Change + Challenge + Opportunity

I’m truly tired so this will be short. In one sentence, anyone that tries to hand the decisions over the students as much as possible (ie. Inquiry) will probably end up learning more than their students and becoming phenomenally exhausted in trying to keep up. Wow, week 3 is killing me. I feel like I am back in the early days of raising my twins. Really.

Here is a quick recap of the last 2 weeks:

Week 2
–Students researched the plants they did field journaling on from week 1 (to teach them how to research natural species, seek to understand science terms and use field guides).
–Students co-constructed a rubric for what they felt would be necessary and practical to put in a one page field guide and how it should look (they will assess each other on these next week and it helped them reflect on their work, develop teaming skills and be accountable for their own work)
–Students created field guides to their plant species based on their own criteria (co-constructed rubric) for use later (and as a first try at creating a product for public use)

Week 3
–Students defined sustainability and watched this awesome TED lecture demonstrating the real world application of sustainability.
–Margie (my BFF!) from the USDA came to talk about her job, invasive species, USDA hot topics and protecting the natural environment, farming and US Natural Resources. She’s a Smuggling Interdiction and Trade Compliance Officer for the USDA. AKA ways that sustainable systems aren’t being so sustainable.
–Judy Spring from the Genesee County Forest and Interpretive Center came to visit to lay the first groundwork for what we would be doing with her center. She also talked a bit about what natural systems one can find in the County Forest. We all talked logistics since we plan to field trip it out there next week. Students split into two groups and will be working on one of two trails at the Nature Center. Each group chose one “ecological principle” to focus on for their project. They chose “development” (ie. coevolution) and “cycles”. The first one makes me nervous… I will probably personally learn the most from that one.
–Students attempted to create an “aquatic ecosystem in a bottle” with pond water from the nearby town park. They really wanted to do it and I figured either way, it would be a class model for lots of different ecosystem connections to talk about, even if it ends up a messy sludge bottle
–Students will grade field guides they made last week with co-constructed rubric and/or research a central concept of ecology/ecosystems. Each student will take one concept and make 1-2 power point slides, hand them off to me electronically and I am going to sew together “notes” for them to have some basic understandings of ecological structure and relationships before we go out the County Forest next Thursday.

I’m toast.

We’ve had our first week of school (which I love by the way) and my first week teaching the science elective that I’ve planned to be about sustainability (If you are interested in my curriculum map/plan email me). The first quarter will focus on getting to know our local place, recognizing the sustainable systems in nature and ecological principles set forth by the Center for Ecological Literacy. We will also start making connections locally and getting our feet wet with service learning. At the end of the quarter we will start moving toward recognizing places where the natural “sustainable” system is broken.

So, at this point we are going to be working with the Genesee County Interpretive Center and one of their environmental educators and developing some field guides on “natural sustaining systems vs. broken unsustaining systems” the public can interact with there. The big goal by the end of the first 10 weeks is to create this “field guide”. The hidden goal is that they have to learn a whole lot about sustainable and unsustainable systems within its creation.

So far its been interesting. We spent the first day going over the normal paperwork. Day 2 we learned how to make a field journal entry by practicing on something in my room, along with some more first week stuff. Day 3 and 4 were spent outside actually field journaling and collecting samples.

For journal entries I have them record date, time, location, weather and a guiding question. Then they divide their paper into two sides: observations (written) and sketches/questions. I had them journal for a little longer than 10 minutes each day. Man, it was cold at 7:30am but they did it! Some of them got really into it too and their drawings and descriptions were awesome. By Friday, some of them were even saying it was their favorite class.

I also developed a rubric with 3 categories to “grade” their journaling: communication, scientific understanding and growth. I would like to do this one time by the end of next week and as we go along to watch for development in their learning and journaling skills. My hope by teaching them to journal is to force them to carefully notice the subtle ways nature works as a system and start to see where it isn’t. I also plan to bring in the human influence in all of this, as my good friend Margie will be visiting from the USDA to talk to them about natural issues facing WNY (invasives, etc.).

So, this week, we start into creating a field guide. We’ve found some plants to focus on and they will start identifying them and gathering information on them tomorrow. Tuesday we will sit down and decide what is important to include in a practical guide based on what they gathered. Along with that I will guide them to develop a student-driven rubric where they will define what is considered “expert” level field guides. Then they will spend the rest of the week and into next creating them with what technology they wish (voice thread, prezi, power point, web-based, podcast, etc.).

The following week, we will have a visit from the Interpretive Center naturalist and my USDA friend to take us on a field walk highlighting sustainable systems and unsustainable systems. I am hoping to do some other activities on the ecological principles and then take the students back into the field at the end of the week to start specifically identifying the sustaining systems and sustainability issues we see locally that can be included in what they make for the Interpretive Center.

In the meantime, I am also trying to create a virtual classroom with Google Sites that will host a closed blog/photo gallery/to do list/document exchange. We will see how far that gets, but it could be a great tool to keep us all on track.

I FINALLY get my own classroom! I have never, ever, never, ever had my own space and this year it is looking like I will have a classroom to call my own! I can decorate! I can leave things out! I can be messy! Not that my years of sharing haven’t been just fine as I have some gracious colleagues but to have a place to land all day is awesome! The room is smallish but updated a lot and has all new things and drawers and nooks and crannies and storage. WHEEE! Can you tell how excited I am!! Yay exclamation points!!!!

I need help wrapping my head around how to do this- how to make this space my own. Ohhh…rock garden… oooooo… terrarium…

I digress. Really, I need suggestions on how to make this classroom a little me and flexible so students can make it their own. PLEASE share!

YAY!

On our first date night in a while, we ended up after a good live show & delicious dinner at Barnes and Noble. And in typical fashion, we split up- he to webby kinds of books and me to the education section. I was on the hunt for a few books on teaching sustainability but surprise, surprise, they didn’t have any and they wouldn’t be getting any soon. Looks like I am off to Amazon for what I am looking for.

Anyway, I noticed right away that the “education” section, as the nice book store employee pointed out, had grown by leaps and bounds. (more…)

Hi all! Just looking for some feedback on this new curriculum I am trying to put together. Sustainability is the theme, but its nothing new. The only thing is that the curriculum paths I’ve found so far are deeply localized and are not really linked to firm standards. This makes my initial effort challenging, but my long term experience more interesting.

Before you give feedback, I’d like you to know that I would like to keep this course on sustainability as student driven and hands on as I can, contextualized and localized in study and include an element of service if possible. This is a rough first attempt and I will be running it by a few people soon, so please take a look at the start of the syllabus, course goals and course outline and leave me your impressions and feedback!

3 goals for students in this course this year*:

Action
Where is there sustainability in my life? (Q4)
Students investigate an issue of sustainability in their own lives.
Mentors/experts from the field come and work with students to develop project?
They create a problem, investigate it, analyze the data and draw conclusions about the issue.
Students determine their impact or influence in the problem and determine how to change their influence to create sustainability in their particular issue.
Students present their issue, investigation and sustainability research at a “sustainability sharing presentation” at the end of the year.

Oh, my, its been way too long. I can’t believe its been almost a year since I’ve blogged science teaching. WOW! This last year was not certainly my most well reflected and thought out teaching, but then again, I have my reasons… 3 of them exact.

Time to dust off the blog and start writing. Last year, my school was in a state of physical upheaval as well as lots of other changes. Some people I work with are going new directions which changes things in a huge way since our school community is so tight knit. The last school year was all about construction going on when we were teaching, moving rooms back and forth, digging through packed up boxes, trying to find things and people in a constantly changing teaching environment. This left me not planning too much in advance or changing things at the last minute. Sometimes this was challenging, especially because I had a lot of students this year that got lost easily in the shuffle, but sometimes it lead to new last minute, lets try this kind of things. Some of the new things I liked that I tried this year included:
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I was able to attend the first ever N.E.T.T. (Niagara’s Exploration of Technology in Teaching) Conference at NCCC and didn’t really know what to expect. I will try to show the highlights of the day in this post. The link above will also get you the session descriptions and handouts/presentations. They weren’t up as of writing this, but were promised. I was thoroughly impressed with the conference and so excited to go back next year. We have to get in on this Warner!

The Keynote speaker in the morning, Julie Little, stressed a focus on the learner and wrestling with real problems, which initially caught my interest. I knew it was a good sign when I liked all I was hearing: innovative, student centered and driven, technology naturally integrated where it made sense. (more…)

MAN OH MAN! Its been forever! Well, if you know me, I’ve been a bit tied up…

I am so glad to be back in the loop- at least virtually! I am gearing up for my 4th year teaching (took a year off to raise my kids) and am anxious to try some new things out. BUT… I promised myself to keep things low key for the first 1/2 of the year. If my family and I can find a bit of a balance again after this new adjustment to me back to working and raising our 3 little ladies then I can look at some new ways to put ideas in action I’ve been sitting on. I am anxious, sad, excited and bittersweet all at the same time. I know this transition won’t be graceful, but it’ll happen one way or another and I’ll make it I’m sure.

My district is undergoing some serious and long-overdue renovations and it is so exciting! We will have much more efficient and effective learning spaces in our school when the project is all completed a few years from now. I am really looking forward to what’s to come. But in the mean time, for this year and next, we’ll probably will be constant transition and possibly moving rooms during the year. We may not even have access to water, so by necessity I have to keep things portable and somewhat creative, even if inspired.

During the summer, I sat down and brainstormed a list of projects/changes I wanted to try in order to make the learning experiences I can create for my students more student centered and directed (incomplete and not in any order): (more…)

“Repeating the same thing slowly and loudly is not a kind of differentiated teaching method that works for kids that struggle more than others. We need to stop teaching the way we want to and start teaching the way our students learn.”

- Dr. Pedro Noguera, paraphrased from his Keynote Address, Our Promise for the Future: Meeting the Challenge, at the Governer’s Summit on Student Engagement and Dropout Prevention at Nazareth College, Rochester, Oct. 10. 2008. Dr. Noguera is a Professor at Steinhardt School of Education at New York University, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education Co-Director of the Institute for the Study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings.
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I will miss you all this year at the STANYS conference! Hey, maybe I’ll make it out?! Anyway, I was sent this information about a scholarship for 2nd or 3rd year teachers to attend the STANYS conference. Wish I knew about this last year! The info is below:

Fellows New Teacher Conference Award 2008

The recommendation from the principal or department leader should include comments concerning the following: How will the applicant’s attendance at the conference benefit your district? Does s/he show evidence for a promising career in science teaching? If the award is not received, will the teacher be allowed to participate in the conference? Please verify that the applicant is entering the second or third year of teaching and will be able to attend the full conference.
Application letters must be postmarked by August 29, 2008 and mailed to Rebecca Remis, STANYS Fellowship Committee Chair, 126 Heckeler Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Applicants will be notified of their status early in September.

As for keeping everyone updated- I haven’t had the twins yet. They are both almost 5 lbs. each though and very healthy! That’s like 10 lbs. of baby in this tiny body! Amazing! Anyway, I will have them sometime in the next 5 weeks for sure. The average delivery is about 36 weeks which is in about 2 weeks from where I am now. I am pretty uncomfortable, but still going and trying to sleep a lot because I know what its like to bring just one little one home, never mind 2 with an extremely busy 1 yr. old! Hope you are all having a great summer! Thinking of all you guys and gals!