iPhones & Snapple...

I got home from school last Friday and checked my school e-mail. I had a message from Kelly, one of my 2nd hour students. Here's what it said:

Mrs. Syers,

So today I drank a snapple and this was my fact:

Broccoli is the only vegetable that is a flower.

I just thought that it was ironic that we were learning about it in bio :)

Have a good 3 day weekend!

Kelly

Sent from my iPod

I think that this is pretty cool on several levels. 1) A student looked at something in the "real" world and applied it to what we are studying in class. 2) That student, using in-your-pocket-technology, took the time to tell her teacher about it. Cool.

So Simple It's Brilliant.

This post is a much needed follow up to my Thinking About: Group Work post from about a million years ago. In it, I wanted to find the most effective ways to have students work in groups. You know, to not have it be all about me up front, but at the same time, avoiding the "get in groups of four and work but really talk about your weekend plans" idea. Jesse, my very wise co-worker, suggested I try this idea...creating a seating chart where I place students into pairs. Putting them next to someone who isn't their best friend, but they certainly can handle working with. It took a little more time than hitting the sort randomly button on the gradebook program, but I set out the new seating chart this morning and gave it a shot. There was no complaining, just expressions of joy about a new seat (why do kids get so excited about new seating charts?) I told them how I made my choices and we moved on. After my unit introduction, I had them read a few pages out of the book and then slide next to their partner to start working on their thought/discussion questions. It was awesome to watch them be so productive. I think that I was asked two questions over three classes. The rest of the time the students figured things out within their group. I'm going to keep these partnerships throughout the unit...pair up for a review game, pair up for a quiz, etc., then switch them again next unit. So simple, yet something I've never done in 8 years. Brilliant.

10 Degrees of Separation, Kevin Bacon, I mean Biology style.

For the past two years in biology, we have concluded our Cell Structure & Function Unit with an organelle project. Kids were given two options:

1) Create a cell catalogue advertising the cost and importance of each organelle, or

2) Create a cell city giving each organelle a role in the city.

The projects were ok. They were a lot of work for the students, a lot of work for teachers to grade, but did not really require students to problem solve or think critically about the organelles we were studying in class. It ended up being mostly "fluff." (I stole that very appropriate term from one of my fellow biology teachers.)

This year, we decided to rework an activity that we have used in class before. We introduced kids to the idea of the 6 Degrees of Separation. You know, the study showing you can connect yourself to anyone else in the world through an average of 6 connections. We decided that this could also work really well for the organelles in the cell.

Here are the basic instructions we put up for the class:
In the past, the activity stopped here and we completed it in one class period. This year, we took it one step further and had students continue the project at home:
The students' final versions are due in class next Wednesday. I'm anxious to see what kind of outside links they are able to come up with. Hopefully this activity will challenge students to think critically about we have studied, and be able to find resources that back up their ideas. We'll see.

My Day As An English Teacher (Sort Of...)

On Monday of this week, my students and I studied DNA Replication...you know, the idea that before our cells divide, we have to make a copy of our DNA so that there is enough for both new cells. That's not the English Teacher part.

One of the video clips I showed was from the Science Channel's 100 Greatest Discoveries series hosted by Bill Nye the Science Guy. (FYI: He has evolved from his science guy days of exploding baking soda and vinegar and now narrates the series in a very professional way. The students are usually bummed when they come to this realization.) Anyways, the clip presents the discovery of the DNA double helix shape made by Watson and Crick. It also goes on to show that Rosalind Franklin, a female biophysicist/x-ray technician, took some x-ray pictures that enabled Watson and Crick to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. When these men were later awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for their work, Franklin was no longer eligible for the prize as she has passed away from cancer caused by exposure to radiation. Nobel recipients must be alive. Can you say IRONY?
At the completion of our notes and discussion, I had students create their own review/HW questions over the material. I put up a slide about Bloom's Taxonomy and different levels of questioning. We talked about what kinds of questions a teacher might put on a test (true/false, multiple choice, essay, etc.) and what kind of thinking they require a student to do. Then I put this slide up on the screen:


Working with a partner, students created five different questions covering DNA replication. They had to use the words provided and write questions from five of the six different levels. They wrote their questions on the front of their paper and the answers on the back. We used these the following class period as our review. I had students share and answer questions they had written over specific topics. I was also thinking that they could trade papers with another group and answer them as a review quiz. I thought it was a great to get kids to dive into the material, and to make them think about how to write good questions.

So, not exactly an English teacher, but sort of...

A Plethora Of Review Games

One of the blogs that I really enjoy reading is dy/dan. I've referenced him before in a previous post. He caught my attention again with Math Basketball. As a middle school teacher, I played my own version of trash ball. The kids enjoyed it, but I got away from it due to the fact that only one kid got to shoot at a time. I think Dan has some good ideas for getting every kid involved. It was good to hear some new ideas to add to my "tool box." I shared some of my favorite review games with him, so I thought I should share them here as well. We use these for biology, but I'm sure they could be adapted to almost any subject.

1)$10,000 Pyramid. Much like the old game show. Players work in teams of two, and complete against another team of 2. I create a power point of an average of 8 slides. At the top of each slide is a category (a mix of fun and biology-based slides). Example: Brands of Shoes, Products & Reactants of Photosynthesis, etc. Underneath each category are 8 words that fit within the category…Adidas, Nike, Puma, etc. I animate the slide to show only the category first. Kids see it and decide who is the talker, who is the guesser. On go, I click the slide again to reveal the words underneath. It is the talkers job to get the guesser to say the words on the slide by describing them. Rules: No rhyming (sounds like Madidas), do your best to actually describe the word (ex: don’t point to your pants if the word is gene). After about 30 seconds, I say stop. The winning partnership gets to stay at their desks, the other pair has to get up and challenge a new group for the next round. If there is a tie, we rock, paper, scissors. At the end of all rounds, we share our records. 8-0, 7-1, etc. Winners get candy, an air high-five, etc.


2)Like Minds. We adapted this from an actual board game. Again, create a power point with a list of categories (again fun mixed with topical. Ex: States that start with S, Organelles of the cell, vegetables, characteristics of life) Click one down at a time. Students pair up. On go, they write down as many words fitting into the category as they can. After 20 seconds or so, you say stop, and they compare lists. Whichever words they have that match equal a point. We both have nucleus, etc. Keep a running tally of the rounds and reward the highest scoring duo.

On a final note...at the end of the semester, my students have played these games several times. In preparation for the final, I made them come up with their own version of the game. It was great for them to think about what good categories would be, what terms were most important, etc.

Thinking About...Group Work

I've been thinking a lot about the most effective ways to incorporate group work into my classroom. In the past, I've typically thrown it in as a "get-started-on-your-homework filler" for the last 15 minutes of class, or as an alternative to lecturing on those days I just can't talk up front anymore...anyone else have that problem?! I do think it's important though...Especially for the future. Kids need to know how to work together and communicate their ideas.

A math teacher in our school, James, did a complete overhaul of his classroom and placed his students into groups of four for the entire class period. We observed one of his classes and it was magic to watch. They were doing probability, and he started the class by referencing a "Family Guy" clip. Stewie was trying to call his home and couldn't remember the number. He picked up the phone and started with "111-1111, 111-1112, etc." James had his students use the mini-marker boards in their groups work together to figure out how many possible combinations Stewie might have to try. Once they arrived at an answer, they would hold up their boards so James could confirm it.
A little later, James pulled up a local pizza menu online and had the kids work through how many combinations of crusts and two-topping pizzas they could make. He literally talked for maybe 5 minutes out of 55, and the kids were completely engaged in his classroom. That's what I aspire to.

I'm thinking about TWO of the keys to effective group work...
1) Use it consistently. If you only use it as that end-of-class filler, the kids end up using it to catch up on gossip, talk about their plans for the weekend, etc. And, truly, as long as they get their homework done before the next class, does it really matter? Probably not...I guess they need a little down time too. I'm going to try and put kids into groups I choose (hopefully eliminating the ease with which they can get off task), and use it more frequently (hopefully getting kids used to the idea and able to focus better in their groups)

2) Make it important. Again, using group work as filler just GIVES students a reason to relax and get off-task. I'd like to replace some of my lectures/power-points with some group activities in which the responsiblity for learning the material gets placed on the group. Maybe a group quiz where they all get one score, maybe selecting one out of four quizzes to grade...forcing each member to be accountable for learing the material to the level of everyone else, etc. Just brainstorming as I write, but I definitely think that those things would give some importance to "the group."

If anyone has any other genius ideas, I'm all ears!

Biology & Art: Edition 2

After my last post, Dan Meyer posted this on his blog...what an awesome image to talk about the effects of light on plant growth!
Click on his link to find out how this was created...