Light and Matter pt. 1

January 4th, 2018

Welcome back to the Nerdy Teacher's Corner little scientists!!!

Now that the kids have had time to settle into class, it's time to move forward. So starting today, we are starting our Light and Matter unit. This unit tends to have some difficulty associated with it due to the math calculations we have to do. It's a lot of plugging in of numbers into the calculators, but the kids see numbers in scientific notation (6.636 x 10 ^ -34) and they freak out! 

My mentor likes to use a lot of YouTube videos to introduce and reiterate information. For this unit, there's not exception. So, the video we showed the kids is below. One of the things I learned about videos is that you can use them for warmups to get their mind going. You just have to find and create the questions. At the end of this video, I asked students what they thought happened to the test tube. I realize that the video tells you what happened, but my goal is to see what students understood from what they saw. (I would prefer to demonstrate this in class, however, it can prove to be dangerous with the way the cork pops out.)

So, the students are asked to write down what they saw. I'll give them time to write it down and really think about it. Once they've had some time, I will pick on students to discuss what they saw. The conclusion is that light has different amounts of energy. That's what caused the cork to pop. We see that the red light didn't cause the reaction. It must have less energy in comparison to the ultraviolet light. 

Now, we can introduce the topic of Light and Matter. Cornell notes are extremely popular at the school I'm currently teaching at. This is something I was extremely unfamiliar with when I first started. However, I really dig these notes. In the case you have never done Cornell notes, I will briefly explain on what they look like.

As a teacher, you can put up a PowerPoint presentation and lecture all you want. However, the kids won't always take notes or know what to take notes on. Cornell Notes help a lot with this. I would put up the PowerPoint presentation and students would copy the underlined information I have chosen. This information is the most important information you want them to get from the notes. Students will need to highlight or underline (matter of preference) key words or information they found important from what they wrote down. The perks of Cornell Notes? If a kid misses class, they can get the notes from any of their friends and will have the same information as anyone else. The negative? Well, they'll miss out on any of the additional tidbits you mentioned during lecture. As you notice, there is a part on the left that gives students the opportunity to add key words or any questions they may have. This allows them to actively learn while they take notes. On the bottom, students are expected to create a summary on what they've learned from the presentation. This is an opportunity to put everything into their own words. 

You may say, hey none of my students are going to do this! Well, it's part of their notebook grade. The information will be graded at a later time. At least, this is what I do to make sure they are actively working through this. For the students who do not work on this during their notes, they do end up revisiting the information. That's a perk all on it's own!

Here is the PowerPoint presentation I used. However, this is not mine. Shout out to my mentor Mr. Ismael Renteria for sharing his PowerPoint presentation with me! This link should lead you to my Resources page on my website if you need it. I add on the presentations where I got it from. Gotta give credit where credit is due!
Resources

Going through this presentation, it is definitely extremely long. I have separated this in two parts while teaching. Today, I cover light behaving as a wave. (The end of that part is slide 23) Next time, we will cover light behaving as a particle. At slide 11, I hand out these diffraction disks so that students can relate to what I'm talking about. I ask them to point them to the light from the classroom and we also take a second to go outside and check it out with natural light from the sun. Always make sure that students DO NOT point this at the sun! We think it's common sense, but I had the question asked. This is just a warning before you begin! A couple of notes on this, as well. I am not sure where to purchase them. The school has provided these, but I'm not 100% sure where to get them. The diffraction disk essentially does the same thing a prism would do. You simply look at the light, slightly turn the diffraction disk and you should see the spectra right in front of you!

I do cover the properties of the waves in this section because it is important for them to know. On a separate page, they will draw a wave, label specific properties, and are given the definitions to different parts. They also receive an electromagnetic spectrum (EMS). Below I have demonstrated. Now, I do cover a variety of things when they cover this. I have them write High Energy on their EMS on the left and on the right low energy. I have them do a wave with their arm. Start with a long wave using your arm and ask "If you did for a while, would your arm get tired?" This is similar to the movement kids do when they put their arm out the car window. The kids can piece together that eventually it will, but the amount of energy you put in is so minimal, it doesn't tire your arm as fast. Now, I have them compare to making short waves and moving faster. Your arm definitely gets tired much faster and the amount of energy increases. This simple idea ties together for kids that energy, wavelength, and frequency are related. If you have a long wavelength, you have low energy waves and low frequency. If you have a shorter wavelength, you can expect to have high energy waves and a higher frequency. I also have them color the EMS so that they can use it as a reference. 

One of the things I try to frequently mention during this presentation is to have the kids pay attention to the color of the waves and the wavelength. You can see the differences in the slides. At slide 23, you notice that I have a practice problem. They will write this in their notebook. This problem focuses simply on the speed of light equation. It is one good example for them to refer to. 

(Find the frequency of a light wave with a wavelength of 434 nm)

Students should do the conversion of nanometers to meters, then plug and chug. 

However, I do make my students use the four square to solve their problems. It's a nice graphic organizer to get through math problems. That is also show below.

This is what the four square normally looks like. In the first square, I'll have them write what they are solving for. This box should include units and the symbol. The second box, we write what we know. In the third box, we will write the equation we need to use. And in the fourth one they do their work. 

Now, the plan was to have them work on the fill in the blank worksheet for the rest of the time. My mentor and I used this worksheet. It's a compilation of a couple different worksheets. We copy pasted what we liked from one and put it in another. Again, here is the link to my resources page on my website.
Resources

That is all for today little scientists! Tune in next time to the Nerdy Teacher's Corner to see what we have next! 

Welcome back to Class!

January 3rd, 2017

Welcome back to school my little angels!

My kids started class January 3rd, 2017. Just two days after the new year! I certainly didn't feel like the break was long enough! They sure didn't. 

Anyways, my mentor and I decided we needed to go back into it. As every six weeks, we have chosen to change the seating arrangement. At the beginning of the year, we tell the kids that they earn everything they get in class (Including where they sit). Generally students who do well in class get to sit with friends. However, we exercise caution here. We know that often times friends can be a distraction for the students. However, the goal is, if they can manage to get good grades, then they should get a positive out of it. If you're sitting there saying, "The good grade should be enough". Well, I can tell you that I agree! However, students do not truly appreciate that benefit until they reach college. I know this. I was there too! 

Our first day back, the students have a C day. Which basically means that they have every single period throughout the day for roughly an hour each. Generally, we have a block schedule. Classes are about an hour and a half each with the exception of first period which is Monday through Friday for about an hour. As students walk in, we have set up the Promethean board to show the new seating chart. Students can find their seat and settle in with their new/old classmates. Today is reserved for review and to reinforce that the rules from Semester 1. They still apply Semester 2!

Once we have taken attendance, we show students their first semester grades. This is really to talk to them about how this is a new semester. If they didn't pass the first semester, they have the opportunity to start over this semester and earn (hopefully) a better grade. We discuss our interactive notebooks. Students can use the same notebook they used semester 1, however, the pages need to be labeled in the order we specify. If you are interested in how our interactive notebook is set up, I can post that in a separate blog. However, throughout my post, I'll be referring to the notebook and I'll post some pictures. 

We reviewed the rules with students again. If you're interested in those, they are posted on my Home Page for my Teacher page. Click the link below!

Ms. Llanes' class

On this page, I have posted what I'd like to do in my own class when I have my own classroom. My mentor has a different policy on cell phones. He allows them to have them at a given time and given place. For me, I have other ideas. They are listed on that page. 

During 4th and 6th period, we made an announcement to the class. I would be taking over those classes specifically as part of the second part of my program. So instead of my mentor teaching them, I will! However, all our planning is done together so every class is exposed to the same material. 

We then decided to jump right into giving the students some assignments. As we enter Light and Matter, it's important for our students to understand how they get the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons for a specific element or isotope. That's what our first little semester review would consist of. Our classroom uses the TI-inspire-Cx. These calculators are extremely useful in a couple different ways. Students log on to the calculators with their specific student ID and the class. You send a document to the class (one that you've created and selected the correct answers for) and end up letting them answer the questions. 

The really cool thing about these calculators is that they provide you data immediately. Once you collect the document, it grades it. Once you save it to your portfolio, you can see what questions were missed by the class (with specific names when you hover over the answers) and you can show and discuss with students, immediately! So, if you're not using these, they're a really helpful tool when you want to do a quick poll or a quick quiz. Also, it doesn't hurt that you lessen the load on what you personally grade. And what teacher doesn't like that!?

As our final assignment for the day, we gave students 10 questions to answer as a reflection over the first semester. I, genuinely, want to know what they think about their first semester and what things I can improve on or what tools they feel I need to provide them to be successful. So below are the 10 questions I asked them to fill in honestly. I made it clear they couldn't hurt my feelings no matter what they said. :) 

1. What's one interesting thing you did over winter break?

2. What is one thing you liked about my class 1st semester?

3. What is one thing you didn't like about my class 1st semester?

4. What was your 1st semester grade?

5. Were you happy with your grade? Why or why not?

6. What are you going to do to try and improve this semester?

7. How is this semester going to be different for you?

8. What are some additional things/tools you think we can get/do for you to help you succeed in this class this semester?

9. What things have helped you be motivated and excited about this class?

10. What is something science related you'd like to learn in this class? It can be anything you have questions about that we can integrate into labs or discussions.

The answer varied in a couple different ways. However, I really liked that most of the students answered that they didn't feel there was anything that was needed to help them succeed. Most of them valued that we actually spent time teaching and providing them opportunities to see it either in action or to apply the work they were doing. Some students, of course, asked for stress relief candles. Which, I happily obliged. I did my research and picked out scents that would increase concentration and joyfulness. For other students, they wanted us to remind them of what was due. Most teachers seem to have mixed feelings about this. Many feel that we should be preparing students for college and that the syllabus or auditory reminders are enough. I believe that they're still kids. Not every student has a perfect memory or writes everything down. Every student learns differently. So, open your mind and help them out! Remind is a wonderful app to communicate with students. You can send them a quick text on information you want them to do or remember. We know they certain spend enough time on their phones! One of the cool things about this app is that it sends text messages to students without them actually seeing your cell phone number or you seeing theirs. 

That's all for today my friends! Drop me a line, what do you think? Otherwise, tune in next time to see what The Nerdy Teacher's Corner has in store. 

Welcome to Chemistry!

Welcome to my blog!

     This is my spot to show you guys my journey on becoming a high school Science teacher. This blog will show you guys what I do on a day to day basis. My goal is to blog about my day to day activities as a teacher in the hopes of creating a resource for new teachers and parents.
     In my blog, I will talk about the different things I do in class, upload lesson plans I create for my class, and even include videos of my instruction.The point is that if you're ever curious on what I'm doing in class, you can always find it on my blog. I'm happy to share lesson plans. I'm happy to hear ideas on what other teachers are doing. Hit me up on the contact page and let me know! My ultimate goal is to teach my students in the best ways possible.
    With that being said, here's a few ground rules and thoughts everyone should know!

1. My students will never be posted on here without their consent and parental consent. Consent forms will be handed out in class and kept on hand for this reason. 

2. Don't ask me to hurry up and upload everything. I'm a teacher! My number one priority is to teach my kids and they will come before my blog! 

3. You have feedback? Let's hear it! I'm a new teacher. I WANT to hear your tips, techniques, classroom management ideas, and anything you think will help my kids succeed! 

Otherwise, welcome to the Nerdy Teacher's Corner!