Stretching Forward

I have been thinking/struggling/wondering about this dilemma lately.

Which is more important?

• Helping students learn responsibility and how to meet deadlines or
• Showing students that it is okay if your “learning timeline” is different from others

At my core, I believe the most important thing is for my students to learn – and to nurture in them a love of a learning. I want them to learn the standards I teach them, but I do not expect them to get it right away, and I encourage them to take risks without fear of failure. I want them to know that failure is okay. (As long as they learn from it and continue to make progress towards their goals.)

I also tend to be very open and understanding about deadlines – perhaps too much. I fear that I am not allowing them to be responsible by accepting work that is long overdue. And there are times that I cannot be inflexible with deadlines (like when submitting science fair paperwork). I think these instances surprise them.

I am trying to figure out a way to strike a balance. Also, I know it needs to be a stepped process because students at the beginning of the year need a lot more leeway than they would need at the end of the year with regards to deadlines. I don’t want to squelch understanding or the thirst for knowledge, but I am considering placing limits on “re-d0ing” assignments for students who do not attempt them in a timely manner the first time.

Is this fair? I feel so torn. What am I missing?

There are a lot of things I assume you know about about us and how I feel about our class. Perhaps, though, you don’t know these things for sure. Maybe I don’t tell you enough. I want you to make sure you know these things.

I really do care about each and every one of you.

I love the fun times we have in class together.

You are important, and you matter!

You are funny and smart.

I want to show you that science is wonderful. The world is amazing. The universe is incredible.

But even more that that, I want you to know that life is beautiful.

I hope you know that I am here for you, and you can always come to talk to me – about anything – even if it is a year, or two, or more later, and I’m not “your” teacher anymore. I have time for you. I (will) remember you.

Because as I mentioned before, you matter. I see you, and I see an exciting future filled with wonderful new discoveries, inventions, and ideas. I know it will be a bright one. Because I know each of you. You are talented and creative and thought-ful.

Please don’t ever forget this!

Love,

Mrs. Wilson

Thursday was a bluster of noise and activity as students learned about the planets exchanging partners every few minutes to share information on their “home” planet.

My classroom is often like this. Lots of movement. Lots of noise. Lots of sharing. Lots of laughing.

But I realized that perhaps we don’t spend enough time in quiet contemplation and reflection. I saw a link to a TedTalk about introverts. I also started reading the Kindle sample of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. (Somehow it took me a bit to realize the book and TedTalk were by the same person!) But it really made me stop to think. If one-third to one-half of the students in my classroom are introverts who love the quiet world of their minds (like me), why do I feel like we must spend most of our time in groups collaboration assignments? I am not saying that these are bad, but I do think I need to find more of a balance between quiet contemplation and gregarious, social sharing. I think I may have stretched too far into the always working together “ideal” because I am an introvert who could very easily spend days alone working through problems, so it’s almost an overcompensation to show I know how to reach extroverts. Plus, we do see to hear in a lot of professional development that it is all about collaboration. But does it really need to be?

So on Friday, we practiced quiet. The lesson for the day was a reading for meaning strategy about comets, asteroids, and meteors, so it lent itself well to a time of practicing quiet. I began class by explaining my reasoning, and I also read an excerpt from the book Quiet. (Leading to another observation – kids LOVE story time, even if you are reading nonfiction to them. Have you read to your students lately?)

I then explained the format of the Reading for Meaning strategy. Students read a series of statements and circle if they agree or disagree with each one. Then, we read two articles and gather evidence to support or refute the statements. We only read the first article on Friday. I decided we should read together as I modeled the strategy with my students since we have not done anything like this before, and it was a bit challenging for them.

But once we started quietly working, reading (I read the article out loud), and stopping when students found evidence to share on our organizer, I noticed something incredibly interesting. Students who often are quiet and don’t share loved this strategy. They were seeing the connections in ways that perhaps their extroverted counterparts couldn’t. These students had found their individual voice in the quiet.

I encourage you to watch Susan Cain’s TedTalk about The Power of Introverts. I hope unlike me, you haven’t forgotten that it is okay to practice quiet in balance with collaboration. Finally, I have attached the lesson plan, graphic organizer, and articles I share with my students for this lesson.

• 01-Content to be learned
• 02-Graphic Organizer
• 03-Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors
• 04-Comets Meteors and Asteroids

33.

32.

31.

30.

29 days left.

It seems like all the other teachers around me are counting down the days until the end of the school year, anxiously awaiting the moment the last bell rings.

But I’m wishing the days would slow down.

I’m hoping I can ignore the reminders of the small amount of time left.

I have such an amazing group of students this year. They are creative. They thrive on a challenge. They can think critically. They are clever and funny.

We have great times in class. We design. We create. We collaborate. We laugh.

We laugh A LOT.

I feel like I have so much more to share with them. Have they found joy in science? Do they look up at the stars with wonder? Will they look at the world around them and ask questions? What will they take with them through life from our class?

They challenge me to be a better teacher because they thrive on complex assignments. I’ve been able to get super creative with the lessons we’ve done this year because they need the challenge. The bigger the challenge, the more impressive the results. I look forward to hearing the questions they ask and the connections they make. I am looking forward to seeing how creative they get with our remaining projects.

I’ve decided that I don’t have time to count down the days; I’m too busy enjoying the moments.

Image from NASA/JPL

As I was getting ready for school this morning, I couldn’t help but reflect on the lesson we wrapped up in class yesterday. It was a compare/contrast lesson looking at Pluto in relationship to both the eight planets and the Kuiper Belt Objects. The point of the lesson was to highlight the reasons Pluto is no longer classified as a planet. When I developed the lesson, I assumed students brought a strong understanding of the basic details of the planets. However, as I talked with students, it seemed like they knew less than I expected.

I was thinking about this and trying to decide what to do today. I was so close to postponing what I had planned today to concentrate on the planets. However, I decided to gather additional data today to see if that was necessary or not. Plus, the lesson I had planned today was a concept attainment lesson on gravity and inertia in relationship to the solar system. It was on the same theme of the planets in our solar system, so teaching this today and planetary information tomorrow would not feel out of sequence.

During our warm up today, I asked the students to write one fact about each of the planets. As we shared together, I realized that a few students had strong background knowledge, but most of my students did not know as much as they needed to. I also asked my students if they wanted to spend a day learning about the planets. The majority of them indicated that they would like to spend time on the planets.

Tonight I put together the ideas I have been trying to figure out since this morning-how to present the information. I knew I wanted the acquisition of the material they needed to know to be interactive and focused.  It is very convenient that I have eight lab groups, and there are also eight planets! I decided all students will start out at their home planet. They will become experts on their planet. I plan on providing them with some basic information. Then, we will play musical chairs. I’ll play music (Holst’s The Planets), and students will move to find a partner from a different home planet. They will then share their information with each other. We will repeat the process until everyone has the information on all eight planets.

I have never tried this musical chairs style of sharing information before! I hope it works out tomorrow. If it doesn’t work during first period, I guess I will be brainstorming a different way to share the information before my remaining classes! I’ll share how it goes tomorrow with some tips for making it work (hopefully!).

Have you ever scrapped a lesson at the last minute and totally changed the course of the day? I seem to do it often in response to the needs of my students!

NGC 1300 from Hubble Telescope

Today I shared with some of my colleagues the mystery lesson strategy. I really like this lesson strategy because I love solving puzzles with clues. I first found out about the strategy while taking my gifted endorsement class, which used the book The Strategic Teacher. (By the way, I highly recommend this book. It’s filled with lots of great teaching strategies and examples.)

One of my mystery lessons is entitled “Where are we?” It is a lesson to help my students discover where we are in the galaxy and where our galaxy is located in relationship to the other galaxies around us. I set the stage by introducing my students to Bob, a lost alien from planet Rivendom. He crashed on Earth, and his navigation systems are damaged. He knows where his planet is, but he doesn’t know where we are. I then ask students to share what they know about where we are in the solar system and galaxy. Next, I give my students a set of clues. They work together in cooperative groups and use the information to help solve the mystery of where we are in the galaxy.

To show their understanding, I have my students write a blog post – The Lost Alien’s Guide to the Galaxy. These are always very fun to read. However, any type of product (written, oral, visual) could be used for students to show their solution to the mystery.

As you work through a mystery lesson, you do not have to give students clue strips. You could provide them with texts to analyze, give them charts, graphs, and pictures, or you could complete a series of investigations in order to solve the mystery. Really, the possibilities are endless.

If you’d like more information, you can check out the attachments below:

• Mystery Lesson Overview/Student Handout
• Lesson Plan
• Clue Set

Have you ever done a mystery lesson in your classroom? Please share!

(PS: I’ll be teaching this mystery lesson next week, so I should have fun student blog posts to share soon.)

Today was the first day back from spring break. The school year is rapidly drawing to a close. I have regular classroom time with my kids the next two weeks, and then we have our state testing. After state testing is over, we begin our space camp in sixth grade activities, so I won’t have my students much of the time. That will take us another three weeks, and then we will only have a half week for finals left!

Before break, my students and I had a chat about how they would like to see the seats arranged. I move our desks around a lot. I get bored when they are always in the same place, and I want them to be situated in arrangements best for the tasks we are accomplishing. However, I thought it was time for my students to have a say. There were several suggestions, but a common theme was a combination of rows and groups. I decided to give it a try.

Since the students had suggested the arrangement, I decided to also let them choose where they sit in the space. They were definitely very excited about this. I also told them they do not have to sit in the same place each day. They were almost shocked by this. Obviously this is not something that has ever been an option before.

It’s all an experiment, and I am interested to see how it works out. Based on today, I think it will go well. I am very curious to see if the students choose to sit in the same places as today or if they continue to venture to new places in the room.

Finally, as I was trying to put together a picture to show you the desk arrangements, I found this cool tool that helps you arrange your room:  Classroom Architect.

Have you ever tried a seating experiment? How did it go for you?

After posting the other day on Does the space matter? I’ve had a few moments of inspiration, and I think I am already beginning to formulate a plan for next year’s classroom that will really encompass the vision I have not just for the classroom spaces but also for the attitudes of the students inside the classroom.

Explorers Wanted

At the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex there is an exhibit called Exploration Space: Explorers Wanted. They have some pretty cool artwork throughout that I would like to use as one of the theme inspirations for the classroom.

For my desk area?

Somewhere near door/board?

These are all themed around Mars, so I am thinking about taking the idea and making new posters that fit what we learn  about in Earth science (which does include some about Mars).

I also discovered these amazing vintage space travel posters through a Space Tweep friend. I adore these, and I think they fit well with the Explorers Wanted feel.

So I guess I have decided on a theme for next year: Explorers Wanted. I think this also fits well with the ideas I had about an Exploration Journal and/or Sketchbook Project in my classroom next year. It also fits the mindset I want my students to have when they come into my classroom. I want them to be explorers of the world around them, and what a better way to remind them that they are and can be explorers than immersing them in it through the spaces around them?

What do you think?

One of my favorite parts of attending the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy program was the camaraderie within our teams and the symbolism within our team patches. I knew this was something I wanted to incorporate into my classroom this year.

I divided each of my classes into four teams (Lenticular, Nacreous, Noctilucent, and Radiatus), and we talked about team patches and meanings. Eventually, students had a chance to create their mission patches. Some of the results are really creative, and most found interesting ways to incorporate the meaning of their team’s name into their patch. (The team names are based on rare types of clouds.)

Here are the amazing results:

I like the idea of the jigsaw model for class learning. It sounds great in theory, but I often find it is hard to make it work for practical reasons.

This year I had the idea to do something a little bit like a jigsaw but to make it a little more 21st century style. My classes are each divided into four teams. Each team has 7-8 students. So I already had my “jigsaw” groups set. My students were begging for a challenge, so I devised the Epic Fronts Project.

Each team was assigned a type of front (cold, warm, stationary, or occluded). The project had four components: video, handout, song, and assessment questions. The teams could choose to work on everything together or break the pieces down and have a couple of people work on each section. We had only briefly talked about the types of fronts in class before the project began, so students spent the first day learning about their front. They then wrote scripts, songs, and handouts in preparation for filming.

Here is the handout I gave to my students explaining the project. We spent two weeks working on the project and then shared the videos in class. Finally, the students had a quiz in class from the assessment questions the groups provided.

I think this worked really well, and I will do something like this again. We did have a few technical video problems, but we were able to work through them.

Here are a couple of my favorite videos:

This one tried to emulate Bill Nye the Science Guy videos:

This group mixed did a great job with the music. Recorded separate tracks for the two vocals and the guitar and then mixed together. It has a great music video feel.

You can see all of the videos that we were able to export and upload on my YouTube Channel.

Have you ever tried anything like this before? Or, do you have another way to re-imagine  the jigsaw lesson? Please share!