Taking a step back

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 be put into this. I need to determine what my goals are for this class. What do I want the students to get out of this class? What do I want the classroom to look like? And how do I want to go about getting that? So let me do a little noodling and see if I can flesh things out.

What do I want my students to get out of this class? I want them to learn a little chemistry, but I also want them to learn how to learn. I want them to be able to read something and understand it, something hard like a chemistry book. I want them to be able to problem solve. I want them to be able to take notes that they can use to study with. I want them to enjoy class but that should be a by-product of learning. I want to teach them skills that will carry forward into other classes and possibly college.

What do I want my classroom to look like? I want it to look like learning is going on. I don't want to just be up there talking and kids sleeping or doodling or whatever. I want them to be actively engaged in the learning process. How do I do that? I need to make them responsible for some or most of their learning. I want there to be discussions going on and labs and learning. That means I need to provide a variety of learning strategies but at the same time some routines. I also need to hold my standards high. I have a terrible habit of just saying it's fine and letting sloppy work go. But in order to do that, I need to have things ready to go. If I have to decide on the fly, I will always choose the easy way and let the kids get away with things. So I need to have everything prepared in advance and hold my standards high.

How do I go about getting that? All of this comes down to planning. I need to have this all in place before I set one foot in the classroom. I need to have down not only what I'm going to do, but what I will deem as acceptable work for that. No more shoddy work. So let's look at how that can be done.

Reading: this is a huge issue for me and something I plan to work on a lot this year. I want the students reading a lot and being responsible for understanding it. I'm thinking of starting every class with a little reading. I will give them a reading guide, anticipation guide, have them complete it. We will discuss for a couple of minutes, then they will read, complete the guide again with evidence, and we will discuss again. I can't tell you how important I think this is and I think devoting 10-15 minutes every class is worth the time spent. Sometimes it can be from the book and sometimes it can be independent articles. I will use the various methods from my MOOC to do this. Probably anticipation guide and Frayer Model most often, but definitely throw in some picture walks or 4 corners, human bar graph, etc.

Labs/Activities: they will need to write a lot of the labs in their notebooks. I need to sketch out what I want and then give them a guide to doing it. I also need to come up with some quick way to check notebooks. I do not want to spend days reading through notebooks, but I need to hold them accountable. Maybe I will just spend days. Maybe I will collect each class at a different time so I'm not grading 100 books at once. Which then means I need to have a rubric so I grade all equally.

Cornell Notes: We have unofficially agreed as a school to move to Cornell notes this year. How can I incorporate them? Maybe, these can be used during the actual reading. If they do a pre-reading activity, they will have an idea of what to look for during the reading. They should have a clue as to what to put in their Cornell notes. Then the Cornell notes will be used for the post-reading activity. I like this a whole lot and again, it will just take careful planning on my part. I need to have things ready to go and extras in reserve just in case. They will also use Cornell notes for any reading that is homework. Brilliant.

Doodle Notes: These will be used sparingly as lecture notes. I don't want to lecture a whole lot, so when I do I will use these to keep them engaged in the learning.  This will also basically eliminate powerpoints. Those have become so boring to even me. I may use some in my AP Biology class, but I'm going to try and get away from them.

Okay, I feel like I have a good idea of what I want to happen in my classroom, now it's just a matter of setting things up and getting them going.