 4 variables to test: length of string, mass on end of string, height you drop the mass from, and if you give the mass a push or not. They made a hypothesis and away they went. No help. They had to come up with a data table that would present a valid organization of data from which to draw a conclusion. They struggled, but a few worked it out. .
Next week we look at cognitive development and Piaget. They will use some of Piaget's tasks (conservation of mass, number, and volume) to test pre-school kids' levels of cognitive development. I'll relate the pre-schoolers' inability to understand the seemingly obvious and simple conservation tasks (You can find loads of examples on You Tube.) with their struggles to work out how to organize an experiment on what affects the rate of swing of a pendulum, a Piaget test for formal operations. Many will gain a nice understanding that their brain and how they think is changing and that they possibly don't understand everything quite yet.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
It all started with the big BANG!
The 7th grade started their position paper on what is the greatest scientific mystery (Big Bang, life, or consciousness) by listening to and reading the lyrics to the song from the tv show The Big Bang Theory. At the beginning of class I told them we were going to learn a song about the Big Bang, and I got a few eye rolls from the kids who are too cool for school, but nothing like a catchy tune to bring an adolescent around.
They had a copy of the lyrics. I crossed out the word "asses" before I photocopied, but it was on the You Tube video much to their giggling delight. After hearing the song the teams were to go through the lyrics and circle words they didn't know the meaning of. Then we played a game where teams took turns calling on a person in another team and asking them if they had a word from the lyrics circled. If the person called on had the word circled, they got a point for their team. If they didn't have it circled but knew the meaning, they got 2 points for their team. If they didn't have it circled and didn't know the meaning, the team calling on them got the point. I'm always amazed at the words second language speakers of English know ("pangae") and the ones they don't ("dawn"). A few have told me the secret to their science vocabulary is the Discovery Channel. After a few rounds of the game, we went over the vocabulary they didn't know. It was a good time with a nice beat. You gotta love those Bare Naked Ladies.
They had a copy of the lyrics. I crossed out the word "asses" before I photocopied, but it was on the You Tube video much to their giggling delight. After hearing the song the teams were to go through the lyrics and circle words they didn't know the meaning of. Then we played a game where teams took turns calling on a person in another team and asking them if they had a word from the lyrics circled. If the person called on had the word circled, they got a point for their team. If they didn't have it circled but knew the meaning, they got 2 points for their team. If they didn't have it circled and didn't know the meaning, the team calling on them got the point. I'm always amazed at the words second language speakers of English know ("pangae") and the ones they don't ("dawn"). A few have told me the secret to their science vocabulary is the Discovery Channel. After a few rounds of the game, we went over the vocabulary they didn't know. It was a good time with a nice beat. You gotta love those Bare Naked Ladies.
Monday, August 16, 2010
First Day Down, and about 179 to go
First day of class is done and about 179 left - assuming no coup, flood, swine flu or earthquake days like we have had in the past couple of years. It was my usual first day covering class rules, notebook rules, and team roles. I throw out a few points for attention, neatness, and teamwork to get 'point fever' started.
At the end of last year I had the students write a letter to the incoming class to let them know what to expect. I read a few of them to the classes today. Below is one of my favorite. The student (7th grader now) who wrote it said it was o.k. to put it up.
"I hope you have a good year with Dr.C, but always do your homework. If not you will have to do a 250 word essay. If you study a lot, you will have no problem. An interesting class is the Big Bang Theory and creation of the universe. I recommend you do not make Dr.C mad because he is really mad. I hope you like how Dr.C teaches his science class. He is not as scary as he looks. He is really cool .... well sometimes. The extra recess is very helpful because it makes you want to get more points for your team."
At the end of last year I had the students write a letter to the incoming class to let them know what to expect. I read a few of them to the classes today. Below is one of my favorite. The student (7th grader now) who wrote it said it was o.k. to put it up.
"I hope you have a good year with Dr.C, but always do your homework. If not you will have to do a 250 word essay. If you study a lot, you will have no problem. An interesting class is the Big Bang Theory and creation of the universe. I recommend you do not make Dr.C mad because he is really mad. I hope you like how Dr.C teaches his science class. He is not as scary as he looks. He is really cool .... well sometimes. The extra recess is very helpful because it makes you want to get more points for your team."
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Les Bon Temps Roule!!
We made the 25 mile hot and dusty trek through San Pedro traffic to the whole faculty beginning of school fiesta. It turned out to be a 45 minute wait in a food line to get 5 tacos and an iced tea while Latin HipHop blared at a level which made it necessary to shout at those next to you. WooHoo!
Today I'm putting finishing touches on my Big Bang vs Life vs Consciousness PowerPoint and wondering if I can make it work as my curriculum for the whole year. There is a lot of meat in this PowerPoint taco.
I tried to find a way to upload on the blog, but beyond my technology savvy. If you want a copy, send me an email address. Monday the kids start. Les bon temps roule!
Today I'm putting finishing touches on my Big Bang vs Life vs Consciousness PowerPoint and wondering if I can make it work as my curriculum for the whole year. There is a lot of meat in this PowerPoint taco.
I tried to find a way to upload on the blog, but beyond my technology savvy. If you want a copy, send me an email address. Monday the kids start. Les bon temps roule!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Finally No Butterflies
It's Friday morning and kids come back on Monday. The class is basically ready. I need to put a set of textbooks with each lab table. I'm working on a PowerPoint to go with Tuesday's lesson - 6th and 7th grades are writing a position paper on what is the greatest scientific mystery. They get to choose between the Big Bang, life, and consciousness. (We quickly get into how faith and science do not relate.If you beleive in God, S/He gave you a brain, so use it!) 8th grade is picking a mystery of the brain from 10 that were featured in a recent issue of Discover magazine. At noon we are encouraged to set off on the 25 mile trek into san Pedro for the whole school beginning of year fiesta.
I remember 3 years ago when I was starting here I was apprehensive and nervous about going back into the classroom, and I hadn't ever left classroom teaching. The weekend before school was to start I was 'faffing' around the classroom trying to sort everything just so. Now I know the kids. The 6th graders will be new, but they are rumored to be a nice group. I suppose it has always been management that has been the concern and I have never had much of a management problem. When I worked at a public school in Immokalee, Florida, there would be large classes of low income kids (2 years the class size hit 50 for a couple of weeks before the Board approved splitting the class), but most mainstreamed 5th graders were manageable even if they weren't motivated to participate in academics.
My main strategy is peer pressure. Most of the day the kids spend in teams and earn points for various things they do. The only way they lose points is to break a classroom rule (see Blog #1 for my rules). One member of the team has the role to correct team members breaking rules and can save the team the lost points by self-correcting their team. Points can have many uses. The one I use now is buying a free recess. But I digress ...
Or maybe I don't. I've used this system for years and I don't really have management problems. Occasionally I have a kid who will not respond to peer pressure. I move them out of their team and if they are disruptive for attention I ignore them and take off points from their "individual" team of 1 person. If they don't respond to this, it is time for a parent conference and it escalates from there. Occasionally you find the kid who is disruptive for power. Most of these you can negotiate with and 9 times out of 10 they will be motivated to be the leader of a team and for their team to have the most points.
If I have had this figured out for a long time now, why have I always felt butterflies before school starts? Is it possibly an unconscious nervousness about the impact I am about to have on these kids and in some way the future of the world?
Occasionally when I read about governments holding schools and teachers accountable for the success of students (usually based on test scores), I reply with the fact that schools have kids on average 17% of their waking time. (You can do the math figuring average child is in school 7 hours a day 180 days a year and sleeps 8 hours a night.) Why are we held responsible when parents and society in general have responsibility for kids 83% of their waking time? But I definitely digess here ...
Maybe I am more relaxed because as the science teacher I have each student only 45 minutes a day 5 days a week. That is a little less than 2% of their waking time. I can't do too much damage to the world in that time and maybe I'll trigger a spark of inspiration and along the way make learning fun for a little while.
I remember 3 years ago when I was starting here I was apprehensive and nervous about going back into the classroom, and I hadn't ever left classroom teaching. The weekend before school was to start I was 'faffing' around the classroom trying to sort everything just so. Now I know the kids. The 6th graders will be new, but they are rumored to be a nice group. I suppose it has always been management that has been the concern and I have never had much of a management problem. When I worked at a public school in Immokalee, Florida, there would be large classes of low income kids (2 years the class size hit 50 for a couple of weeks before the Board approved splitting the class), but most mainstreamed 5th graders were manageable even if they weren't motivated to participate in academics.
My main strategy is peer pressure. Most of the day the kids spend in teams and earn points for various things they do. The only way they lose points is to break a classroom rule (see Blog #1 for my rules). One member of the team has the role to correct team members breaking rules and can save the team the lost points by self-correcting their team. Points can have many uses. The one I use now is buying a free recess. But I digress ...
Or maybe I don't. I've used this system for years and I don't really have management problems. Occasionally I have a kid who will not respond to peer pressure. I move them out of their team and if they are disruptive for attention I ignore them and take off points from their "individual" team of 1 person. If they don't respond to this, it is time for a parent conference and it escalates from there. Occasionally you find the kid who is disruptive for power. Most of these you can negotiate with and 9 times out of 10 they will be motivated to be the leader of a team and for their team to have the most points.
If I have had this figured out for a long time now, why have I always felt butterflies before school starts? Is it possibly an unconscious nervousness about the impact I am about to have on these kids and in some way the future of the world?
Occasionally when I read about governments holding schools and teachers accountable for the success of students (usually based on test scores), I reply with the fact that schools have kids on average 17% of their waking time. (You can do the math figuring average child is in school 7 hours a day 180 days a year and sleeps 8 hours a night.) Why are we held responsible when parents and society in general have responsibility for kids 83% of their waking time? But I definitely digess here ...
Maybe I am more relaxed because as the science teacher I have each student only 45 minutes a day 5 days a week. That is a little less than 2% of their waking time. I can't do too much damage to the world in that time and maybe I'll trigger a spark of inspiration and along the way make learning fun for a little while.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Making It Relevant
There has been a bit of an epidemic of dengue here in Honduras. I spent part of the day researching dengue and the mosquito (Aedes aegypti) that carries the viruses (there are 4 closely related types) that cause the disease and part of the day checking out microscopes and trying to catch mosquitoes. I had some feedback from my daughter on the blog. She said it was kind of dry, entries are too long and they ramble.
Here is my attempt to adjust to those criticisms. This entry is almost over and to sum up - I'm planning hands-on lesson catching mosquitoes to look at under microscopes to see if they are the kind that carry Flavivirus. What middle schooler wouldn't enjoy that?
Suspense coming!!!
While I was chasing mosquitos one snuck up behind me (m.o. of the Aedes aegypti) and bit me. I think I might be feeling a little feverish ....
Here is my attempt to adjust to those criticisms. This entry is almost over and to sum up - I'm planning hands-on lesson catching mosquitoes to look at under microscopes to see if they are the kind that carry Flavivirus. What middle schooler wouldn't enjoy that?
Suspense coming!!!
While I was chasing mosquitos one snuck up behind me (m.o. of the Aedes aegypti) and bit me. I think I might be feeling a little feverish ....
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Beginning of Year Professional Development
Today was originally scheduled to be a workshop on "Inquiry Based Science". Yesterday I found out it was cancelled. I'm not sure why it was originally scheduled or why it was cancelled. Last year one of the principal's few comments to me about my teaching was to make my teaching more content based and less hands-on inquiry based. I think this was because every 9 weeks I was having to give a 2 hour exam and I was having a little trouble coming up with 2 hours worth of testable content. We have a new prinicipal this year. The new principal was here 2 years ago, but he was shot in a car jacking and is now returning after his year of recovery. I was just told the exams every 9 weeks are mandated and they will be 20% of the student's grade. Time to start writing multiple choice questions.
We started the year with the usual (this is my 3rd year at this school) whole school faculty meeting scheduled for 8 a.m. I work at a satellite campus (about 200 students) which is 40 kilometers from the main campus (1200 students). The meeting always starts 45 minutes to an hour late. I had a 100 lempira bet with our principal that it would not start on time. He assured me this year was different and it would start on time. It started 45 minutes late with microphones cutting in and out. One of the topics the director talked about was being prepared for lessons.I let my principal out of his 100 lempira debt by telling him I was going to go double or nothing that the meeting wouldn't start by 9 after it was 30 minutes late.
After the whole school meeting we broke into our "divisions" for separate professional development meetings. We had the usual introduce the new faculty and ice-breaker game and then read an article on collegiality with a think-pair-share activity. We also had an activity about risk taking and moving out of our 'comfort zones' to a place where we are receptive to new learning. Hopefully they will be connected to something we do later in the year. Usually these activities aren't. Last year we made posters of what kind of teachers we hoped to be (or something like that). They hung in the faculty lounge all year.
I have been an administrator. I spent 6 years as the head of schools and 3 years as the head of a section in a university. I always tried to connect professional development with what we would be focusing on in the short or long term. To give the school its due there is a lot of pd going on this week about literacy and hopefully that will be followed through with during the year, but as the science teacher I am escaping the literacy program training.This year we are writing our SACS report for our 5 year visit which is coming next school year. Fortunately I won't be here for the visit. Unfortunately I am here this year for the writing of the report. I've been through SACS reviews a few times in the past 35 years. I have taken the course to be a visiting team member for SACS and have been on visiting teams for Middle States to schools in Bishkek and Dakar. I think these can be great experiences if the schools use them to reflect and direct. We should be reviewing the previous document and organizing now. We're not. I imagine we'll start after school or on a Saturday sometime in October when admin realizes the visit is a year away. We'll fuddle through committee assignments and committee chairs and document reviews when teachers are loaded down with all the other 'stuff' that goes with teaching and life and we will begrudge the extra time it takes to look at our school and where we are going. In the end the document will be a fingers-crossed attempt to slide by the visiting team.This week is a missed opportunity to make our reflection on our school and the direction we want to take part of this year's evolving ethos of the school.
My teaching neighbor and I spent a couple of hours yesterday planning a real-life task to integrate science and social studies for the 7th graders. Students will make a PowerPoint on a threatened species and how human activity directly relates to the possibility/probability that this species will survive. Collegiality!!
The idea came from natural connections between our first unit topics and something I read in a Richard Dawkins book this summer. I'm not sure if it was a Dawkins's quote or someone else he quoted saying that the laws of evolution (e.g. survival of the fittest) no longer apply. Human activity now dictates which species survive or become extinct.
I haven't made the rubric yet, but if you would like a copy when it is done let me know and I will either email or post it here. I'm not clear on how 2 way communication with this blog works yet - assuming someone is reading this.
We started the year with the usual (this is my 3rd year at this school) whole school faculty meeting scheduled for 8 a.m. I work at a satellite campus (about 200 students) which is 40 kilometers from the main campus (1200 students). The meeting always starts 45 minutes to an hour late. I had a 100 lempira bet with our principal that it would not start on time. He assured me this year was different and it would start on time. It started 45 minutes late with microphones cutting in and out. One of the topics the director talked about was being prepared for lessons.I let my principal out of his 100 lempira debt by telling him I was going to go double or nothing that the meeting wouldn't start by 9 after it was 30 minutes late.
After the whole school meeting we broke into our "divisions" for separate professional development meetings. We had the usual introduce the new faculty and ice-breaker game and then read an article on collegiality with a think-pair-share activity. We also had an activity about risk taking and moving out of our 'comfort zones' to a place where we are receptive to new learning. Hopefully they will be connected to something we do later in the year. Usually these activities aren't. Last year we made posters of what kind of teachers we hoped to be (or something like that). They hung in the faculty lounge all year.
I have been an administrator. I spent 6 years as the head of schools and 3 years as the head of a section in a university. I always tried to connect professional development with what we would be focusing on in the short or long term. To give the school its due there is a lot of pd going on this week about literacy and hopefully that will be followed through with during the year, but as the science teacher I am escaping the literacy program training.This year we are writing our SACS report for our 5 year visit which is coming next school year. Fortunately I won't be here for the visit. Unfortunately I am here this year for the writing of the report. I've been through SACS reviews a few times in the past 35 years. I have taken the course to be a visiting team member for SACS and have been on visiting teams for Middle States to schools in Bishkek and Dakar. I think these can be great experiences if the schools use them to reflect and direct. We should be reviewing the previous document and organizing now. We're not. I imagine we'll start after school or on a Saturday sometime in October when admin realizes the visit is a year away. We'll fuddle through committee assignments and committee chairs and document reviews when teachers are loaded down with all the other 'stuff' that goes with teaching and life and we will begrudge the extra time it takes to look at our school and where we are going. In the end the document will be a fingers-crossed attempt to slide by the visiting team.This week is a missed opportunity to make our reflection on our school and the direction we want to take part of this year's evolving ethos of the school.
My teaching neighbor and I spent a couple of hours yesterday planning a real-life task to integrate science and social studies for the 7th graders. Students will make a PowerPoint on a threatened species and how human activity directly relates to the possibility/probability that this species will survive. Collegiality!!
The idea came from natural connections between our first unit topics and something I read in a Richard Dawkins book this summer. I'm not sure if it was a Dawkins's quote or someone else he quoted saying that the laws of evolution (e.g. survival of the fittest) no longer apply. Human activity now dictates which species survive or become extinct.
I haven't made the rubric yet, but if you would like a copy when it is done let me know and I will either email or post it here. I'm not clear on how 2 way communication with this blog works yet - assuming someone is reading this.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
What's the Point?
I tried to type in an overview of my educational career stretching back to 1976 when I took my first job teaching 5th grade at a private school (Manning brothers & Harry Connick Jr. attended) in New Orleans in my profile. I went over 1200 characters, so I'll get around to that another time.
Six days until students show-up and I am basically ready. Maybe I'll start work on the first bimester exam. This is something they started half-way through the year last year and is supposedly mandated by the Honduran government. Every 9 weeks we stop at week 8 to review what we have covered the first 7 weeks and then take a week to give the students a 2 hour exam in every subject. About half the students study (and then promptly forget) and the other half take a 2 week mental vacation.
I find it fascinating how we write missions and visions of creating life long learners and then test the fun right out of school. When working in teacher training in London, I did some research on the effects of high stakes testing in the UK - higher drop-put rates, increased vandalism and juvenile delincuency. Later when I was the director of a charter school in New Orleans I took a similar look at the effects in the USA. The first 10 states to introduce high stakes testing had the highest drop out rates and highest percentages of vandalism and juvenile delinquency. Hopefully one day some lawyer will get a class action suit together with all the students who have been victimized by high stakes testing and sue some sense into state departments of education.
I recently received an email from a student who was in a school I ran in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. It was a small (70 students K-10) international school at the foot of the Kopet Dag mountains that separate Turkmenistan from Iran. There were probably 10 nationalities represented in the student body. Once every 2 weeks or so we would break the school into their "tribe" - based on the tribes in Turkmenistan. There would be kindergarteners with 10th graders and all sorts of language mixes in each tribe. We would have half a day of activities for fun and points and school spirit building.
The school (part of the Quality Schools International) system "graded" students on their mastery of skills and concepts. Parents got a report card that showed what skills and concepts students were working on and had mastered. Students worked at their own appropriate pace. We gave the Iowa Tests every year and parents were able to see how their multi-lingual internationally educated child compared with average students from the USA and we could use it to gauge how the kids did with a similar aged US cohort - but it didn't determine anything else or change what we did.
Below is the email from the former student. Her parents were with the Indian diplomatic corps.
Hi Dr. C,
Im sorry about the previous mail you got. I didn't send it, must have been spam. Everyone is fine on this side too. I am not in NYC anymore. My dad got transferred back to India last August. Nishtha is in 8th grade now. I got into med school but it's very tough- the studies I mean. I just hope I can get through and finally become a doctor.
What's new on your side? You must be having summer vacation, right?
You'll find it hard to believe but after all the schools I have studied in, I still find Ashgabat International School to be the best. I really miss AIS. Wish I could rewind time and then pause for a while. Those days were the best! Miss you guys a lot!
Love u
Take care
Neeharika
In that email I find the point of education. A person who now aspires to be (I'm sure) a great doctor values above all her educational experiences in a tiny little school that encouraged little more than enjoying learning and learning at her own pace.
Six days until students show-up and I am basically ready. Maybe I'll start work on the first bimester exam. This is something they started half-way through the year last year and is supposedly mandated by the Honduran government. Every 9 weeks we stop at week 8 to review what we have covered the first 7 weeks and then take a week to give the students a 2 hour exam in every subject. About half the students study (and then promptly forget) and the other half take a 2 week mental vacation.
I find it fascinating how we write missions and visions of creating life long learners and then test the fun right out of school. When working in teacher training in London, I did some research on the effects of high stakes testing in the UK - higher drop-put rates, increased vandalism and juvenile delincuency. Later when I was the director of a charter school in New Orleans I took a similar look at the effects in the USA. The first 10 states to introduce high stakes testing had the highest drop out rates and highest percentages of vandalism and juvenile delinquency. Hopefully one day some lawyer will get a class action suit together with all the students who have been victimized by high stakes testing and sue some sense into state departments of education.
I recently received an email from a student who was in a school I ran in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. It was a small (70 students K-10) international school at the foot of the Kopet Dag mountains that separate Turkmenistan from Iran. There were probably 10 nationalities represented in the student body. Once every 2 weeks or so we would break the school into their "tribe" - based on the tribes in Turkmenistan. There would be kindergarteners with 10th graders and all sorts of language mixes in each tribe. We would have half a day of activities for fun and points and school spirit building.
The school (part of the Quality Schools International) system "graded" students on their mastery of skills and concepts. Parents got a report card that showed what skills and concepts students were working on and had mastered. Students worked at their own appropriate pace. We gave the Iowa Tests every year and parents were able to see how their multi-lingual internationally educated child compared with average students from the USA and we could use it to gauge how the kids did with a similar aged US cohort - but it didn't determine anything else or change what we did.
Below is the email from the former student. Her parents were with the Indian diplomatic corps.
Hi Dr. C,
Im sorry about the previous mail you got. I didn't send it, must have been spam. Everyone is fine on this side too. I am not in NYC anymore. My dad got transferred back to India last August. Nishtha is in 8th grade now. I got into med school but it's very tough- the studies I mean. I just hope I can get through and finally become a doctor.
What's new on your side? You must be having summer vacation, right?
You'll find it hard to believe but after all the schools I have studied in, I still find Ashgabat International School to be the best. I really miss AIS. Wish I could rewind time and then pause for a while. Those days were the best! Miss you guys a lot!
Love u
Take care
Neeharika
In that email I find the point of education. A person who now aspires to be (I'm sure) a great doctor values above all her educational experiences in a tiny little school that encouraged little more than enjoying learning and learning at her own pace.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Rules Are Up!
I have seen books and articles from teachers writing about their first year teaching. This will probably be my last year, so thought I'd throw out my final year experiences. I've never seen that before.
Today I finished putting up my rules for the year. I'll be teaching middle school science at a school in Honduras. The rules would probably be the same no matter who (modified some for age) or what I was teaching.
I didn't invent these. I worked for Collier County in Florida for 3 years. New teachers to the county had to take a few evening courses. I had been teaching for 12 years and was working on a doctorate when I took the courses. There has been a little modifying of them, but basically these are the rules that a Collier County Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum thought were good. They have worked well for me ever since.
He felt the kids had 2 different situations: 1. when they were being instructed and 2. when they were working on some task. Below are the 2 sets of rules.
Instruction Rules:
1. Raise your hand and wait until teacher calls on you to speak.
2. Seated at your place.
3. Pay attention.
Work Time Rules:
1. Talk quitely only with those close to you.
2. Leave the room only with the teacher's permission.
3. Stay on task.
And there is the Rule for Always:
Treat others as you should wish to be treated.
There aren't too many and they are all stated in a positive way. I'm not sure that positive way makes a difference, but it was the fashion for awhile. The Collier County guy suggested you have some visual way to show the kids you are switching from "Instruction" to "Work Time" rules. I found the arrow moving back and forth became more of a distraction than it was worth. Maybe that sort of thing works well with other teachers' styles.
I've fiddled with the "Rule for Always" over the years. There is always the clever kid who likes to call others names. If the rule reads "Treat others as you want to be treated," then clever kid will say he (invariably a boy) wants to be called names.The way I word it the clever kid is put in the position of facing that he shouldn't wish to be called names and so his actions still violate the rule.
More on consequences as the year progresses.
Kids come back on August 16th. Since my rules are up and I have been successful in persuading admin that it is in the best interest of the environment for me to keep my classroom bulletin boards as they were at the end of the school year, I am set - except for a professional development on Inquiry Based Science Instruction on Wednesday (August 11th).
After 35 years of being in education (my first year of student teaching was 1975), the first day's lesson plans are automatic.
Day 1: Cooperative learning teams and initiation into the rules with a science quiz bowl game related to the upcoming topic: 6th - Plants, 7th - Kingdoms of Organisms, 8th - The Human Organism. Over the course of this blog there will be a lot about how I work the teams and motivate using games and points.
Day 2 depends on how many students have not returned from vacation or how likely it is there will be changes to the schedule or classes. Probably it will be some sort of vocabulary activity. Something like pass out vocabulary words and students have to wirte a definition and draw a picture to go with the word. (That will give me some student work to go up on the walls. Back to School Night when parents visit is only 3 weeks away.)
Today I finished putting up my rules for the year. I'll be teaching middle school science at a school in Honduras. The rules would probably be the same no matter who (modified some for age) or what I was teaching.
I didn't invent these. I worked for Collier County in Florida for 3 years. New teachers to the county had to take a few evening courses. I had been teaching for 12 years and was working on a doctorate when I took the courses. There has been a little modifying of them, but basically these are the rules that a Collier County Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum thought were good. They have worked well for me ever since.
He felt the kids had 2 different situations: 1. when they were being instructed and 2. when they were working on some task. Below are the 2 sets of rules.
Instruction Rules:
1. Raise your hand and wait until teacher calls on you to speak.
2. Seated at your place.
3. Pay attention.
Work Time Rules:
1. Talk quitely only with those close to you.
2. Leave the room only with the teacher's permission.
3. Stay on task.
And there is the Rule for Always:
Treat others as you should wish to be treated.
There aren't too many and they are all stated in a positive way. I'm not sure that positive way makes a difference, but it was the fashion for awhile. The Collier County guy suggested you have some visual way to show the kids you are switching from "Instruction" to "Work Time" rules. I found the arrow moving back and forth became more of a distraction than it was worth. Maybe that sort of thing works well with other teachers' styles.
I've fiddled with the "Rule for Always" over the years. There is always the clever kid who likes to call others names. If the rule reads "Treat others as you want to be treated," then clever kid will say he (invariably a boy) wants to be called names.The way I word it the clever kid is put in the position of facing that he shouldn't wish to be called names and so his actions still violate the rule.
More on consequences as the year progresses.
Kids come back on August 16th. Since my rules are up and I have been successful in persuading admin that it is in the best interest of the environment for me to keep my classroom bulletin boards as they were at the end of the school year, I am set - except for a professional development on Inquiry Based Science Instruction on Wednesday (August 11th).
After 35 years of being in education (my first year of student teaching was 1975), the first day's lesson plans are automatic.
Day 1: Cooperative learning teams and initiation into the rules with a science quiz bowl game related to the upcoming topic: 6th - Plants, 7th - Kingdoms of Organisms, 8th - The Human Organism. Over the course of this blog there will be a lot about how I work the teams and motivate using games and points.
Day 2 depends on how many students have not returned from vacation or how likely it is there will be changes to the schedule or classes. Probably it will be some sort of vocabulary activity. Something like pass out vocabulary words and students have to wirte a definition and draw a picture to go with the word. (That will give me some student work to go up on the walls. Back to School Night when parents visit is only 3 weeks away.)
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