Tales from the science classroom

We've been in school just about 6 weeks now. We are all moved into the house, though there is still a whole lot of unpacking to do. And life is beginning to settle into a routine. Yay for routine. Last week, the week after the move, I was so freaking tired I could barely make it through the day. I was yawning most of the day and just wanted to lay down and take a nap. That feeling had been going on since school started and I was really afraid there was something wrong. But this week I feel much better. Much more myself. Still get tired by the end of the day, but not that bone-tired where I feel like I can't move. Still yawn but not until the afternoon classes. So things are improving. The modeling is going well. I think I'm gaining my sea-legs so to speak. I feel like I'm seeing the patterns and getting them across to the class. Of course, they are fighting me in a way. They just want to know what they need to know and move on. Not happening here. You have to explai

I have 3 chemistry classes and they are currently off from each other. I will need to bring them into alignment quickly as I am taking a couple of days off week after next. I'm not sure exactly how to do that with the modeling curriculum expect maybe allow the class that's ahead to do the worksheet in class and give it as homework to the other two. Not sure, have to work on that.  So something I've discovered this week, my story is not cohesive yet. I'm not sure of the progression, even though I've been through it, so I can't make the story connect yet. It seems very choppy and disjointed. I'm hoping that will change over time and I'll get better and smoother at it.  Another thing I've learned is that I need a script. The curriculum comes with printed out instructions and advice for the teacher, but I found it's too much to stop and read a paragraph in the middle of class. I sat yesterday during my prep and wrote out the important things for

I have decided to chronicle my journey in modeling. I don't know that I'll post every day but I do want to document the journey so that when I repeat it next year I can refer back here.  School started last Wednesday. On the first day, my plan was to get everyone on to their school email accounts, review the syllabus, and generally just get used to them and me. Well, that didn't go as planned. The laptops weren't staying connected to the wifi so that blew that plan. I ended up giving the pre-test that I was going to give this week. Love technology. They finally got my computers fixed So B day classes got to sign in to the email. This has made the classes off from each other, something that drives me crazy. Trying to fix that now.  Actually started the modeling curriculum yesterday, or tried to. The first thing calls for an exploding can demo. After trying all weekend to make that demo work, even talking to the modeling instructor about why it wouldn't work, I fi

and it was a wild summer. Usually, I end up bored to tears by the beginning of July. This year, not so much. Last time I posted, 15 days ago, I had completed the first modeling class and was on a break between classes. Well, I have now finished the second modeling class. We have sold the house and we have an offer in on a new one. I have one week off before I have to return to work, but I have lots to do in that week. I plan on working my butt off for a few days and then doing nothing for a few days. I need time to chill and relax and regroup before starting up again. Okay, moving on..... The modeling classes were amazing. Not only did I learn a fabulous way to teach chemistry, but I also learned a lot. I am hoping to take the next level of class next year to keep improving my chemistry skills. I need to spend some time planning my lessons. I have 90-minute classes and need to keep things moving with this. I also need to plan out my first couple of days to promote the idea of observi

From my last post: So, to recap, goals in order: Finish the license within the next 2 weeks Review the AP CED and new chemistry standards Get curriculum for all 3 courses set before school starts.  I can do this.  But I didn't. I ended up doing other things and none of this got done. Not the end of the world, but disappointing.  Since my last post, I have packed up 80% of the house, gotten the house listed for sale, looked at a number of houses for sale, took a 3 week chemistry modeling course, got sick as a dog and thought I was going to die, and somehow screwed up my knee last night.  So it's not like I've been sitting on my ass, I've been busy, just not planning.  The good news is that the chemistry modeling class I took was amazing. I learned a lot about chemistry and I have a whole new way to teach it. They also provide a full curriculum to follow so chemistry is set for next year.  The College Board has just sent my CED binders.

This is kind of the way I feel right now. Oh heck, this is kind of the way I feel every summer. I have a lot I want to accomplish but don't know where to start first. Then I will work on something for a while, then put it aside and work on something else, and generally end up getting a bunch done but nothing completely. I absolutely need to change that this summer. I had thought that I would devote some time each day to a specific task. Like mornings I would spend lesson planning, afternoons I would spend working on my license, something like that. But I have realized that just distracts me even more. If I get into a groove with the lesson planning and then have to stop and switch gears I usually lose the train of thought I had. Same with the other way. If I've just spent a good couple of hours of lesson planning, then to switch gears to working on my stuff usually prevents me from getting much on that done. Plus I just found out yesterday that I will be going to school

This is what my brain feels like when I start to go through my electronic resources. I have collected so many over the years that sorting them out becomes a wash of noise that I can't separate things from. So what to do about this? I'm not sure exactly. Some of the resources are really, really good but with so many, I forget what I have or where they are located. Which makes having them somewhat pointless. I can't use them if I can't find them. So I'm thinking of dumping everything. Well, not actually. I will probably put them in a file somewhere labeled "OLD STUFF" and then start all over. I have an entire curriculum that I really want to use, but I keep getting side-tracked from it because I can't figure out where it is or what I'm to be using. So I'm thinking of setting up a Google classroom for next year with the units all set up and the resources I want to use all laid out and all I have to do is publish them. The other wrench that

Yesterday was the official last day of school. Wednesday night we had our graduation and yesterday was our awards ceremony and check out. We are done. The truth is though unless you are changing schools, teachers are not really done for summer. See my previous post with my summer goals. Still working all summer long, I just have the luxury of doing things when and how I want. I will need to go into my classroom too since it's not really as clean as I'd like it. Plus I want to move things around so they can wax the entire floor of my room. But again, I can do these things on my schedule and not someone else's and that makes all the difference. So I'm taking a few days to just relax and do things that are either fun or not terribly stressing. I want to work on my planner for next year - that's fun - and really work on organizing my electronic stuff - that's not too stressful. I may even consider working on my plans for next year. I have last year's it's

Since most of my goals for this summer revolve around my work, I decided to post them here. Get Arizona teaching license Complete 2 constitution courses Complete ELA course Take 2 Praxis tests Review/Clean up all teaching resources go through all electronic storage organize or get rid of organize everything (paper and electronic)  set up units for chemistry Use the website to set up units and store resources set up Google classroom for all classes  Preset some early assignments for the beginning of the year Develop a plan and system for grading and handling all papers that come with teaching Those are the main things I need to accomplish this summer. I may also be taking 2-3 week courses that will take up a whole lot of my time. And there is Mavy, I want to work with him a lot this summer. So it could turn out to be a very, very busy summer. I can totally do it, I just need to be organized and motivated. I'm very motivated so the organization will be the key

And I'm already making plans for what I need to do for the summer. I'm excited about my new attitude. I guess I wrote about it on my other blog, but my new attitude is awesome. I always look at summer as a time to do nothing so I get really resentful if I have to do things and I end up not getting much done because my mindset is that I should be doing nothing. Well, this year I'm going into the summer with a whole different mindset. This summer I get to do all the things I don't normally get to do. I get to run early in the mornings because I don't have to go to school. I get to work on my crafts because I don't have to work all day. I get to train Mavy a couple of times a day because I'll be around mostly. I get to read because I don't have to work. I get to revamp my courses because I have the time to think about them and decide what I want to do. So instead of a time where I get to be lazy and don't have to do anything, I instead have the time

This is sadly too true. With 11 days left of classes, everyone is getting squirrely. Just a few more days!!!! But lots of things have happened this year and a couple of them just recently so I thought it was time for a recap. First, I really think my meditation practice has helped in my teaching. I don't get angry at the students like I used to. I still get frustrated, but I can see that for what it is and don't take it out on them. I'm a lot more patient with them, a lot! But it has also brought up some things that do frustrate me that are entirely my fault. So I need to work on changing those over the summer. I believe that my meditation has also made me more confident in my teaching. For the first time in 10 years, I feel like I know what I'm doing. I'm confident in my decisions, I can stand up to any teacher and compare methods/lesson plans/etc. This doesn't mean I think I'm perfect, far from it. I am constantly learning and growing as a teacher,

There are only 12 days left of school. I cannot wait. I am tired and worn out and just so ready for this to be over.  I'm not sure if it's getting worse as the years go by or if I just don't remember it from year to year. One thing I will say is this year has gone fast. Seriously. It does not seem like 8 months since we started. Crazy. In other news, I'm really reflecting back on this year and there are things that I need to change.  I'm also putting some things in place that really should be there. I'm organizing the chemical storage. I have enough chemicals now that the way they are stored becomes important, so I'm going to fix that this summer. I'm also putting together the MSDS, disposal procedures, and a chemical hygiene plan.  That will keep me busy over the summer. AP is revamping the courses and I will have to work on those over the summer too. Not looking forward to that. The worst part is the full course is not available until August 1s

After the last post, things just went downhill quick and I'm not sure exactly what the heck happened. I did manage to figure out my AP Biology unit, but I haven't been really sticking to it. I made an agenda, just like last time, but I forget to look at it. I have been doing the correct activities, just not in the right order. I'm so frustrated. AP chem is a bit of a trainwreck too. I feel like I just don't know what's going on in that class. I hate that feeling. Chemistry and biology are going well though, so that's half of my classes. Actually, that's more than half of my classes. I teach 6 classes and 4 of them are going well. So I'm doing good. But I have to get my act together for the remainder of the year. It is now spring break so I have a week to regroup and refocus. I want to do just like I did over Christmas break, get everything laid out until the end of the year. We are talking 9 weeks, one of which is finals week, so that's 8 wee

Over break, I laid out the current unit for each class and tackled it. I made all the copies. I put everything in order. I typed up a rather simple agenda. And overall it was good. I had to add a couple things here and there, but in general, I had everything ready for the units and I was far less stressed then I had been previously. We are now taking tests in the various classes and I have to prepare the next units. I sat down to work on AP Biology and started to get all caught up in the nonsense again. I was putting things in Dropbox and OneNote and I just know that I'm going to lost things and get things lost. UGH!!!  I need to just go back and do what I did in the last unit. That worked, don't change it. Okay, just breath and relax. I got this, I really, really do.

Through a bunch of different avenues, I am finally finding a sense of peace in my teaching, and I'm really, really liking it. For the first 8 years of my teaching, I was a literal mess. I never knew exactly what I was doing when. I changed things minutes before class started. I planned things then forgot about them. I had massive amounts of resources that I did not use but insisted on keeping. It was crazy and nerve-wracking. I would get to break and be completely wiped out for 2 or 3 days while I recovered.  Then I would have to start getting ready for the next bout. It was miserable. I did not look forward to going to work because it was completely and totally draining. Every single day was a struggle. I hated it. Then, 2 years ago, I joined the teacher 40-hour workweek club and it was life-changing. Or at least work life-changing. Every month was a different topic and they delved deep into that topic with a focus on making life simpler and easier for the teacher.  This re

and things did not go quite as well as I thought they would.  But I did learn some things that should help next week and in future weeks. First, having everything copied is awesome. Saves me a whole lot of time. Also, having somewhere to put the extra copies is amazing. No more hunting for the extras, I just put them in their pockets. But, and it's a big but, having all the assignments in hanging folders does not work. I still spend time figuring out which assignment I'm looking for. Now granted, I don't spend a lot of time, but it is still annoying. And yesterday I passed out the wrong assignment because I was trying to rush. So, to make it easier, I'm going to put the worksheets for the day (actually 2 days since I have the room) in my sorter on the demo table. So on Mondays, I will put in the worksheets that I need for Monday and Tuesday. Then on Tuesday afternoon, I will restock the sorter with the worksheets I will need for Wednesday and Thursday. This way I will

About 16 months ago I started to meditate. I wasn't perfect and would miss here and there. I also would go weeks without meditating before I got back to it. But I liked it and really wanted to make it a habit. Then 71 days ago, I started meditating again and I have stuck with it every day for those 71 days. I'm pretty sure I never made it beyond 30 days before. Something would always get in the way. Also, before I did not make a specific time for it and tried to squeeze it in whenever. This time I have a specific time set aside for it and it is part of my daily routine. This makes a huge difference. So what does this have to do with planning nirvana?  Well, it's like this. Since I started meditating I can feel my mind being a whole lot calmer. I don't have all these wild thoughts. I am more thoughtful and deliberate in my thoughts. What that has led to is a more careful planning process. Let me explain..... In the past, when I would sit and plan entire units, I wou