So for the first time I am teaching freshmen physics. It is going really well so far. They all have had algebra 1 so I think I can do a lot of what I would normally do with modeling, but there are some differences. After pre-testing on unit conversion and sci. notation, etc. I find a lot of their skills are lacking, so I will definitely have to spend a little bit of time on that, but I think I want to move on and just intersperse that in where I need it. Nothing kills the momentum of a science class more than spending days doing rote problems. It is important though so I will be making those standards for my freshmen to tackle.
Whiteboarding is going well though with the freshmen. I think part of it is they are here for the first time in a new building. They knew the school was different than a traditional program and they are just rolling with it. I would say I have nearly 65% of my students already participating in discussions after only a couple times doing it. That is great and makes me very excited for where I can go with it. Not only that, but the thinking shown by some of them based on their comments has already impressed me.
I'm wrapping up my intro to graphing and whiteboarding labs this week and will be moving on to constant motion next week. Can't wait!
The other new development is the new state law that mandates teacher evaluations. I'm really impressed by them. And they are creating something that I think I really have hoped for since I became a teacher. When I did my student teacher I thought it was very valuable when my supervisor or supervising teacher would watch my lessons and give me feedback. After reading this article, I tried to get some colleagues to try coaching without a whole lot of luck. I think it would be great to get outside eyes watching what I do and sharing what they see from their perspective. Up until now our evaluation method was a joke. Administration would have to announce when they were coming in in advance. I always thought that was stupid. What if health inspectors had to tell you in advance they were coming to check your restaurants kitchen? I bet they'd have a LOT less violations. I never told my administrator a date any more than, "Probably not Tuesday I'm giving a test. Any other day would be fine." I didn't put on a show when they came in. I did my lesson. But the evaluation was usually short and didn't really give me the feedback I was hoping for. I didn't have any benchmarks. My feedback has always positive for what I was doing, but that was sort of the problem. I know I am not the best teacher I can be. I know I will never be the best teacher I can be because perfection is impossible in this profession. Every year brings new students and new combinations of challenges. That is what I love about my job. So the old evals didn't fulfill me. So what about the new ones?
I can't wait to start. As opposed to the old method where I get observed once every three years for about 20 minutes. I will be observed 6-8 times over the course of this year. I will have a pre-observation meeting where I can discuss with my administrator my goals and where I think I need to do the most work. Then throughout the process, I will have additional meetings where I will get feedback on what was observed. Then I will have a chance to change my practices before my next observation. And get this... They gave me a list of outcomes(standards) on which I will be assessed. I will know what standards I'm exceeding expectations and which ones I need to work on! I'm getting standards-based-grading for my teaching. So excited. Yes. I'm a dork.
The downside is now this rubric will be assigned points to judge my worth as a teacher. But as I tell my students, work on mastering the standards and your grade will take care of itself.
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
A new slate.
I began this blog 2 years ago as a means for me to reflect on my teaching. I did not anticipate that anyone would ever actually read it. To my surprise people did find it and I appreciated the feedback. Then I made one post in the last year. Despite that I still run into people who have found this blog and appreciate it so I thought I might as well jump back into it. I am probably back to typing to myself again but that is no matter. That was my original intent all along. If it helps others then that is awesome. So thanks to those few still here. I plan on posting at least one blog entry a week. Maybe more if I can.
So a new year and a new challenge. My students did not do very well on their IB exam in physics last year. I had a feeling that would happen though. I came in late to the game and found that my students were lacking in many of the basics. IB physics is a 2 year program and they had a different teacher for the first year. She did a commendable job considering her situation. She is a math teacher who was thrown into teaching chemistry and physics for the first time ever. Add to that a new math course as well and I can't blame her for any of the student's lacking. I had hoped to fill in some of the gaps but just ran out of time. But I feel much better about this year's group of seniors. They are a great group and will do much better this year I am sure. Plus I know now a lot more on how to prepare them for the test this year.
In addition to this I will be teaching all the freshmen in our program introductory physics. I've not taught physics to 9th graders before. There are only 5 incoming freshmen who haven't had algebra so I think I will be able to include some of the math rather than making it purely conceptual. In addition as one of only 2 teachers in the program who have all of the freshmen it will fall onto me to help nurture the culture we expect at the Academy. I have some plans on this. I may have them read a bit of Carol Dweck's Mindset. I want to get them started early and often though with thinking about their thought processes and how they are actually learning. It should be fun!
So a new year and a new challenge. My students did not do very well on their IB exam in physics last year. I had a feeling that would happen though. I came in late to the game and found that my students were lacking in many of the basics. IB physics is a 2 year program and they had a different teacher for the first year. She did a commendable job considering her situation. She is a math teacher who was thrown into teaching chemistry and physics for the first time ever. Add to that a new math course as well and I can't blame her for any of the student's lacking. I had hoped to fill in some of the gaps but just ran out of time. But I feel much better about this year's group of seniors. They are a great group and will do much better this year I am sure. Plus I know now a lot more on how to prepare them for the test this year.
In addition to this I will be teaching all the freshmen in our program introductory physics. I've not taught physics to 9th graders before. There are only 5 incoming freshmen who haven't had algebra so I think I will be able to include some of the math rather than making it purely conceptual. In addition as one of only 2 teachers in the program who have all of the freshmen it will fall onto me to help nurture the culture we expect at the Academy. I have some plans on this. I may have them read a bit of Carol Dweck's Mindset. I want to get them started early and often though with thinking about their thought processes and how they are actually learning. It should be fun!
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Why I'm winning.
Ok. I started this post on Nov. 11th! Time to finish it up don't you think?
Changing schools is hard. You have no reputation. You have no connection with students or staff. You have not developed the trust that comes from these things. So you can imagine the chaos that ensued when I arrived with all my new-fangled teaching ideas. Modeling and SBG at a school that has seen neither before. It has been an exciting few months.
My biggest hurdle to date has been my students view that I am some guardian to the knowledge. My new position is at an IB acadamy in my district. The kids are hard workers, but they are grade obsessed. Their visions of college are the best available and they will not entertain any ideas of any lesser program. They are experts in the game of school and my style of teaching is making many of them very uncomfortable.
I made myself a goal this year not to lecture in my Biology class. I have been weeding the practice out the last few years. In fact last year I used it mainly as a review before a test. But this year I decided to forego it completely. At this point I think it has been rather successful. In the words of Dan Meyer I am being less helpful. The kids are doing more than they ever have for me and are learning great things. I think the move to SBG made this all possible. Students are in control of their learning. I still have all my old powerpoints, and I have made them available to the students. I just don't waste classtime reading them. So what do I do instead? We whiteboard ideas. We have socratic dialogues about the labs we have completed. We analyze texts and problem solve and think. We research current issues and hold debates. My students are getting a conceptual grounding in what make Biology so important. And the tide is turning my way.
At first my students were very frustrated. "How can we learn if you won't teach us?" "I really need a lecture to be able to understand the material!" "You need to give us more homework!" "How can I get an A if you don't collect our homework?" That lasted until students first started retesting on objectives they had missed. They soon discovered that I could very quickly spot a memorized response. They discovered that I was looking for deeper connections to a conceptual understanding. They discovered that I expect them to do homework because it is vital to their learning and not to jump through a hoop. They discovered that they can do way more than they had thought. How do I know this? Because these are the questions/statements I'm getting now. "Wow! I'm so happy I failed that first test. I am learning so much now!" "I'm having trouble understanding hydrogen bonding. Do you know of a resource I could use?" "Dude, you have to know it better than that if you expect Mr. B to give you a 3." "Can you give me some problems so I can practice calculating magnification?"
The climate is a-changing. I'm so enjoying the ride.
Changing schools is hard. You have no reputation. You have no connection with students or staff. You have not developed the trust that comes from these things. So you can imagine the chaos that ensued when I arrived with all my new-fangled teaching ideas. Modeling and SBG at a school that has seen neither before. It has been an exciting few months.
My biggest hurdle to date has been my students view that I am some guardian to the knowledge. My new position is at an IB acadamy in my district. The kids are hard workers, but they are grade obsessed. Their visions of college are the best available and they will not entertain any ideas of any lesser program. They are experts in the game of school and my style of teaching is making many of them very uncomfortable.
I made myself a goal this year not to lecture in my Biology class. I have been weeding the practice out the last few years. In fact last year I used it mainly as a review before a test. But this year I decided to forego it completely. At this point I think it has been rather successful. In the words of Dan Meyer I am being less helpful. The kids are doing more than they ever have for me and are learning great things. I think the move to SBG made this all possible. Students are in control of their learning. I still have all my old powerpoints, and I have made them available to the students. I just don't waste classtime reading them. So what do I do instead? We whiteboard ideas. We have socratic dialogues about the labs we have completed. We analyze texts and problem solve and think. We research current issues and hold debates. My students are getting a conceptual grounding in what make Biology so important. And the tide is turning my way.
At first my students were very frustrated. "How can we learn if you won't teach us?" "I really need a lecture to be able to understand the material!" "You need to give us more homework!" "How can I get an A if you don't collect our homework?" That lasted until students first started retesting on objectives they had missed. They soon discovered that I could very quickly spot a memorized response. They discovered that I was looking for deeper connections to a conceptual understanding. They discovered that I expect them to do homework because it is vital to their learning and not to jump through a hoop. They discovered that they can do way more than they had thought. How do I know this? Because these are the questions/statements I'm getting now. "Wow! I'm so happy I failed that first test. I am learning so much now!" "I'm having trouble understanding hydrogen bonding. Do you know of a resource I could use?" "Dude, you have to know it better than that if you expect Mr. B to give you a 3." "Can you give me some problems so I can practice calculating magnification?"
The climate is a-changing. I'm so enjoying the ride.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
What happened to summer?
I had truly planned on being a blogging fiend this summer. What happened? I bought a new house. 'Nuff said.
Lots of changes for me though and so I feel it is time for my blog to morph as well. I accepted a position at my districts IB school. I'm still teaching Physics but have also jumped from Intro Biology to teaching the AP/IB Bio course. Now that I have had so much success teaching physics using the modeling method it is infuriating to teach any other way. I must figure out how to teach this way with biology. So I will still be exploring physics, pedagogy, and technology, but I will also delve more into my attempts at "modeling up" my bio course. More to come soon I hope!
Lots of changes for me though and so I feel it is time for my blog to morph as well. I accepted a position at my districts IB school. I'm still teaching Physics but have also jumped from Intro Biology to teaching the AP/IB Bio course. Now that I have had so much success teaching physics using the modeling method it is infuriating to teach any other way. I must figure out how to teach this way with biology. So I will still be exploring physics, pedagogy, and technology, but I will also delve more into my attempts at "modeling up" my bio course. More to come soon I hope!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Why I am excited today.
What a blast these last two days have been. I have had the opportunity to visit with this year's crop of modeling workshop participants. It seems crazy to me that only 1 year ago I was in their shoes. It seems like such a long time ago. I have grown so much as an educator in the last year. This post is directed at these new "new modelers".
Today I gave the advice to join twitter. This was the best thing I have ever done for my teaching. (Well besides the modeling workshop of course.) So why Twitter?
1. Well it is a lot less of a time waster than facebook.
2. You don't need to "friend" someone to hear their ideas. If you get tired of watching someone's tweets you can unfollow them without the guilty feelings of "unfriending" them.
3. Hashtags make a great way to focus your twitter feed on a particular topic.
4. There is a huge community of educators already connected on twitter. There is a pool of like-minded professionals to answer your questions. Try the hashtags #scichat (meetings every Tuesday at 9), #edchat, #physics, #physicsed just to name a few. As you find people whose comments you like, follow them. Soon you will have a stream of interesting ideas flooding your way.
I mentioned Planbook. Great software that allows you to keep an electronic lesson plan book. You can post your lessons in an online calendar. It even allows you to attach documents and such so you can find them later. Very cool stuff.
Finally, I mentioned many great blogs. I have some of them listed in the table to the left. From there I'm sure you will find many others, but I recommend starting your own. I got a lot out of forcing myself to reflect on my journey into modeling. As an added bonus I began to get feedback that was invaluable on my journey. If you start one let me know. I guarantee you will have at least one follower!
Today I gave the advice to join twitter. This was the best thing I have ever done for my teaching. (Well besides the modeling workshop of course.) So why Twitter?
1. Well it is a lot less of a time waster than facebook.
2. You don't need to "friend" someone to hear their ideas. If you get tired of watching someone's tweets you can unfollow them without the guilty feelings of "unfriending" them.
3. Hashtags make a great way to focus your twitter feed on a particular topic.
4. There is a huge community of educators already connected on twitter. There is a pool of like-minded professionals to answer your questions. Try the hashtags #scichat (meetings every Tuesday at 9), #edchat, #physics, #physicsed just to name a few. As you find people whose comments you like, follow them. Soon you will have a stream of interesting ideas flooding your way.
I mentioned Planbook. Great software that allows you to keep an electronic lesson plan book. You can post your lessons in an online calendar. It even allows you to attach documents and such so you can find them later. Very cool stuff.
Finally, I mentioned many great blogs. I have some of them listed in the table to the left. From there I'm sure you will find many others, but I recommend starting your own. I got a lot out of forcing myself to reflect on my journey into modeling. As an added bonus I began to get feedback that was invaluable on my journey. If you start one let me know. I guarantee you will have at least one follower!
Monday, June 6, 2011
What I learned this year.
Wow! Was it really February when I wrote my last post? Time is flying by. As my stress level has risen so has my lack of blogging. This semester did not go as planned. I think I bit off a bit more than I could chew this year with the SBG and the modeling at the same time. I think next year I will focus exclusively on the modeling and put SBG on hold for a year. I really like it and fully plan to implement it again in the fall. I have horrible organizational skills and keeping track of all the SBG testing and retesting has made for a severely sleep deprived person. I have to take a step back and just enjoy what I've got going on in the classroom.
My seniors are gone. So my class sizes have dwindled. I have 8 days left with my juniors. They took their final last week with the seniors. I am trying to work in some stuff with light but they have pretty much checked out at this point. (To be honest so have I!) I thought it would be good to do a wrap up of the year before I wage into my summer re-purposing for next year.
So back to the question at hand... What did I learn?
1. I need to be more organized. I spent hours grading papers and writing endless comments only to find them three weeks later buried in a pile on my desk never returned. SBG gave me never-ending streams of paper that I just wasn't prepared to handle. Before I tackle this again I have to become more efficient in these things.
2. I need to sell the method better. My buy-in for the modeling system was about 50:50. Some kids never got it. Some kids did. The frustrating thing was the kids who did would do their homework and would understand what was going on. The kids who didn't, didn't. Then I felt compelled to slow down to try and catch them up, but they never did and then the my "with-it" kids felt like the class was dragging. I don't want to give up my no-points-for-homework stance, but I need to figure out how to get those kids to catch up without slowing the class. (Insert plea for help from the likes of Kelly O'Shea here!)
3. My socratic method questioning needs work. I have improved a lot over the course of the year, but I am not very effective at this yet. Part of it may be the lack of buy-in, but I'm not really sure. My discussions were really going well by the end of December- beginning of January, but then the semester changed and my classes got scrambled. Even though the kids were the same the mix was different. The comfort level was gone and needed to be rebuilt. I just assumed that they would eventually catch back on with enough time. We all know what happens when you assume.... I really need to emphasize trust again at the semester just like I do at the beginning of the year. Anyone out there have any ideas for this?
4. I have to spend way more time on vectors. I treated this as a simple thing. Thought everyone was with me. I was very, very wrong. It plagued me all year. I re-taught and re-taught and thought they had it. Then vectors would come back. Crash and burn all over again.
5. The whole modeling thing goes slow at first and then speeds up.... Not so much. I am lucky in that I teach all three sections of introductory physics at my school. There are three other high schools in my district and they are roughly the same situation. Now technically I am supposed to keep pace with everyone else. I didn't. Not even close. In fact the district end of the year final had exactly 0 questions that my students had seen. But I learned that I am O.K. with this. I am willing to take the heat should any come my way. I am tired of jumping through hoops for the politicians. There is no way a student can learn ALL of physics in one year and actually understand it. I am willing to take the chance that my student may not know all the context for the standardized and state tests they have to take, but they will have a deep understanding of scientific and critical thinking. I think that will do them much better in the long run. So I didn't get to electricity and magnetism. I barely scratched the surface of light. But I did challenge my kids. I did get them to learn mechanics deeper than any students before them. I think I'm ok with that.
6. There is an amazing on-line community for physics education. I had no idea you existed until I began this blog. I am truly grateful for the encouragement, assistance, patience, and feedback you have given me this year. Now if I could just get one going for biology teachers..... Maybe I have to start a bio blog as well?
7. There are students out there that no matter what, do NOT think Physics is the best subject ever. I just don't get it! We play with toys on a daily basis. How is that not AWESOME!
8. True progress towards becoming a better teacher makes you realize how far you have to go. It makes me think of Man of La Mancha's The Impossible Dream. I used to think I was a pretty good teacher. Now I know I was a pretty good pseudoteacher. To truly inspire all kids to WANT to learn science is my impossible dream.
9. I am excited to try it all again next year. Yes, I have some battle scars from this year. But I see the value in the method. I saw true learning take place in my students. I had students knock the FCI out of the ballpark at the end of the year. My kids learned alot despite my meddling. Just wait until I learn to get out of their way!
I am sure I will have more lessons from this year but I feel I've rambled enough for now. Stay tuned for lessons learned part 2. (I promise not 3 months from now!)
My seniors are gone. So my class sizes have dwindled. I have 8 days left with my juniors. They took their final last week with the seniors. I am trying to work in some stuff with light but they have pretty much checked out at this point. (To be honest so have I!) I thought it would be good to do a wrap up of the year before I wage into my summer re-purposing for next year.
So back to the question at hand... What did I learn?
1. I need to be more organized. I spent hours grading papers and writing endless comments only to find them three weeks later buried in a pile on my desk never returned. SBG gave me never-ending streams of paper that I just wasn't prepared to handle. Before I tackle this again I have to become more efficient in these things.
2. I need to sell the method better. My buy-in for the modeling system was about 50:50. Some kids never got it. Some kids did. The frustrating thing was the kids who did would do their homework and would understand what was going on. The kids who didn't, didn't. Then I felt compelled to slow down to try and catch them up, but they never did and then the my "with-it" kids felt like the class was dragging. I don't want to give up my no-points-for-homework stance, but I need to figure out how to get those kids to catch up without slowing the class. (Insert plea for help from the likes of Kelly O'Shea here!)
3. My socratic method questioning needs work. I have improved a lot over the course of the year, but I am not very effective at this yet. Part of it may be the lack of buy-in, but I'm not really sure. My discussions were really going well by the end of December- beginning of January, but then the semester changed and my classes got scrambled. Even though the kids were the same the mix was different. The comfort level was gone and needed to be rebuilt. I just assumed that they would eventually catch back on with enough time. We all know what happens when you assume.... I really need to emphasize trust again at the semester just like I do at the beginning of the year. Anyone out there have any ideas for this?
4. I have to spend way more time on vectors. I treated this as a simple thing. Thought everyone was with me. I was very, very wrong. It plagued me all year. I re-taught and re-taught and thought they had it. Then vectors would come back. Crash and burn all over again.
5. The whole modeling thing goes slow at first and then speeds up.... Not so much. I am lucky in that I teach all three sections of introductory physics at my school. There are three other high schools in my district and they are roughly the same situation. Now technically I am supposed to keep pace with everyone else. I didn't. Not even close. In fact the district end of the year final had exactly 0 questions that my students had seen. But I learned that I am O.K. with this. I am willing to take the heat should any come my way. I am tired of jumping through hoops for the politicians. There is no way a student can learn ALL of physics in one year and actually understand it. I am willing to take the chance that my student may not know all the context for the standardized and state tests they have to take, but they will have a deep understanding of scientific and critical thinking. I think that will do them much better in the long run. So I didn't get to electricity and magnetism. I barely scratched the surface of light. But I did challenge my kids. I did get them to learn mechanics deeper than any students before them. I think I'm ok with that.
6. There is an amazing on-line community for physics education. I had no idea you existed until I began this blog. I am truly grateful for the encouragement, assistance, patience, and feedback you have given me this year. Now if I could just get one going for biology teachers..... Maybe I have to start a bio blog as well?
7. There are students out there that no matter what, do NOT think Physics is the best subject ever. I just don't get it! We play with toys on a daily basis. How is that not AWESOME!
8. True progress towards becoming a better teacher makes you realize how far you have to go. It makes me think of Man of La Mancha's The Impossible Dream. I used to think I was a pretty good teacher. Now I know I was a pretty good pseudoteacher. To truly inspire all kids to WANT to learn science is my impossible dream.
9. I am excited to try it all again next year. Yes, I have some battle scars from this year. But I see the value in the method. I saw true learning take place in my students. I had students knock the FCI out of the ballpark at the end of the year. My kids learned alot despite my meddling. Just wait until I learn to get out of their way!
I am sure I will have more lessons from this year but I feel I've rambled enough for now. Stay tuned for lessons learned part 2. (I promise not 3 months from now!)
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Why I love going to conferences.
MSTA update edition.
I just returned from the Michigan Science Teachers Association convention in Grand Rapids. It was awesome for many reasons.
I just returned from the Michigan Science Teachers Association convention in Grand Rapids. It was awesome for many reasons.
- I love being around teachers who want to improve their craft. This is why I truly appreciate all my tweeps and blog friends. They allow me to feel like I am at a conference on a daily basis. There were many great discussions held over many great fermented beverages. The ills of the education system were systematically dissected and solutions crafted. The dueling pianos weren't bad either.
- I presented for my first time ever at the conference. Wish I had taken video. Thought of it later. (DOH!) I was worried that only 3 people would show. My room was rather small which at first I thought was good. But when about 30 teachers showed up for a room that comfortably held 12 I realized that my worries were for naught. The most amazing thing was only about 4-5 people had even heard about modeling. I briefly (only had 45 mins) went through a description of modeling. I started by asking them to share with each other the one thing that they would want a student from their class to learn in their class. The only thing approaching a content standard was one teacher's desire for students to wear their seatbelts. The rest were ability to evaluate data, appreciate science, understand that while physics can be challenging they CAN understand it. I then launched into why those things then take the back burner to content? We don't need to be the pushers of content. There is google and wikispaces in their pockets 24-7. They need to be able to have science reasoning abilities to truly be good citizens. We need to push enough content to allow us to teach those skills. With good reasoning abilities and the ability to analyze data and graphs students could probably answer most content questions on standardized tests. At least make an educated guess. Anyway, I digress. The presentation went great. Whiteboards were used. I ended up giving them a ball rolling down a ramp problem to whiteboard where they had to create the PvT, VvT, and AvT graphs. I felt that was quick enough to have them whiteboard and discuss in the allotted time. I also figured we would get some different answers. We did. I intentionally picked a tougher problem. The ball rolled down hill from right to left. It started at X=50cm and rolled back to X=0cm. Some boards had v and a as positives; some were negative. Some were just wrong. But the beauty is in that 10 minute activity we generated at least 3 important topics with motion. They could see how the discussion immediately erupts as students try to resolve the differences. Lots of great feedback came from the session. I'm already planning my presentation for next year. Perhaps the use of Twitter and the Blogosphere as professional development?
- The awesome new connections and networking. I met at least 3 teachers that I had not known before who will have a hand in shaping my class for years to come. I plan to continue talking and collaborating with them for years to come. JT Miller's work with twitter was fascinating. His students all have twitter accounts (except two - parent decision). They regularly tweet about what is going on in his class (#tkcp). He tweets out homework and class activities to his students. Through a poll of his students, 50% of them have his tweets sent to their phone. 40% rely on his tweets to track their homework! Another teacher is doing great inquiry in Biology (no web site yet, sorry!). Her class is set-up on trimesters and each one is a case study where the required content objectives are incorporated as students try to solve the case. Great stuff. I'll most more once I get more info.
- Taco Boy burritos.
- Physics Educators meeting on Professional Development in Michigan. Several Physics teachers, ISD science coordinators, NSF contacts, and college professors met for an informal meeting over lunch. Currently their is one modeling workshop that runs in the summer in the Detroit area. We discussed how to get more training going on in more areas of the state. Lack of modelers who can train IN the state is limiting our possibilities. Lack of funding prohibits bringing in trainers from out of state. We discussed the possibility of getting serious funding through NSF. We also discussed modeling at the college level. Why is teacher prep for science still not constructivist? Why isn't all science at that level constructivist? Why are we spending all this money re-training teachers on true inquiry rather than doing it pre-service? Lots of great ideas were discussed. Lots of balls started rolling. Hopefully a critical mass can be reached!
- Seriously? You are still reading this? I'm impressed at your perseverance.
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