MP3 Player recordings

I have been thinking about the issue that recently came up in another local high school. I recently was listening to a local radio station that was discussing how easy it is to edit digital media. If a student is recording lectures in a class and has an issue with the teacher it would be very easy to edit the recording and make it so the teacher is saying things that they never actually said. Should we be worried about this? Perhaps we need to be recording ourselves, if we are having these kind of discussions in class, so that we have a copy of what we actually said. I think that it is important to have classroom discussions and I also think that the students should have the ability to record the conversation for later study (afterall, I did this in college). I think that the classroom is going to be changing in a significant way in the next few years and I feel like we need to be proactive about these issues and not reactive.

Management

I am having an issue with one of my classes that falls into the category of classroom management. I keep thinking that the problem is with the material or the students. I cannot stop thinking about how to fix the classroom dynamic. If there is a magic cure I sure have not found it. However, I started thinking about the fact that studetns need to "slow down" when they come to school. How do we get to the point that school looks more like their fast-paced lives? Is there a way to make classes more relevant to students? Are we trying to get students to take classes that they are just not wanting to take? Are we placing students in classes that they are not ready for (I mean content wise and work ethic wise)? Is the fact that there are so many ability levels of students in one classroom leading to my issue of management? I am thinking that the notebook computers that are coming are either going to really add to the issue or they are going to help solve the issue but I am not sure right now what is going to happen.

Reading? Who, me?

I never thought these words would come out of my mouth. (That is why I am going to type them.) I am excited about teaching reading to my science students. It has always been intimidating to me to teach reading. I never was good at it. I did not really like it. I, only recently, have found topics that I really get into. However, after hearing the presentation today by Jesse and Michelle, I needed to write this down. The resources that were shared will be very helpful as I try to get my students into the material of the class. I know that not all of the students will be reached, that should be the goal, and I might make mistakes in teaching this but at least I am going to try. It seems that in the past, I was just hoping that the reading would take care of itself. I mean the "good" kids will do the reading, right? Now, I think that I need to be helping the students through the reading process and not just complaining about the fact that they are not doing it.

Boy, oh boy, this group is really having an influence on me. I cannot wait to try some not so new ideas in my classes.

Okay

I seem to be doing "okay." That is the answer right now. After finishing a unit on the study of thermodyanics, heat transfer for non-science people, I asked the students how things were going. They responded by saying "difficult." I started thinking about this response and thought that if I had taught them exactly the way that I had before, then maybe things would have been a little easier on them. Then I remembered what the study was about. Chemistry is not an easy topic. That is what I am forgetting.

I think that the fact that I am asking them to do more about their learning is not a key part to the "difficult" answer. I know that it might be a perceived portion of the "difficulty" but it is not the entire reason. I also know that when the students are asked to stretch their minds then they can accomplish much more than just the course material.

So, "okay" might be a little misleading. I am doing better than that. However, I too am being pushed out of my comfort zone and am learning more each day. That in itself is the best part of the changes that are happening in my classes.

WOW!

I cannot believe the people that I get to work with. I am amazed by what you all do on a daily basis. Walking by your classes and seeing you with the students I am reminded about why we do what we do. I consider it a great privlidge to work at this school, on this team, in this department and to call all of you my friends.

Thank you for what you do for me and the kids!

Japan...

Well, I did not think that it would happen. I am going to Japan this summer. I tied my application to the blogging process. What I mean by that is I am going to try to:

1) Use the blog as a journal for my experience.
2) Use my class blogs next fall as a way for my students to experience education in Japan.
3) Keep open lines with the people that I meet on this trip through the blog.

I am not sure what the trip really looks like.....

I am not sure what the blog will look like....

I think this is what my students are feeling when I give some of these assignments. I guess that the teacher can be a life-long learner also.

HaHa

When will we get to this point?

Crayons

"Don't count crayons......Just color" -Mark Sharenbroich

At the assembly today, the students heard a lot about choosing their own path in life. It involves living and loving and not losing the joy of learning. It seems that this talk fits right in with the things that we are trying to "fix" in education. I am going to start thinking of this as an educational improvement group and not a reform. I am not even sure if the CIT group (from the grants) is actually a reformation group. It seems like more often, I am trying to tweak the things that I am doing in the classroom and not totally redoing them. I need to try to focus on the positive a little more.

In the book Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi states:

The best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to
its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and
worthwhile. [3]

...optimal experiences add up to a sense of mastery - or perhaps better, a
sense of participation in determining the content of life - that comes as close
to what is usually meant by happiness as anything else we can conceivable
imagine. [2]

What I seem to be trying to do in my classroom is figure out what the "flow" should be.

Oliver Wendell Holmes
"One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."

How can we get students and teachers to actively seek what they truly find imporant and enjoyable? When there are so many students in one class, that have different interests and abilities, can we reach them all?

The students that I talked to today said that they see me as the type of person who does not "count the number of crayons but just likes to color". If I can get my students to start thinking this way then I think I am changing the eduactional system for the better. If students seek what makes them happy in their studies then that is where I hope they will be at this point of the journey (I choose not to call high school the "end" of the journey but it is just another point on the map).

So, I will continue to try to figure out how to get the students to be the captain and driver of their own ship while I serve as the mechanic. Needless to say, I will continue to find ways to make school enjoyable for students and try to reignite the fire that they had when they raised their hands in first grade.

Back At "It".

Okay, after a week of non-posting, I have recovered and am back at it.

This past week was interesting.

On Monday, I returned to my classes after sending them to the computer lab, with a sub, to investigate the bonding of atoms in molecules. Even with guided questions and web page suggestions, they did not spend much time trying to figure out the material for themselves. They even asked if they were going to " get points" for doing the activity. (ARRGH!!!) Will this be easier if I start it earlier with them?

In lab, I watched a lot of copying and not much comprehension.

Test on Friday. Same results as last year. New methods tried. Refinement needed in lessons. Will I figure this out? I mean the constructivist approach to science education. Is there an "Idiots Guide To" out there? Will students continue to ask me to teach them the material that is in the text? I understand that they might need clarification but "spoon feeding"? I mean come-on.

Concern

So, I set up a computer activity for Friday. My only concern is that there will be a sub here. I know that the kids that are doing the activity should have no problems but I still worry. I wonder if this will get better as I have them do more of their own learning? I know that this just another something new and it will go fine but I sill wonder.

Review Activity

I have to give credit to Amanda for this one. In chemistry we are getting ready for the first assessment of the semester. The topic of study is the electron and the Periodic Table. I started by putting the term "electron" on the board in class. Next, I asked the students where we started the study. The first response was one that amazed me. "History" one student said so, I wrote that on the board. Then other students started to chime in with terms and concepts that we have studied in the past three weeks and even from last semester! When all was said and done, we had a list of close to fifty terms on the board. Next, I asked a student to choose a term that was directly tied to "electron" and she picked "orbital" and we connected those terms on the board. We worked together for awhile on this and then I turned it over to them. I explained that if they could make the connections between the material that we were investigating then it might be easier on the test. I also told them that if they could not make the connection then that would help them figure out where to focus their studying.

I cannot belive how this worked, or at least seemed to. I wonder if the students see the value in this type of concept map? I know that they were not happy about doing this at first but the conversations that I overheard were amazing. My goal is to have them do this for each unit of the semester and then for the final we are going to try ot make one big concept map. I hope this goes as well as I think it will...

(To Be Continued...)

Outsource?

So, after I have calmed down a little, I talked to my wife. (Go figure, I have time to do that when I am also doing this stuff.) We talked about how and if the world is becoming "flat." She works for a health care company in an after-hours clinic (nice since I work days and can then hang with my daughter). Sometimes she needs to consult an "expert" like an orthopedic doctor. The other night she said there was a call for a consult and the person on the other end had a strange accent and lots of noise during the phone call. It seems that the "after-hours" consult call went to an orthopedic doctor in New Zealand! Since it was the daytime there the doctor was "in." The x-ray was sent via e-mail and the doctor looked at the film and decided there was a break. She could not believe that the help came from that far away. The two of us are now talking about what this means for our children (yes, there will be another soon) and for the students that I teach. We do not think that this type of outsourcing is a "bad" idea and I am wondering what other people think?

Grading Discussions

Anyone else confused? It seems like I just went through an entire day of meetings and talked some about grading. One meeting had us looking at the idea of getting rid of grading all together. Then we have talked about how to give feedback. Finally, we talked about using letter grades for a method of telling students/parents about reaching benchmarks. It seems as though we (I mean me) are looking for a way to make grades more meaningful than they are currently. I wonder how to do this.......

Are we just seeing different ideas right now and the answer is coming from some higher power? Is this one of the "cycles" in education that my college professors talked about? As I am looking for answers about grading? I am just becomming more and more frusterated about the discussions? What are we trying to decide? I am looking at what I am doing in the area of grading? (Knowing that I could do more to help students.) I am just a little afraid about what I have been reading/hearing and the direction that this is going. Is a decision coming about grades or is this just going to be one of those "neat"discussions in education?

Anyone else out there feeling these things? Thinking these thoughts?

Interesting Point

Today in our group discussion, an interesting point was brought up. The fact that history repeats itself. As we know with the fall of the great empires, which found an untimely demise, the United States seems to be falling from the top of societies. I wonder if this is a perceived fall or an actual fall? Are we really falling behind? Is this a method for people to make money? What is the best way to change? Do we need to change? Where are we going? Is there a destination at the end of this path we are walking, in educational change, or is the destination the path itself? Are the things we are trying going to cause a change or are the students going to continue through education the way that they have in the past?

GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!

Hatak takes the assist from the corner and shoots and scores...... Oh, wait this is not what Karl meant.

I guess if I had to come up with a goal this semester it would be to engage the students in meaningful discussions which are a means of investigating the essential learnings in class. I would also make sure that the students understand what the essential learnings are for each of the classes that I teach.

Plan of Action:

1) The primary means for engaging the students in discussions will be the classroom stucture that enables the studnets to take an active role in the investigation of the material that we are studying. This will be through continnued use of inquiry based experiments, blogs for discussion and classroom activities.

2) The students will use blogs to discuss topics that we do not have time to cover in class. This will cover material that is important to the study of the sciences but should not be limited to the core material.

3) The students will encorporate a greater use of technology into their understanding of the essential learnigns. They shoudl use the internet and other resources to research, discuss, evaluate, and compose writings that are based on the topics that we are studying. These documents will include but are not limited to lab reports and discussion papers.

Grading Processes

Today in Astronomy, we talked about grading (by we I mean the students and I). I started by listing possible categories for IC. Next, I asked the students to write down what they thought about each category. (what the meaning was, what it should include, what good and bad examples are etc.) We had a large group discussion about this. SInce it was first hour and the seniors are not quite with it, they really did not want to participate. I had a hard time with the silence. The students would even turn their eyes from each other. I am sure that they were uncomfortable with the discussion. Then I had the students write down what percentage of the course should each category be. This is where it got interesting. I had some students who were really into this and others who could care less.

I had the students pair up and try to convince each other of why the persentages should be the way that they decided. Then they were to agree on percentage assignments. Next, the students had to pair up with another group and do the same thing. The groups kept getting larger and larger until we were back as one group. We then decided as a class what the percentages should be.

Some students left happy and others were unhappy. The group of students that concerns me is the group that did not care. Do they really have no input? or has no teacher ever asked them? I wonder what this will look like if I do the same activity with a single assignment and not the course? I know Cara has tried this and I am excited about trying it also.

Quote

I saw this and it got me thinking about what we are trying to do.

"Creative activity could be described as a type of learning process where teacher and pupil are located in the same individual."

-Authur Koestler

Posting

I find it very interesting as I post to this blog and the "Fisch Bowl" that most people are making one post. Isn't this suppossed to be a conversation? Does everyone have but one opinion? (I am saying this to myself as musch as to others if not more...)

If we have a hard time doing this, how do we get the students to participate more?

LCD

I recently found an article in a printed source about LCD displays and how they are made/work. It is written for the high school level. I would like to make the source available to the students so that they can look at it. I do not know how to go about this. Any ideas?

Second Semester

Well, it seems like it has been some time since I last posted.....

This week, I took my classes to the computer labs and had them send me an e-mail. This seems to work better than when I assigned it as homework. After they sent the e-mail, I had an online assignment for them to complete. This was helpful since some of the mail came fast and others took a little while. (They had to set-up an account.)

I have not given them a blog assignment yet. I am waiting a little bit so we can have some discussions in class first. When I asked the students about blogs, only a handful of them said that they used them before so I wanted to wait.

There seem to be a lot of topics that I could choose from this semester to blog about. Maybe my brain is now thinking about them.

I tried Amanda's idea of introducing the semester as a key concept and then having the students attempt to tie everything to that concept. I am overly excited about trying this and I think it will help the students see the big picture.