Tales from the science classroom

 It's been a little over a week since school ended and I've got a few things done but not much. My goal for this summer is to have both classes planned out so that I don't really have to think much when school starts. Not that I won't be thinking much, but I won't have to devote much brain power to lessons. My goal for this year is to stick to the plan I develop this summer. Every year I've planned things over the summer and then forgot about them once school started. I then would try to come up with each lesson right before the class started. This led to a lot of issues. First, I would be stressed out about what I was going to be teaching in 10 minutes (god, I hate that).  Second, I would forget what I did from one class to the next. I would do something spur of the moment, but because I had nothing written down or laid out, I would forget the next class and have to ask the students. Third, I felt like things had no flow. It would feel very choppy and disconnec...

 I got Unit 1 laid out yesterday for chemistry. Nice. The problem I'm having is how much time to spend on the basics? I want them to use their brains and really think in this class, so how long will that take?  For example, I have a couple of things I want them to be able to do in this class.  Keep track of the things they actually do so they can go back and understand what they did at the time. Like in a lab. They can't just write down the results, they need to write down what was done and anything they saw.  Be able to think of reasons for things. I don't know is not acceptable at all in my class.  Work together collaboratively to develop ideas and understandings.  I think those are the broad things, now what is the best way to accomplish this? I know that I should spend a few days on it, but how long and what activities work best?  A couple of activities that I have in mind:  Build a boat. This is a group activity that requires them to work tog...

  The school year ended last Thursday May 20th with graduation that night. I was in charge of the program and we were having it in our very own gym. Plus, it was the first real graduation in 2 years, thank you Covid. It was nice. Really. Nice. I was so glad when it was over though because that meant that I was finally done. We didn't get out of there until 9:30pm, but everything was cleaned up and put away so there was nothing to do the next day. Yay!!!!! So now I've begun planning for next year. I must say, I haven't done a whole lot of planning. I've been hanging at the pool, visiting with friends, reading, etc. But a little bit of planning is getting done. We are leaving on a 10-day RV trip in about 2 weeks and I'm excited/nervous about that. Never having done it before, it is a little nervous making. But I'm excited to actually get away on a vacation for the first time in about 10+ years. The last time we went on vacation together was when we came to the mai...

  Now that this year is essentially over I've begun to think about next year. I'll have 2 preps, chemistry - which I teach every year, and biology - which I haven't taught in 3 years. I'm excited. I love chemistry and with feel like I'm just getting my groove with the modeling. I also love biology and I'm going to test out the biology modeling curriculum. I feel like I know enough about the modeling program to be able to pull it off without taking the class.  One of the things that the biology modeling course promotes is interactive notebooks. Now I am a fan of these, a huge fan. But I've never been able to pull them off.  So for the past few days I've been reading up on them and watching videos and seeing if I can get a handle on them. In a couple of places I read that you have to plan ahead to pull these off. I think was my downfall in the past. I did great at the beginning of the year because I had put my notebook together and had a firm idea of what ...

 is finally coming to an end. And I for one cannot wait. Last time I wrote was in January and we had just gone back to school in person and for real. What I did not know at the time was that we would remain in school for the entire semester come hell or high water. Let me recap.  In January we had so many teachers staying home that we ran out of substitutes. We don't have that many substitutes, but in January getting one was unbelievably hard. We had students in and out of school because they had been exposed to Covid or had tested positive. It was literally a freaking nightmare. Then, on January 16th, the hubby tested positive for Covid and he also had pneumonia. I stayed home with him for a week, but then had to return to school. I was there for one day and had to take the next day off because he deteriorated and had to go to the ER on Tuesday morning. He was admitted into the hospital and ended up in ICU for 6 days. When he did come home he was considerably better but he wa...