Tales from the science classroom

 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 ...

 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                                ...

 First off, I will be teaching 3 preps this year; Chemistry, AP Biology, and Biology. The problem with this arises in a couple of areas.  1. Which curriculum do I use for chemistry and biology? I kind of want to use the same curriculum; iHub for both or Patterns for both; only because they will follow a similar pattern and I won't have to work to know what's going on. So that is something I need to nail down soon.  2. How far to I want to go with BTC? Everything I'm reading is so great, but I don't want to overwhelm myself with a new curriculum and a completely new way of doing things. Many of the things I'm reading say to start with the first 3 chapters. Get those routines and practices down and then start adding the other practices. I like that and that is probably how I will start the year.  2a. Do I do BTC for both chemistry and biology? I some ways it will be easier to do it in both classes, but it other ways it won't. So, which do I do it in?  These are a ...

 This chapter I love because I'm always looking for new and different ways to arrange my classroom. And honestly I've gotten stuck in a rut the past few years and it's rather boring truthfully.  He suggests:  Defronting the classroom - that means that the desks don't all face the same way. So there really is no 'front' to the classroom.  Cluster the desks away from the vertical surfaces that the kids will be working on. This allows them room to move and the lure of chair is farther away.  Make the tables and chairs all point in different directions. This way again, there is no 'front' of the room.  Move around the room. Don't stand at what used to be considered the front. Move and make the whole room the workspace.  I love these suggestions on so many levels. I love that there is no front. The kids should be working with each other, not staring at me. There will be times when they will stare at me, but I'm hoping to get away from talking behind t...

 This one I'm kind of excited about while at the same time trying to figure the logistics of it. I love having the kids work together in groups on a large whiteboard. They work on problems, work on answers, work on all kinds of things. In fact, I have had kids ask if they could use the whiteboards when we aren't using them to help them work on things. I love it. Well, this chapter goes a step further. This chapter says that kids should be working on whiteboards but that they should be vertical so the kids have to stand. 🤯 What a great idea. Having the kids up and moving and working. I absolutely love it. He adds a couple of other things to this idea that I love also:  only one marker per group the marker has to move around within the group sometimes the person with the marker can only write what others are saying, NOT what they are thinking have groups in closes proximity to each other so they can see what others are doing they are not allowed to erase someone else's work ...

 I know, but those two posts on the thinking classrooms don't count. That was me thinking through the material and figuring out what would work for me.  This however, is different. This post is on the fact that it looks like I have a biology class next year. Now, I'm not adverse to teaching biology. I'm really not. I like biology. Hell, it's what my degree is in. But that means I will have 3 preps: 4 chemistry classes, 1 AP biology, 1 biology. Considering that I was reworking chemistry and AP biology, this adds a whole other dimension to my year.  I guess it's better to know now so I have time to prepare, rather than not know until we return. Okay, so I'm teaching biology. That leaves me with what curriculum should I use? I will be using iHub for chemistry. Should I use iHub for biology? Should I use the Illinois storylines? I could use Patterns. There are so many and I just need to pick on and stick with it, much like I did with chemistry. I'm leaning towar...