Week 3 Day 1 Short Week- Classroom SCAN and MONITORING, and TEACHER ETHICS

Big brew-ha-ha about President Obama talking to school kids today. Shakespeare's play, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING comes to mind. The President said real controversial things like "Stay in School"," Don't give up", "Study hard".

Today was the final work day for my students MINI SCIENCE PROJECT. (for copies of material go to my school website posted on the side bar and go to NOTES AND MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS>> MINI SCI PROJ).

This is the 3rd day in class we have done work in this and it is the hardest day for me. This is the day that students are composing the WRITTEN RESULTS, CONCLUSION, and putting final touches to the INTRODUCTION, GRAPH, DATA TABLE and visual appeal. I go crazy this day because 1/2 the students often appear to be doing nothing, just hanging out talking. I make the group sizes no bigger than 3, if bigger it is a certainty that one person is doing nothing. Oh and look out for the groups of 3 boys. Experience has taught me that with any project a group of 2 girls will be done in 50 minutes, 3 boys will take 4 class periods, lose most of what they created, make 61% of the noise, chase each other at least once an hour, and stare at each other 50% of the time.
Usually the students do a really nice job, but I worry that they don't realize that this is a big chunk of their grade.
I think their grade on this will be the grade they get at semester. I am going to have one of my Honors Science Students do a comparison study of this to see if my hypothesis is supported.
I have to be patient and have hope. In the movie EVAN ALMIGHTY, God says to Evan's wife that if you pray for patience you will not get patience, you will get situations that you need to be patient in. Well this is one of those situations. I have to be patient with my students on this day.

About hope...you have to actively hope. Here's how. MONITOR-MONITOR-MONITOR. You cannot be a good competent and successful teacher if you are not scanning the class. This is a concept taught to us pilots in flight training. Scan: Look outside, Indicators: Airspeed, Rate of Turn...compare to Magnetic Compass, Rate of descent....compare to the ARTIFICIAL HORIZON...Fuel...Temp...pressures...REPEAT.

SCAN-SCAN-SCAN: In the classroom you have to do the Teacher Scan: KIDS ON TASK, NOISE LEVEL APPROPRIATE, STUDENTS WHERE THEY BELONG...BOYS NOT PUNCHING OR CHASING, GIRLS NOT DRAWING HEARTS WITH THEIR BOY FRIENDS' NAME IN THE MIDDLE, WORKING ON APPROPRIATE TASK, CHECK CLOCK (or timer) FOR REMAINING TIME ON TASK, WALK AROUND CLASS, TALK TO A STUDENT OR GROUP ABOUT THEIR PROGRESS-ENCOURAGE, REDIRECT, OFFER HELP, SMILE. REPEAT

This seems common sense but... some teachers play computer games, or read the newspaper or read a novel or goof off on the Internet. New teachers may see this in their master teachers* or other teachers they have visited and think this is okay. IT IS NOT OKAY. We are being payed to educate and help our students, not recreate. We need to spend every moment in class, every comment we make, every e-mail or website or other computer activity we do, as if our School Board President, our Principal, our Learning Director, and our Student's Parents are looking over our shoulder. If we are doing anything in class that we would not do with the above conditions then we are wrong...and need to refocus...and get back to our job.

*Master Teachers, we need to be monitoring our student teachers. We need to be working while they are working. We need to be taking notes on what/how they are doing, making sure all is appropriate. We should not be checking out mentally on them or the students you are responsible to educate. Often I hear colleagues gleeful about getting a student teacher because because they think "I don't have to work most of this semester". I think having a student teacher is more work...a task I take pride and diligence with, but more work none the less. It takes time to plan together and explain things and prepare student teachers and to build their confidence. When I get a student teacher I think, "Oh boy...this is going to be a lot more work...but helping new teachers is worth it...I'm training my future colleague, my replacement, my children and grandchild's teacher...the burden is high, but so is the reward and it will be fun"

I hope this helps,

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney
richardkinney@cusd.com

Week 2 Day 2-Off stage today-Mini Science Project

The first weeks of school I usually do THE MINI SCIENCE PROJECT. This project is a questionnaire with kid friendly questions (favorite soft drink, favorite fast food restaurant, etc) that is turned into an introduction or review of the steps of the scientific method.

I do have a hidden agenda with with this: Student schedule are liquid until about the 3rd week and I do not want to start on the meat of the curriculum with kids coming and going. This project is a nice review and if a student misses a part of they can be added to a group and move along on the project.

BEING OFF STAGE: Today's task in class was to tally the 200 pieces of data collected the 1st day of school in the questionnaire, cut into separate pieces and sorted into numbered beakers on the 2nd day, questions chosen and introduction written the 3rd day and tally today (the forth day). Tally day takes them most of the period (we are on 88 minute blocks) to tally. I take a few minutes to have them make their hypothesis and set up the data table for fast tallying. I show them how to tally. Often students want to sort and then count, which is a no-no, it takes too much time. But today I had about an hour (okay 42 minutes) of OFF STAGE time to update grades and do other house keeping items.

I get jealous of my colleagues when I walk in their classes and students are quietly working on some task and the teacher is sitting at their desk doing...something. In my room while I'm teaching I am usually walking around keeping kids on task, doing the lab properly, helping them set up their graph (often for the 10th time). How do you run a class with out direct interaction ALL THE TIME. I think the answer is READING...a good teacher wont be talking if students are working on a reading assignment...duh. I'm going to try this....ah I can't. I want the kids doing labs not book work. I AM HAUNTED BY THE MY FIRST WORDS OF DIRECTION FROM MY FIRST ADMINISTRATOR: "Make them like science and want to take more in High School". Lab and group projects and cool demo's usually require ON STAGE teaching.

I did get about 45 minutes of down time each period today and it was nice to see the students on task, talking and laughing and voicing interest in a data point they thought unique or interesting. If someone would have walked in my room and looked they would have thought, " My, what a good and easy class you have...they work by themselves and you don't have to do anything". I LOVE ANALOGIES: a ship moving down the Panama canal looks calm and serene almost letting you forget the years and lives and suffering and cost it took to make that tranquil transit happen. Same for that well run class, the class that looks like the kids do work by themselves, the itinerant visitor may not see the effort and planning that went into the lesson.

I have a colleague, a semi frequent itinerant visitor to my class during his prep period, that saw how I ran my Honors class. Later, after I went to a new school, he thought that the honors class was easy to teach...just tell them what to do and they do it. He met with some frustration that year.

Well, I hope you try this project, visit my school website and go to the CSTA folder or the NOTES AND MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS folder for my materials.

Love to Teach and Teach with Passion

Remember...

It's not Magic, It's Science

http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney

richardkinney@cusd.com