Tales from the science classroom

I have to keep reminding myself that I'm doing this so that next year will run smoothly. I have completed my first unit in chemistry. It was slow going and took me 2 weeks, but I kept changing what I was doing. I was doing it on chalk.com. I was doing it in a notebook. I was including details. I was not including details. I kept switching things up and ended up with a giant mess. So now I have Unit 1 all laid out with details. Everything is printed out and in my binder and all I need is a unit test and Unit 1 is done. I feel immense relief that I not only figured out a format I can live with but have one unit under my belt.  I have no doubt the next unit will go much, much quicker. This also leaves me open to adding things that would be interesting. For example, I have activities and worksheets for everything in Unit 1, but if I come across something better, I can replace something. If I don't, it's okay because I have something planned. I really like this a whole lot and...

Once I started to implement my brilliant idea from the previous post , I realized that it was not so brilliant at all. First, I ran into the problem of not knowing what my schedule will be and therefore not being able to set up specific days. So for example, I could not set up the first day of school, August 1, because I don't know what classes I will be having on that day.  So then I thought I'd set up the classes by days of teaching. So I know I have chemistry, so Day 1 of chemistry, Day 2 of chemistry, etc. But that was really working out well either. I tried a few more iterations but nothing seemed to work out well. Then I realized that I would have handouts and things and I would need a separate binder for those and quickly it started to become unwieldy. So I have abandoned that idea and am back to my original plan.  So here's what I'm doing. I have my curriculum map laid out. I am then taking the essential questions and determining either how many days I need ...

The ongoing theme of this blog has been organization. I've been teaching for 9 years, but I haven't found a way to organize my stuff that works really, really well for me. Every single year, I struggle finding things I know I have or recreating the wheel because I've forgotten I have something. So I've been working really, really hard to get organized once and for all with a system that works for me. I know that I need to have things written/printed and at my fingertips in order to make good use of them. If I have to go online and look it up it won't happen. I've played around with binders and didn't really use them after I set them up. The last 2 years I did find great success with planners. I would divide the day up into my classes - 4 each day - and jot notes on what was to happen that day. That worked great!! As long as I planned ahead. Too many days I would get to school and the planner was blank. That left me scrambling to figure out what I'm t...

I have decided that I need to take a step back for a minute and think. In my previous post, I was lamenting the notebook conundrum. I would love to use interactive notebooks. I would not go all out, but to use a semi-structured notebook that would prod them to step up their schoolwork game would be awesome. But then I think I want to really focus on reading this year. I want to use some of the techniques I learned in the MOOC I took to improve their reading and comprehension skills. I think this is critically important and I'm not sure how to integrate the two. I could use the notebook for labs and activities in class and still use the reading guides, Frayer Models, and worksheets but need to keep them in a binder. Hmmm...this has me thinking. They will need a binder and a notebook. The notebook will be somewhat structured and they will have to keep certain information in there. The notebook is where they will keep their reading guides and worksheets. Even more thought needs to...

I first saw interactive notebooks when I was with my mentor teacher, so that was 10 years ago. I love, love, love the idea of them but I've never been able to successfully use them in my classes. I found them to be too tedious. The kids didn't do what I wanted them to do with them. I would lose track and forget where we were or what we were doing in the notebook. But I still love, love, love the idea of them. Initially, I had given up the idea of notebooks for this coming year. I had decided that it was just not worth the effort and since I have zero follow-through, not worth the stress on me. But now that I'm thinking about it, I'm thinking it would be a good idea. It's just very easy to sit here in summer and say I will do this, this, and this. It is quite another story when it's the 2nd week, students still haven't gotten their supplies and I'm just generally exhausted already. So I'm on the fence about that but I think I'm going to shelve ...

This was said at graduation last night and I think it is rather fitting. Of course, I am smiling because it is over and I am done. So it's been 36 hours for the book.  Yesterday was the last day of classes and last night was graduation. I only had 2 classes because my 1st period was all seniors and their last day was last week. Then I had to leave school at 2pm to go help with graduation, so someone came in and took over my class for last hour. I went home and relaxed for a little bit, then got ready and headed over to the venue. We got everything set up and waited for the grads. Once they arrived, we had a couple of quick run-throughs then they were sent to the back to get ready for their big entrance. Once I got the grads lined up and sent out, I was done and got to go sit and watch the ceremony - which took a little over an hour. Then we had to clean up, which took about 45 minutes. We got done at 8:45pm. By the time I got home, it was after 9 pm and I was hungry and e...

So I've created a situation where I'm feeling overwhelmed with all I need to do this summer. When I feel really overwhelmed I shut down. And then nothing gets done. Also, summer makes me lazy. I will put things off and put things off and put things off until it is literally days before school starts and I have to work 24/7 to get anything done. So I need a plan. A solid plan that will work and that I can stick to and that will allow me to get things done in a reasonable amount of time. So I think what I'm going to do is determine exactly what I want to do and then tackle one course at a time. Also, I'm going to set up a work schedule so that I do a little each day and get things done. Here's what I'm thinking: Get up in the morning, walk the dogs, get breakfast, hit the pool for a swim, hang out, etc. Then work on school work from say 10-2 ish. After that, I'm free to do whatever. I would like to do some crafts. Also, read and just relax. That should w...

and the awards ceremony and we are done. So looking forward to that. I have one final to grade today and one to give on Monday, but that is it. Wednesday night is graduation and Thursday awards and check-out. WooT!!!!! So, as previously stated, I've begun thinking about next year already. Once I go into review/finals mode, I'm done and I start to move on. So I have a lot I want to accomplish, but I need to develop a plan of attack or I will flounder and nothing will get done. I think my first order of business is to develop an electronic system that works for me. I have used so many different things and it is so hard to find something when I don't know where I stored it. Also, I need a system that is easy to access everywhere and that makes sense to me. The files need to be intuitive to me. Also, they need to be where I can take them if I need to leave. If I spend tons of time working on things, I don't want to lose them if I move on. So I think my first order of b...

As we close in on the end of the year, I'm doing a whole lot of thinking about next year. Over the summer I plan on revamping all of my classes. I want to be an expert on AP bio and chem and I want my chemistry course to be fun to teach like it used to. Also, I hate spending so much time planning what I'm doing. This seems to create a disconnect in the curriculum and I don't like that at all. I want to have it all planned out so that I can make connections and show the students how things flow. Being an expert means knowing what I'm talking about. Knowing what I'm talking about means learning and relearning some things. Since I can't keep everything in my head, I now face the dilemma of how to store any notes I may need to be that expert. I need to have a comprehensive set of notes that I can review prior to teaching that topic so that I have all the information in my head. I frequently find myself talking about something and then remembering how it real...