Free the Teachers! (LOL)

One tip I got when I did my National Board Certification was to make the nbpts.org site my homepage.  The idea was that I would be keeping my goal foremost in my mind.  I think it really worked. 

Now I apply that same idea to other goals:  when I wanted to be better at tracking my money, I made my credit union site my homepage; now my homepage is Edutopia because the Edutopia "vision" is really close to my own vision for school change.  My passion is for freeing teachers to do those things we learn about in our undergrad and grad schools.  Allowing us to TRY the latest and greatest, research based methods.  Allowing us to innovate.

And that's why I keep linking to Edutopia blog posts on school reform.  Like this post on using social media in education. 

Article: Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement

Check out the blog post from Edutopia!

Finally Blogging about my Student Voice Surveys!

AP Chemistry--I asked them to type an anonymous reflection on the learning that takes place, my teaching style, and the classroom environment.  Only 11 of 17 students did the assignment.  Of that I would say 8 were positive and 3 were somewhat negative.

One theme among ALL the students who answered was that when I give notes I am hard to follow .  So I am trying to be a more organized note-giver. 

One student described the classroom environment in this way:  "Her classroom is comfortable and most of the time, clean, until her students start or are in the middle of a lab.  That alone helps students feel more at home." 

Many students felt as though the classroom environment was a selling point for taking AP Chem:

"The environment is very comfortable... everyone acts as adults and are very willing to learn.  Becaue of the way we act, Mrs. Schneider treats us as adults and there is an equal respect throughout the class.  Your opinion matters to your classmates and your teacher."

Another theme is that when I do not practice a problem before putting it on the board and drag them through working it out, they often feel worn out and lost. I agree with them to a point and see this as one area in which I would like to grow--being more prepared for the tough material.

I notice a difference in the way some of us approached our student voice surveys:  some of us asked FOR student voice ABOUT student voice; others of us just asked FOR student voice.  Just an observation!

The Few. The Proud. The Marines

The Few. The Proud. The Marines is definitely a phrase that the Marines can own! We were impressed the whole time we were at Parris Island!! What an eye opening experience! It totally changed the way I view the military. They lead by example and never ask the recruits to do something that their superior wouldn't do. Isn't this an interesting concept? What if everytime we gave the kids an assignment to write a 5 page essay, we sat down and did it with them? They instil values and morals in their recruits. The drill instructor has the job of doing this. For me, when I heard the role of a drill instructor, I imagined the D.I. on the movie Full metal jacket. An actual D.I. is so far from this. They are really just amped up teachers! If you can get past the harshness and loudness of their voice, their words are quite moving. They let the new recruits know that they will never give up on them and even when they are ready to give the D.I. won't. We have lots of great stuff to share with everyone, along with videos and pictures but here's a link to a news broadcast that was done on our group. If you look close you can see us in our formation =)

http://your4state.com/fulltext?nxd_id=247322 

Successes and Failures in PBL

Last week I finished what is probably my most successful attempt to PBL this year.  I asked my Earth Science students to plan a senior trip.  The things that made this PBL successful were things I've learned from being around the Freshmen teachers:  A real-life event that can hook the students' imaginations, supportive scaffolding like a rubric, periodic checkpoints, and clarity about the scope of the project.  I used this PBL as a way to have students learn to use Google Earth and the many features available in that software.  (Did you know that with Google Earth you can swim with sharks, find sunken ships, or use a flight simulator?)  It was also my first attempt to use parents as graders.  All in all, I was happy with the PBL.  I think I can tweak it if I ever teach Earth Science again.  I learned a lot, and so did the students.  Some students learned they were more capable than they thought.  Others learned that they need to work harder. 

Since then I've embarked on another "PBL" and it's really flopping.  The "hook" isn't very good.  It wasn't well thought out.  It's just a poor copy of the other PBL, and both I and the students realize it. 

  I feel better about it when I watch this video where Diane Laufenberg explains that we learn by making mistakes.

"The Inquisition"

While our students have been researching various aspects of the Middle Ages to create a "KnightLine" news magazine show, Christina and I have been trying to find creative ways to "tease" them into discovering information. We've had them pretend they were British citizens after the death of King Edward the confessor who had no heirs, and they were to decide on the better choice for king. We also had them pretend they were King John and presented them with a variety of scenarios in which they had to decide what the King should do, leading to the signing of the Magna Carta.

Today, we decided to put them right in the middle of our version of "The Inquisition." Not long after each of our sessions began, while Mrs. Gouzd was in front of the room giving instructions for the day, Mrs. Barner entered quietly and began to interrogate Christina about her loyalty to North Marion. As the questioning escalated, I could see various responses by the students. Most of them were unable to look at the two in the front of the room, the accuser and the accused. Many of them looked at me with a "Why don't you do something?" plea in their eyes. When Mrs. Barner finally told Mrs. Gouzd that they needed to finish this in Mrs. DeVito's office and they left the classroom, I was left with an overwhelming outrage by the students. They were incensed first that Mrs. Gouzd would even be accused of being anything other than a loyal Husky. They were also agitated by Mrs. Barner's making very public accusations.

Only a few minutes after her departure for further questioning, Mrs. Gouzd returned to lead a very spirited discussion of the Spanish Inquisition with the students. Through this modern portrayal of false allegations and intense interrogation, the students experienced first-hand, and on a much smaller scale, what heretics endured during the Inquisition. I doubt that they will soon forget this dark period in history.