Tales from the science classroom

 After my last post, I sat and went through the modeling curriculum and worked out that I was in Unit 6 of modeling. No worries, I just jumped right in. We did a lab, always a good way to start things, and next week we work on naming compounds - that should be fun. Anyway, the point is I feel much more comfortable with the curriculum. I know what I'm doing and I'm able to guide them to the correct answers. We went back to whiteboards at the tables instead of the standing at the whiteboards. We presented and did a power clap and it was good. Classes went much smoother and I was much happier.  It really did wonders for my mental health too. I was not completely exhausted by the end of the day. I had energy when I got home. I actually felt like doing things. It was amazing. So I can conclude that my total exhaustion was most likely due to mental fatigue. Well, I'm sure starting working out again helped a lot.  So things are a whole lot better. I am taking next Monday off and I

 since my last post. I was struggling to get into the swing of teaching this year and I'm still struggling. The last post was 6 days into the year, now it's 6 weeks into the year. I've been struggling the entire 6 weeks. I have not been able to find my groove. I struggle with every single lesson. I have to plan and plan and plan. I feel like I don't know what I'm doing and I'm over it. Completely and totally over it. And things need to change.  I've already changed up my biology class. We switched from the iHub curriculum to the It's Not Rocket Science curriculum. These could not be two more opposite types of curriculum, but whatever. I need to be able to get excited about what we are doing. And if my getting excited means using a more standard type of curriculum, so be it. I will be switching my chemistry over to the modeling curriculum once I figure out how to wrap up this 'unit'.  The thing is, I can incorporate many parts of the BTC and model

 The year has not started out as I had hoped. I thought the new curriculum would energize my teaching - it didn't. I thought using some of the BTC strategies would energize my teaching - it didn't. And it dawned on me this week, only I can energize my teaching. So I have to find a way to get my mojo back. It's only been 6 days of school and I'm already over it. I'm not sure what I need to do to get excited, but I need to do it quick.  I was talking to my brother last night, who is retired, and I said that I have about 4 more years until retirement. After I said that I thought, really? Can I make it four more years? I'm tired. Really, really tired. I know that I need to lose some weight and workout to get my energy up, but I'm tired.  Yeah, this is a little rambly, but sometimes that helps me figure out what the problem is. I think at some point this weekend, I'm going to sit down and really read through the curriculum. I mean I've read it, but I'

 1. Why did I get into this job?  Because I love teaching and I love helping people learn new things.  2. What is it that I hope my work with students accomplishes this school year?  I hope that I can help them become better thinkers in this crazy more and more nonsensical world we live in.  That was something that I needed to develop for school. We doing a book study on Dave Stuart and we needed to develop our Everest statement. I think I had a much clearer idea of what this was at the beginning of my teaching career. Now it tends to get a little fuzzy as it's tied in with what I have accomplished in the past. So it's a little iffy, but I will work on it some.  I want my students to be able to analyze things and figure out what is right and what is wrong.  I want them to not get taken by nonsense, like so many adults I know have been.  I want them to be able to think critically and not get taken in by nonsense.  I want my students to have a basic understanding of science so th

 Okay, I've settled on the iHub curriculum for both chemistry and biology, I'm good with that. But now I need to figure out how to lay out my lessons. No, how to document them so I know what I'm doing each day. I have the lessons, that's not a problem. I need some way to keep them so that I know what I'm doing. I do not like sitting down at the computer to figure out what I'm doing. I like to have everything on paper, in front of me so that I can just look and see what is happening. Now that hasn't worked really well in the past because things change as I go along. Also, I want to start doing some of the Building Thinking Classroom stuff and I need to figure that into my lessons. So how do I do that and keep track of everything?  Presentations - yes, that's what I'm doing on the first day but I don't want to do that every day.  Set things up the day before - that's an option now that I actually have 2 prep periods. I mean seriously, I need 2

 I just spent the morning (the last 3 hours) analyzing all my curriculum options. I listed out the units for each option, what was covered, and the time it would take. I then totaled it all up to see how many days this would take and then compared it to my school year. The results were as follows:  Chemistry:                                                             Biology:  Modeling:  80 Classes                                  Illinois Storylines:       66 Classes iHub:           54 Classes                                        iHub:                                    59 Classes Patterns:      62 Classes                                  Patterns:                               74 Classes                                                                     Model Based:                     87 Classes Considering I have 68 teaching days in my school year most of these exceed that.  For chemistry, with modeling I have never been able to finish all the units, so that is just an estimat