Experimental Design

This week I tried a new activity with all my classes.  I called it Experimental Design.  I had my classes come in and grab a piece of paper, and make a paper airplane and write their name on the plane for retrieval purposes.  Simple enough ... or so it would seem.  About half of every class had never made a paper airplane.  What?

So once the students made their airplanes (accompanied by lots of complaining), they all stood along a line across the front of the room. and I asked:

• What could we measure with the airplanes?

The student brainstormed lots of answers and then I asked:

• Which of these would be the easiest for us to measure today?

 We decided that distance would be the easiest to measure (it was the first week of school after all).  And they threw their planes.  Then once the laughter subsided, they picked up the planes and returned to their desks.

Then I directed them to make a change to their plane.  They could make a new fold, or add tape, staples or a paper clip.  When they were finished they went back to the line at the front.  Then they had to make a hypothesis (next year they have to do this at their desk on paper, but I liked the class discussion feel, just not the recap after).  the hypothesis had to be an "if...then..." statement.  Then we threw them again, and returned to their desks.  There were several follow up questions:

• What did we change?
• What did we measure?
• What things stayed the same?
• What did we compare our results to? (just added this one now)

These questions allowed us to talk about independent variables, dependent variables, constants and controls.  Some students had different constants than one another depending on if they threw the airplane the same way or not.  

• What would be the best measure of success?  (farthest one time flight or average)
• What do we still need? (more trials)

And i let them throw for the remainder of the class, and even had some students conducting airplane tutorials.  It was not all fun and games, the students did have a writing assignment about experimental design due at the end of class.  Another teacher used this and had them record the distance of each flight trial, take averages and even graphing.  

I learned about this activity from Amy at my AP training, and I am loving it!  I plan on using it as long as I can.

Another question ...

This one was actually from a female high school senior on the first day of school. When asked what do you want to know? Her response: "what is a bot's thingy made of?". Most awkward aspect of this question ... She asked a math teacher.

Question of the day ...

First day of class ...

This class seems like it is going to be just like when I took it last year (and failed).  Is there anyway I can get out of this class?

Visualization for Learning

When I was tutoring in an AVID classroom (while still working on my thesis) I had the opportunity to sit in while a Navy recruiter (I think it was Navy...) was talking to the kids and the told this story, it was amazing and I just found it again.  Even  though I teach biology I may still use this story this year as an example of different ways to learn things.  Please disregard any grammatical errors, I are a scientist :)

Visualize:

You are standing across the street from a deli it has a large window (as big as this white board) with Deli written on it in large letters.  Can you picture it?  Then a 52-ft yellow #2 pencil comes out of the deli, it has #2 written on the side and a huge pink eraser.  Then you notice that standing on the pencil is a jersey cow which is purple and green.  On the right horn (your left) there is a juicy ripe peach, and on the left horn there is a can that is cut, not a cut can, say it with me, can that is cut.  Now, tied to the cows tail is a 50 ft steel mast (the large pole on a ship that the sails are tied to), at the top of the mast is a doctor, in a white coat, not just any doctor but a medical doctor, you know he is a medical doctor because it says “MD” after his name right on his white lab coat.  In his right arm, he is holding up a beautiful sunbather who is singing Christmas carols.  Under his left arm he is holding a huge juicy ham, with a price tag hanging off of it and a huge ham bone.  The juice from the ham is running out and turning into gin, very dry gin.  The gin is raining down onto the Empire State Building.  In front of the Empire State building stands a man in a trench coat who is shivering in the rain and singing Christmas carols, and in his right hand he is holding a road map. 

Now someone else come up and tell us the story to make sure we all have the same picture

Now tell the order that the original 13 colonies ratified the US constitution.

You are standing across the street from a deli it has a large window (as big as this white board) with Deli written on it in large letters.  Can you picture it?  Then a 52-ft yellow #2 pencil comes out of the deli, it has #2 written on the side and a huge pink eraser.  Then you notice that standing on the pencil is a jersey cow which is purple and green.  On the right horn (your left) there is a juicy ripe peach, and on the left horn there is a can that is cut, not a cut can, say it with me, can that is cut.  Now, tied to the cows tail is a 50 ft steel mast (the large pole on a ship that the sails are tied to), at the top of the mast is a doctor, in a white coat, not just any doctor but a medical doctor, you know he is a medical doctor because it says “MD” after his name right on his white lab coat.  In his right arm, he is holding up a beautiful sunbather who is singing Christmas carols.  Under his left arm he is holding a huge juicy ham, with a price tag hanging off of it and a huge ham bone.  The juice from the ham is running out and turning into gin, very dry gin.  The gin is raining down onto the Empire State Building.  In front of the Empire State building stands a man in a trench coat who is shivering in the rain and singing Christmas carols, and in his right hand he is holding a road map. 

1.       Delaware

2.       Pennsylvania

3.       New jersey

4.       Georgia

5.       Connecticut

6.       Massachusetts

7.       Maryland

8.       South Carolina

9.       New Hampshire

10.   Virginia

11.   New York

12.   South Carolina

13.   Rhode Island 

AP Biology Mitosis Lab

At AP training we were having issues with the mitosis lab because we could not get the onions to produce roots. A friend I met at training, Stephanie, suggested using garlic because she had success with it I the past. I decided to go ahead and test the garlic. I had plenty of roots within a couple of days. This picture is 4 days after I set it in the water.

Desk Booties

A few weeks ago I saw this on pinterest, and followed the link to Art with Mr. E's blog.  My classroom has lots of color in every direction, so I was able to use leftover material without trying to match a theme.  I had left over felt from making Christmas stockings for my family and fabric letter for my son and niece.  So I got out my mom's rotary cutter (that I really should return) and cut out a lot of squares that were 4 inches x 4 inches.

Today when I got started, I began wondering about my sanity before I finished the first desk.   But as soon as I turned the desk over and slid it to it's new home I knew I had to keep going.  This is not a difficult task, but I had a hard time centering the fabric for my liking on the first desk.  The next picture is my room.  I used grey,hot pink, bright blue and Christmas green.

Thanks again to Mr. E!  What a great idea!

Bulletin board border!

I am still loving my painted bulletin board from last year, but this year I am changing the borders and using ribbon! I found the cutest green & white paisley ribbon at Michael's for $4 or $5 per roll. I bought 4 rolls and needed two (with some left over, but not enough for a full length of the board.

I have not finished the corners because my school scissors are not great and need to take my fabric scissors up to school to have neat corners. I will try to add a close up of the ribbon soon!

New pencil caddy

I saw this cute idea on Sandy Toes & Popsicles, and immediately thought of my classroom.  For years I have been storing scissors, colored pencils, markers and rulers in shoe boxes.  For some reason students love to mark and write all over the boxes, and on more than one occasion I have been known to rip the lids off because I was so annoyed by it.  So a new idea is welcome.  

My biggest expense was a can opener that wouldn't leave a sharp edge ($20 @ Target).  I used the spray paint I had, plus a few new cans.  As a base I used an old shelf from an entertainment center.  3 edges are unfinished and I will be putting ribbon around the base to make the base look a little more finished.

Interactive Notebooks

One of the teachers at AP training had very funny names for her notebooks.  BILL (Biological Interactive Learning Log) & TED (The Experiment Document).  I am totally copying this idea (with her permission of course), but I doubt many of my students will make the connection during our excellent adventure.

AP Summer Institute

AP training this year was somewhat overwhelming.  I registered for the one closest to me so I could sleep in my own bed, but it wasn't until August 6-9.  This was way too late.  I have so many ideas, but not much time to make those a reality for this year.

The AP Biology curriculum has changed for this year.  Most of the labs are new, but seem like they can be broken into pieces that we will be able to complete in one class period.  There is a lot of emphasis on open inquiry labs. Many topics have been cut out, which frees up time, to cover other topics for longer, but which topics?  How much more time should I allow?  I dreamed about AP Thursday night after four days of training.  I started out Friday trying to make a timeline for the year, and ended up wanting to crawl in bed, get under the covers, and never come out.  I have recovered.  And I am attempting to play it by ear as much as possible, but that really doesn't work with me.

Enzymes

This is my adaptation of an activity I heard about, but didn't take notes for, and then tried to re-create. I used pool noodles as a model for active sites, competitive inhibition and non-competitive inhibition.

Classroom Management

For years I have been recording classroom behaviors (good and bad) on a roll of masking tape that I wore around my list, then sticking the tape to my desk and hopefully trying to find the time to input the data into my classroom management excel file.

Last night my husband introduced me to classdojo.com. My life has changed forever! While it looks very elementary and I would not display it to the class, I can digitally make and record all the notes I have always made, without having to input data at a later date.

It also has an option to randomly select a student - much better than popsicle sticks! Ian excited to try it out when school starts and will report back to let you know the pros and cons.

Genetic Probability

I made this summary sheet several years ago hoping staring it at it, referring to it, and hoping to cheat off it on a test (but i put it up behind the overhead screen and pull it down during tests) would help my students to remember it, or to remember to make it if they needed it on a test.

Body System Interactions

My freshmen biology students learn about body systems. In addition to learning parts and functions, they also need to learn how the systems work together. So this year, I had my amazing teacher's aide create a grid on the wall for my freshmen to fill in.

The students filled in the papers on the wall as a review for the tests. The students worked together, and for student who struggled, I was able to move around and monitor and lead them to find ways the systems were interrelated. My anatomy classes edited and added to the wall once the freshmen were done, and we kept the wall up until just before the end-of-course exam.

Agenda Frames

Reorganization is a constant theme in my life. I loved having my agenda for the week on the board, so students could quickly tell what we were going to be doing. So several years ago I stole the idea from a fellow teacher/friend to make a calendar on my board using colored masking tape.

But each year I had issues putting it back up (time consuming if you are a touch OCD), and with the tape peeling more and more as I continue to clean the board. So I came up with another plan.

I wanted to get square picture frames from IKEA, but decided they would be too small, so I got giant ones! I put wrapping paper in them and tried to write the name of the class and days of the week - epic fail! It was too busy ... but I loved the wrapping paper. So I amended my plan.

I used white paper to write the name of the class and days of the week and put the wrapping paper behind it. The white paper was thin enough to mute the wrapping paper while allowing my writing to be read from across the room.

Next I used hot glue to glue some magnets to the back of the frames and stuck them to the dry erase board. But they fell ...so next I used super glue ... and they slid, but did not fall. So next, I added additional magnets - now it works. Am I stubborn? A little.

So now I write on the frames with my dry erase markers and I don't have tape peeling off my board. It didn't save me as much room as I was wanting, but three preps makes for lots of information to share! I need to switch out the white page for anatomy for a new white page for forensics this year.

Student Teacher's Aides

I will be missing my teacher's aide from last year. Now, I am not saying this year's aide won't be equally amazing, but last year I asked my teacher's aide to make labels for student folders, and without me asking she color coded the file labels by class. (Yes, I color code my classes.).

I also asked her to measure and cut adding machine tape into 5m long strips. The following picture shows what she did after she measured the first strip. She took the stop in the hall, lined it up with the tile lines and was able to make a quick job out of her tak for the day! Miss you Kim!

Summary Sheets

This is an example of a summary sheet I made as an example for my biology babies. I obviously have to have a rough draft. And I actually made this one into a poster for the room. I started this with my AP students and I am incorporating it into my interactive notebooks this year.

My goal is over this year the students will learn to see some things are more important than others and to get them to make their own study sheets. Wish me luck!

Water on a penny

Looking forward to another year of testing the limits of surface tension.

Okay, I am back.

I am trying to reorganize and simplify my classes and planning. My biggest goal for this year is to have my class information where my students are. For some reason my students don't seem to spend hours reading my respective blogs for their classes. Strange. I have tried getting them too join a Facebook page, and we have talked about tweeting, but the classes are always split on which social media they prefer. So I am going to continue to blog and link all of those Twitter and Facebook and see if that is better.

I want to try flipped classes, but know that access to technology at home is going to be problematic. And of course it is completely new for me and there will be a learning curve.

I am thinking of modifying interactive notebooks this year to allow freshman to have 3 ring binders (they are responsible for) so that we can include more handouts, tests and quizzes more easily. And the biggest change is me providing partial notes to allow more time for activities, labs and class discussions.

AP bio is turning me into knots. New curriculum + ridiculously low test scores + late AP summer institute = STRESS!

Last I heard I am teaching Forensics this year will be a completely new prep. I have started on it, but I haven't seen the finial master schedule yet, so I am reluctant to progress much.

I am trying to decide if I want to decide if I want separate blogs for each class, or combine everything into one blog and use tags to separate things.

I am also planning on utilizing google calendar for classes which kids and parents can subscribe to. And google forms for tests or quizzes and flubaroo for grading those online quizzes.