Week 6, Day 1: Equation triangle-Speed

We are in the speed unit. I give my students the Speed Equation Triangle. This is so cool, especially for those kids not comfortable with algebraically rearranging equations. I got this from my Friend Mr. Lake at Buchanan High School. Mr. Lake tells me he got it in high school from our chemistry teacher Mr. Wentworth. Thank both of you.

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 5, Day 5 Catch-up Blahs

I have the blahs today. We didn't do a new lab today. It was a catch-up day. You need one of those every few weeks.

We finished the Speed Buggy Lab write up. We also presented the Mini Science Project. We also went over the Intro to speed worksheet, which took a lot of time.

Next entry is a lesson. I've been tired or preoccupied the past week from me field trip.

Getting older really affects your teaching style. I'm very skilled with lots of experiance... Which means I have a lot of tricks to pull out of my sleeve. I try to plan and guide my lessons with some subtlety. 5 years ago I had more energy. 10 Years ago I was a high energy bulldozer. Now I better understand my mentors from 25 years ago.

Week 5, Day 4- Getting caught up

Today's Best Practice...When you have an update grades day make sure the students have a task to work on.

Sometimes I get going so fast with the lessons that I almost forget to SLOW DOWN...PASS BACK THEIR ASSIGNMENTS...LET STUDENTS GET FEEDBACK AND TALK TO ME ABOUT POSSIBLE MISTAKES I MADE IN GRADING.

After the week and a half of putting a lot of time into the Sierra Unit samples and Field trip for my honors science class I SLOWED DOWN. It's amazing how some classes have a way of driving me nuts and other classes are pure charm and easy and fun.

Today as I updated and handed out papers my students were preparing to present their Mini Science Projects.

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 5,Day 3 Sierra Field Trip

Photos: Lake Courtright , McKinley Grove of Giant Sequoias, Granite Dome Near Dinky Creek Campground, Climbing on a fallen Giant at McKinley Grove.

This was a great day. I knew it when I was standing on top of a small granite dome and I was surrounded by distant laughter, by shrill excited screams, by thuds of rocks heaved by boys, girls giggling, and parent chaperons saying what a neat trip this is.

The kids were given a note sheet to record observations of each plant community and viewing stop. We began at 5:45 viewing the constellation Orion and the planet Venus. They collected samples and had a great time.

I'm pretty tired. Early morning and high altitude.

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 5, Day 2 Anticipation

I take my honors science class on an 11 hour field trip to the High Sierra to study it's plant communities and changing features as we ascend from the central valley to the timber line. Lakes Wishon and Cortright will be visited. A terrific day getting paid to take 37 thirteen year old up the mountains.
What makes this even better is 2 great fun days in class having kids measure calculate the speeds of their buggy cars.

Well, a short post. I gotta get up a 4:30.

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 5 Day 1 Making Adjustments, Part 2

- Rethinking lab write-ups

Due to our paper shortage I cannot print up all the lab write ups I use to. So today I had the kids make a data table for 3 "heats" in the BUGGY CAR RACE LAB. I pre measured the distances 3 cement lines out from a wall and had students take some cheap battery flip buggy cars and some stop watches and THE STUDENTS HAD SO MUCH FUN MY COLLEAGUES IN THE NEARBY MATH DEPARTMENT WONDERED WHAT ALL THE NOISE WAS.

My students had so much fun playing with the flip cars, and then racing them. The racing was pretty fun as cars began to bump and go astray.

We came back to the room, the kids were having a fun time. I had them caluclate the speeds for the 3 heats.

We will finish the 4 questions in class next time. TODAY MY KIDS HAD A GREAT TIMEIN SCIENCE...AND LEARNED SOMETHING TOO.

My point here is that you don't need fancy lab write up sheets.

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 4 Day 5: The Emergency Lesson Plan.

I have a folder set aside with a video tape or DVD, video question sheet on one side and a science reading passage with questions on the other. Also attached is a simple set of directions for the lesson.
I also maintain a SUBSITUTE TEACHER FOLDER in which I have a list of the bell schedule, a brief of how I manage my class, and the emergency procedures. I keep this near the phone where it is easy to see.

This is what I call the EMERGENCY LESSON PLAN.

I have it in case I am taken ill suddenly and am too sick to come in and set up for a substitute teacher. I do not use it for something to do because of lack of planning a lesson. I have also used it when a colleague has called me saying they are sick and can I find a video for their substitute to show.

For the video I recommend:
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FRONTIERS: SCIENCE IN PARADISE*, available on the internet at PBS.com. It is a wonderful mix of five 8-13 minute segments on Sea Turtles, Volcanoes, Bahaman Pan Drums, the Big Astronomy Dish at Arecibo, and Sea Fan Disease. My kids really like this show and it strongly reinforces how science is everywhere…even in the Bahamas.
You may have a better Idea for a video, but I hope yours is as good as the one above. Even though you are not there you can still have a great lesson and not just showing a time-filler.

I also recommend from the same series: EXPEDITION PANAMA, LIFES LITTLE QUESTIONS, GOING DEEP ( ½ hour) and HYDROGEN HOPES (1/2 hour).

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 4 Day 4 Making Adjustments, Part 1

-Rethinking Note taking.

Economic downturn has hit our school district and the most recent evidence of this is ALMOST NO PAPER!!! I am having to reduce the amount of paper I use by about 90 percent.

Wow. This means that I have been using way more paper than I needed to FOR YEARS! I no longer have the luxury of printing notes for my kids to take onto their notebooks, nor running off academic openers for them or lots of worksheets or graph paper on the back of their labs.

I THINK THIS IS KIND OF A GREAT EXERCISE IN CREATIVITY on my part and will force the students to do more work by writing more. This may even improve the handwriting of the boys from chicken scratch to hieroglyphics.

We are starting the first chapter in our book; Motion. In place of a whole bunch of worksheets we used to work on together I went over 3 new vocabulary words (reference point , vector, and displacement) and I gave them a ruler and we drew and labeled each part on the board, then I gave them 4 practice problems to work out the vectors into a plot showing the displacement. Then we changed gears and set up their class folders. The timing was good, not too long and they had something to do other than just take notes.

IT WAS SO COOL TO DO THIS…I FELT LIKE …LIKE…LIKE A TEACHER.

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 4 Day 3 Getting overwhelmed!

I am behind in my grading. I have been about 1.5 assignments behind in my grading for the past week. I'm not sure how I let this happen. Actually I do. I came home early a few times last week to GRADE AT HOME which means I got hit with a hundred distractions and my wife's honey-do list. Dang, I even had a weekend in there to get caught up. I did spend 7 hours Sunday driving up to the High Western Sierra to gather plant samples for my SIERRA PLANT COMMUNITIES UNIT. But even that is not an excuse. I dropped the ball!

Even worse than being behind my grading curve is I DIDN'T HAVE THIS WEEK PRE-PLANED. Well I knew where I was going, just not how I was going to get there. I know, a ROOKIE MOVE.

I'm bulldozing my way out of it now but I should not have let it get this far.

Oh heck...I gotta have my morning Department meeting planned.

Today's Best Practice: Grade papers the day you collect them. GO HIDE IN YOUR ROOM. If you are in a high colleague traffic zone go to the library and sit in a corner out of view or in the back room. IF it's a complex assignment to score make sure you don't collect more assignments until your past assignment is graded. This takes PLANNING AHEAD...a gift only you can give to yourself.

Well, I gotta go grade one more period of Mini Science Projects and then the Metric Review Lab for the ODD block classes so they are ready for my sub on Friday.

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 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

Week 4 Day 1 Plastic Lab Trays and the Metric Review Lab

Today's Best practice: Plastic lab trays.

When you get your job as a science teacher go out and celebrate by buying 30 plastic trays at your discount store.

I use them constantly. Often I have 3 different labs set up. These trays stack easily, store easily, and can be easily put in a lab drawer or cabinet for quick storage.

These are perfect for moving to smaller work stations or classroom desks by students. I use them all the time, I compete with my colleagues for them. They are cheap and a valued tool. DON'T ENTER THE LAB ROOM WITHOUT SOME.

Today we continued the metric review lab. It's a simple lab that starts with 16 questions that review the notes. Then it measures several objects for mass, and length in mm and cm. I also buy small bags of M&M's , call them THE MYSTERY BAG, and have them do some measurements. You can download my notes and worksheets at my website listed below under NOTES AND MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS and also the TEACHERS-CSTA(Cal Sci Teachers Assn).

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 3 Day 4 - Old vs. New and Improvement

Out with the Old and In with the new? I'll keep this short...I'm told I write too much

TODAY'S BEST PRACTICE...Improve 10% per year and leave yourself reminder notes for next years lessons.

Educator Harry K. Wong says to improve your teaching 10% per year. I do it by tweaking my lab or worksheets, or power point notes*, or by trying to just be better at some part of my style that needs improving. This year I'm trying to interact with each student a little bit more, especially the nice quiet ones that shy away from attention...they can easily get over looked. Also I am trying to not let the goofy distracting boy get me off task.

*I tweak my power points, if need be, right in the middle of a lecture if I need to fix a goof or add an important point.

I collected the MINI SCIENCE PROJECT the last two days. It's a group project. Mostly good results. Some groups are finding some difficulty, members absent, or taking the project home and not bringing it back, or only one person is dong the work.

I do the project as a way to review the SCIENTIFIC METHOD and wait out the first weeks of schedule change.

My 25 year old colleague and 3rd year teacher said he wont to the project as a group project any more. He make them each do it individually now and turn in a much smaller display. He showed me his and they looked neat.

So I have to ask myself, "Should I change how I do it too?". I have done this for about 18 years. Should I continue to have a high point group project early in the year BEFORE I know the kids well enough to try to avoid a poor performing group to form.

You need to always evaluate what you've done. Leave notes to yourself in your planner for next year. They are wonderful pieces of forgotten wisdom and guidance until you look at them again.


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 3 Day 3 Collecting Papers and Problem Solving

Today's Best Practice...Hand Collect Papers to ensure 100% turn in rate.
Method 1: Stand at the door and hand it to me as you leave.
Method 2: Dismiss class by rows, stand at end of the row and collect papers as students walk past you to get out.
Method 3: Have papers stacked at end of the row or at the center aisle and verify there is a paper for each student.

In a previous blog I talked about THE TICKET OUT THE DOOR. This was my solution to a problem. A big big problem is that often we do not know we have a problem. Once we know there's a problem we can find a way to solve it.

I had a problem with students not turning in work. I'd say stack it at the end of your row, or put it in the in box or have a lab partner bring up your papers. On average my guess is that I'd have about 57% turn in. By the time I realized that papers were not turned in the students were gone or it was days later.

As a parent I would get frustrated to see my son's grade low in a class for missing work, only to find the assignment completed but not turned in. Often I hear from the teacher, "I TRYING TO TEACH THEM TO BE RESPONSIBLE AND TO BE GROWN UP ENOUGH TO TURN THEIR PAPER INTO THE IN BOX". Well they are not all responsible, and even if they are often they don't hear the instruction, or they are just NOT grown up enough to get up and put their paper in the in-box.
My colleagues may say I am not teaching them to be responsible. I say, "I DON'T WANT THE FRUSTRATION OF LOW TURN IN RATES, AND THE INCREASED STRESS OF HAVING TO CHASE DOWN THE ASSIGNMENTS AND WORRY ABOUT HIGH NUMBERS OF LOW SCORES. MY METHOD SOLVES A PROBLEM...SO SUE ME!"

Method 1: Stand at the door and hand it to me as you leave.
This works okay, but it is chaotic and papers are collected in no particular order which can make handing them back later more time consuming. Careful, if you have a 2nd door in your room some kids will try to sneak out. I rarely collect papers like this.
Method 2: Dismiss class by rows, stand at end of the row and collect papers as students walk past you to get out.
This is the best way to do it. You get the papers in order by row which makes handing back very easy and quick. You can also inspect the row to see if it is clean or if anybody left anything behind. If a paper is not complete you have the option to say GO BACK AND FINISH IT.
Method 3: Have papers stacked at end of the row or at the center aisle and verify there is a paper for each student.
I use this a a lot on days with multiple assignments to turn in, or if I have a TICKET OUT THE DOOR for later to collect. My room is split down the middle from front to back with an aisle. I have kids pass papers to the CENTER AISLE. The "Center Aisle Person" is asked to get the assignments all facing the same direction and make sure names are on all. I then walk down the center aisle and take a stack from each row and count to make sure all are there and that they are complete.

I have a very high turn in rate now, in the 90% range. Problem solved. So there...take that!

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 3 Day 2- Dorky 8th grade boys...past and present.

Yesterday I saw the first signs of Fall. Not hot or muggy, a gentle breeze blowing a few dried up leaves. September. For so much of my formative years Fall meant SCHOOL. I hated school...or so I thought. I don't remember doing much homework. I remember being in class...just there...a lump on a log unless I had a buddy or two in the same class then we recited Cheech n Chong's BIG BAMBOO album. I remember being in Mr. K's 7th grade class (there were 2 Mr. K's at our school, one nick-named Big-Fig and the other Bible Bill) and we were to give a report on a science project we were to have been doing. Well Wade, Eric and I were clueless. I remember Grace and Leslie went up to do their report on CLASSIFICATION. They talked about Kingdoms through species. They did the classification of an elephant I believe. I was dumb founded. How did they do that...how did they know that. I was both amazed...and without knowing it humiliated. How did they know that?

I FEEL A KINSHIP WITH DORKY 8TH GRADE BOYS.

I totally get them. I was one. I am still dorky. I come down on my dorky 8th grade boys pretty firm. I do it because I want them to be able to get up when it's their turn to give their presentation and not stand there saying what I did,"We didn't do anything...gosh shucks ah...can we sit down now?". I want them to not wear the sticker on their head saying CLUELESS DORKY BOY. I don't want them to bear the humiliation of CLUELESS. That's a pain I never liked. Now, please, bear the sticker: DORKY BOY WITH PRIDE...I STILL DO IN MANY WAYS, just ask my wife, my boys, my friends, my colleagues, and my students.

Now that I am a professional teacher I want to ask 7th grade Mr.K., "What the hell were you doing when I was supposed to be doing research...why were you not coming down hard on me and making do some work?" I really want to know. I'll have to ask the four winds...and I hope the answer is, "I was doing the best I could..sorry I let you down".

Will a past student of mine ask the future four winds the same question about me. Probably, but hopefully not many. When they do, the answer will be, "I was doing the best I could..sorry I let you down"

Fall is in the air...just a little bit.

Later in life, during college, Fall meant back to Fresno State University and my new chance on life. Later in life, and up to now, fall means a new group of fresh students to share my love of life and teaching with.

Fall is my favorite season of the year. Most look upon spring as the rebirth time. For me it's fall, time to cool down, shed off the old, glory in storms and hopefully snow, see glorious constellation ORION rise in the early morning sky and hurrying along to make an early evening winter appearance. Ahh...Fall! And Good-night 7th grade Mr.K, thanks for doing with me what you could.

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 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 5 Real teachers use protection!

Today's Best Practice...The pocket protector

This isn't your father's (or master teacher's) protection. I proudly wear a pocket protector daily. If I wear a t-shirt as shown in the photo, I put it on stringed protector (these are often name badges at conferences). Today we had a timed rotating station lab so I could attach my timer to the string for convenience.

Reasons I wear a pocket protector and why you should too.

1) To have every writing tool(and more) with me when I want and need it.
2) To have a convenient holder for my writing tools.
3) To keep pockets clean and free from wear and tear.
4) It's a great place to store a few of your business cards, pocket periodic tables, laser pointers and forks(while you microwave your lunch)
5) You gain a persona of "The guy with the pocket protector". (if you can't laugh at yourself and toss humor at yourself you need to loosen up)

A good Friend and colleague, David Piercy, gave me the protector shown in the photo about 6 years ago. It is held together with duct tape. It is a treasure to me. He had one that said,"The ABC's of safety...Always Be Careful" I was given a series of protectors with foam lettered words attached as a Christmas gift from a colleague (Thanks Robyn C.) , One for each day of the week, Test Day, and my name. When kids draw my picture the protector is always there.

My other good friend,and H.S. Physics teacher, Paul Lake, is the person that turned me on to pocket protectors 20 years ago (O.M.G has it been that long). When he told me the virtues of a "PocProt" I thought about that $40 MACY's shirt that was stained with ink (it was my rookie year), I thought about constantly loosing pens and pencils, I thought about always looking for a pencil. This solved it. Thank you Paul for being to first to tell me that "Real men use protection".

Hey women can use them too. Especially with the corded strap hanging styles. You could get them in different colors that would match your shoes or outfit. You could even wear strapless ones too, depending upon what kind of blouse or purse or earings you wear.

Word or phrase of the day. WoW I just thought of this. If you get the type shown in the picture, the type that has a clear plastic name plate holder on the back (from conferences) you can write cool stuff for the kids you see. Vocabulary, or reminders like, "Tonight...get off My Space and do your H.W.", or "Test next time...study", or "Hey, quite acting like you're 13 years old", or for the lady teachers, "Hey, look up, my eyes are up here (up arrow)"

I have to be honest with you, I like my wife and kids, BUT I LOVE MY POCKET PROTECTOR! I even have a pocket Geologic time Scale, Pocket Meteor shower list, another pocket periodic table, and a pen with a retracting periodic table built in. I've added "FLARE" in the form of buttons, pins, and as seen in the photo above, a timer.

It's not just a pocket protector, it's a way of life. I am careful to take it off before I go in a store or bar...I don't want to get beat up. Some may laugh at me for wearing it, snicker like I some kind bathtub methane bubble biting twerp but I don't care. As we use to say, I'll paraphrase, "Joke em if they can't take a PocProt!" Even some of my dear colleagues will roll their eyes...but when trapped at a faculty meeting without a pencil for the "colors of my personality quiz" who and what do they look to? They look to that dull white shield, that guardian of my breast, that defender of my shirt, that holder of a pencil to borrow.
TRIVIA: did you know the Army refers to a pencil as: "A self contained disposable all purpose writing apparatus"

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 4- Discovery Lab and "kit-up" labs and return on investments

Today the kids loved Science. Today they learned that, "It's not Magic, It's Science".


The Discovery lab is 18 stations set up for groups of two kids to rotate through every 1 minute and 40 seconds. Enough time to do the activity, time to play, barely time to record observations or answer questions.Just enough time to be enthralled but not bored. (In this photo students are discovering the blind spot that we all have in each eye's field of vision).


THE INVESTMENT: It took me an hour and fifteen minutes to set it up last afternoon and that was even being a lab that was in a pre made "kit".


Have each lab you do set up into a kit. Get all the materials need together in one box. I don't put basic glassware or hot plates etc. Doing this keeps you from hours of running around setting up. If you are lucky and have a T.A. (student teachers assistant) AND IF YOU HAVE PRE-PLANNED* you can have your helper do most of the set-up for you. Sometimes I'll have my students help me take down or set up the lab. Our students can be big helpers for us if we use them.
*In my experience, nothing is a better gift for your self than planning ahead...don't do what I did for years and walk in the door with a vague idea of the unit your in and then decide to throw a lab together. This happens a lot when you are starting out during the survival mode of teaching but you have to get yourself out of that stage very fast.
RETURN AND INTEREST: So, back to my point about the time it took me to set up the lab. 1:15 to set it up. I will use the lab for two days. I'll get hours of science joy from this set-up time. A great investment and return. Kids will be having fun. I can get a few things done while they work BUT...YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE KIDS, KEEP THEM FROM GETTING OVER EXCITED, MAKE SURE THEY DO NOT MOVE AHEAD OF MY ROTATION CALL MAKE SURE ALL MATERIALS ARE IN GOOD ORDER.

A good timer is important, I suggest the pampered chef timer...it counts up, down and beeps loud and persistant. I almost went hoarse from hollering "Rotate"...use a bell to annunce rotate and not lose your voice...I am kinda tired today and I think it is from speaking loud every 100 seconds.

It's amazing how busy I am monitoring while it looks like I'm doing nothing but sitting a the computer. If you don't pay close attention things get broken, kids get out of control, and kids stop learning. What I really like about the DISCOVERY lab is kids think they are playing but they are actually experiencing a lot of physical science concepts. For example, this picture shows the SPECIFIC HEAT station. Wood, plastic, and aluminum. The wood feels no temp, the plastic slightly cool, and the aluminum feels COLD...but they are all the same temperature. Metals transfer energy (heat) very quickly.

Today's best practice: Have labs "kitted up". Save boxes to use as your storage containers. Stack them on the back room shelves or in cabinets ready. This investment will save you lots of time in the future.

For a copy of this lab contact me at the e-mail address below

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 3 Cooing(good lesson) and Ranting(who makes our textbooks)

What a nice day I had today. Same lesson as yesterday...Tally the Mini Sci Project (see previous blog). I have found that I am a much better teacher period 8 than period 1. In today's case I was about even money in front of the kids with yesterday. Where today was great was having time to get my grade book set up, doing some room cleaning and putting away, and getting ready for tomorrow's Lab...THE DISCOVERY LAB (I'll tell you about that tomorrow). So anyway this was one of those days where the kids are working as hard as I am, and they were having a great time.

About the Homework I assigned and collected today..

Caution: Rant about to begin!

We adopted the Glencoe Focus on Physical Science text. I mostly like it. One of their worksheets was TEXTBOOK SCAVENGER HUNT. Sounds like it should be a pretty good homework assignment. HUH! Who do they get to make the worksheets for textbook companies? I don't think they are using teachers. Come on get a clue, get some teachers to input on the setup of the book and worksheet. I swear to ORION (the constellation of the teacher) that if I see , for an example, another astronomy worksheet that says, "Look out your window each night for two weeks, after the NEW MOON, and draw a picture of its SHAPE. Record the time it rises.".
AHHHHHHHHH.
I did do this once, but that was earning my LUNAR OBSERVERS CLUB CERTIFICATE with the ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE OF THE PACIFIC and it actually took me two moon cycles(and was a total blast sitting out back one June after school was out).

Back to who writes-edits science textbooks.

If a company does get teachers to contribute, then I think, this is just me talking here, I mean I'm no brain surgeon , BUT I THINK MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS should be contributing experts. Often I see PhD's and High School Department chairpersons listed as contributing experts. OK...for content...SURE...for editing science facts...FINE. BUT...if that PhD or Dept. Chair has not taught* MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE, they should not be designing labs, worksheets or even book flow.

*By taught I mean they passionately taught Middle School Science by design, not because they had to wait for a High School Biology slot to open up, or they are the ______ (FILL IN THE SPORT) coach and the principal stuck them in an open science teacher slot (because they lost the teacher to the High School)

Okay, I'm lost..where was I...Oh ya. The Textbook Scavenger Hunt...created by the textbook company...by someone who does not teach, does not understand middle school kids nor realize how their minds are like chunks of fruit spinning in a blender(smile if you remember the Bass-o-matic). The worksheet was terrible. I COULDN'T FIGURE IT ALL OUT..EVEN WITH THE TEACHERS EDITION!

I took the 15% of the sheet that was okay and redesigned it so that it was the following:
a) not stupid nor difficult or confusing
b) written by someone that knows and loves middle school kids
c) showed the helpful features of the textbook, not the obscure appendices of almost useless info.
d) allowed you to find some interesting facts
e) made you have to read directions AND follow them
f) asked you to read ..but not that much.

(if you answered the choices above by circling one of the letters above, then you are a middle school student and should leave this blog and go do your homework)

Well, I hope this helps...
....I think the point is make sure you are "planned ahead" and plan on you not always being on stage. You'll have a great day(s) if you do. Also, take the good, modify the mediocre, replace the lame in your textbook materials. And share in and put it on your website.

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