Jen’s First Blog

So I realize I already posted today but I wanted to get this out before I forgot.

I have finished almost three months of my first year and so far its been quite the success. Mr. T and I are turning my kids on to biology and the fun that DNA can really be. I am even getting really good at predicting student and classroom moods as my kids begin to file in for the day.

This has been a happy milestone for me because I really wasn’t sure if I would ever get there.

Setting up a positive and supportive classroom environment is a huge part of the success of any classroom. I hope and usually see that my students know they have a voice in my classroom and are welcome to ask any question about any topic, biology or not.

The issue I am facing is one of trust.

I recently had a student steal my wallet.
It was during class while we were working in groups and my back was turned.
I have to say I was truely hurt because It was a student i really liked and this student has subsequently ruined all capacity for trust for that classroom of students.

I hate the fact that I can no longer trust my students but I really hate that it only took one student to do it. One bad choice in one bad moment and it was all over.

My advice to you and to myself is not to let the one negative experience ruin it for you and all your other students. Make sure you focus on the positive things you see during the day so the negatives don’t turn you into a bitter person.
THere is so much that goes on outside of the classroom that is going to affect both you and your students and remember that you are all human.

Hey there Warner students!

Long time no post! Sorry about that. We are beginning a new unit (which April’s visit will defintely help with) and I have been caught up in the tornado that is the awsome world of genetics.

Can anyone answer me this?:…..

How do people get one brown eye and one blue eye?

Such a great question from such awsome students.

We are teaching the genetics unit through the eyes of genetic diseases. Throughout the unit, groups of students get clues to a make beleive patient to help them diagnose the patient’s genetic disease. So far we have seen some really positive results as students are constantly asking to work on thier Patient folder and they even take some information home with them to help them do research. So cool to see guided inquiry at work! They learn the content and then they get their clues. They must apply what they know to help them diagnose thier patient. Even cooler still,…..at the end of the unit, I am going to try to get my students to do a poster faire to show off thier research methods and diagnostic procedures. We shall see how successful that will be. I will try to keep you all updated so you can come see if you want.

I hope you are all having a great time with your field observations! I miss that! (no really i swear ….)

So I am writing to you all with a month under my belt.
I don’t feel any smarter but I sure feel older. Administrative issues aside, I am truely enjoying my experience here at my high school.
All my students are enjoying calling me Miss T and i FINALLY found a poster of Mr. T that I like. It was 5 dollars and I totally ordered it and paid waaaay too much in shipping but it was totally worth it. Mr. T will be placed on my bulletin board to illustrate the importance of science and listening to what the information has to say.
We are beginning work on our cell unit this week and have already begun work on our cel projects. I borrowed April’s idea of having groups of students adopting parts of a cell and so they will construct 3D models of organelles and each class will have thier own cell to call thier own when they are all done. One class is so large we had to make a hybrid cell between plants and animals so everyone had something different to do. Thanks for this great idea April! The kids love it.

Miss T

I just wanted to spread the good word. My portfolio passed review and I am now the happiest teacher in the world. So this is a message of hope to all you get real students who are on your way.

You are almost done!
You are making a difference!
You will make a great teacher!
Your portfolio is only one small step in the scheme of things! Don’t stress! Your students are more important.
Miss “T” is routing for you!

Well I got to see some of you during the International Coastal Cleanup this saturday and many of you had questions about how my teaching was going. Here it is.
Teaching is GREAT! You may hear complaints about all the hard work you need to put in and the lack of sleep this may cause but the truth is, …..
It’s all worth it.
I am not denying that memorizing 120 names within two weeks is hard. And trying to please administrators, parents, students and other teahcers is even harder, but you soon realize that the students are doing to work, not because they want to….but they are doing it for you. It’s a pretty powerful thing. I may also still be in the honeymoon stage of this new thing in my life but I like to stay optomistic for things to come.
For the future, here are a few things to remember……
Don’t take it personally. …..students don’t really mean to take it out on you
Have fun!…The more energy you put into it, the more you get out of your students
It is afterall, just a job. …While teaching is a wonderful profession, make sure you are able to keep your personal life, personal. That is what you have and it should stay your own. Don’t take it home with you every day or it will take over what free time you have. Have fun but be aware of your own needs as well as the needs of your students.

You all have an open invitation to my classroom this year. I am new at this so please be kind. Just give me email notification that you want to come over and I let you know what days are better then others.

I have a new blog site that I am attempting to use with my students.
feel free to check it out and post!

http://misstscience.myblogsite.com

If you cannot post successfully, email me and I will add you in as a user.

Happy trails with your student teaching this year!

Ok so the end of this camps has started to make me a bit sentimental. Its almost over and i have been reflecting on the past year with quite a bit of awe. I never knew i could learn so much from so many people and i feel that i have really changed. I feel blessed that i decided to become a teacher and that is because my cohort of future collegues has really made this experience extra special for me. I want you all to know that you will always be welcome in my classroom and I want you to make sure you all stay in touch too! Miss T isnt Miss T without her friends! This is by no means a farewell but I want you to make sure you start looking ahead to the fall with excitement because student teaching is the best part of the experience here at Warner. Good luck and I shall see you at class on monday.

Wow. I realize i keep saying this but i am really and ruely impressed with the quality of material these students came up with. When it came time for the presentations, they were all very professional and prepared for a presentation that they completely took to be thier own. I was moaning about doing too much but they really grabbed it and went with it. There wasnt even any prompting for them to practice…..they just ran off and started to discuss what they were going to say and everything. I am sad that camp is over. I have always loved these alternative educational expereinces that happen during the summer and I am glad i got to be part of it. Way to go Beachcombers and Pier Pressure! You did it! And it was all yours!

Wow! What a day! I loved our make a scientist activity. It really showed that they were thinking about sciene all week and that anyone can do science so long as they want to. I cant wait to put those pictures in my portfolio!
I am also duelly impressed that our projects are completely constructed today. I was conserned that we may not finish with our time crunch so horray for efficiency! (I am ignoring the fact that we had to push our presentation on presenting til tomorrow).
I struggle with time crunches and student involvement. I am dissappointed in myself for taking over the typing like i did after we switched groups to save time. While all of the slides were in the student’s words, we might have been able to stretch it to friday for the last little bit in order to get all the students constructing the presentation. Especially when We had one student keep telling me i was so much better on the computer then she was. I would have loved to have taken the time to get her more familiar with the program. I hate lost oppurtunities for teachable moments so maybe i can get her to help me edit the presentation friday morning.
I am really proud and excited to see what the students will come up with for friday so i amd really looking forward to the alst day of camp.

1) From the beginning to the end, please recap your investigation. (From the first day at the beach to the end of the second day).

1a) How would you apply the steps you took to another experiment or investigation? Could you?

2) We mention how messy real science can be. What was easy when designing your investigation? What was hard (what problems did you have)? What parts of your experience do you think were the same as a real scientist?

3) What conclusions do you think we can make from our data tables, graphs and most awesome observations?

4) How do these conclusions tie in with our focus question of “What affect do man made objects (The Charlotte Pier) have on water quality?”

5) What did you like best about our investigation so far?

6) How important is your investigation to the community?

7) Any other thoughts or comments?

IMG_8884_640×480

Originally uploaded by MissTScience.

Horray for Excel. While not the greatest program for QUICK learning, i defintely saw some great results. But what really made the data shine was the fantastic job our students are doing. AL was amazing and our controls actually worked…horray! I am reluctant to call controls not working a regular part of science because i dont want to jinx us. Our bacteria counts told a distinct story, regardless of thier multiplication factors and the students loved the microscopes. I was very impressed at how quickly the students were painting thier story of what was happening to the water. And when we took the last few minutes of the day to realte them data back to our question of how man made objects (like the pier) affect the water, they were able to give a distinct and valid correlation to what was happening and what might be causing it. I am so very proud of our students and I am very much looking forward to what their poster and power point will look like for friday.