Retakes and More

Just this semseter, as a team, the chemistry teachers have decided to allow the students to retake certain portions of exams when their scores fall below 70%. The students need to come in for extra help before they can retake the portion of the exam that the teachers have decided is important in the study of chemistry. This is not always the entire exam but just a section that is an essential learning for the topic. I am having a difficult time with some students since they are fine with not retaking any exam. I guess that this is okay but when given the chance why would some students perfer not to retake an exam? I wonder also, why students are taking a class if they are not interested in the subject? More importantly is why are they not interested in the topic? (I guess that if I had an answer to that I could become very rich.)

The thing that I am most excited about right now is the use of a wireless tablet in the classroom and the use of Camtasia software to capture/publish what we are doing. I see a lot of possibilities and I never thought that I would think about beginning podcasts or videocasts of the class sessions. I guess when you start to ask what next? Or now what? Or how does this go to the next level? You start to look for doing things in a new way. The biggest issue is feeling like a first year teacher each day.

The astronomy class took a field trip to CU Boulder and Fiske Planetarium. We listened to a presentation on the sky tonight and what is currently going on in the study of Mars and even talked a little about black holes. It was good to see the students engaged and after I talk to them tomorrow, I will post a little of the conversation.

Well, once again, I am trying to figure out ways to change science instruction and my excitement is a little overwhelming to me.

Capture?

So as I think about the major changes that are happening in my instructional methods, I cannot wait to begin playing with some new software. I received a copy of Camtasia Studia and SnagIt from TechSmith. After playing with the software a little last Friday, with the help of Mike Porter at the ESC, I am interested in attmpting to capture a PowerPoint soon. The presentation will be on solving some problems in chemistry. I will then place the video on the internet to allow students to seek assistance outside of the classroom. I am wondering if there will be problems with allowing the students access to all of the material. Will they stop paying attention in class? I guess that I will need to find other things for the students to do during class. I think that the true power of this software comes with the students being able to work at their own pace. I am still having a difficult time finding the time to do the things that I want to try and finding the time to implement the changes that I think need to happen in the classroom.

As for now, I long for an inservice day which I can spend by myself, not in meetings.

What kind of school do I want?

While reading the book "Professional Learning Communities at Work" by Richard DuFour and Robert Eaker, I found a couple of questions. (Okay, so there are lots of questions, some answers, and lots more to think about.) As part of the learning cohort at AHS we decided to examine a few of these questions before our next meeting.

(Way to go Brian. The next meeting is this week and I am just getting around to the homework now. Better now as compared with after the next meeting or never, right?)

So here goes.

1. "When I leave this school, I would like to be remembered for..."
2. "I want my school to be a place where..."
3. "The kind if school I would like my own child to attend would..."
4. "The kind of school I would like to teach in would..."

In regards to the first question, I would like to be remembered as the teacher that liked learning for the sake of learning. It does not matter if the material is in my specific content area or about learning in general, I would like the students to know that their teacher wanted to learn from them as much (if not more) than I have to offer them. I am interested in the world around me and the people in it. I would like the students and my colleagues to think of me as someone who wanted to be around people and see them grow.

The second question is a little more difficult. I would like to see my school be a place where other professionals want to come to see what we are doing. I would like the entire school to contribute to the greater good of education and the continual improvement of ourselves as educators. I do not want the school to stay the way it is. (That might not sound right.) I want us to develop new methods for doing things and get the students involved in their learning future.

Since I have two little ones at home, question number three is something that I have been looking at recently. I would like the school to encourage my children to take risks and learn from failure. I do not think that everything that is done in school should be a success. I think that the school should call me, as a parent, when my child is behaving in an offensive manner. I think the school should be teaching skills that we be helpful to my child later in life. I would like the teachers in the school to think "outside the box" and be interested in the student's lives. If I could really pick, I would pick something like the Denver School of Science and Technology (Only if my children are interested in these things. If not, I would find something similar in their area of interest.) I would like the school to have a global perspective and not just a limited view. Wow, there is a lot more. Should I keep going? Perhaps, I will come back to this in a later post.

Finally, the kind of school that I would like to teach in would include the students and community in all of the decisions. There would be support from outside the four walls of the building since they would be transparent (not actually transparent, you know). Students would be in a seminar class and do practical experiences later in their schooling. I think that we are doing a pretty good job right now but I also think that pretty good is not good enough. I would hope that all the teachers in the building are there because they believe that the school is better with them and there is something that they have to offer the students. I would want the materials in the building to be state-of-the-art and there should be ample training for the equipment use. I would encourage more of the meetings like we do currently. Give teachers time to work together. I would want the school to offer teachers time. Time to pursue degrees if they wanted, time to improve what they do by seeing and talking to other teachers, time to plan with other teachers, time to learn with the students and I would like to have time to reflect. I would want the students to be involved in the community and the school. Wow, there are lots of things in this list also.

This seems like it was more fun than it should have been. I guess that AHS is the place I want to be a part of, make an impact and change for the better. I guess it is a good thing that I am a part of it now.

So Far...

So far this year:

1. I have been a part of conversations about norms, mission and vision for two teams.
2. I still am not sure where I am going.
3. I am pretty sure I know where I am.
4. I have watched/broken down/posted a lot of football film.
5. Attempted to use the wireless in the downstairs classrooms (they seem to not like me)
6. I have used the computers in the upstairs classrooms (they work great)
7. Graded, graded and graded.
8. I have had an introduction to Moodle and I am really excited about the possibilities.
9. I worked with students to develop a community service plan for Link Crew.
10. I have been collecting lab experiments on video to attempt to post (okay, it is just one, but it is a start, right?)
11. Then there is the life outside of AHS. (More on this later.)

The astronomy class seems to be the one place where things are working the way that they should. This involves little on my part (which might be why it is going so well) but I need to be in the class to give some direction. The students decided on the percentage for each category of work that they are going to complete this semester. I agree with the percentages that the class decided on and I am excited that the students had the say in this. There have been a couple of lessons that I have changed so that the students are composing all of the material. For example, from a vocab list, the students were allowed to pick two to three terms that work together and then, as a group, they developed some type of digital documents to tell the story of the terms. One example was force and acceleration and the students chose a football player to display this information. I will link to these document in my next post to share this work.

My biggest concern right now is time. I know that time will take care of itself but I still worry. There are lots of good (perhaps great) ideas in my head but I lack the time to let them loose. This feels like a big excuse but there is a lot going on right now and the "old" way seems to work. The students do nto fight when you are lecturing but are they learning? Maybe. But are they learning a "like" of the material? Am I letting them down by being easy on myself from time to time? Am I the only one with these questions?

You Might Think That I Disappeared...

Just the other day, I was sitting at home thinking. (Note: this is not something that I usually find myself doing since there is a lot going on.)

"I have not been to my 'Blogger' account for quite awhile." The time has gone by and I have found myself going back to my old ways, in the classroom. Sure, I might say to you, "there are times when I seem to be rather forward thinking in the classroom." But, it seems like I am just doing the things that I used to do in the classroom before I was worried about preparing students for the world. As a matter of fact, I used the overhead projector, stood at it, and lectured to my students about chemical bonding. (Yuck. not the material but the method.) I was wondering why the students were not as fascinated as I was about the fact that atoms that have no ability to make decisions come together in just the right way to make a human being or an animal or a plant or anything else that is in the Universe. Then it dawned on me. They don't care because it is my fascination and not theirs. Duh.

When you take the time to look at what students are interested in, and for the most part it is not chemistry, they are interested in what their life is about. There is no way to get students truly interested in the world that I like (there are exceptions) but what if there was a way to use their world to teach science to them. Or better yet, what if there was a way that they could use their world to teach themselves science. At some point, students lose the drive to investigate the world around them. They lose a sense of wonder. They lose the ability to think about "why" and "what if". Sometimes, I use teh excuse of "there just is not enough time." But what if there was not enough time to continue teaching the same old way and missing the chance to get students excited about science?

When I try to think about questions in chemistry that will get the students thinking about an exciting topic it usually backfires and little to no discussion follows. I am wondering if this is a problem with how I am presenting the material or if the issue is with how the students have learned to "play school." Now, there are times when the questions that come up in class lead us into a grand discussion but usually, it is a discussion between myself and two or fewer students. Is there a way to get the larger group involved? What are some of the techniques for presenting questions that lead students into deeper investigations in science? Has there been any research about how students learn science? What happens when a student is engaged in science and decides that they want to pursue it later in school? What was it that made me want to be a science major? (or better yet, what were the driving forces behind me wanting to be a teacher?) Are there ways to brake out of the stucture of school that I am used to and am comfortable with? Will this get easier?

I do think that I am on my way back to the blogosphere. I will even make sure that my daughter's ages are correct in my profile. Amazing what you can do with some time, a little initiative and a desire to change.

Sometimes the best idea is...

The best part about teaching a science class sometimes is the lab. There are some activities that I have done in the class that have been pushed aside by other things. Today the students were asked to determine the mass of two gases by using oxygen as a standard and the volume of a gas by water displacement. I have not seen students talking as much, or laughing as much, as they were today. It seems that I have forgotten that some of the basic measurements can be done with activities that students find fun doing. If all activities in science generated this kind of excitement or conversation maybe there would be more people going into science fields.

I forget sometimes and want to create a new activity with lots of "bells and whistles" when there are activities that are a little more simple (and student led investigations) which are already in use.

What a month!

So there have been a lot of things going on the past month. (Has that really been how long it has been since I last posted?)

Football is coming to an end and that should free up some time for me to focus on other things.

The applications for this years Toyota International Teacher Program were sent to me this month and I had a little envious feeling about the teachers who will be applying this year. What a trip...What a trip...

My two year old and I played in the snow. I think that it was the first time that we have done that. It will not be forgotten anytime soon.

AP Chemistry is keeping me very busy and I am having a difficult time finishing all of the work (labs, assignments, notes etc.) for this class.

My first year chemistry students are having a hard time doing the things that they need to do to finish the course. Some of them are starting to ask: "Why do we need to know this?" I would have thought that with all of the new activites that I am trying and the way that the class is structured (more student centered) I would like to think that this question had answered itself. I wonder if the stuedents are aware of the changes? Does this class look any different from the others? How can I use the computers to design student led activities for calculations and problems that the students have no idea about? The basic concepts in chemistry are easy to interpret using the computers but when we enter untis based on math concepts with chemical equations the students have a very hard time explaining them.

I see how the computers are easy to implement in classes when some of the background information has been covered but how can the consturctivist approach be applied to a chemistry classroom? When the information of the course is new how can the investigations be implemented?

The Astronomy class is an entirely different beast. That class is a great place to test new learning activities and see what the students come up with. Recently the students were given all of the unit inforamtion that I would have presented to them and they could complete it in any order. I was a little worried about how that would work but the students were ready to complete all of the work by the deadline that they set! The final project was a brochure that would sell a telescope. When the students asked if their brochure was "okay" I started responding with "Would you buy it?" - Thanks Mr. Fisch for that idea. How could I do this with other topics? I am currently working on the idea for the final project, more to come later.

Since it seems that doing the same old stuff in education is a lot easier than changing things to meet the student's needs I can see why teachers and administrators are resistant to this mode of thought. It asks all of us to think outside of whatever box we started in and that kind of reflection can cause problems. We are asking ourselves to critically think about what we do daily and with all of the other stuff that we have going on we tend to not react well. The thought that those who can...do...and those who can't...teach seems to be a perception in the business world that would not be correct for our building. I even find myself thinking that if I had some of the teachers in this building earlier in my schooling then I might have been an English major or a history major but my chemistry teaher was the one that helped me find what I liked to learn about. Isn't that what school is supposed to be? Helping the students find their interests?

Starbucks Thoughts.

As I sit at my desk, reflecting on the sadness that comes with the bottom of a cup of coffee, I read something that really made me think about my day.

"Flying by myself in a tiny aircraft over lonely woods: I have no one to blame
if I make a bad judgement, and the laws of physics won't listen to my excuses.
What would my life be like if I always had to take full responsibility?"

- Mark Olson (Taken from my Starbucks cup The Way I See It #128)

What would this do to our days if people thought of this kind of thing every time they had a decision to make?

Grades, What Grades...?

The other day, I had a discussion with a student in my AP Chemistry class who is struggling with the grading process in this school. He was thinking that he should learn material because it was interesting to him. However, this year, which is his junior year, he is learning that school becomes looking at things that you might not find to be too interesting. He is a little discouraged because he is used to looking at course material in the context of wanting to learn it and not "to get ready for a test." I thought that this was what we wanted our students to do. (To seek the information because they wanted to know it not because they had to know it.) When I asked him why he thought school should be learning of information that is interesting to the learner, his response was that someone told him that college was this way. Wow, in college you get to study things that interest you? I thought that there were prerequisite courses that you had to "get out of the way". Wouldn't it be nice if all schooling was set up so that you were learning things that were intersting to you and not because someone else thought it was important? Do you think that students might pay more attention or be involved in constructing their learning if they were allowed to find something in a subject that was interesting to them? I find it interesting that I was having this conversation with a student when we, as a group of teachers, are having the same conversation.

The conversation progressed to a point where the student said he felt grades were detrimental to learning. When asked for explaination of his thoughts I found out that he felt grades were something that students were working towards. While this might be a good temporary goal for students he thought that the material would become secondary to the grade. I told him that, as a group of teachers, we are looking at how to overcome that. I think he felt excited to be a part of a school where we are asking these difficult questions. While we don't have the answers at least we are asking these and other difficult questions. (This might be why there are teachers who are struggling with what we are doing.) He also wanted to know why we were trying to take a college level class (AP Chem) and apply high school standards to it? I did not even know what to say to this.

The thing about these conversations is that they made me think about two big items.
1) How could we use grades to give feedback and show progress and not just as an end in themselves? (I am going to try using more of an AP scale, 0 to 5, in an elective that I teach.)
2) Where was I in high school? I think that I was trying to get through high school and was not asking why I needed to learn something. Are there other students who are asking these important questions about school and learning and grades? or is this young man a special case? Should we be asking them for help in designing material instead of jsut telling them?

That is a lot of thought conversation between a student and a teacher. (I will let you try to figure out who is who in this post. I mean the teacher and the student.)

Too Much, Too Fast

One of the issues with allowing the students to use new methodolgy and allowing them to construct their own understanding is the time that it takes. Now don't misunderstand me, I agree with most of the comments going on over on the fischbowl, but I am troubled by my first time through an AP class. There is a lot of information to get through in this class and the test score is the most important thing about this class (or is it?). If I do not get to the information, there are consequences to deal with. The students right now are doing a good job of not being too worried about their class grades because I think they are learning a lot. But how do we balance the large amount of information that I need to cover with the limited time (a lot of it taken by standardized testing that the school needs to do) and the use of allowing the students to find their own direction? I guess this will be a question that I (and we) will be looking for an answer to long after I leave teaching.

Update on the wiki

Thanks to the folks at pbwiki.com for their help on the use of a wiki in the classroom. Also, Karl Fisch is an amazing resource for those of us trying new things in the classroom. After trying multiple ways to use this tool in a classroom, I was amazed at how fast the students adapted towards their use. The wiki allows the students to put together information in new ways and allows them to express themselves through the material that we are studying.

Check out their work in progess at www.ahsastronomy.pbwiki.com

Wiki(ed) Headache

Wow.

After a good start to the school year and with students getting used to using the computers in class I have tried to spend the past few days getting an idea of how to use a wiki for my class.

I am not even sure where this is going but I would like for my classes to write an on-line book for themselves.

I guess the trouble right now is figuring out what to do with a blank slate. I am trying pbwiki and I am not sure if I need to invite all of the students so that they can add to it. I am not sure if I need to create a few pages or if we can get by with just one page for now. Does anyone have any ideas?

I think that this could be a very powerful tool but I feel lost.

I think...

As I think about the first few weeks with having the students work with the computers, in a way that they are forming their learning, I have realized that the students are not always on task. I have also realized that my job description has changed. No longer am I the "keeper of knowledge" but I am here to help the students form their own knowledge. Watching this happen, I realized that there are times when the students need my direct instruction, chemistry is not easy. I also know that there will be mistakes on the way.

"Only when sleeping do we make no mistakes. Mistakes are the privilege of the active person, who can start over and put things right."
-Ingvar Kamprad

I am thinking about the classroom that I am a part of (no longer "my classroom") and I am energized by the work that the students are doing. They actually are engaged and can do the things that I set them to do, with-out me "holding their hands". If we just let them work they will.-

The first day of the rest of their lives.

Yesterday we started using the computers in Astronomy. Aside from some small issues, things whent very well. I would say that looking at this group allows me to be very excited about trying this style of teaching with them. There is a high level of energy in the class about the instructional changes and use of new methodologies. I am going to teach the first unit the same for the most part since it is a lot of activities. I am looking forward to the second unit, one that I have not enjoyed in the past, since I am going to ask them how the unit should look.

I told them that life changes now, here, in this room. It is a journey and I am excited to be on it.

Addition

So, some people have been wondering where I have been.

Let me tell you...

Allison Brianne was added to our family on the 25th of July. She weighed 6 lbs. 10 ozs and was 19 inches long. Everyone is doing great. Megan is a good big sister, mom is good and dad..well, dad is.

To discuss.

I had a difficult time talking about the philosophy of education. I think that the main difficulty came from the fact that the material we are looking at forces us to change our philosophy all the time. I wonder if we will ever reach a point where we have a true peace about our philosophy or if this will be an on-going thing. I do think that if we have reached a conclusion about how the philosophy should look then we need to reexamine our practices in the classroom.

The other disussions that we had in the group were very good. The grading talk, while overdone (haha), was very helpful to hear about where other people were on their feelings of grading.

I cannot wait to see what others are doing in their classroom's this fall.

Where next?

Since I retuned from Japan I have had a few thoughts about the trip (see earlier post "A Summary"). Most importantly lately is the thought of "Genchi Genbutsu" which means essentially to go and see. There is a lot in the world and it is not as scary as I would think. I guess the strongest thing that I left thinking is, where next? If the world is calling me to see it, how and where do I go? I want to go out and see. I want Kaizen my world. I want to take my students to different levels and places. I want my family to see what the world is made of. The people, the places and the sounds of Japan are the things that will cause the most reflection in my world.

One Wise Man

At the beginning of Chapter 10 in The World Is Flat, Thomas Friedman includes a quote from Albert Einstein:

Out of clutter, find simplicity.
From discord, find harmony.
In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.

I was thinking about this and my classroom for the next year. As I embark on a new chapter of my career I think that there will be a lot of discord and difficulty. How I look at these items will determine how my attitude changes each day. As a team we are going to go ahead and try to find out one to one notebook instruction in a public school. There is little that I have seen on how to do this effectively in a Chemistry classroom. I know that there are ways to do this but I am afraid that I will fall back on the ways that have worked in the past. Time is the biggest struggle when trying to implement this type of change in a classroom.

What will my classroom look like? How will the students respond? How will I adapt and respond? What will the next few years look like? Is this the next level for instruction in my classes?

I do think that stretching teachers, outside of their comfort zones, is what will pushthe students to new levels. For this outlook, I am excited to be a part of this reform in schooling and proud to be a part of it.

Baseball and Umbrellas?

While in Tokyo I and some of my new friends enjoyed a baseball game. It sure was fun and the view was amazing. We watched a game between the Yakult Swallows and the Chunichi Dragons. I had noodles for dinner and made a friend that collected WWII airplanes (two were given to me as gifts!). Note: Two photos (The one of me giving the gift and the shot of the Jumbo-Tron with us on it) are from another Toyota International Teacher Deb Cole. You can find her blog here.

Toyota, Greenspan and a Teacher

So, let me tell you about an exchange that I had in Torrance, California. I was having dinner at the Toyota Motor Sales, USA offices and struck up a conversation with James E. Lentz (Group Vice President & General Manger, Toyota Division) while on the Toyota International Teacher Program. Why was this interesting? Well, Mr. Lentz was saying that at lunch the day before, Alan Greenspan...

Wait did he say Alan Greenspan?
I have never been involved in a conversation like this before!
Back to the story.

Anyway, Mr. Lentz asked Mr. Greenspan "What keeps you awake at night now that you are retired?" The response is what I found interesting.

Mr. Grenspan's response was that he worries about the kids in school who are not being built into thinkers. They are do'ers who can fill rolls where there is little creative/independant thought taking place. Students need to be working in the math, science and engineering fields. The US needs people to fill rolls that are going to open soon.

After hearing about this conversation I am again left wondering if we are doing the best that we can to get studnets interested in the fields like math and science or are we turning them off? I cannot wait to try some of the new things that are coming to our school this year. I hope that this is a question that we as a group of teachers continue to ask. These are not the kind of conversations that teachers find themselves in all the time and I think that there was a lot of value in being a part of it. What will the flat world have in-store for my kids?