Teaching

16/08/2019

Welcome to the all new Mrs Wilson Science site!

Mrs. Wilson Creating, Exploring, Teaching welcome 1 Comment

I am so excited to unveil the all new Mrs Wilson Science site! There’s not a whole lot here yet, but in the days and weeks to come, I plan to post regular updates relating to my interests of teaching, creating, and exploring. If you previously following Stretching Forward, you may find there’s a bit more of mix of professional and personal information.

If you’re used to seeing this site as a classroom site, it obviously looks a lot different. If you’ve found your way here looking for a resource from a broken link, please feel free to post a comment letting me know what you’re looking for, and I see if I can send you what you are looking for.

Finally, I hope you like the site design. I started using a digital bullet journal this year as I love to draw, but I’m trying to simplify my life. Having physical notebooks can cause quite a bit of clutter. So I started drawing and journaling digitally on my iPad. I love the look of it, so I thought I would bring that feel to my site. I hope you like it!

01/05/2017

Day by day: Comparing US and UK school schedules

Mrs. Wilson Teaching 0 Comments

In the previous post, I shared some differences in the yearly school schedules.Today, I want to compare what I’ve experienced schedule wise in the US versus UK on a daily basis.

One of the big differences is that in the US we refer to the school schedule, our daily schedule, students have schedules, etc. We like the word schedule. In the UK, everything is referred to as a timetable. In a sense, they are the same thing. However, a student’s timetable in the UK is much more complex (that’s the case for teachers, too).

US Daily School Schedule

Firstly, I taught for ten years in the US, and we tweaked the daily schedule in major or minor ways every year. There were also some significant differences between middle and high school. In middle school, students took four academic classes (math, science, language arts, and social studies) every day and two connections classes. Our discussion on the middle school schedule included things like length academic classes vs. connections classes, lunch times, who had connections at which time of time (sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students stayed together for connections, and the length of time for homeroom. Ultimately in middle school, students took four academic classes every day along with the two connections. The schedule for a particular student would stay basically the same throughout the year with a rotation of connections classes each nine weeks. Academic teachers would have planning periods while the students were at connections. This meant that all grade level academic teachers had planning at the same time allowing for meetings to take and planning to take place. Most recently for me, academic classes were 70 minutes in length.

The two years I taught at high school were quite different from each other. The first year, we were on a traditional non-block schedule. Students had seven classes each day including four core academic classes and three electives. Classes were 55-minutes each, and there was an hour for lunch. Teachers had one 55-minute planning period per day.

The following year, we switched to an A/B block schedule. Students had eight classes total, attending four classes each day in addition to a 25-minute academy time for project work. Class periods were 85-minutes in length, lunch was 30 minutes, and teachers had one planning period each day. So as a teacher, I taught three longer classes each day. Although I am not there this year (obviously) I did help shape the schedule for this year, which is a tweak of the previous schedule. We still use an A/B block, but Monday students go to all classes for shorter periods of time. Students are back to taking 7 classes instead of 8, and there is a full block of academy time every B day (Wednesdays and Fridays). You can see what the schedule looks like for Mondays, A days, and B days below.

It might look confusing at first glance, but after a week or two, all students and teachers have their own personal schedule memorized. One interesting thing to note is that you see the same classes at the same time each day. This is pretty common in the US. It’s incredibly different in the UK as you’ll see below.

UK Daily School Schedule

The basic schedule at my current school is the same each day. We start with 20 minutes of form/tutor time. This is similar to homeroom in the US. We then have 1st and 2nd periods followed by a 15 minute break. This 15 minute break is awesome. Teachers have duty one day each week, but the other days it is a break for students and teachers alike to grab a snack and a cuppa. (How very British!) We then have 3rd period. Fourth period is longer as it’s the lunch period, and it’s followed by 5th period, the last class of the day. There are review sessions for an hour after that, mainly for students in exam groups. It rotates by content area, and science does ours on Wednesdays. Otherwise, teachers often have meetings during this time period as the majority of students have gone home after 5th period.

Now here is where the big differences come in. Instead of a student’s schedule repeating daily or every other day, at my school now, a student’s schedule repeats every two weeks. It’s the same for the teachers. Students don’t have the same classes at the same time each day. Depending on the grade level, students have a different number of science classes over that two-week period (generally referred to as a fortnight).

Since the schedule only repeats once a fortnight, it is really difficult to remember the schedule. I have mine written down to refer to at all times, and students write their timetable in their planner. If a student loses their planner, they usually need to get a copy of their timetable in order to know where to go when.

One perk to this schedule is that I see a class group at different times of a day throughout the fortnight. It becomes really apparent how time of day affects learning and behavior. I have one class in particular that are really amazing when I have them period 1 or 2 and that are a complete handful period 4 or 5. If I only saw them in the afternoon, I might think they were all just poorly behaved. However, since I also see them in the mornings, I know a lot of it has to do with time of day (not that I’m excusing poor behavior, but I think all factors should be considered).

Here’s a glimpse of my current timetable noting weeks A and weeks B. When I initially received my schedule, I had to color code it in order to help me see what classes I had when.

Since I’ve been teaching in England for less than a year, I’m not sure how a timetable/schedule like this evolved. From what I’ve seen, I believe other schools operate similar schedules. I also don’t yet know what my preference is between the US and UK. The only stand out is planning. I’ll talk about this more in another post, but planning one lesson to teach 4-5 times in the US system is much more efficient use of teacher time (in my opinion) than planning 4-5 different lessons to teach one day with no repeats. It also doesn’t allow for that perfecting of the lesson throughout the day that I used to love. There’s a lot more to share about differences in how lessons works, so I’ll save it for another post.

Finally, you might have noticed there was not a new post on Friday. My initial aim was to post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I may have to rethink this schedule, as I find I’m quite exhausted on a Friday afternoon!

26/04/2017

Throughout the year: comparing US and UK school schedules

Mrs. Wilson Teaching altrealitystories 0 Comments

One of the big adjustments I’ve had teaching in England has been with the school schedule – both when school is in session and the day to day scheduling of classes. There are some significant differences between the two students. Today, let’s look at the big picture yearly calendar. Next time, we’ll look at the differences in the day-by-day schedules.

Yearly Calendar

I know there are several school calendars around the US varying from state to state and district to district, and it can vary quite widely. I’ll be speaking from my own experiences. In terms of the UK, most schools operate on the same general system with a few differences in where the breaks are.

US School Calendar Basics

This is based on my experience working in Gwinnett County Public Schools. You can see this year’s calendar here.

5 Teacher Preplanning Days before the first day of school
First day of school in early to mid-August
Two semesters: August to December and January to May
Bank holidays: Labor Day (first Monday in September), Martin Luther King Jr., Day (third Monday in January)
Other days off: Election Tuesday in November on major election years; day in February and a day in March unless there is an inclement weather day to make up (these days can vary a bit from year to year)
Teacher Work Days (students off while teachers work): one in October, one in January, one in February, and one in March
Longer breaks: Thanksgiving week (full week off the week of Thanksgiving), Christmas break between semesters (usually two full weeks but can be a day or two shorter), Spring Break (first full week in April)
Last day of school the Wednesday before Memorial Day (the last Monday in May)
2 Teacher Post-planning days to wrap up the year, finalize report cards, move rooms, etc.

UK Calendar Basics

This is based on my personal experiences at The Hazeley Academy. You can see this year’s calendar here.

Two staff inset days before the first day of school (similar to preplanning days in the US)
First day of school beginning of September and not all students start on the same day: year 7s (like 6th grade) start Monday, years 8-11 (like 7-10th grades) start Tuesday, year 13 (like 12 grade) start Wednesday, and year 12 (like 11th grade) start Thursday
Three terms: Autumn September-December, Spring January-April, Summer May-July
Bank holidays: Easter Monday (day after Easter) and May bank holiday (first Monday in May)
Teacher Inset Days (like work days): one in October, one in January, and one in June
Longer breaks: One week break halfway through each term at the end of October, middle of February, and end of May; two week break at the end of each term in December and April
Last day of school around July 20th
No post-planning days

As you can see, there are several differences between the two calendar systems. I really like all of the planning days we have in the US system – especially before the start of school. Two days to get ready for the year that were mostly meetings made it a challenge to be ready for the beginning of the year. I haven’t experience the end of the year yet, but I am having trouble fathoming finishing on the same day as students.

One thing I love about the UK system so far is all of the breaks throughout the year. I’ve long thought year round school would be a good idea. The UK system is similar to year round school, and the breaks definitely help. There were time when I was teaching in the US, when we would go from mid-January to spring break with hardly any extra time off. It was tough. Then once we returned from spring break, there were less than 30 school days left. The US summer is longer (about 10 weeks for students compared to 6 weeks for student in the UK), but research has shown that students regress during the summer. I believe a shorter summer isn’t a bad thing and having additional breaks throughout the year is a much better way to go. I know it would be difficult to change this in the US since parents would have to rearrange schedules much more, but I still feel like it’s a possibility that should be explore more.

What school yearly calendars have you experienced? Do you have a favorite? I’d love for your to share in the comments! Then don’t forget to come back on Friday and hear all about how daily schedules differ in my experiences because there are some huge disparities that might surprise you.

21/04/2017

The teacher job hunt: US vs UK

Mrs. Wilson Teaching altrealitystories 0 Comments

Job hunting for a teacher position in the UK is quite a bit different than it is in the US. Although I wouldn’t say my job hunting experience in the US was extensive, I did teach in two of the largest districts in the country in three different positions. Generally when applying for positions with districts in the US, you fill in one online application indicating the grade level(s) and content area(s) you wish to teach (elementary, middle, or high school), and principals at all of the schools with openings matching your desired areas are alerted. You can also contact the principals directly via email or cover letter to show your interest. The main thing is that you can fill out one application for a large number of schools.

However, many jobs are also secured at job fairs. I was hired for my first teaching position on the spot at a job fair. The interview was short and very informal. I also got my foot in the door for my second teaching position at a job fair. I attended the job fair in Georgia while we were considering a move there. I wanted to see what the prospects were like the area. I met a principal who was interested in me right away. He told me to contact him if I did end up moving to Georgia. A few months later we were living in Georgia, and I was ready to find a teaching job, so I emailed him. I was invited in for an interview. This interview was longer and a bit more formal, and I also met with one of the science teachers. Although I wasn’t offered the job that day, I had a really good feeling about it based on how the interview went. The next day, I was offered the job. My most recent job teaching in Georgia, at Lanier High School, was an internal transfer. I wasn’t changing districts, just schools. So there were no applications to fill out, only a form requesting a transfer. Because I had been involved in establishing project based learning at the middle school level, I had contacts at the high school who were interested in having me work with them there. I had been considering a move to the high school level, so it was the perfect opportunity. In fact, my transfer was approved before I had even met with the principal! I would say I was really lucky in finding such great positions so easily when I was looking the US.

As I started job hunting in the UK, I realized the process was quite a bit different. Firstly, there are no school districts per se. Most schools have moved to a self-governing academy model, which in some ways is similar to the charter school movement in the US. As there is no central district for each county or area, each school lists their individual vacancies and has their own format for a job application. The job applications were poorly formatted Word documents that were cumbersome to work with, and a lot of detailed information was required including a complete job history requiring an accounting of every position you held since leaving high school and an explanation of any gap in employment, even if it was for university studies. Once the application is completed, it is emailed to the school by the application closing date with a cover letter and a CV if accepted. (Some schools did not want to see CVs, which seems very different from always having a resume in the US.)

When the schools receive applications, they review them and decide who they would like to interview. Some schools will contact you via follow up email to let you know they were not interested in interviewing you, but I found many did not respond at all. If the school is interested in an interview, they email you with the interview information. When applying for teaching jobs in the UK, I sent out applications for every position that was remotely close enough to where I knew we would be living. Most of the schools I did not hear back from. One school emailed and said they were not interested at that time, and another school indicated they were interested in interviewing me but wanted to interview in person. At that point, I was still in the US (it was April of last year), and there was no way I could be in England for an interview any time soon.

It was at that point I realized that my job hunt was a bit futile until I was actually in the UK. One component of the interview is teaching a sample lesson, so the school likes to know you’ll be able to come in for an interview. If they see you are residing outside of the country, most won’t bother contacting you. I imagine this may be the same in the US, but I know that my former district recruited far and wide and would sometimes have interviews via web conference.

So this brings me to the story of how I found my current teaching position. I would check the school web sites of schools in the area I am now living to see if any openings were available. If there were, I would complete the application and send off my information. Right before I moved, I noticed there was an opening at my current school. The application deadline was right before I was flying out. In the midst of packing everything up and getting all of the details for transatlantic move with pets, I took some time out to complete the application. (I had applied to the school earlier last year, but I was not selected for an interview at that time.) Since I had already applied once, I only needed to spruce up my application and take into account all of the tips I had learned from perusing UK teaching forums. I sent if off and then worried about getting everything ready for the big move. (The application was due on Thursday, and I flew out on Saturday to give you an idea of the timeline.)

On Saturday, Devon, Newton, Halley and I made our way to the airport and departed for England arriving on Sunday. Once we arrived at our new home on Sunday, I slept most of the day. Between jet lag and moving preparations, I was exhausted. On Tuesday, I received an email inviting me to an interview for a position that Friday. That gave me just a couple of days to prepare a 50-minute lesson on one of the assigned topics. My husband had been saving money by not having internet access at the house, so I spent many hours at Starbucks drinking coffee and tea, eating gluten free snacks, and using their free wifi to create my lesson plan and resources.

On the Friday, I arrived for the interview with one other candidate. In the UK, they interview all candidates on the same date. You end up spending some time together throughout the day, which is interesting and a bit weird to be getting to know the competition. The day began with a welcome and overview from HR. We were then given a tour of the school by two of the students. Next up was the lesson observation where I taught my sample lesson to one of the classes. This was followed by meeting with the science department as a whole during the school break time. Finally, we were each interviewed separately with the principal and the head of science. The other teacher was interviewed first, and I was interviewed second. At the end of my interview, the principal said they could either call me with their decision or I could wait in the staff room while they discussed their decision. I had a feeling they wouldn’t offer to let me to stay if they weren’t planning on offering me the position, so I chose to stay and wait, especially since my phone still had a US number at the time. A few minutes later, the principal came in to congratulate me, and I accepted the position. Amazingly, I found a teaching position after being in the country less than a week. Additionally, I was lucky to find a school who saw the fact that my background teaching in US schools with different practices and strategies could be an asset for the school and not a hindrance.

So that’s my story about the differences in finding a teaching job in the US and the UK based on my personal experiences. It’s been relatively easy for me each time, and I’m sure it helps that I teach science, a high need subject area. I don’t know everything about the processes at all schools, but I do feel I have a pretty good grasp of the major differences. I think we could learn from each system. For instance, teaching sample lessons during US school interviews could be very beneficial. I know this does happen in some areas of the US, but I never experienced it myself. In the UK, a common application form for all schools would be helpful, as filling out individual applications for several different schools, each one formatted and ordered just a bit differently from the others was incredibly time consuming. Each application would take at least two hours to complete, and there must be a way to make this process more efficient.

I know I have a unique perspective on the experience, and it’s not everyday you get to see two completely different education systems. I’m interested in hearing what types of experiences you may have had applying for teacher jobs in the US, UK, or somewhere else in the world. Please share in the comments below.

Finally, I thought I’d give you the opportunity to vote on the topic of Monday’s blog post. The poll will stay open until 11:59 EDT on April 23rd. Please take the time to let me know what you’d like to hear about next!

24/05/2016

A Goodbye Sendoff

Mrs. Wilson Teaching 0 Comments

Last week, the multimedia students (which include several of my former students), my colleagues, and students completely surprised me with this beautiful video sendoff. I asked one of my former students who does a lot with our video program if he could help me with a video. So, they also conspired to make this, the final episode of the We Are Lanier documentary program they developed this year.

As teachers, we often don’t realize the impact we are making. I feel like this year I have been blessed to really see the difference I am making. I feel a bit like Mr. Holland in Mr. Holland’s Opus, except I didn’t have to wait until I retired to see the impact I made on some of my students.

I work with the most amazing fellow educators and students. What we have in our CDAT program at Lanier is truly special. I will miss them all so much when I am in England. Now, I just need to find an equally amazing place to teach in England!

17/05/2016

Making Leaders #MakerEd

Mrs. Wilson Teaching MakerEd 0 Comments

I love the Maker Movement. It affords kids opportunities to create and do amazing things. We provide them the tools and the space and allow them to be creative, to put their own spin on learning.

Last year, we hosted our first Maker Fest. We held it at our school and called it the CDAT STEM Maker Fest. It was a fun event, and the maker spirit was really fostered in our students.

This year, we had the opportunity to partner with our city in order to host the Sugar Hill Maker Fest in front of city hall. Once again, it was an amazing experience, and it showed the maker spirit. This time, it included community makers, vendors, food trucks, music, and our fabulous students.

However, what I have realized watching the progression of our Maker Fest is this. We are not just allowing our students to be makers. We are making leaders. The Maker Movement is just as much about character development as making.

Last year, our juniors worked through the planning. As it was our first year, the teachers did a lot of the support work. This year, the now seniors along with some juniors and sophomores continued with the organization of the event. Our students met with city officials, planned the event, worked on advertising, and organized the logistics so the day ran smoothly. Although we as teachers were there and participated, we did not have an active role in the planning. Why? They didn’t need us. The experiences from the year before helped them to learn and grow. Hosting a maker fest helped us to make student leaders.

Tonight, I attended the Datties, our annual CDAT awards ceremony. It was an incredible, well planned, and organized event. It started with a dessert social, then followed with awards for high achieving students, student and teacher superlatives, and our favorite: paper plate awards. The planning has been in the works for months now. But the most impressive thing is who planned the event. The event was an overwhelming success because two young ladies in the junior class made it that way. They took care of every detail. Organized everything from sending out surveys for awards, creating certificates, lining up presenters, and ordering cake. I love that we have an environment where students are encouraged to develop their leadership skills and given the avenue to put the skills into play. We had so much fun tonight sharing stories, eating and laughing with our students, and recognizing everyone’s hard work and unique contributions to CDAT.

So, when you think about the Maker Movement, I want you to consider another scenario. It definitely helps foster the maker spirit in our students. But remember, it can also make our makers into leaders. What can you do to start making leaders in your school? And remember, kids these days are amazing; let’s continue to provide them with incredible opportunities!

15/05/2015

Lanier STEM Maker Fest is almost here! #edBlogaDay

Mrs. Wilson Creating, Teaching EdBlogaDay 0 Comments

Our STEM Maker Fest is the day after tomorrow. Today, one of our group of students who has been working on their project for hours and hours during and after school for weeks got everything up and running. They built a robot from the ground up. It’s a tank with a t-shirt canon on it. They got some help from the robotics team on the programming, but did the majority of the work themselves. Judging by the crowd they drew in the hallway while testing today, they are going to be very popular at the Maker Fest. They even contacted Chik-fil-A for t-shirt donations to shoot from the cannon. So proud of these kids who have been working so hard to make this event a success. Two of the students in this group didn’t have a technology class this year. However, from this project alone they learned much more than most students learn in a year. If you wonder if Maker Ed and Project Based Learning really has a place in schools, you need to see this process in action. This is inspired learning that goes outside of the classroom to real skills that are valuable in today’s society. Give kids a chance to tinker and make! Trust me; you’ll be amazed with what they come up with!

The T-shirt cannon tank is a go for #stemmakerfest

A video posted by @janellewilson on May 14, 2015 at 7:31am PDT

11/05/2015

Lanier STEM Maker Fest #edBlogaDay

Mrs. Wilson Creating, Teaching EdBlogaDay 0 Comments

Our STEM Maker Fest is on Saturday. This weekend, one of my students made this video to encourage students from our feeder middle school to attend. It’s a great video. What’s really cool? She didn’t have to make this awesome video. She decided to make it of her own initiative because she really wants the middle school kids to know about it and attend. It’s just another great example of why I love Maker Ed!

09/05/2015

#ThankATeacher: Mr. Wedel #edBlogaDay

Mrs. Wilson Teaching EdBlogaDay 0 Comments

I was looking through my high school yearbook from my senior year in high school. As I read through what people had written, I found this note.

I found this in my high school yearbook from senior year.

It’s an interesting note for for a couple of reasons. One, I am now teaching chemistry, and I am finishing my ninth year of teaching. I guess helping others understand has always been an interest of mine – especially science. Two, I had my own struggles in chemistry, and I was able to be successful because of my teacher, Mr. Wedel.

At my high school, students generally took biology freshmen year and chemistry sophomore year. Because I went to a private school my freshmen year, I took biology sophomore year and started chemistry my junior year. I was in honors chemistry, and I really enjoyed the class. However, I had some health issues in high school that caused me to miss a lot of school. I was even on hospital/home bound for a few months. I tried switching from honors chem to CP chem, but that didn’t work out well because they were following a different instructional calendar. So, I dropped out of chemistry my junior year and took a science independent research class in its place.

My senior year, I once again enrolled in honors chemistry. During the first semester of the year, I was still having some health issues and missed quite a bit of school. It was nearing the end of the semester, and there was no way I could make up all of my work in time. However, Mr. Wedel, my chemistry teachers (both times), offered me a chance to stay in the class. He believed in me and knew I could do the work and learn the content. He said that if I passed the semester final, I would pass the semester. Well, I did (in fact, I made a “B” on the final). I then went on to do really well second semester (making an “A”) because I didn’t have any absences.

I will forever be grateful to Mr. Wedel for giving me that chance and for believing in me. Plus, I really loved his class. He used to have the best test review games, we did awesome labs, and he had some really cool demos. My favorite thing he taught me was about the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (you can know the speed of a subatomic particle or its location, but not both – part of quantum mechanics).

But really, the best thing he taught me wasn’t even about chemistry, and it has made me a better teacher. He taught me to believe in students and to give students second, third, fourth chances. To not let a student give up, and to keep working. And I’m pretty sure my policy of passing the final means passing the class no matter what your grade was prior to that was heavily influenced by him.

So thank you, Mr. Wedel, for being such an awesome chemistry teacher, and thank you for showing me how to be a great teacher!

08/05/2015

Feeling appreciated #edBlogaDay

Mrs. Wilson Teaching EdBlogaDay 0 Comments

Today was one of those crazy, long, whirlwind days where you barely have time to catch your breath but at the end of it you realize it was a day filled with awesomeness. for instance, I took my engineering classes outside today to launch the soda-bottle rockets we’ve been working on the past week. Some of my chemistry students asked if they could come out and watch since they didn’t have anything to work on. So they came outside with me and my engineering class and had fun watching the launches. At one point, I turned to look at my chem kids, and I noticed they had tied themselves up in a knot and were untying themselves. (It was the classic team building activity.) I could not have felt more proud of them at that moment. They chose such a fun, constructive way to use their down time!

Later in the morning, one of my sophomore chemistry students stopped to take a selfie with me (including an obligatory photo bomb by another one of my students) before she left with the rest of her team for their appointment with the patent attorney about their project. (Getting to their appointment was made even more challenging due to a plane crash on the interstate.)

Then after school today, I spent over an hour talking with a few students about life, school, goals, and so on. When one of them first came in my classroom, he noticed that desks were disarranged from an earlier activity and some supplies hadn’t been put away. He picked everything up for me and rearranged my desks of his own initiative.

This week, I’ve realized that high school students don’t celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week traditionally. I think this has to do with the fact that they didn’t even know it was Teacher Appreciation Week. However, by the time they reach high school, many students already have a great understanding of what teachers do for them. They don’t need a special week to make us feel appreciated. They know how to make me feel appreciated by the little things in the every day.

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