TRIP TO AFRICA!

I am going to Africa in April. How that is even possible, I'm still not sure. So far, I have $302 saved for it. That is NOT enough. I need to get my act together.

What we have so far:
-Dad and I will fly to Africa and spend time there with shelby and do a safari
-Shelby, myself and her friend Alex will travel and meet Sabrina somewhere malaria free
-We want to do Morocco, Spain and end in London
-fly home from London


Connections:
-We have a place to stay with Jennie in London
-Isabella lives in Prague

Travel:
-cheap flights around Europe?
-Purchase tickets in January
-how do we get from Morocco to Spain?


Food:
simple, cheap, public places

Sleep:
airbnb
couchsurfer.org
connections

What to bring:

Q: Picky Teacher?

Hey there teaching world.

So here is my question. How did you get your teaching job? Did you wait for the position you wanted or did you jump into what was available? What was the outcome? And, have you ever had a teaching job that didn't work out for you?

Please respond in the comments section below, on Facebook, twitter, tumblr, or shoot me an e-mail at lessonsloved@gmail.com

If I ever have to teach math again...

The following was written on 1/1/15, after a break from teaching math and before I began teaching science again. 

"oofta. Math is not my thing. I learned a lot, though. Here are some things:

1. must teach what you believe in.

2. getting bogged down in the details does NOT allow me to keep the bigger picture in mind.

3. my resolve crumbles in the moment.

4. having clear expectations on grading is VITALLY important.

5. signing off on work works.

6. removing distractions works.

7. there must be a way for small groups to run."

Science in an alternative classroom

The second term I taught Science,  I framed the class around lab experience. My intention was to hone and strengthen lab writing skills. For unforeseen reasons, that didn't exactly happen. The first part of the term we did two different labs: a virtual lab (an activity I came up with in college and really liked using in practice) and then a chromatography lab. Here was what I wrote about the chromatography lab:

"Did not go well. They hated it, even though they got to do the lab themselves. I think they liked the idea of doing the lab portion, but some of them didn't even like that. I would only do this lab again if I had a group of kids that was really into hands on stuff."

I think this sums up what science looks like in an alternative science classroom MOST of the time for MOST students.

First Year of Teaching

Sucked.

Well, actually, it didn't all suck. I took a job that I thought would let me change the world and I was sorely disappointed. I learned SO MUCH. There are a few blog posts I wrote in the moment in a different blog that I will reshare over here to consolidate all the lessons I've learned about teaching. I wanted to preface those posts by recapping the past year. I taught at South Jetty High School for one year where I covered General Science, General Math, Statistics and oversaw many different independent studiers. I worked with a VERY small team and had no built-in science collaboration. I met some awesome people and learned about myself and the world of gangs, drugs and hard lives.

P3- Practice standards-based assessment.

P3.- Practice standards-based assessment. Teacher-candidates use standards-based assessment that is systematically analyzed using multiple formative, summative and self-assessment strategies to monitor and improve instruction. For each unit taught, teachers should monitor student understanding throughout the whole unit. Some of the monitoring will come in the form of quizzes or tests, other monitoring may be informal during class or through self-assessment assignments for students to complete. I have included two documents showing how the units I write incorporate various methods of assessment to improve student learning. Document 1 (bacteria unit overview) shows the progression of the bacteria unit as it occurred in class. Document 2 (assessments) shows the various methods of assessment I used throughout the unit to monitor student learning. The assessments include summative, formative and self-assessment strategies to gauge student understanding from day one until the unit quiz. While writing the unit and compiling the assessments, I noticed how natural assessing students in various ways occurs during instruction. What does not come as natural is creating alternative summative assessments that allow students at various levels to succeed in class. In future units, I would like to prepare multiple forms of summative assessment to ensure students who learn in different ways are able to be assessed appropriately. I would also like to include more opportunities for students to self-assess their progress as self-assessment is a key skill for success in academia and life.

Bacteria unit overview                                                         Assessments

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. Students learn in a variety of different ways. To reach each member of the classroom community, variation in instructional strategies and the care for all language acquisition (whether second langauge acquisition or academic language acquisition) is vital to successful student learning. In chemistry, we gave students a sheet of polyatomic ions (attached) and told them that eventually they will need to know these by heart. In the meantime, students used the sheet of polyatomic ions while learning to write ionic formulas. This resource gives all students an opportunity to learn in their own way before mastering the polyatomic ions. Giving the resource to students a month prior to the mastery quizes where students will get points for memorizing the ions, students have the chance to learn the ions in a way that is convenient for them.   For some students, the visual aspect of a list will help introduce the academic language necessary for chemistry. For other students, working with the polyatomic ions on a regular basis will help them memorize the formulas. In addition, some students will require point-based motivation to memorize the formulas. Upcoming "mastery quizes"  will give students the point-based motivation necessary for them to learn the formulas and names of polyatomic ions. From this experience, I have seen firsthand how important it is to think ahead while planning. As a new teacher I often get bogged down in what needs to be prepared for tomorrow. I have to consciously think about the big picture and what my students will need to thoroughly understand not only one particular unit, but the course content overall. To enhance the instruction of polyatomic ions further, it may be beneficial to present the ions in various ways to the class as a whole. Adding some sort of direct instruction may help reach some students that have yet to be reached from the other methods of teaching polyatomic ions.

olyatomicIons2