I was actually out of the classroom last Friday to attend our final two-day chemistry modeling workshop through Project TIME. It was great to see everyone who I went through the program with in the spring/summer and to hear everyone's experiences! I also got some fabulous advice and ideas from our leaders and other teachers that I feel will really help fine-tune my classes.
I also had an administrator observe my classroom last week. I don't get nervous about observations-- I actually enjoy them for the feedback and advice. I'm my own worst critic, so usually I'm a thousand times harder on myself than any outside observer has ever been. However, I had never been observed by this particular administrator before and I had heard she can be tough. The day she observed was the day my class spent the majority of the block working on/white-boarding Exercise 1- Natural Selection. Of all the cool things in this unit, I thought to myself, "she's going to walk away saying I did nothing but make my class do a worksheet the entire period." I even had a stress dream the next night that she gave me straight 1s in every category. Ha! She actually loved what she saw. I received some of the highest scores I have ever received on an observation. I received especially high scores in questioning, which has traditionally been one of my weak categories.
Anyway, reflections:
1. I'm starting to appreciate the Thirsty Bird activity more and more as this unit has progressed. It has given the students a great connection to tie new concepts back into. I may just slug it out again next time around.
2. I thought the Whales In Transition Activities generally went well. The activities were well aligned with my state standards, specifically some standards that I have not done justice to in the past. They have also given the students great examples and chances to make connections. Their favorite part of the entire thing? Making their predictions about the creature between 50-46 MYA. As you can see, they became quite fond of their creatures, naming them and all:
3. We just did the Sneaky Cricket reading today-- HILARIOUS! It seemed to really help the students tie everything together. One girl in my standard class remarked, "I finally understand this now!"
4. The "What is fitness?" article I also thought was really good. Even though it wasn't in my original files I received, I was able to find it online. I'm glad I did. Very readable. Scientific enough to make my honors kids happy, but with language my standard kids could relate to. They mention a cricket's sperm-packet, which had the standard class' boys rolling on the floor laughing!
One thing that has surprised me about this unit is just how difficult evolution is for many of these students. I have always sort of glossed over evolution in the past. To me, I thought the concepts were pretty basic and that most students already understood the general idea. Oh boy, has this unit opened my eyes! The misconceptions are rampant and deeply ingrained, even among my brightest students. But I truly do feel like they are coming around. We are testing Friday and I'm curious to see the results, especially in my standard class.
My only real criticism of this unit is the included quiz-- it's vague, yet incredibly redundant. I'm not sure if the quiz is intended to be executed "as is" with all 5 pages of storyboarding, or if it was made for teachers to pick/choose/modify one of the five portions.
One more thing-- my "teacher mistake" for the unit. At the end of today, I tossed in a quick PowerPoint on types of behavioral adaptations. The teacher notes call for the students to research and do jigsaw presentations on different types of behavioral adaptations. Other activities in the unit went longer than expected (imagine that) and we flat out ran out of time for students to research and present. So... direct teaching it was. Oh my gosh, did the students ever complain. All that negative stuff that I've barely seen all year came out in full force. We went from excellent discussion and engagement during the Sneaky Cricket cartoon to shut down/heads on desks as soon as I started talking. And not to toot my own horn, but I am a better-than-average lecturer. I just think the MI pedagogy is so far superior that it is almost impossible to go back to lecturing. I've gotten a bit "talky" in the later part of this unit for the sake of time, and seeing the students today was a great reminder that I need to back off and focus on questioning instead of telling.
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