Tales from the science classroom

First week back from an extended break is always fun. Everyone is getting back into the swing of things. Students are asking why we are learning something on the first day and teachers are counting the days until the next break. Fun stuff. I did feel completely in control this week. I knew what I wanted to do - didn't get it all in - but I was ready. I like that feeling. I like that feeling a whole lot. So it is something I will strive for every week. Truth is, because of our block schedule, I only have to plan 2 days. Granted, it's 2 days for 4 different classes, but still, it's only 2 days. So my goal every week is going to be to have at least an idea of what I want to cover that week. I may work out the details as I go, but if I at least have a general idea, it is so much easier to deal with. That's kind of all I have today. I've been on the go the last 2 days and we had friends over late last night, so I'm a bit tired today. I want to go hiking but that...

After my revelations yesterday, and yes, I believe I have come up with a good system, I sat down to plan. And after a few hours realized I had gotten very little accomplished. So I stopped and I've tried to figure out why. Part of the problem lies in too many choices. I have to pick a resource and just stick with it, I can't keep jumping back and forth. Another part of the problem is that I'm trying to be too detailed. I am not good at pacing. I'm not. Things that I think will take a few minutes end up taking an hour and vice versa. So I'm kind of hesitant to plan too far out as I don't think I will stick to that schedule. So I have a general outline and I think I'm going to have to plan week by week. I just don't see any way around it. I've got the first week back planned, no problem, but when trying to plan the second week I'm wondering if I'll get through everything and maybe want to throw a lab in, etc. So I think that as long as I have...

I need to establish some new routines. I currently have routines, but I don't like them and need to change them. I also need an organization system that allows me to keep track of things. I think I've talked before about my horrible habit of losing papers and not being able to find things I need. It drives me freaking insane. Let's start with the organization because I think good organization will lead to good routines. So let's begin. I have this: It's a 12 slot organizer. I started using it as a place to put papers for my classes for both days (4 each day) and the remaining 4 slots I put in papers I needed for those classes. Initially, this worked great. I would place the papers I needed for each class in each slot and then when that class came around I would just grab them and go. Boom. But things began to go wrong. I would put papers in the wrong slot - annoying. I would fail to transfer papers to the next class. So I would have a chemistry class, then p...

Today was interesting. I set out this morning to get my literacy program in place. I wanted to see how many weeks we have and then divide up what I want to do over the weeks. I figured it would be simpler that way. So I was trying to come up with a way to lay it out so that I could see it easily. Then I came across this: This allows me to lay out each quarter by week. Pure genius. So changed the headings to match my classes: AP Chemistry, AP Biology, Chemistry, Keyboarding, and Literacy. I then sketched out what I want to do each week with literacy. That actually turned out to be pretty easy. Since I'm going to use the resources from each class, all I needed to do was put down what skills I wanted them to learn that week. Worked out perfect, but I was done quick - much quicker than I thought it would be. So then I thought to tackle AP Chem. I wasn't sure where I was going to go with that. But I ended up getting a pretty good idea of how I want the semester to go. So the...

The first week of break is almost over and, as I had planned, I spent most of the week not thinking about school. After my last post, I just kind of walked away and didn't give it another thought until yesterday. Then I started thinking about what to do next. It's kind of like waking from a nap and not knowing exactly what day or year it is. Yeah, that's how I felt. I believe I even said more than once, what day is it? So, now I'm apparently fully awake and back in the game. Once I put my mind to it, it really wasn't that hard to start to move forward. I got about 2 weeks of AP Biology done and that is huge. I have an idea of what I want to accomplish, but I'm not sure of the best way to get there. So this post is going to be a bit of a brain dump to try and sort some things out. The first thing up for consideration is literacy. I plan on tackling that this semester and making it so it's part of my regular curriculum in all my classes. That means that ...

I've been on winter break since last Thursday and it has been amazing. I've slept. Read a little. Relaxed. Hung out with friends. Went shopping. And generally just enjoyed myself. Definitely, something that was needed. But tomorrow is Wednesday already and I need to start working on next semester. So here's my problem. I feel like I don't know how to plan. Weird, I know, but true. I was just sitting here thinking I should start thinking about planning and my thoughts went into 100 different directions. In my head I'm saying: I don't remember where we left off I don't know what to cover next I don't know what I should cover at all How can I add literacy to my curriculum How do I do this?  Well, it's kind of not surprising. I've been flying by the seat of my pants for my entire 9 years of teaching and now, trying to get everything in order, is proving to be difficult. I'm changing the way I do things and I'm trying to do it rig...

Please excuse this post. It is a mind dump to try and help me sort things out. I am teaching 9th-grade Conceptual Integrated Science this year. Not my favorite and it's my 4th prep on a subject I'm not really fond of. Of course, I have noticed that before. If it's not something I am super excited about or something that I can find resources for, I tend to devote very little time and energy to it. And that is what I'm finding myself doing now. So this is something I know that I do and something that I have to change. I need o coherent plan on what I'm going to teach for the remainder of this year. I can figure out how to teach it later, right now I just need to get my roadmap in place so I know what the heck I'm doing. So I spent the first quarter stumbling through physics and I've spent the last 2 weeks stumbling through chemistry. That is why I need to do this. I teach chemistry and I love chemistry, but I find myself stumbling through this because I do...