Even block schedule. Chemistry bench mark test
After yesterday's unexpected frustration from moody disrespectful students catching me off guard with my armor down, today is better. I am prepared with my metaphorical light saber at my hip.
My even period classes (we are on a block schedule) are my nice classes. A real joy to teach and less stressful than the odd period group.
I decided to use the newly made chemistry benchmark tests this year and they seem much better than the old ones we have used for 8 years.
I do not like this review-review-review for state testing. Labs are way funner!
Notebooks STILL in the process of being scored. 11 hours I'll toil on these. Ahh.
I hope this helps.
Love to Teach, and Teach with Passion!
It’s not Magic, It’s Science!
RichardKinney@cusd.com
http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney
Showing posts with label science interactive notebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science interactive notebook. Show all posts
Monday, April 26, 2010
Week 31, Day 2: Never Again
Even block period: conservation of matter lab.
Rainy weather. I have a dept chair meeting today a lunch so I decided to have my lunch with my wife during part of prep and watch the rain fall and visit with her.
During the meeting my principal made the comment, "With two weeks to state testing, Labs are great but there are no labs on the Star Test.". He was right. We will need to review.
Notebook turn grade review. I'm not doing this again. I will find another way. It takes three minutes to score one that is perfectly set up. I have about 220 kids. 660 minutes total grading. That's 11 hours of grading.
I hope this helps.
Love to Teach, and Teach with Passion!
It’s not Magic, It’s Science!
RichardKinney@cusd.com
http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney
Rainy weather. I have a dept chair meeting today a lunch so I decided to have my lunch with my wife during part of prep and watch the rain fall and visit with her.
During the meeting my principal made the comment, "With two weeks to state testing, Labs are great but there are no labs on the Star Test.". He was right. We will need to review.
Notebook turn grade review. I'm not doing this again. I will find another way. It takes three minutes to score one that is perfectly set up. I have about 220 kids. 660 minutes total grading. That's 11 hours of grading.
I hope this helps.
Love to Teach, and Teach with Passion!
It’s not Magic, It’s Science!
RichardKinney@cusd.com
http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Week 30, Day 1: Oops, too much Sodium metal in water
Today I set off the school fire alarm. But I did learn two things about showing a Sodium metal in water demo.
1) Clean the tarnish off all sides of the sodium metal.
2) Either do the demo outside or in a flame hood.
For an excellent Youtube video about this try this. It's a bit doctored but makes a fun show. Braincell Alkali
I hope this helps.
Love to Teach, and Teach with Passion!
It’s not Magic, It’s Science!
RichardKinney@cusd.com
http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Week 29, Day 4 (Friday): Updating website for notebook
Odd Block Schedule: finished pH lab and scored periodic table quizzes and looked through their notebooks in preparation for Notebook turn in day..
After school I spent a lot of time getting my website organized to have Notebook Notes and Starters ready for my students to access. This is really a chance to pre-organize for next year.
I got so BUSY during the year that I did not take the few moments each time we worked on notes or starter questions to have them update their tables of contents. I did not make "Absent" copies of the notes for the kids that were gone. I did not to weekly or bimonthly notebook quizzes or turn in.
I really need to spend time each week doing long range strategic lesson planning and reminding my self to do the things (notebook organization) that make me consistent and a better teacher.
P.S. The weekend following this post my website home page lost all HTML formatting and is a solid page of text. I hope salvation is only a few clicks by a computer tech person..
I hope this helps.
Love to Teach, and Teach with Passion!
It’s not Magic, It’s Science!
RichardKinney@cusd.com
http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney
After school I spent a lot of time getting my website organized to have Notebook Notes and Starters ready for my students to access. This is really a chance to pre-organize for next year.
I got so BUSY during the year that I did not take the few moments each time we worked on notes or starter questions to have them update their tables of contents. I did not make "Absent" copies of the notes for the kids that were gone. I did not to weekly or bimonthly notebook quizzes or turn in.
I really need to spend time each week doing long range strategic lesson planning and reminding my self to do the things (notebook organization) that make me consistent and a better teacher.
P.S. The weekend following this post my website home page lost all HTML formatting and is a solid page of text. I hope salvation is only a few clicks by a computer tech person..
I hope this helps.
Love to Teach, and Teach with Passion!
It’s not Magic, It’s Science!
RichardKinney@cusd.com
http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney
Week 29, Day 3: Notebook turn in?
Even Block Schedule: Same lesson as yesterday, pH lab. And prepare to
turn in science notebook.
TODAY'S BEST PRACTICE: When a lab or video is not finished in class I often collect the papers, by row, and hold onto them until next class period. This reduces the number of lost papers. The time it takes to collect them and then redistribute them is less that the TIME AND FRUSTRATION of trying to get lost papers replaced.
I have NEVER had students turn in their spiral notebooks.
As the year goes on some kids get lax with them and do not maintain them.
In past years I did do notebook quizzes. This was my poor-man's notebook check.
I need to get back to those. 220 notebooks to grade has been a major point of contention for me. Hmm, notebook quizzes are looking good.
Earlier in the year I describe the way I do the notebooks. I like it. Makes life easier for students and me.
One of my colleagues does some labs in the notebooks and then scores them later. That's not for me, maybe you can make that work.
The pH lab got squished yesterday so we are completing them today.
On a totally different note: After school and lunches are sooo nice now that I am not coaching. My
time is mine again.
I hope this helps.
Love to Teach, and Teach with Passion!
It’s not Magic, It’s Science!
RichardKinney@cusd.com
http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney
turn in science notebook.
TODAY'S BEST PRACTICE: When a lab or video is not finished in class I often collect the papers, by row, and hold onto them until next class period. This reduces the number of lost papers. The time it takes to collect them and then redistribute them is less that the TIME AND FRUSTRATION of trying to get lost papers replaced.
I have NEVER had students turn in their spiral notebooks.
As the year goes on some kids get lax with them and do not maintain them.
In past years I did do notebook quizzes. This was my poor-man's notebook check.
I need to get back to those. 220 notebooks to grade has been a major point of contention for me. Hmm, notebook quizzes are looking good.
Earlier in the year I describe the way I do the notebooks. I like it. Makes life easier for students and me.
One of my colleagues does some labs in the notebooks and then scores them later. That's not for me, maybe you can make that work.
The pH lab got squished yesterday so we are completing them today.
On a totally different note: After school and lunches are sooo nice now that I am not coaching. My
time is mine again.
I hope this helps.
Love to Teach, and Teach with Passion!
It’s not Magic, It’s Science!
RichardKinney@cusd.com
http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Week 4 Day 2- Reading to students and ACTIVE LISTENING
TODAY'S BEST PRACTICE: READ TO YOUR STUDENTS...AND HAVE THEM ACTIVELY LISTEN.
I tell the kids, Science is a part of your life whether you know it or not, but it is not the most important thing you will ever learn.. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU WILL EVER LEARN IS TO READ AND TO COMPREHEND WHAT YOU READ. IF YOU DO THIS, THEN YOU CAN DO ANYTHING...especially Science!
A friend and colleague of mine teaches high school physics and taught Science 1. He read them a book about science. The students really liked it...9th graders....they don' like anything except grunting and slow moving. I began to read to my students (for a list of some of my 8th grade reads go to the end of the blog).
Another colleague, academic block teacher Karen Ward, introduced me to INTERACTIVE STUDENT NOTEBOOKS (a previous blog) and then another colleague, academic block teacher Roberta Wells, introduced me to the idea of having students ACTIVELY LISTEN to reading passages. So I added these 3 lessons learned from my esteemed colleagues and made a pretty neat method of reading current events, relevant fiction, science related biography, or science passages AND MAKING SURE THE STUDENTS WERE NOT DOZING OFF OR SLEEPING.
A typical reading passage active listening lesson is set up as follows.
1) In their INTERACTIVE STUDENT NOTEBOOKS, I have them put the Title of the lesson, usually the title of the reading passage.
2) NEW, OR UNFAMILIAR, VOCABULARY TERMS and their definitions. I use a POWER POINT to have the words and definitions ready to be given as notes to the kids, either before or during the passage. I usually include pictures and clip art to go with it.
3) At least 6 INTERESTING OR IMPORTANT FACTS from the passage. If it makes you laugh, grosses you out, sounds interesting or neat then write it down. If there is a lot of new terms I usually say only 4 facts.
4) REACTION TO THE PASSAGE, this is two parts: WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT IT and WHAT YOU LEARNED (most interesting fact) ABOUT SCIENCE
OPTIONAL: If you have the time, or it's appropriate for the passage. As and effort to assist my Academic Block colleagues I would include these to help prepare for the end of the year state tests.
5) ALTERNATE TITLE FOR THE PASSAGE
6) MAIN IDEA
7) STUDENT RESPONSE: For an extra credit point and a piece of candy, I would have students share their answers with the class. I make a tally mark on the seating chart for each response. I make sure to call on students that do not have their hands up. The tally marks work really well and it helps you to notice the QUIET KIDS and give them attention.
8) I usually include a VIDEO CLIP to go with the reading passage. It's neat and adds interest.
Here is the list of Reading passages I include and the visual that goes with it.
-NASA's Mars Metric Mix up newspaper article-Power Point pictures, including pics of the AIR CANADA 767 that ran out of fuel.
-Mutant Constipated worms by Dave Barry- I also show the movie CONTACT clip of Ellie pleading for funding and talking about "something really crazy". This is all about how research may seem silly now.
-Introduction "Always the unknown" to Chuck Yeager's autobiography about breaking the sound barrier and the movie THE RIGHT STUFF clip of him breaking the sound barrier.
-Introduction to LIFTOFF by Apollo Astronaut Michael Collins, and movie APOLLO 13 clip of the launch sequence that matches the passages perfectly.
-Raptor Red, a novel by Robert Bakker about a Utahraptor family.(this back when we taught life science in 8th grade)
-Preface to 2001 a SPACE ODYSSEY by Arthur C. Clark. This when I taught genetics and evolution...a cool fictional account of life 2-3 million years ago.
I am presenting this topic at the October CALIFORNIA SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE in Palm Springs. At that time I will have a full package for you to down load at my website.
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
I tell the kids, Science is a part of your life whether you know it or not, but it is not the most important thing you will ever learn.. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU WILL EVER LEARN IS TO READ AND TO COMPREHEND WHAT YOU READ. IF YOU DO THIS, THEN YOU CAN DO ANYTHING...especially Science!
A friend and colleague of mine teaches high school physics and taught Science 1. He read them a book about science. The students really liked it...9th graders....they don' like anything except grunting and slow moving. I began to read to my students (for a list of some of my 8th grade reads go to the end of the blog).
Another colleague, academic block teacher Karen Ward, introduced me to INTERACTIVE STUDENT NOTEBOOKS (a previous blog) and then another colleague, academic block teacher Roberta Wells, introduced me to the idea of having students ACTIVELY LISTEN to reading passages. So I added these 3 lessons learned from my esteemed colleagues and made a pretty neat method of reading current events, relevant fiction, science related biography, or science passages AND MAKING SURE THE STUDENTS WERE NOT DOZING OFF OR SLEEPING.
A typical reading passage active listening lesson is set up as follows.
1) In their INTERACTIVE STUDENT NOTEBOOKS, I have them put the Title of the lesson, usually the title of the reading passage.
2) NEW, OR UNFAMILIAR, VOCABULARY TERMS and their definitions. I use a POWER POINT to have the words and definitions ready to be given as notes to the kids, either before or during the passage. I usually include pictures and clip art to go with it.
3) At least 6 INTERESTING OR IMPORTANT FACTS from the passage. If it makes you laugh, grosses you out, sounds interesting or neat then write it down. If there is a lot of new terms I usually say only 4 facts.
4) REACTION TO THE PASSAGE, this is two parts: WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT IT and WHAT YOU LEARNED (most interesting fact) ABOUT SCIENCE
OPTIONAL: If you have the time, or it's appropriate for the passage. As and effort to assist my Academic Block colleagues I would include these to help prepare for the end of the year state tests.
5) ALTERNATE TITLE FOR THE PASSAGE
6) MAIN IDEA
7) STUDENT RESPONSE: For an extra credit point and a piece of candy, I would have students share their answers with the class. I make a tally mark on the seating chart for each response. I make sure to call on students that do not have their hands up. The tally marks work really well and it helps you to notice the QUIET KIDS and give them attention.
8) I usually include a VIDEO CLIP to go with the reading passage. It's neat and adds interest.
Here is the list of Reading passages I include and the visual that goes with it.
-NASA's Mars Metric Mix up newspaper article-Power Point pictures, including pics of the AIR CANADA 767 that ran out of fuel.
-Mutant Constipated worms by Dave Barry- I also show the movie CONTACT clip of Ellie pleading for funding and talking about "something really crazy". This is all about how research may seem silly now.
-Introduction "Always the unknown" to Chuck Yeager's autobiography about breaking the sound barrier and the movie THE RIGHT STUFF clip of him breaking the sound barrier.
-Introduction to LIFTOFF by Apollo Astronaut Michael Collins, and movie APOLLO 13 clip of the launch sequence that matches the passages perfectly.
-Raptor Red, a novel by Robert Bakker about a Utahraptor family.(this back when we taught life science in 8th grade)
-Preface to 2001 a SPACE ODYSSEY by Arthur C. Clark. This when I taught genetics and evolution...a cool fictional account of life 2-3 million years ago.
I am presenting this topic at the October CALIFORNIA SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE in Palm Springs. At that time I will have a full package for you to down load at my website.
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
Monday, August 31, 2009
Week 2 Day 1- Spiral Student Notebooks
Today's best practice...Spiral bound Student notebooks.
Commandment: Thou shalt not use fabric bound notebooks, for they shall surly fall to pieces by the tenth or eleventh month"
A colleague of mine, an Academic Block teacher Karen Ward, showed me the Idea of Interactive Student Notebooks (ISN's) about 12 years ago. Thank you Mrs. Ward. 70 or 100 page notebooks are perfect for this, and in August you can often get them at the bulk price of 6 to 20 cents a piece. I sell them to the kids for either a dime, 15 cents or 25 cents* depending upon what I paid for them. Often a student has no money and I either give them credit or say, "sush..between you and me this is free for you this time).
*I make sure to pad the price a tad to cover my sales tax and the occasional notebook I give away or that is never paid for by the kid using credit. By the time I sell them my price is way cheaper than they can get them in the stores so I'm not profiteering.
Years of frustration ended with using this system of notes, academic openers, labs, homework and projects. Students rarely lose their spiral notebooks. I spend much of the 2nd or 3rd day of class setting up the notebooks.
Mrs. Ward would collect her students ISN's fairly often and grade them. Often shed have quizzes taken in them and score them in class. She only had 80 students, I have over 200. I don't collect them. I ensure students are using them my giving note book quizzes. A Physics teacher colleague, Paul Lake, has used them and his method of checking them would be to grade them while his students took their unit test. This year I will collect them and use a checklist and a simple rubric to monitor their upkeep of the ISN's.(My Academic Block Colleagues tell me my rubrics is not a true rubric...I tell them "Science Rubrics are different: they are simple and easy with no bullshyte". This usually ends with a tilted head, narrowed eyes, and a displeased noise)
Here is how I use them.
THE FRONT of the notebook is the Notes side. The inside cover had my PROPER PAPER FORMAT visual direction sheet taped or glued on. Next, on the first page, a table of contents that we update each time I add a new "set of notes".
Notes are a combination of Typical notes (often I copy notes and have students fill in the blanks), or homework instructions taped on to a page, project guidelines, and some small lab data tables.
Foldable notes are really easy to incorporate into these. We tape or glue stick a lot of papers into the note books, I like 1/2 or 3/8 inch width masking tape best. I also train students to be tape passer-outers.
THE BACK of the notebook is the Academic Openers ( I can them Starters) section. I have my students turn the notebook over to the back with the spiral on the left. The pages are upside down, but we can now open and use the notebook turning pages from right to left as normally done. My students take a while getting use to seeing the page upside down...they squeak and make other funny noises but get the hang of it soon (I LOVE THE NOISES 8TH GRADERS MAKE)
The first page of this section is another table of contents. Each day that we start with "starter questions" the table of contents is updated, questions written in, then answered.
This system has worked well and helps make the students more organized and less likely to lose material.
LIKE HONOR, ISN'S ARE A GIFT THAT A TEACHER CAN GIVE TO THEMSELVES :)
I make my own ISN as we go through the year. This way I always have a copy to model. My copy, or another student's ISN can be used to help student that was absent get caught up.
Well I hope this helps.
Love to Teach, and Teach with Passion
and remember...
It's not Magic, It's Science
richardkinney@cusd.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)