Job Hunting

Job hunting is certainly a chore. It seems like there is always another district I should have thought of. It would be easier in a sense if I were a traditional student without a husband and home when looking for a job. That way I wouldn't feel tied down to central Ohio. As it is, I would really like to not have to drive more than 30 minutes from Westerville. Each cover letter needs to be individualized. Each resume altered a little. Each application a ridiculously long process. On top of that, you never know when, let alone if, you will hear from anyone. I am a planner and not knowing what my life will be like in the fall is difficult and stressful for me. If anyone has any knowledge of upcoming openings in central Ohio for 7-12 life science, let me know!

taking on too much

In my Teacher Leadership class, I had to complete the Myers-Briggs personality test. It turns out I'm an Extrovert (big surprise there, haha), iNtuition, Thinker, and a Judger. It is important for me to remember that these are good or bad results, but just results that provide self-awareness. This site gives more info on my personality. One thing that really rang true is that I tend to take on more then I really should.

This is why I ignored my husband's plea that I not take classes this term. I could feel the snowball effect that would happen if I didn't take classes. I would have to push back my graduation date by three terms, pay for the classes out of pocket (I get tuition waivers b/c from Otterbein), and maybe not take the classes at all if life got stressful in other ways and fail to graduate. As a result, I'm trying to push through my three classes, my full-time OC job, subbing 3-5 days/week, and the process of buy/renovating/moving into our first home. This was a lot.

Perhaps my husband was right, and I should have taken the term off. Then again, maybe a year from now I will be teaching full-time, pregnant, and SO glad I have my degree! Can you tell INTJ's are planners??

first in-class arrest today

Today I subbed at a local high school for a music teacher. There was nothing left for my students to do, so they were just sitting around talking. I noticed one period that 3 of my 8 students in the class had disappeared. Five minutes later, a police officer and vice-principal walked in my class and took away one of my remaining students to arrest him. Apparently he showed my three disappearing students his bags of weed and vikadin. They quietly slipped out of class to tell the school administration. Who knew? I think I catch a lot as a teacher, but I guess I miss a lot, too. I had no idea this was going on until it all went down. Turns out the kid has gone through this many times before and has been through rehab, too. What a shame.

If you need a sub

If you need a substitute, here are some do's and don't's from my perspective, the perspective of a sub:
1) Leave a class list and an accurate seating chart. I can't say how many times I don't even know who or how many students to expect. Seating charts are out-dated 9 times out of 10 once the second semester rolls around. What if there's an emergency and I can't tell the administration who was in my/your class?
2) If you expect excellent or lazy behavior from your students, that is fine, just let me know. If you let your students run around all crazy, you've made my job 5 times harder, especially if you don't tell me that's the norm.
3) Leave me lesson plan options. Don't assume that I know everything or nothing about your subject or technology. Leave options, so if I feel comfortable going over your material, I can. If I know nothing about it, leave me something simple like book-work or a movie as a second option.
4) ALWAYS leave me something to do! Over-plan if necessary! Having nothing to do is a painful experience as a sub. Imagine how your students behave for you on their worst day, and now multiply it to see how they treat a sub. Give us something to accomplish or there is mayhem!
5) Leave things where we can find them and leave the teacher's computer logged on for us. Imagine moving into a fully furnished house and being told to find the garlic press. You may have an idea of where to look, but the owner may have thought a different place was logical. Leaving a working computer for us is just courteous. It is like leaving the remote control out so a guest can watch TV during downtime. We need the downtime just as much as you do.
6) Say thank you. You know who subs for you. We leave feedback on papers in your room and online. If you think your job as a teacher is thankless, try being a sub. We work hard at half the pay and no benefits. It would go a long way. It isn't easy walking into someone else's room, dealing with someone else's organization, and trying to make it all work.

Thanks, and thanks to all the teachers who do as much of this as possible!

FROGUTS.com !!

I would like to talk about a site that wasn't listed on Dr. Heigle's blog called Frog Guts at www.froguts.com. This site offers an alternative to dissecting real animal specimens. I think in science we often ignore the student questions about ethics in science in regards to dissection. As a scientist, I truly value the experience gained from working with a real specimen. There is no way to simulate the feel of specimen, and the knowledge gained can be incredible. Without dissecting real specimens, students won't be able to observe the individual differences between specimens. The students who have completed dissections often reflect that they enjoyed the experience and learned a lot. I certainly do not want my future doctors and veterinarians to work on me and my pets without first dissecting other specimens. It may even help students who have an interest in those fields to decide how serious they are about their specimens.

On the other hand, there are some students so opposed to dissection that they avoid taking biology and fear that part of the class. For students who have an interest in science but no interest in medical fields, why should they have to dissect real specimens? Certainly a high quality online application would suffice instead. Although students will miss the individuality and real life feel of an animal dissection, perhaps this should be left for upper level optional classes like anatomy or zoology. Regular biology students could focus on online dissections and leave real dissections for upper level classes. This would encourage ethics discussions in science classes and exemplify the use of good ethics.

Frog Guts is an excellent online dissection simulation that asks for a paid subscription for their full services. However, there are a few specimens that can be demoed for free, like the frog. The site does a great job of first directing students through interactive observations. Then there are step by step directions about the actual dissection, starting with the basic step of pinning the frog so it won't move. I love that there is instant information about what the student is seeing. It also ensures that the students are seeing what they are actually supposed to see, which isn't a guarantee when doing a real dissection. I encourage you to go to the homepage and click on demos. From there, you can pick an animal and start your dissection!

online book discussions

I visited www.bookdiscussions.com. I love this! There are so many great books about science, but teachers usually make students all read the same book. Maybe with the online book discussion site, the students could read from a list of books. They could discuss them online at the site. They could reply to fellow students or really anyone who's read the book. Similarly, they could get feedback from anyone. I guess the potential negative is also what I like - anyone could view and respond to the postings. Anyhow, I think after years of doing it, the students would have a good resource int he posts of students from earlier years.

One Computer Classroom

The One Computer Classroom website talks about the possibilities of having access to one computer in the classroom. Certainly the teacher can use it for preparation and communication. But the cite talks about using it for presentations and leading the class, too. Although most of the classrooms I sub in have a computer, few of them have projecting capabilities. Also, the site talks about student use. Again, if they prepared their information elsewhere, they can present on the classroom computer if there is a projector. The site talked about giving tests or quizzes as a group using the computer. I've thought about that, but my students always talk me out of it. They don't like the idea of being tested at someone else's pace. They want to go back and reread the questions if they want to, but feel that is not possible if they have to test as a class. But the idea of the entire class depending on that one computer isn't very realistic. I would certainly take one computer versus no computer, but it must be accompanied with a projector. A Smartboard would be nice, too.

Flash play/Animoto frustrations

I wanted to review the Lodge Does the Canopy Animoto video, but cannot. The video requires the download of the latest Adobe Flash Player. I had a similar frustration several months ago at a local high school. I had what I thought was a great lesson plan and webquest for the students, but most of them couldn't get to the pages that were so easy for me to get to from home or my office. Even the teacher's desk computer could go the right pages. All the student laptops and computer labs needed the to download the program. But the schools have the computers so locked down that they are very difficult to use. Anyhow, I write this as a warning. Animoto may be awesome, but if your students can't use it, it is useless. So frustrating.

Netflix founder

This article talks about the founder of Netflix working on software to make schools a more online environment. Textbooks would be useless, as books would be found online. He started Dreambox, which is the software he created with lesson plans, games, and concepts needed by students.

I think this is brilliant. Everyone has been talking about this direction for schools, but no one has been working on it. I saw an video clip on CNN last week about a school on the east coast that gives a cell phone to each student with the calling/texting features turned off so everyone will have access to the Internet and teaching tools. I think it is an exciting, changing time for students and teachers!

Picasa

I love the idea of an online photo collage. I can see using that in science class if I give students a chance to go outside and take pictures of our topic, like plants. They could create a one page collage using Picasa. I've given longer final projects using online scrap booking sites. The students are better able to go into a large amount of detail that way, organize it, and present it. But I can see the benefit of Picasa for simpler projects.

Middle school subbing

I took a sub job for a SS middle school teacher last week. I feel so bad for this teacher! He has no classroom of his own, so he has to wheel whatever he needs around on a cart. I realized how spoiled I was during my long-term sub positions to have my rooms the entire days I was there. Not only that, but his students were ridiculous! Usually there are just a couple students you have to keep an extra eye on in each class. 10-12 of his students were off the wall at any given moment. When I stopped to address one issue, three other issues started. If the students were mine all the time, the first thing I'd want to do is re-arrange the classroom environment to try and manage the students. This guy can't do that b/c he works in 4 different classrooms!!! I must have sent a dozen kids to the office that day. I hate being that way, but I was so grateful to get some of them out of my room!

TIPS - games

I really enjoyed learning about different games for classrooms. I would like to incorporate games more often in a meaningful way. I think that Kelly was right - debriefing is the part most overlooked when teachers use games, and it is the part that can add valuable meaning to the game. I loved the example she used in class that she took from http://www.internet4classrooms.com/. The game divided the class into two teams. Whoever gets the right answer first gets to "roll" the dice to get points added to their group score. The team that lost the round rolled the diced to get points subtracted from their group. It seemed like either team could still win with only a couple rounds in the game to go. One of the difficulties I've faced is students who just turn off as soon as they realize they won't win. This game is based on skill and luck, which is nice. It could easily be adapted for science class. Good TIP!

TIPS - luggage

I learned about a number of good TIPS in class. I liked the meet and greet that uses luggage where students write their name and two interesting facts about themselves on a piece of "luggage". In round 1, students introduce themselves with that information, then exchange their luggage. In round 2, students greet someone new. They again introduce themselves and their personal interesting fact. Then they point out the student who owns the luggage they carry and go over that students' interesting facts. Once both students have a turn, they move on to round 3. All the following rounds are the same: introduce self, then the owner of the luggage. It's a fun and different way to get students up and active while learning about classmates.

instructional strengths

I know I'm not a perfect teacher, however there are some things that I think I'm good at in regards to instruction. First of all I love the science material, so it is easy to share that excitement with my students. I also think I'm good at presenting material in different ways to try and reach different students. I'll go over notes, we'll have class discussions, and then we'll do something active. I'm also willing to change my plans instantaneously if my kids aren't getting it, or if I can ascertain we need to backtrack a few steps.

2/4 TWS update

At the beginning of the TWS process, I really felt overwhelmed by the entire process. I feel like I subconsciously assess my student's growth and alter our discussions and lessons accordingly. But even more than that, I was really worried about my ability to meet all the TWS standards without having a regular classroom. I know the teacher I just finished a long-term sub job for will probably let me teach for her classes, but I'm just going to have to make do with the situation I'm in.

Jigsaw and Graffiti cooperative learning approaches

The jigsaw method intends to give importance to each students in the class, so each is necessary for the success of the group. For example, if I wanted to teach about the different Kingdoms in taxonomy, I would divide my class into groups of seven, called "home" groups. Each individual would be responsible for acquiring knowledge about one kingdom, ie. Animals or Archaebacteria. Then individuals leave the home group to try and learn more about their assigned area by forming an expert group, ie. all the students assigned to Archaebacteria meet and thoroughly learn about Archeabacteria. Then students return to their home groups and report their knowledge. The home groups then have to make a cohesive final product, whether that's a paper, poster, or presentation. I could definitely use a methods like this when teaching biology.

The Graffiti method is when groups are given a large block of paper to write brainstorming ideas on. Then they re-write the information in an organized way with meaningful categories. Again with taxonomy, I could ask students to write down anything they know about living things, such as types of living things, traits of living things, and adaptations. Then they could try and organize it much like original taxonomers did.

Why I teach

I became a teacher because I knew I wanted to work with high school students and I love biology. It seemed like a good fit. I also like that it is a family oriented job in the sense that evenings, weekends, holidays, and breaks are generally off. As I'm nearing the family stage of life, the opportunity to be with family is important to me so I stay well-rounded. I continue to teach because I like it so much more than i expected to, and I think I'm getting better at it. I know I'm relatively new, but I'm growing as a teacher and learning still. My greatest strengths are that I care about the students, I'm flexible, and I know the material. I'm still working on follow-through with discipline. I've worked with college-aged students the last few years who spoiled me with ideal behavior. I teach required material using different methods in an effort to reach the needs of as many students as possible. I use hands-on activities, labs, notes, readings, and A/V material. Often the material in biology is something you can't really see or touch, like meiosis, so I have to get creative.