Making Tests

So my least favorite thing to do as a teacher is to make tests!  I do not feel confident at all in making them.  I'm never really sure if I'm testing what my students really know.  I try to use this test generator that comes with the textbooks.  They never have good questions because I use the textbook like a reference book.  So, that means that I have to come up with my own questions.

Earlier this semester I went to a professional development day on "How to write a test that would be closest to the state test given at the end of the year."  (You know your jealous!)  However, this just weakened my confidence even more!  I know the rules the test makers follow, but this nagging in my head says that I'm not doing it right. 

I've almost given up on tests and gone to authentic assessments only.  More rubrics are in my future!  But semester tests are coming up quick and I have to make a HUGE test to give and I want it to help my students' grades, not hurt them. 

The Dreaded Chemical Closet!

The "Hole"

So I have this thorn in my side the size of a closet.  Well, actually, it is a closet.  It's the chemical closet that the chemistry teacher and I share, it actually connects our two rooms.  She hasn't taught chemistry in 20 years and this is my first year to teach anything.  By the time I was hired most of the summer was gone and I was trying to get my room in order and so was the other teacher.   By the time we got our rooms in to some sort of semblance school was starting.

Now every time we need to get something out of the dreaded closet we have a pow wow about what we are going to do to get it cleaned up.  The chemicals are in alphabetical order which should makes it easy to find the chemicals we need....WRONG.  It is so crammed full of other things like parade float skirts...see black bag in picture.

We are going to work on the closet this summer, but I don't know what to do with all of the old, yucky chemicals.  I'm going to have to do a lot of research to find the MSDS (material safety data sheets) on all these chemicals.  Unless, someone has a better idea?  If so please comment, because I would love to get this thorn out of my side!

Standing Up to Mr. O book review

Book cover

Author: Claudia Mills

Realistic Fiction

Claudia Mills was born in New York City in 19654. She has several degrees including a Ph. D. in philosophy from Princeton University. She is currently an associate professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She has written several children’s novels. Author’s Website: http://claudiamillsauthor.com/

If you read this book you will be sucked into a junior high girl’s desperate attempt to truly change the world. She’s even willing to make her favorite teacher, Mr. O., mad at her.  I would recommend this book to the following content areas:

Science-especially biology: dissections

English: imagery, inferences, writing, predictions, visualization

Summary of Standing Up to Mr. O

Maggie McIntosh is crazy about her biology teacher and loves to impress him with her academic excellence. But when the dreaded day of the first dissection arrives, Maggie has to disappoint Mr. O. There's no way she can cut up a worm.

Maggie's best friend, Alycia, understands. Alycia is squeamish, too, and shares Maggie's moral outrage. However, she's willing to keep quiet and let her lab partner do the dirty work. Maggie's own lab partner, Matt, completely disagrees. Then, after Maggie walks out on the dissection, he seems to respect her. And classmate Jake, who follows Maggie out the door, appears positively smitten.

As she struggles to clarify her position about dissections, Maggie discovers that people and relationships are not always what they seem, and just as there are no perfect fathers (hers left years before), there are no perfect father figures - or even friends

After not completing the first two dissections and receiving two F’s, Maggie still is not budging on her stance that killing animals for science is wrong. The next dissection will be of a frog, but first Mr. O. is going to pith a frog for the class. (This is done by cutting the head off of a live frog and finding nerves in the spinal column to see how nerves cause muscle movement.) Maggie wants to save the frog and with the help of her rebel “boyfriend” they have a scheme to save the frog.

Does Maggie decide to do the final dissection?
Or will Mr. O. finally see Maggie’s point of view?
To find out you’ll have to read Standing up to Mr. O. by Claudia Mills.


This is a must read for a life science student from 7-10th grade.  It really would probably be better for a seventh or eighth grader or a lower level ninth or tenth grader.  However, it was a page turner for me!

Book Review of Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear

Book Cover

 

Greg Bear was born August 20, 1951 in San Diego, California.  He received his Bachelor of Art from San Diego State University.  His more recent works, such as the Darwin's Radio / Darwin's Children are a pair of novels, which deal with the impact of a strange disease that appears to drive evolutionary transitions, stick closely to the known facts of molecular biology of viruses and evolution. While some fairly speculative ideas are entertained, they are introduced in such a rigorous and disciplined way that Darwin's Radio gained praise in the science journal Nature.

In the novel, a new form of endogenous retrovirus has emerged, SHEVA. It controls human evolution by rapidly evolving the next generation while in the womb, leading to speciation.  The novel follows several characters as the "plague" is discovered as well as the panicked reaction of the public and the U.S. government to the disease.

This book would only be suitable for more mature students because it deals with issues such as abortion.  This would be great for an AP biology class.  This would also be great in a U.S. government class to see how the role of government impacts its citizens.  Darwin's Radio would work in a statistics class to calculate the percentages of people who would and would not be affected.  Many essays could be written for an English class pertaining to student's emotions about what they are reading or what they would do if they were in charge of the situation.

I would recommend this read and I can't wait to read it's squeal!

Two Birds with One Stone...More or Less

I feel the need to be extremely resourceful with lab supplies that I use during class.  I try to get every last drop or every use out of EVERYTHING.  The latest lab was a lab that used eggs.  We melted the shells off with vinegar (this takes about 2 days), then we put one egg in water, one egg in corn syrup and one in vinegar again.  The point was to show how membranes are selectively permeable.  It results in the egg in water swelling, the egg in syrup shrinking, and the egg in vinegar staying mostly the same.

When you are done the eggs feel like water balloons.  Well, if something feels like a water balloon you HAVE to throw it...its like a rule or something.  We happened to be playing the school rivalry that evening and I just happened to have cardboard cutouts of their school's mascot posted up next to electric poles outside....

I thought my kids were going to laugh themselves silly throwing these shell-less eggs at these cutouts.  I thought I was too!  We had a ton of fun that day.  It's even going to make it into the yearbook, which I think is pretty cool.

So your are probably wondering if we won the football game that night.  I would love to say yes by a large margin, but we lost by a very large margin.   Oh well, you win some, you lose some.  But I got my double duty out of my eggs that day!

Old Project, New Kids

I love biology.  I could talk about cells and bacteria and chromosomes and trees all day...well I do since I'm teaching it :)  I want my students to love it at least a little bit.  They don't have to be fanatics like I am.  I try to do things that are exciting for them and get them to learn with out knowing they actually are.

One project that I did when I was a biology student in high school was making a model of a plant cell.  (I think we have all done this or a variation of it at some point in our high school days...right?)  Well, I can't be the only biology teacher in the world that doesn't assign a cell model....so I did.

I didn't want to give to many guidelines, but I did want to give a rubric.  I also thought that it would be best to come up with a rubric with my classes.  My only requirement that I knew I was going to impose was it couldn't be made with food.  (I didn't want it stinking in my room or somebody eating someone else's project!)  We worked on a rubric that made us all happy.  They had creative freedom and I would have a nice clean room!

The projects that they brought in were beyond my wildest dreams!  I wouldn't have thought to use some of  the items that they did.  We live in a small community.  We have a Dollar General and that is it.  The closest Wal-Mart is thirty minutes away.  Most of the things they used they found in their homes.  One cell had hair gel as the cytoplasm (not a good idea...but very cool), one had yellow softballs as chloroplasts, and another had a decorative heart shaped box as the nucleus.

Needless to say, I truly enjoyed this project.  I think my students did too.  I know that they did very well on their test that covered cellular structure.  I will certainly continue to use this idea in following years.  I am, however, considering letting my classes do all food ones next year and having a party the day they are due and eating their cells...YUM!

Three More Weeks!

So before I decided to go back to into the working world, I was a stay at home mom for 7 1/2 months.  As the previous post stated I was sick for a full week and then our school is out the whole week of Thanksgiving (thank the Lord!).  So now I have been off for over two weeks, at home with my baby girl.  She also just recently turned one year old.  And I don't wanna go back!

Sweet baby girl's one year picture

Now don't get me wrong, I like my job and my students.  However, I love my baby girl and being a stay at home mom.  Needless to so there have been some tears shed today.  I know that I really need to earn a paycheck for my family and I know there are certainly easier ways.  I just can't see myself doing anything any differently with my life.  I want to teach.  I want to make a difference in students' lives.

I am however going to count down until Christmas or should I say Winter break.  I have 15 days to be exact.  I could not be more ready for a nice long break.  A break from teaching and a break from school work myself.  I wasn't quite expecting the stress that being a mom, a student and a teacher would bring on myself.

I just have to keep reminding myself of my count down....15 days....15 days....15 days!

Missing a Week of Work

I knew that my first year of teaching that I would catch every bacterial viral infectious disease my students' brought to my classroom.  I'm just that kind of sicko, always have been....always will be.The first week of school I had to get a steroid shot and some serious antibiotics. 

Two and a half weeks ago I had the most embarrassing moment of the year so far.  I threw up in class!  I was lecturing about cellular respiration...boring I know and it hit me.  BANG out of no where I barfed.  My students were for the most part helpful.  One called the office to get a teacher down to watch them while I went to the nurse and another helped me to the nurse.

Thankfully this happened during the last period of the day on a Thursday.  I though, well this is good, I will only miss one day of class and be back on Monday.  WRONG!  By Friday at noon I had full blown hives and horrible pain in my hands and feet.  This was no stomach virus like I thought.  The doctor told me it was "Fifths Disease,"  a virus usually small children get.  When adults get the virus it affects their joints.  By Friday night I couldn't even walk or use my hands and I itched like crazy.

I really thought that I would get over the virus quickly by Wednesday.  Well, that's when the doctor said I could go back to work anyway.  However, Wednesday morning I did get the stomach virus.  My husband got it first and then me.

He went to work after only missing a day.  I however ended up in the emergency room getting fluids.  Again I remind you....I'm a sicko!

Needless to say I missed a whole week of work.  I missed a whole week of instruction and I feel horrible.  I tried to give work that would prepare them for when I return.  I tried to do some front loading of vocabulary and reading.  I also tried to assign enough work that it would keep them busy for 45 minutes a day.  I have yet to return to my classroom (we get the whole week of Thanksgiving off) to see the notes from my sub.  She has my number, so surly she would have called me if it got too bad!

One thing that I wasn't expecting from missing so much work was the guilt that I had/have.  I know I will have to do some double time to make up the pace that I messed up and that will be harder on my students.  I certainly don't want to let my students down.  I think I will make it up to them by doing a fun lab! 

Always Follow Your Instincts

So I haven't posted in a while and I think there is one overwhelming reason, not following my instincts with a student.  I suppose I should start from the beginning so this can make some sense.  I had a student that was either very happy in class, or very angry and agitated.  I began chalking it up to the fact that it was after lunch and we all know that the most drama filled time of the high schooler's day is lunch. 

After a few weeks though I began observing him being abusive to his "girlfriend".  I mentioned this to other teachers, but everyone told me this happened last year and that her mom knew and there was nothing that could be done.  I couldn't take the, what seemed like a rehearsed, answer so I went to my principal over my feeling that something was going to happen between these two students at school.  She gave me some advice, but I still didn't feel satisfied.

I began writing down his behavior, his mood and seeing if there was some sort of pattern.  However, before I could find a pattern my worst fear happened.  He came into my class very agitated and angry one day and I had to send him to the office.  While there he punched out the reinforced glass of the front doors of our school.

We had to go on lock down while the police and ambulance came to the school.  When the bell didn't' ring, I knew why.  My heart just sank.  I immediately felt as though I could have done more to prevent this from coming down to this.  He was recommended for expulsion and the school board agreed with the recommendation.  The very next day he overdosed on his medication and was found very near my home in a ditch.  He was rushed to the hospital and luckily survived.   

I'm not sure that I could have done much more for him, but I would have liked the opportunity to try.  Everybody knew his condition and personality, but nobody, including me, helped him.  I know I can't save them all, but I didn't think I would "lose one" this early in the game.  Bottom line:  always follow your instincts. 

Another Day Bites the Dust

So today was NOT my day!  All of my seniors, most of my juniors and a quarter of my sophomores were gone today on trips.  I had a two tests and (what I think is going to be fun) an activity planned.  I really didn't think that it was a good idea to move on with so many students absent so I canceled my plans.  But I just feel like talking about the same thing another day is sooo boring for my students.  I tried to catch up those who have been absent and teach others how to use a microscope.  I feel like I am already behind what frameworks I am supposed to cover and that I'm failing my students.  I have certainly put a lot of pressure on myself.  Also, I  found out today that my husband is leaving for Canada for 10 days for a work trip.  Did I mention that I have a 10 month old daughter, full time job and a full time MAT student?!?  Talk about stress!

On a good note, I have scheduled a day to visit a near by school district to observe a biology teacher that is completely AWESOME and I plan on stealing everything I can from her.  And I also received my first "silly band"  from a student.  It is an orange pumpkin.  I, however, thought it was an apple...

New Technique

My Classroom Layout

This weekend I went to my monthly class down in Monticello.  I heard a technique that a fellow student was trying with her class...centers.  That's right, centers.  Just like your local kindergarten teachers are doing.  I thought to myself when I heard this comment that there was NO WAY this would work in my classroom.  After really wanting to try something besides lecturing everyday six times a day for 45 minutes, I came up with how I was going to implement my own centers.

I started by prepping my students two days prior.  I told them what we were going to do, what I expected and how we were going to do it. Today was THE day.  I carefully divided my classes into groups of 3 or 4 students only.  I divided them by their average grade in the class at this point.  I decided to do it this way so I could do remediation with students that need it or give more indepth details/projects/questions to students who were ready to advance.  Some classes had 4 groups but most had 5.

My "centers" included a microscope section where students would look at a prepared slides and draw what they saw in the lab notebook (most of my students have never used a microscope and yes they are in the 10th grade!).  Next, was the reading table for students to read the section we are studying right now.  Third, was a vocabulary table where students picked three vocab words, from the same section, to draw a pictorial representation of the word.  The fourth center was the math group where students worked on basic math skills that they are lacking and desperately hate to work on.  Lastly was my center.  This is where students would have a discussion or mini-lecture with me.

I was terrified to try this.  I was afraid that there would be mass ciaos in the room and I would have wasted a day of instruction.  However, I was pleasantly surprised at how well  my students behaved and how much they got out of today.  More questions were asked about the concepts we are covering and time just flew by.  If this keeps up, we may only have one day of lecture a week!

The First Weeks of School

These first weeks of school have certainly been more difficult than I could have ever imagined.  I have spent every day with my daughter since she was born, and going back to work was not really on my list of things to do.  However, I knew my time had come and that if I was going to get hired at the school in my home town that I needed to get started.

After spending hours of crying, I took my daughter to daycare and walked into my first professional development.  I had not been crying just because I had to take my daughter to daycare, but also because I slammed my finger in the car door!  Shortly after arriving at school, I had to ask to go to the doctor.  I was sure my finger was broken.  After spending 2 hours in the doctors office and a set of x-rays, I was free to go back to school.  Thankfully it was not broken.

I have a love of biology that I desperately want to get across to my students.  Over these last four weeks I have found out that it is going to be much more difficult than I thought it was going to be though.  There is much more paperwork and standardized testing that I have to prepare than I imagined there was going to be.  my students will have SIX practice End of Course exams before they actually get to take it.  These tests are mandatory and I think I am more scared of them than my students.