Unit 2 Reflections: What is Living?

A deceivingly expensive assortment of stuff.  Missing:  1 plant

When I was assembling this activity yesterday, I was pretty sure I was going to win teacher of the year today.  The kids were going to love it, we'd have great discussion, and we'd leap right into defining the characteristics of life.

And then we have what actually happened...

My students must be reading this blog, because all the wonderful things I said about them yesterday flew out the window today.  They were off task, they were disruptive, they weren't engaged... except maybe to play with the "toys," but not actually think about them.

After yesterday's exam, we did a reading/reflection on some Crowdfunded Darts designed to search for life on Mars.  Based on the discussion, I was pretty sure my honors students would nail this activity... so I was prepared for it to go quickly and we'd jump right into Exercise 1.  HA!

We kicked off the lesson with the question "what is living?"  I reassigned lab groups, and provided each group with a baggie containing the following:

• Mint plant (circulated the room, $3 at Walmart)
• Meal worms ($2.29 for a container of fishing bait)
• A tulip bulb ($3 for a bag of 9)
• An almond (from my lunch)
• A pull back car (3 for $1.88 x3 at Walmart)
• A lighter (from the chem lab)
• Iron filings (chem lab)
• Magnet (my own stash)
• Paper clip (my own stash)
• Rock with fossils (collected from my yard)
• Mushroom ($1.80 something for a pack at Walmart)
• Yeast ($0.99 for 3, x3)
• Beet/radish seeds (left over from seed lab)
• Candy corn ($2/bag... figure I can use it later, too)
• Grow capsule ($1 for a pack of 15 at the dollar store)

The students were given the task to classify each as living/non-living.

I suppose the goodies were overwhelming to the students on a Thursday.  I had to pull some teeth today in my first two classes to keep them on task.  When we finally got to the discussion, it took FOREVER to talk about things like the tulip bulb, the seeds, the almond, the yeast, the mushroom...

For some reason, in two of my three classes, I had a really hard time getting students to make the jump to the seven (eight) characteristics of life.  One class came up with six of the seven. I ended up giving them the last one (grows) because the bell was ringing... and they had mentioned it several times in discussion.  One class got caught by the bell as we were trying to categorize and we didn't even get to begin a consensus.  Then there was the third class:  they came up with half the list and decided they were done.  I wasn't thrilled with that. I sent them to the internet and their textbooks to come up with the rest.

With that third class... should I have let their model stand?  I'm sure a more experienced modeling teacher would say yes.  I was nervous to do so.  They are very bright.  Actually, quite a few of them are convinced they know everything.  It would have been good for those students to be forced to revise their thinking.  I was just worried we might not have enough time for them to fully make the discovery on their own.  Plus, it's a BIG class-- my biggest.  I'd like to believe my formative assessment is effective... yet in a class that big, it's possible to fly under the radar a little more than usual.  I was worried students might latch on to an incomplete model, and not all make the jump to revising their thinking.

Today was probably my most discouraging day so far this year.  It was not fun, and I felt like I did a lousy job.  And I'm also still having a panic attack about timing...