H1- Honor student diversity and development

H1.- Honor student diversity and development. Teacher candidates plan and/or adapt learner centered curricula that engage students in a variety of culturally responsive, developmentally and age appropriate strategies. Each student is vastly different from the next. As a teacher, it is so important to see "the student" as an individual versus "the studentS"  all blurred together. One way to honor student individuality is to offer activites and projects that allow indiviudality to shine through. Each student is in a unique stage of life. Giving them the opportunity to express their own thoughts is critical to the high  school population. One way to honor student individuality in Biology involves project-based work. I assigned my students the "cell analogy project" (figure 1) to complete with their table groups.

[caption id="attachment_384" align="alignleft" width="257"] Figure 1. Handout/rubric for cell analogy project.[/caption]

This project is based off of an article I read outlining various ways student diversity may be honored in the science classroom (attached as "Culturally Relevent Teaching in Science"). This project is great for all age and developmental levels because it leaves room for excelling students to go deeper and other students to gain an understanding without as much work. Through this project I was able to gauge student understanding of the central focus (cells) and give them an opportunity to relate what we were learning in biology class to their own lives. From this project I learned several things about classroom culture. Students were able to choose both the analogy they based their project off of as well as the way they presented their analogy. I found that students were engaged with the other presentations because I made sure all presentations were different. Not only was student individuality honored, but I as the teacher was in control of classroom engagement. Students worked intimately with the various components of cells and gained a well-rounded understanding of how the cell works. As an audience, students were asked to write down three things they learned from the presentations. I read through these comments when I graded notebooks after this unit so I had physical evidence that students were learning during the presentations.

In future years, I would be interested to work out a way for each student to do an individual project. Although table groups were effective for this project, I would be interested to see if individualized projects would impact students (and their grades) differently while still working out logistically.

culturally relevent teaching in science

E1.- Exemplify professionally-informed, growth-centered practice.

E1.- Exemplify professionally-informed, growth-centered practice. Teacher candidates develop reflective, collaborative, professional growth-centered practices through regularly evaluating the effects of his/her teaching through feedback and reflection. E1 encourages a reflective teaching practice that includes building a professional community fostering collaboration and reflection on ones practice.  As part of the undergraduate certification process, I am required to observe practicing teachers. Several of these observations can be found here, here, here and here. During these observations, I found myself to be incredibly reflective on my own practice. I am fortunate to be placed at a school with excellent teachers. The above observations are all of teachers who love to teach and are in the field to expand their practice. The teachers I observed were all very different but each one was able to relate to students in a unique way. One of the observations I did was of my own mentor teacher. I taught the same class earlier in the day and he gave me specific feedback about how I did. I asked to watch him teach the same lesson later and he agreed. It was great to see how I handled the class and the content similarly, as in I covered the same material in the same general order, but differently in my approach and rapport with students.  Through watching various teachers and the various techniques used, I am beginning to narrow-down the type of teacher I strive to be. For the majority of my life I have jotted down various teaching techniques I appreciate about teachers in an effort to compile teaching characteristics I hope to adopt. Now, as I watch others teach, I am able to discern whether the teaching traits I see are something that would work for me, or not. The traits that don't work for me are not bad, I appreciate that others can utilize various tips and tricks, but I am no longer bogged down by having to strive to do every cool thing I see other teachers do. Students in my own class will benefit from the reflections I have made of myself through this process because I will be able to play to my own strengths and therefore serve my students in a more natural and holistic way. In my remaining time at my placement school and throughout my career, I hope to take advantage of any observation opportunities I have. I enjoy watching others teach and find that not only do I always learn something (about content or teaching itself) but I am constantly analyzing my own practice when I watch others. Scheduling regular observation times will keep me reflective and fresh as a teacher.

Teacher Observation: Chemistry

Yesterday I taught electron configurations and atomic orbitals to my chemistry students. My mentor teacher and I spent a long time going over various aspects of the lecture and how it was going to go. I felt good about my teaching, despite the varying response from students. Many were frustrated by the new language they were learning. One student came up to me after class and said "I think you did a great job, they're (the other students)  just crazy." I was interested to see my mentor teach this same lesson for several reasons. First, I haven't seen him lecture a whole lot and felt I could benefit from watching him do so. Second, I wanted to compare what I did to what he did. So I observed my chemistry mentor teach during sixth period, a class I have never interacted with.

ML opened the class with a warm-up that was part of his notes but he had them fill out in their warm-up sheets. I like the way he elicited prior knowledge about the topic he was covering and I think the students benefited from this exercise. He then used a mix of questioning techniques to hear answers to the warm-up. He both randomly called on people and asked for volunteers to answer. Once the students were through the warm-up, he posted announcements for the students to write down and while he passed out a handout to the class. This was a great use of disrupted time as the students needed to copy down the homework and it gave him an opportunity to pass out something the students needed. One classroom management technique I observed ML use was the power dynamic he set up at the beginning of class. I'm not sure if it was the words he used or the way he said it, but there was a tone set that he was in charge of the next fifty minutes and the students were to follow his lead.  At various points throughout the lecture he reminded them of this by saying things like, "will you let me finish?" "hold your questions for a second," etc. As far as instruction goes, I know that ML does not lecture very often. There are scattered lecture days among many work days, work sheets, drills, labs, web explorations, etc. The lecture days are used primarily to get a concept across so the students can then interact with that concept and master it. Electron configuration charts must be taught because of the abstract nature of the drawings. Asking students to come up with how to do that would be extremely time-consuming and unrealistic. However, ML uses the time following lectures to give students a chance to interact with the concept and explore different patterns they may see. Towards the end of the lecture, ML encouraged students to try the new material on their own or in their groups using white boards. Although not highly technical, white boards are essential to chemistry classrooms so students can interact with the abstract concepts they learn.

There were several differences between ML's lecture and mine. I think several of the differences are just in our personalities. Additionally, he has been doing this for so long and is so comfortable with the material that he is able to free the mental space to expand his teaching repertoire. One way he does this is with many different analogies. I need to use more analogies to explain the chemistry concepts. Chemistry is so abstract that models and analogies are necessary to master the concepts. I thoroughly enjoyed observing my mentor teacher in this informal way with a set of students I have no responsibility for. It was a good experience and gave me an even better understanding of the chemistry class at my placement school.

P1.- Practice intentional inquiry and planning for instruction.

P1.- Practice intentional inquiry and planning for instruction. Teacher candidates plan and/or adapt standards-based curricula that are personalized to the diverse needs of each student. At my placement school, I have several students with IEP's in my classroom. planning and adapting standards-based curricula seems to go hand in hand with adapting classroom materials to meet the needs of specific IEP students. In sixth period Biology, I have a student (ES) with both physical and mental issues. He is partially blind, partially deaf and partially disabled. He learns slower, most likely due to the physical ailments he deals with on a day-to-day basis. Due to his partial blindness, each handout or warm-up I create, I print out in bigger font for him to read. Attached is a screenshot of various documents I have enlarged for ES. His IEP states that accommodations as such are necessary for his learning success... for obvious reasons. If his eyes have to strain just a little less his mind is more open to think about the biology we are discussing in class. When creating any lesson, I work to meet both state standards, national standards and preparation for the Biology EOC. This means that everything we do in Biology class is for a purpose. Students are constantly asked to think creatively and make connections between subjects. For students that have physical or learning disabilities, tasks as such can be monumentally harder. accommodating students in simple ways such as increasing the font-size is a great way to give these students a leg up.   From this experience, I have realized the necessary balance between accommodating students and having high expectations. ES is enrolled in a mainstream science class so the expectations we have for him are high. He is expected to reach the standards we teach to in biology. ES works hard and truly benefits from the accommodations spelled out in his IEP. If accommodating ES by creating larger documents allows him to reach the standards, then I am happy to serve this student in this way.

[caption id="attachment_371" align="alignleft" width="300"] A few documents that were enlarged for ES as well as a folder where I keep most of the enlarged documents for the cell unit, for future students who may need this accommodation.[/caption]

For ES, giving him accommodating documents improves his learning environment . Improving the learning environment allows for more organic learning and will hopefully help ES succeed in high school biology.  Seeing the benefit that accommodations give IEP students, my next step is to accommodate students of all abilities in any way I can. Not every student is on an IEP but many students could enjoy an accommodating classroom environment in one way or another. Without the IEP or 504, it will take an open atmosphere in my classroom to discern what accommodations students may need. Whether enlarging documents for partially blind students or other accommodations, my goal as a teacher is to best serve my students.

Teacher Observation: Biology

Today I thoughtfully watched my Biology mentor teacher (MI) as she taught our students about plant nutrition. Now that I know MI a bit better, I was excited to pay attention to the details of her teaching style with some teaching experience under my belt.

Students were expected to participate in the routine warm-up (projected on the Smart Board) as they entered the classroom. MI then took some time to go through the warm-up by asking for volunteer answers. She wrote the answers that students supplied by the corresponding questions on the SmartBoard.  A variety of students answered from high achievers to not so high achievers. Then she moved on to the "main course" of the day which was a few notes and then a handout the students worked through. MI is really good about creating a fun and relaxed atmosphere for students while still expecting all eyes to be on her and for students to be quiet while others are talking. I have seen her use other questioning techniques such as popsicle sticks, etc. but today she must have felt alternative questioning techniques unnecessary.

From my observations, I find that MI uses several different techniques for classroom management. She definitely expects students to be quiet while others are talking and enforces this by standing by chatting students and shushing those who are speaking. She also frequently stamps off on student homework which allows her to interact with students one on one frequently. Another strategy she often employs is lots of time for students to talk with each other. MI gives students chances to talk with each other during notes, while they work on handouts and at many other times during the day. Not only is this a classroom management technique, (giving students time to speak and communicate as they want to) but also an instructional strategy so students are speaking, listening and writing the material they are learning. I have also noticed that MI rarely utilizes closing activities. It may be a stretch to categorize the lack of closers as an instructional technique,  but this seems to be instructionally relevant because the lessons often build off of one another and therefore a closer activity in between lessons wouldn't necessarily make sense. She encourages students to work up to the bell and many students will. Some won't, but that will always be a constant battle. Overall, I find MI to be a very well-rounded teacher using questioning techniques and technology to her benefit and having a hold on the classroom as a whole. I enjoy working with her and expect to learn a lot about myself and the workings of a successful classroom from this obviously successful biology teacher.

Teacher Observation: Physics

When I entered JW’s classroom, I could tell he taught older students. Everyone was respectful and attentive yet chatting with their neighbors. It was clear these students knew each other well. There was a warm-up on the Smart Board the students were working through and then discussed as a class. The students have clickers where they punch in their answers so JW can see how the class does as a whole. Throughout the class the students worked through a handout and checked in at several points using the clickers. Clicker questions was the only form of questioning I observed JW use. He lectured about a certain graphical function at one point, giving the students the information they needed and then letting them work on their own. His transitions were smooth, but did not employ any questioning strategies. Although questioning was not used as an instructional strategy, the class was well managed due to JW’s dry and sarcastic sense of humor that the students respond well to. When students were chatting, I noticed JW would employ the stare down and wait out the students until they were quiet. Additionally, JW will go and sit at various tables to help students work through whatever problem they were on. He leaves students alone to work and only offers help when they ask for it. The students are competent and don’t need a ton of guidance to get through their work. JW is obviously excited about physics and gets excited during his lectures. I find this to be an extremely valuable instructional strategy as it both keeps student attention and makes the lecture more exciting. Students worked right up to the bell so there wasn’t a ton of time for a closer. JW was going somewhere right after school so he told his class to clean up and leave right when the bell rang. A welcome statement from a teacher. I enjoyed sitting in on JW's class. I know JW because he often hangs out in the classroom I teach in. He chats with other teachers and I have heard him talk about students and his teaching style in casual conversation. It was interesting to see him interact with his own students and compare what he says about his teaching to my observations of him as a teacher. I respect JW and feel that he has a natural rhythm that becomes palpable to all who enter his classroom.

O2- Offer appropriate challenge in the content area.

O2.- Offer appropriate challenge in the content area. Teacher-candidates plan and /or adapt curricula that are standards driven so students develop understanding and problem-solving expertise in the content area(s) using reading, written and oral communication, and technology. In other words, teachers are responsible for exposing student to not only the standards society has determined high schoolers need to reach, but also problem-solving skills in various mediums. To give you an example, I have included a link to a different blogpost here. This blogpost gives an overview of a unit I wrote and taught about cells. In this unit, students are given information about cells, and then asked to complete several different projects and labs. This unit shows that I can give students a variety of problem-solving tasks that are aligned to standards. During this unit, students had to read about membranes, write about cheek and onion cells, and orally present a project comparing a cell to something of their choosing. Students naturally included technology into this unit through the use of PowerPoint and Prezi to present their cell projects. 


 Through this unit I noticed I have a tendency to hand-hold students through laboratory procedures. I also noticed that I was actually surprised by the sophistication of their cell analogy presentations. From reflecting on my personal behavior towards students, I have realized that students are capable of absorbing and synthesizing the information I give them, they just lack the practice adults possess. Students benefitted from this unit in several ways. They were able to practice their public and laboratory skills and learn about cells; foundations for successful students of biology. I think this was a great unit and students got a lot out of it, but in the future, I would like to work on integrating more standards into lessons in an effort to increase connections between topics.

Cell Unit Overview

Description: This is the first full unit I have written at my placement. I have included both the unit overview and the calendar I have been following which outlines the handouts students will receive each day and the warm-up questions that I foresee will be used each day as well. Note: the warm-up questions may not be what was actually used on the specified day due to flexibility in student learning.

calendar for cell unit cells unit overview

Cell Unit Reflection.

Hello world.

Here are descriptions of all of the lessons I used for the cell unit. There are various handouts I have not included, but would be willing to provide at any time. There are three lessons, one lab, and one project. I administered a pre and post test for this unit. It took two weeks to get through this unit. I also have made comments on what worked and didn't work during each of these lessons.

Lesson 1: Notes on organelles. Students took notes on a powerpoint I created describing each organelle. Students were asked to draw each organelle, write down its function, and if it is found in animals, plants or both. This lesson took us about a period and a half to complete.

I think it was effective to have students draw each organelle. Next time I teach cells, I would like to organize my notes slightly differently and maybe include a "fun fact" about each organelle. I had a hard time limiting the information I gave them. I need to figure out how to determine what is most important about each organelle, and how to get that across. My mentor teacher talked about having each table research and then present an organelle. I like this, but I think I like giving them the information with frequent breaks for conversation better.

Lesson 2:  Cell membrane exploration. I used a lesson plan from CarbonTime curriculum that my mentor teacher uses. It is basically an exploration into how the cell membrane functions and the different jobs it has. Students worked in groups, read through the handout, colored, and described different aspects of the cell membrane. It took students about a period and a half to do this lesson.

This lesson was kind of an accident, but I loved it. I love the exploration qualities of the worksheet and how students have to build their knowledge of cell membranes throughout the packet. I also liked how it built on pre-existing knowledge students had gained in this year of biology.

Lesson 3: Now that students had an idea of each organelle individually, I had them cut out different organelles and paste them into a cell membrane for animal cells and a cell wall for plant cells.  I gave them one whole period to work through this project.

I also really liked this part of the unit. I framed it as a progression from individual organelles to a whole functioning unit, or cell. Additionally, there is a theme in this biology class of "building our own textbook" so I"m glad I made the decision to require each student to build both animal and plant cells .Some students had a great time doing this and others didn't. Next time for this one I would print out the instructions and have them tape that into their notebooks before I passed out the building supplies. I didn't do this and I think it would have been more beneficial to do so.

Lab: I broke the lab into two days. The first day, students went through a series of steps that introduced them to using a microscope. The next day I had students look at cheek and onion cells and draw them in their notebooks. They had conclusion questions they worked through at the conclusion of the lab.

The lab went really well. I made the onion cells for students and hand-held them through making the cheek cell slides as well. I would really like to get to a place where I can let that control go and allow students to do these types of things that they are completely capable of doing on their own. If I had let them do so, they would be less afraid to perform experiments with little instruction in college, which is terrifying if you haven't ever down so before.

Cell Analogy Project: The project was my favorite part of this unit. Students were asked to create an analogy about the cell. Some groups compared the cell to an airplane, the US, Seattle, the Seattle Center, all sorts of creative ideas.

By far my favorite. I will do this with any unit of cells I ever do. That said, I haven't assigned scores yet. I allowed students to present their cells in any way they wanted to. There are a lot of power points. I also should have built in more time do work on these projects in class, as well as having more project supplies on hand so they could do things other than power points in class. It was so fun to watch them present and hear how they think about cells. I was really nervous that they wouldn't have learned anything about cells and come up with these totally off-base analogies... but this was not the case. Some groups came up with the most elegant examples of various organelles. One group used our classroom as the analogy. My mentor teacher was labeled the nucleus (the control center) and me as the golgi apparatus. When this particular group of students came to me with their idea, I wasn't sure if it would work. When they explained that I am the golgi because I spread  information to all students (information representing various macromolecules in the cell), I was not only on board with their idea, but all of a sudden thinking about the golgi in a way I never have before. So cool.

Overall, creating and teaching this unit has taught me that organization is key to having the unit laid out, but having the flexibility to change questions, warm-ups or the flow of the unit if it is or isn't working. I also really like having a few lessons and lots of project-based learning to keep students engaged. I think their may be something said for shorter units with more focused content. This would mean more tests, but if they are smaller I think students would be okay with it.

Teacher Observation: Life Science

This week I had the opportunity to observe a well-loved teacher at my placement school. LG is quirky and kind but sets high expectations for all six periods of freshman life science students he works with. When students walked in, they went to the cabinet with their period number posted on it and grabbed their lab journal. They then went to take their seat at their assigned desk. LG opened the class by going over homework. The students would be taking a test the following day and so the lesson for that day was reviewing concepts that would be on the test. Going over the homework brought up many questions and sparked good discussion. LG has a card system for calling on students. Each student fills out a card with interesting things about his or herself at the beginning of the year and then he uses those cards to call on students during classroom discussion. Within the first half of the class, every name in his stack of cards had been called. This not only randomizes who he calls on, but causes students to be constantly listening for their name to be called. When class was almost over, LG reminded his students that there would be a test tomorrow and wished them a good day. Very simple, friendly and effective. both the cabinet for lab journals and LG's card stacks are great ideas for high schoolers of all ages.

Throughout the entire period, LG used questioning techniques to not only gauge student understanding, but to also faciliate discussion and help his students study. Many of the questions were closed becuase there were specific answers students needed to understand. However, I feel that this particular teacher would easily use open-ended questions during laboratory explorations. Again, the stack of cards LG employs eliminates any gender, ethnicity, or ability bias. Once all the homework was checked, LG had students pull out the whiteboards and practice various problems in their table groups. He gave them a limited amount of time to do each problem and used an oldschool timing device to do so. As the tables worked, LG circulated moving between tables to answer questions and monitor student work. When most tables had a completed answer, he went over the problem on the board. Instead of doing the work on the board himself, he could have had students present their answer to the class.

Today, most high school science classrooms rely on some sort of technology to function. During the 55-minute period I was observing his class, LG used the projector to show work he was doing of the doc-cam, and to present questions from a powerpoint he had created. Students used whiteboards to share their answers. LG and the students were both kept accountable of time by the use of a timing device. The use of technology in this class was thoroughly integrated and many different forms.

In conclusion, I found LG to be an incredibly dynamic teacher. It is clear that the expectations LG sets for his students are understood by the students and their is a mutual respect in the classroom. The way that LG questions the students keeps the freshmen on their toes and therefore out of trouble.

H5- Honor student potential for roles in greater society

[caption id="attachment_318" align="alignright" width="288"] Representing my college on college day.[/caption]

H5-Honor student potential for roles in greater society. Teacher candidates prepare students to be responsible citizens for an environmentally sustainable, globally interconnected, and diverse society.   Every student has a future ahead of them. Whether that is a full-time job out of high school or college, each life that passes through my classroom is going somewhere. Most of the students where I am doing my internship will go to college to figure out what they will do with their lives. This week I was able to talk to students about my the decision process I went through in picking a school, career, etc. The sophomores and juniors took the PSAT and PLAN tests this week to practice for the real tests they will soon be taking. Because of this, school was on a shortened schedule. Students visited each period for only twenty minutes. Teachers were encouraged to share their "college story" with students. I was so thankful that I got to participate in this day. I was able to emphasize in every class how important it is to find what you love to do and go for it. By participating in conversations about college with my students, I met HOPE standard H5. Each student has the potential to do whatever they can set their minds to and I made this sentiment clear in each period. This experience showed me how nervous students are about what comes next in their lives. They need teachers and other role models to talk with and gain perspective on what is best for them. I have known for awhile that I hope to help students discern where to do go with their lives, but today gave me a glimpse of what that is like. When students feel like their teachers are willing to participate in conversations about their future, a bond is created. Students are able to see how school, education and what we are trying to do as teachers is beneficial to their futures. I would like to find ways to continue this conversation with students as they get closer to deciding where they may want to attend college or get closer to having to make decisions about the next part of their lives. One way I could do this is by working in time during our teaching schedule to communicate about the future. One way to facilitate this communication would be to periodically incorporate questions about the future into warm-up activities.

Challenge Students

Right now I have two students are presenting particular challenges to me. EM is a student in my chemistry class that is asking for challenges because he is bored with the content when he is barely passing the class. I challenged him to bring his grade up to an A and find a book that would be a good fit in a chemistry class. This is a student who is smarter and better than high school chemistry. I didn't think this was the type of student that would be coming to me for help. KB is the type of student I though I would be working with a lot more. KB is a girl who is trying so hard to pass high school biology. we sat tonight for almost an hour going over the test she is taking tomorrow. It was almost heartbreaking how hard she is trying and how frustrated she gets with the results. I feel for her. I loved every second with this student. I am finding my teaching skills really shine one on one. I need some work on the larger group settings. Which, of course, is the whole point of student teaching. Identifying and strengthening those weaker points.

H4- Honor family/community involvement in the learning process

H4-Honor family/community involvement in the learning process. Teacher candidates inform, involve, and collaborate with families/neighborhoods, and communities in each student's educational process, including using information about student cultural identity, achievement and performance.  Parents have invested so much in their children, that it only makes sense for teachers to involve parents in the education of their students. In order to do this, communication must be established with parents. To illustrate the importance of parent communication, I drafted a letter (figure 1) to send home to parents introducing myself as the student teacher and asking for basic contact information so that I can be in contact with parents when I need to be. I included a section for parents to inform me of "things I need to be aware of" so that parents would see that I care about their student and hope to meet their individual needs.

[caption id="attachment_303" align="alignleft" width="353"] Figure 1. Parent letter explaining my role in their son or daughters' classroom.[/caption]

The parent letter I drafted is an example of H3 because by sending a letter home with my contact information and asking for parent contact information in return, I have effectively opened a line of communication with parents. I sent out the letter this week and have already received several back with some interesting comments about students. Comments I hope to be sensitive of, and will help tailor my teaching to specific student needs.

From this experience I learned that parent involvement is essential to understanding students holistically. If I had not sent the letter home, there would be important student details I would not otherwise know. The implications of a parent letter on student learningresults from the resources parents can be to teachers. Parents by definition know more about their son or daughter than anyone else. It only makes sense to use parents as a resource to serve students in the best possible way. In the future I hope to create a system in which to alert parents of the happenings in my classroom. This could be done by a weekly/monthly newsletter, a weekly/monthly e-mail or an open house night twice a semester. Each of these methods would involve parents in student learning.

H2-Honor student access to content material

H2-Honor student access to content material. Teacher-candidates use multiple instructional strategies, including the principles of second language acquisition, to address student academic language ability levels and cultural and linguistic backgrounds. When I read this standard, I think about accommodating students who need a little extra help. Accommodations occur for students with IEP's or 504's. I have several students that fall into these categories in my classes. The attached picture shows an accommodation I use every day for my sixth period biology class. I have a student with vision problems along with other learning and developmental issues. To help him in class, we create enlarged documents for him to use in class.  Enlarging the documents is in accordance to his IEP and allows his eyes to strain a little less giving him a little more energy to engage in the class. I believe this evidence demonstrates my understanding of H2 because of the way that enlarging documents for this student honors his culture and language ability. He represents the special education culture well   and works really hard to thrive in a subject that can be challenging for him. By modifying assignments for this student, I have found that those accommodations are not menial tasks for teachers, but truly help students do their best.

Book Review: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

During an independent study meeting, my college professor plucked from her bookshelf The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and gave it to me to take home and read in response to our discussion of the importance of working literature into science classes. Once Spring Quarter was over and I had a moment to breathe, I read both The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.



If you aren’t familiar, Lee wrote a story from the perspective of a young girl about familial struggles as her father (Atticus Finch) defends a black man for raping a white woman in a small Alabama town in the 1920’s. To Kill a Mockingbird is quoted by the New York Times as having “an extraordinary impact on American society” and is “one of the best-selling novels of all time.” Kelly tells a story of a Southern farming family in in the early 20^th century whose patriarch establishes his family and then becomes one of the first naturalists. This story is also told from the perspective of a young girl who becomes her Grandfather’s apprentice. The pair discovers a new species of plant and the whole town becomes invested in the saga of the naturalist and his granddaughter.  I found both novels to be remarkably similar in both style and message. Although I feel that all high schoolers’ should ultimately read both books, If I had to choose, I would give my high school science students The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate if for no other reason than the application of science to a high school science class.

The science is not heavy or over-detailed but does a great job of providing an accurate presentation of both the history of science and the scientific method. Kelly nuances both the perception of science and the era in which our country began to accept science more holistically, which contributed to changes in gender equality. Each character is developed through family interactions over one year of farm life. What I loved most about this book was the delicate balance between poignant storytelling and the controversy science stirred among the family, just as Lee balanced her storytelling with the way in which career and family are overlapped in intricate and complex ways. As part of my classroom, I hope to either read The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate aloud to students, or assign it as homework and build a lesson plan comparing scientific articles and perception then and now, giving students a broader picture of what it means to be a scientist in any era. 

 

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/harper_lee/index.html

Penny Experiment... good for the first day of school?

On the first day of school, the chemistry instructor used literal demonstrations to show his students what he had signed up for in his class. I like the idea of this, but I don't love the way most people do this. He showed cool party tricks that I think students enjoyed. One involved fire and one involved piercing but not popping a balloon. I found this link from one of my professors at SPU. He writes an awesome blog and is an excellent Biochemistry teacher. This particular glowing penny experiment would be an awesome first day demonstration because it outlines so many different chemical processes. Explaining how this one experiment shows so many different aspects of chemistry, based on something we use every day. So cool.

http://arrowthroughthesun.blogspot.com/2013/08/making-copper-pennies-glow-bright-red.html

Finals Week Musings

Hey. I'm sitting on my couch. In my house. Wearing my favorite top I found in a small boutique in Spokane. I found it when I was on a trip with my girlfriends over spring break. I just want to say how much I love my life. Because I do, I love my life. I finally feel the age I have always felt- it seems I just needed T. Swift to tell me about it:) I'm excited for the summer to spend more time blogging, reading, spending time with my friends and preparing for the adventure called student teaching.
Things I want to do over the summer:
read the books on my shelf
read the science and literacy papers I didn't get to read
spray paint and fill frames
go goodwill furniture shopping

Lab Write-Up LP

I thoroughly enjoyed creating this lesson plan. This particular myth busters clip is perfect for it, and there are natural breaks where I can pause and discuss with students different aspects of research. This clip also includes important practices in science such as repeatable data, significant differences, etc.

lab write-up lesson plan Sample Lab write-up

Classroom Management Interview

One of my assignments for EDU 3250: Secondary General Methods I: Planning and Classroom Management, was to conduct an interview with a teacher I respect. I chose my high school chemistry teacher, Mr. Tom Nichols. Attached is the interview as well as the summary I compiled in response to the interview.

Classroom Management Interview

The man I sat next to in starbucks today said, "i have a feeling you are going to be a good teacher." I love this.

Catchup

Today I took a 3 hour TV-watching, napping, glorious break from life. A life that has been crazy and nonstop for the past 6 weeks that school has been in session. I can't even believe we're more than halfway through Winter quarter. I am so overwhelmed, already, about Spring that I can hardly stand it. On that same note, I am SO ready for Easter season. I ordered a devotional to start for Lent and I can hardly wait.

Figure 1. This is the devotional I ordered.
Order it here.

What are you giving up for Lent? Is this a common tradition?

Love,

Katy