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!
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.
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