The New Physics Teacher: Post student-teaching.

Voki

2011-07-26T14:30:00.001-05:00

work in progress.

Something Something Something, feeling fine.

2011-03-08T15:06:00.007-06:00

"I must say, today was a good day." - Ice Cube

Interesting, I had minimal difficulty with my students today. With the trends that have been going on for me, I would have to call this a success!

Questions for reflection:

What did I want the students to do?

What worked?

What didn't work?

Fifteen minute silent reading is starting to get incorporated into our lessons. It's a new plan, and I have to try to cover all the other new policies, so I work on this last. At the last minute, I am able to come across some scientific american articles that might be worth reading, (improving male chromosomes, increasing intelligence) I mean come on! Why would they not want to know how to become smarter? I totally believe it if my students brains shut down when they come across very low frequency, high level academic words. They do not know what it is, so now they don't care. I am almost the same way! Except I already have it in my system to find out what it means and/or find meaning for it in the text. They need more options if they get stuck so quick.

Anyways, the next part of the day is something new I started. I got the idea from Harvard Physics Professor Eric Mazur. He GIVES his students Cornell notes on the lesson he would be teaching, and the students would revise his notes to their understanding.

We are also suppose to implement student centered learning in the classroom which is fine by me. My only trouble is finding the guiding moments with the independent moments for the students. The new plan with this Mazur strategy is to write questions that build up to the students levels of reading and learning. They cannot directly find the answer on the slide of information of notes that I provided to them. They need to understand the point I am getting across from the notes, and then answer the question as a follow up to understanding.

These questions start off simple with identifying the little things I would hope they would know by now, and then have them do some calculations in the end as well as graphic interpretation. To me, this is HUGE for them.

So how did it go? Well leaving it to them does not mean they will do it. Some students get quickly frustrated when I try to re-explain something. I have been told to bring it down to their level. It's like asking me to water down tonic. I can only go so low because I do not want to say "the top thing with the bottom thing." I will not sink that low. They need to expand their vocab, which is starting to turn out to be my new job.

Depending on who is in the class will make or break the assignment. Wilbur and Susie come to every class period but still fail, they completely block any chance of passing when they do not submit themselves to the assignment and choose to do other off task adventures. That affects the other students in the class as well if they get caught under their cyclone.

Ive called home, i've made action plans, nothing. Like I said though, I had a better day because it ends on a better note.

My last class did everything I needed them to do, and they were able to do it without much complaining. I had to have a few encounters with some students but once that was taken care of, everything else fell into place. They were able to focus on the material, ask me questions about the questions I wrote, and made my job feel a little easier.

I am not saying what didn't work was to leave it completely up to the students to get the work done, I like to help them, especially when they struggle in math and science. It's getting them to get to the work is the issue. I try to give them questions they can answer that lead to the overall understanding of the topic. If they do not try, they will not learn anything.

You need to make some magic happen

2011-03-02T15:25:00.005-06:00

I am blogging to blog right now, but I am trying to get out there what I am going through.

Also I found out that I am part of another New Teacher program which I am sort of alright with. Let's put on more work for the first year teachers that have enough going on as it is. More blogging might be required. Sweet!

Anyways, I have to find a way to raise test scores or I am out of a job. Hopefully that is not entirely accurate. Let's try to work some miracles. I have a variety of issues with the students on trying to get this accomplished.

There are a few students that do not want to get help from me when I go near them. These problem children have some rough stuff going on I guess if their attitudes suck when you try to be nice to them.

Another student who had higher scores before with practice exams told me the other day that he decided to get high before taking the test. This would have to be my fault. Really?

I will take blame for some things, but not for that. What we might put in for the students is that it is never their fault, well, not directly. My issue is that they are given so many rights with little responsibility.

We had this awesome plan of "team" action, but the "season" is coming to an end and some are not getting geared for anything. I want to help them succeed, but their inner struggles interfere with that.

I saw this TED video my roommate posted the other day. I agree with much of it, but it is difficult to see it come into play for my students. It's a very interesting bunch. There are times they perform, but for most of them, it is never at the right time.

The only epiphany I reached this week was that if there is a student is notorious for being a school-wide problem, DO NOT TAKE WHAT THEY SAY SERIOUSLY. Especially when it comes to talking about your class. They have nothing to lose, and will only try to get you to lose more as their only form of gain.

3/5/11

Today was AWESOME! It's saturday but the students came in (some of them) to catch up on work and get more attention to do it. I bring food for stuff like this, it makes things go a little better. I saw a few of my students "make some magic happen" by improving their grades nearly 20%. They hung out, had to keep them on task now and then, and got really upset when I had to leave early. Bummer. I like it when they make some magic happen.

Snow Daze

2011-02-05T09:05:00.003-06:00

We ended the first semester last week, and the second semester has not officially started because of the snow days. I knew that CPS has not taken days off of school, even though other school districts have fairly when needed, since 1999. I'm not going to lie, it was awesome having those days off. It was a break that I needed. Unfortunately, not everyone that worked CPS had off, the principals and other higher up personnel had to make it to the schools, and I have no idea why they decided that! It looked to brutal out to go anywhere.

Something I heard about all of this is that this was the 4th snow day or snow session in 18 years for CPS. Yes, CPS has some kinks to work out. It starts later than the other schools, so it ends later than the other schools, I am afraid with these snow days I took, the school year will have to end a couple days later. I wonder how many people in the system are against moving up the school year a week or two? It sounds better than trying to keep the kids settled in the middle of June. The first week of June is fine to end it, but there is probably some strict reason why they don't change it, oh well, I digress.

The new semester is underway, I have a good outline setup, and then there is ACT hanging over my head. I feels like im in the front line of an army when it comes to this. They do have a plan to improve on their scores by working on specific strands. I get lost with how to improve their strands basically because of the selections of strands, and the majority of the attitudes of the students continually destroying their abilities to try to do better.

The strategy to get them to do better is something I would back up all the way. It's like fantasy football, only the teachers pick students to play for their team and then coach them to do better on the ACT, it's awesome! My team was tied for first but hopefully we can win out to get back up there. Now we are at .500. I want us to end with a winning record, but the factors of attendance and student self control always get in the way, bummer.

This week has been nice, I have a black history project plan where the students submit a podcast poetry slam on an inventor they picked. If I knew how to deliver an assignment like this to them, I know they would do awesome with it. We'll see how it goes.

I'm OK

2011-01-22T10:19:00.004-06:00

OK, I apologize for not keeping up with this. Let's go through an update shall we...

School: VOISE Academy High School, very new, very CPS!

Grade: Juniors (maybe not by credit count, but they have been here 3 years, and for those who graduate next year will become the first graduating class of this institution. Those who do graduate I severely admire.

Subject: Physics, just Physics, so it makes it really nice to prepare for one subject rather than 3 of them at once.

Colleagues: I'd eat fire for them.

I've come to a point in all this and realized that Physics is hard, especially now when I am trying to teach it to west side Chicago kids that may not have had a strong academic upbringing. When I took it in high school, everything clicked. It made sense, and I can do the work in a snap. This morning I can only think of two students in that class with me when I was younger who had maybe a minor struggle with it. One tried to audio record the lesson, and I might have helped him once or twice, and the other I never talked to. We all might have done a Lab experiment together at some time, but I do not remember how it went for them. If I were to see my teacher, I would like to ask him how he did this with struggling students.

Things would work out easier if I could understand the students better on a more social level. Not know them but understand them, like why they act the way they do and for the ones with issues, how come they do not know better, and when we tell them it's wrong they still don't get it? A sour attitude is not necessary to someone trying to build a better future for them.

I do give thanks for the respectful ones that have to put up with my anguish to the others. The good news is IF I survive this class, everything would turn out for the better for the years to come, but that's why they say IF.

I am just trying to go with the flow around here, It's easier for a lot of teachers here, that's why I wrote this. Again, these teachers are great and they may not have a minor struggle like I do.

Hopefully it's just lack of motivation that's going on is all.

New Intro

2010-06-29T23:54:00.004-05:00

This blog was intended to be written at the end of june / late july, just as a way to put posts up...

A splice of my principal's email days prior to our first meeting as new faculty of an auspicious school...

"Some of you asked what exactly are we looking for during the community gathering on Wednesday, so my best answer is for you to go to my profile on the website."

see enclosure link>>>

Here are some parts that caught my attention that will help me figure out why I am at this new school.

"I felt cheated that our academic potential was never really fulfilled. We were given what was believed we could handle, and we all did it well - teachers and students - but were we ever challenged?"

I like to challenge people just as much as I like to be given a challenge. Does that not sound perfect for a teacher?
"I feel that if a student wants to put in the work, then NOTHING should be off limits. "

If ANYONE basically wants to put in the work, then nothing should be off limits. (i.e. Response blog)

We want you to be transparent, "what are you doing this?" "what is important to you about education?" "why is this work, especially in an urban area important?"

It doesn't have to be as long that, but it should be reflective.

This post was to be made near end of june/early July. Perhaps we will see changes in view over time. Hopefully for the better. The release on this was beginning of march the proceeding year.

Its been better

2010-05-01T19:30:00.003-05:00

I am sure the last time I wrote it sounded pretty bad. Things have been better. I keep going to workshops and conferences to get my self-esteem back up. The students will get under my skin, and then turn around and offer something nice. I feel good keeping up with what I am trying to do. The plans I make for each class are getting closer to what you might call accurate. I find more and more activities, worksheets, etc to go over, but all of sudden run out of time.

When it rains it pours!

2010-03-09T21:52:00.001-06:00

Sorta feel like I am in a slump I can't get myself out of. It really sucks for me right now, everything I setup has now started to crumble. The end of the third quarter is here, and I have a few kinks that I really want to go away. The support is there in spirit, but that only goes so far. All that's going on really is that a bunch of naive misconceptions I have about teaching are severely haunting me. This rut will end, but I have no idea when. I just need some time, and hope.

I better not jinx this...

2010-02-11T12:56:00.002-06:00

Overall, I'd say I had a good week. I came out alive on many obstacles, I was able to control the class with less and less effort, and I realized an epiphany for my classroom management: It is what I WANT. I Want this class to be silent right now, I Want you to work on the assignment. I Want you to pass. Its working for now.

I got observed by one of my department chairs. "You did better." I am going to take that as a compliment. That does actually mean a lot to me. I need an observer from the other department I am with, as well as my principal to observe me. I think it will go well.

My team teacher is fantastic. A physicist and a mathematician are getting along... for now. It's great when we are showing our styles to the students. I am seeing it as how Teachers from different fields take on a task, but unfortunately I think our students are seeing it as how a guy and a girl teach math.

Friday-leullia!!

2010-02-05T20:53:00.001-06:00

This might have been one of the longest weeks ever! Thank god I documented half of it, and the last two days were half days! That only means I still had energy for other activities afterward. I spent time tearing apart my lab looking through all the junk that I inherited with the classroom, a lot of resource sheets that help guide me through the semester, books all over the place, papers, equipment, toys, and BOXES FULL OF EMPTY SHOE BOXES!! What is the point of that! I kept finding new things to do differently for my class, and it just puts me further back on trying to get an organized classroom, but I will overcome. Anyways, I'm staying in tonight. Working on some online geometry, grading, and sleep.

I need to get it together somehow

Family Day

2010-02-03T15:50:00.002-06:00

I had come back as I normally do. A place where I may experience triumph or a feeling of defeat. Today was more triumphant than the latter. The equipment I received the night before was the major component to everything I needed for my toughest class. It was a success even with the parents.
The next class with my team teacher was wonderful as well. We took turns, answered questions, and got the students to do work on their own. Productivity all around. The rest of the classes were normal, so I have now a feeling of fatigue. I get to relax now thankfully. There were a couple students sending notes to eachother during class, I assume they wanted me to find out about it or else they would have taken it with them at the end of class. New seat arrangement for tomorrow. I think that was the only bummer for today. I will redeem myself in some other way. The rest of the week is short classes and I think I have an idea planned out for what is gonig on in which class. Lesson Planning helps, as long as you dont have to write a book to produce a 50 minute lesson. The good news is that I am starting to see the end of the week now, the bad news is all the work I will have to do when the weekend hits.

It's still Tuesday!

2010-02-02T22:54:00.001-06:00

So today was kinda rough. It was a little hectic with the overwhelming events happening this week. So many times I caught myslef realizing, it's only Tuesday! Groundhog Day, Primary Election Day.

There was an incident I felt I couldn't control. Some girls were being downright mean. Phone calls were made, hardly any of them got to an actual person, and the victim has a lineup of defense to spread a football field, and I had to calm all of them down. Tomorrow will be a new day, and I will be able to act better IF the same situation were to arise.
I actually do not feel as bad as I did several hours ago. I finally got out of that building with a positive note about my equipment getting delivered that I need for tomorrow, and I got all the copies setup and prepared ready to kickstart the day. I've done some but not all of my grading, and I think I will get a good night's rest hopefully soon. This counting blessings moment helps.
I saw other teachers teach today. They are amazing. It's not that I want their style, I just want to do better with my students than I already am doing. Even the students that are trouble can be good students. I wish to see that side soon from them. The only feeling I share with those who are offering to help change my style of teaching is fragile stubbornness, I do have my own track of doing things, but it takes a lot of time, and then some more time, and then a lot of effort, to get on a new track. In a physics sense, my momentum is huge once I get started, but then to change takes even greater amount of force to change the momentum. I hope that makes sense.
As far as anything else goes, my only fear is to poison the young minds with useless information or at most, misguided information.

What is neat though from the other day with my team teacher, I sat back and watched her teach. I realized, I teach like a physicist! Utilization of brute tactics to have physics drive the math when solving any type of problem. I dont skip steps, but I do just lay it out and carry on.

I have not done this in a while.

2010-01-31T22:10:00.001-06:00

Wow, So many times I would think about posting a blog, but never do it. Do I have time? Sometimes. Should I be grading or planning lessons? Of course! It's like working out, you just do it, and then after a while it comes naturally, just like the other things you need to pick up with doing in your life. Then they will come naturally. Even in the classroom with having specific routines you want to happen. It may be slow at first, but then before you know it, everything falls into place, and other mundane tasks are done without even thinking twice about it.

I am half-way through the third quarter of my first full school year of teaching. I started this over a year ago and am surviving. A lot of support is out there both concrete and abstract. If there is someone I need to talk to, there is someone there. A random check-in from my colleagues goes as far as it needs to for me until I am hit with the next challenge, I find a way to deal with it.
To update what I have been teaching, I have a section of Seniors for Honors Physics, and the rest of my classes are mostly Froshmen in Physical Science and Algebra. A lot of them I teach twice in the same day. I feel sorry for those who only have me once. The school hired my older sis to be the foods instructor. She is doing very well with that, and some of those students I have go to her class as well. For some of them, half of their schedule is dominated by my family. It is as if there was home-schooling going on.
My classes are kind of slow on where I need to be. I am getting back on track with some new help, and a rigorous pace. Life outside of school is fine, it's only something I want to do for the rest of my life that I only want to get better at.
I recently attended a conference on Conflict resolution. It was very worthwhile, and have yet to find out if has become effective. As laid back as I sound when I teach, now I try to be peaceful and calm if ever there is a situation. It's the tone that you send the message that allows you objective to be reached, and being a bit linguistically persuasive is a plus.
I like my students, even if they get themselves in a little bit of trouble now and then, it's in their nature. It has not been as bad as last year. Once I see something I don't like, it is certain that I will not have it happen the year after that.

Since I am a scientist, instead of a Philosophy, I have developed postulates for teaching, ironically these postulates are subject to change with is one of the aspects of the nature of science.
A teacher must succumb to the fact that learning never stops.

A teacher must see through multiple perspectives.

A teacher must resolve conflicts in a swift, just manner.

A teacher must maintain classroom order for optimal learning to take place.

There is more to add and more to change as my experience gets greater, but we will leave it for now. I need to do some grading.

PCK pre-post

2009-07-15T10:19:00.001-05:00

So its been a few weeks into my first official graduate course. I have been a grad student sort of speak since I graduated from Monmouth, but this time the class I am taking can possibly lead into a Masters program, and I would already be half-way done with it. In the near future, I am going to post my weekly reports I sent in each week during this class, just to give out what I have (re or de)learned, questions and observations, etc.

It's OVER!!

2009-06-01T18:33:00.003-05:00

The finals have been graded, the 2nd semester grades have been entered, my checklist of year-end procedures have been turned in. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have finished my first semester as a gainfully employed science teacher, and I cannot wait for the next year to begin. As I have mentioned, I do have a heavy summer load of classes that have crept up on me. I am waiting on getting accepted to a chemistry inservice that wont cost me anything and will award me another 3 graduate classes. (recap: 16 total already, 9 this summer for PCK, and 3 for the inservice = 25 grad credits.) This is both good and bad. At some schools, i do qualify for a 2nd pay lane of schools, without having this summer load. If I spend another summer after this year taking up to 5 more grad credits, then I am a volcano of a pay raise ready to erupt once I get a master's degree. I would jump to lane 1 to lane 4 at my school. These classes I take right now usually accept me if I have permission from my principal to take it. They must know what could happen if I get over a 15 or 30 grad credit mark, or even admission into a program that grants a master's degree, which is why I am afraid they will say no and I will not be able to get into one which would lead toward more pay. Okay, I do get a lot out of these programs other than a chance of a raise, but I do appreciate the benefits of advancing my profession.

2009-05-19T12:44:00.005-05:00

I have just gotten a catholic school self-appraisal evaluation.

THEY LIKE ME! THEY REALLY, REALLY LIKE ME!!!

I have decided to stay another year at Maria High School. By the end of spring break I was convinced that I did not want to come back to the school. There was one day that I was in my horrible, horrible mess of a lab and I realized, what are they going to do with this? I must do something. I must stay another year to get this all sorted out and taken care of. I no longer need any of the lab equipment since everyone is taking finals next week and all they have to do is review. My goal is to have a system of transforming the physics lab into a laboratory classroom. Right now I teach in one room, move them in the lab to do the experiments. Next year I want this to happen in the same room. I wont be teaching chemistry, but whoever does can take the lecture room I am currently using as well as the chem lab, which I might borrow during the first half of the school year for my physical scientists. This summer is filled with both a graduate course (which I am getting paid to take!) and an undergraduate course in mathematics. This class should complete the requirements needed to obtain my math endorsement even though I will already be teaching math here next year here instead of chemistry. I hope to get the labs cleaned up for whoever is going to be working with me next year.

Spring Break week

2009-04-19T17:20:00.010-05:00

My first spring break as a teacher...is now over. It was well deserved, nice and long, but I do need to get back into it for my own sake. I am reflecting on my experiences during my week and a half of vacation. Yeah, the private school has perks like that. It was a productive vacation toward my professional development, with plenty of time to enjoy myself. My first experience during my break was a visit my best friend (teaches Math and Science at a community college) and an old friend of ours (we both dated her, true story) who's been teaching for a couple of years already. She knows what she is doing, has an excellent head on her shoulders and was able to provide some inspiration to my cause, she made me feel better about what I am doing, or what I am trying to do.

I had to cut my portion of the meeting with them short because I was on my way to meet up with my highly esteemed colleague who aided me during my student-teaching, my mentor Steve. It was the end of his spring break as mine was beginning. I got to help him with another demo. This demo is as equally as crazy as the bed of nails demo from December. The topic was heat transfer, the idea is that you can come in contact with very hot surfaces without burning yourself. What can be super hot to touch without burning yourself? You can put your hand in (not on) an oven that is set to 450 degrees Farenheit (232 degrees Celsius), but that's nothing. The air cools too quickly, if it didn't, you would feel cold in 72 degree weather, you would if you live in Arizona at least. We needed to do something the average joe wouldn't dare agree to. How about walking on burning hot charcoals?

I showed up to the demo site (school park property) and found Steve hanging out in his car with the charcoals warming up next to the pit area. Being that it was his spring break, and nobody was at his school. It was a perfect time to share libations while doing a run through of the demo. It helped a lot to shake off the nerves to actually perform this crazy idea. I was all for doing it after I went over the physics of it: generally, the rate at which heat is given off by the charcoal is too quick and the heat absorption rate on the bottom of my feet is just long enough that not a lot of energy is transferred if you can cut short the contact time with the charcoal. The trick is to not run. If you run, you apply more force into the ground, causing closer deeper contact with your feet. Reduce that, walk. You spread the force throughout the whole surface of the bottom of your foot, YOU DO FEEL A LOT OF HEAT, but you dont burn up and leave bad burn marks. So it went well with the test run. Tried it with both wet feet and dry feet. With wet feet, the charcoals might stick, careful. Dry feet, they just get dirty.

My next professional experience was a visit to Lake Forrest College for another monthly meeting with fellow Physics teachers of local high schools, colleges, and university of the Chicago Area: The Illinois State Physics Project. It's a friendly gathering to share ideas and projects that work well to describe a concept or demonstration for classroom use. I have done a previous blog about presenting in front of these guys, and dog-gone it, I presented something new to them this time around, and I knew about doing it long before I got there this time, so I was ready and confident.

Again, I did the introduction as "The young Jerry", I think this time it caught on. Gerry Lietz realized at that moment that he is old. To be nice we will say he is not old but seasoned, very well seasoned. When it was my moment to take the floor, I went over to the storage room next to their lecture area. I pulled out a bicycle and walked it over to the lab table that everyone in the room looked down on. When I placed it on top of the table everyone could see what had happened to it, but that wasn't the point. A tire tube was exposed outside of the rim and the cover of the tire was not fitted on right on the front tire. The gist of what I told them is how it follows...

"I got this bike last summer at a garage sale in Elmhurst. I had a job downtown over the summer and a place to crash a couple nights a week, and I didn't want to drive all the time, I just wanted a bike that would take me from point A to point B with some nice speed on it. This bike however was brought to my attention for a different reason, so I bought it. I was working on fixing the front wheel today when I remembered how this works and that this would be something neat to show everyone as long as you haven't seen this before. It is constructed like a normal bicycle, it has a seat, pedals, handle bars, and it also has multiple rails for the chain to link to, now why do bicycles have such a thing?"

I waited a moment for someone in the audience to respond with the answer "to change gears" which is the correct response...

"To change the gears! How do we normally do that?"

I let the audience take another guess, "just turn the gear shifters"

"Where are my gear shifters?"

just then, the audience of physicists took a closer look at the handle bars of my bike and realized THERE WERE NO SHIFTERS!

"Like I said before, I got this bike for a different reason, I asked the dealer where they were and he said there was no need for them. This type of bike was made in the late nineties and is said to be an Autobike. The gears shift automatically!"

"How does it do that? The gears shift based upon the centripetal acceleration of the back tire that contains weights evenly distributed around the wheel, and they are each held together by a tight spring. As the wheel spins faster, the weights get further from the center pulling away from the springs that are attached to the deraileur and cause the chain to switch to a different sprocket."

Everyone was intrigued, I was pumped. I delivered my presentation the way I wanted to and was even able to demonstrate the changing of the gears by flipping it over and letting the audience see the spring-held weights move further away from the center as the wheel rotated faster. It wasn't too long of a presentation but did get a lot of people coming to me with comments after the meeting was over. I got a giveaway of a henry inductor with some powerful magnets and got to hang out with some big dogs of the physics teaching community.

If you think that's all I did you are dead-wrong!

A couple days later was the real show in front of the students for the fire-walking demo took place. I was a surprise visitor coming back to meet all my former students, and to help Steve guard the location of the fire pit so no ignorant beings thought about touching the hot charcoal. We had a few students from one of the classes guard everything when we both weren't around. Finally we had it setup. It was nice to evenly distribute the charcoals throughout the pit and to continually prove to the students that the charcoals were indeed hot. When they were in doubt, we ripped a sheet out of a phone book and laid it on everything to see it engulfed in flames in a split second. "Yeah, it's still hot!" Steve let the crowd notice what heat transfers were taking place and wanted to show them the effects of heat transfer on different objects. How long would such objects stay hot? How long would our feet stay hot? Would they stay hot long enough to burn us alive if we walked across? The crowd couldn't wait. A few of them got the chance to walk across in their shoes, but I thought that was nothing, I talked down their game as a way for them to bet me that I couldn't do it. Finally Steve went first, with wet feet. The water itself acts as a insulator so he would be safe for a couple of seconds. The crowd was pleased but not too pleased since he did that. There was a bucket to dunk the feet in afterward, but that made sense, we walked on fire, we didn't want to have continual heat sensations acting on our feet, that's crazy! I knew I had to do it, dry. I walked across like it was no sweat. They couldn't believe I came back for this reason, I thought it was the best reason! After it was time for the students to head back in, Steve and I took care of the fire pit but extinguishing and burying everything over. It was funny to see smoke coming out of the ground after a while. We did everything we could with everything we had. It was time to celebrate by showing the other teachers the bottom of our feet and look at them with disbelief. Our pride did get the best of us. During one of the free periods that morning, he asked how I felt. "Seriously, this feels different from last time, I think i sense a couple blisters on the sides of my feet, sorta irritating!" Steve felt the same, "Yeah I know, this is unbearable, I think I am going to call it a half-day today!" I was blown away by that, until he asked, "Do you think you can teach a couple of my classes?" I am back to student teaching again! I told him I wouldn't mind, but I had to go to the university for a luncheon, and number two, I was still on spring break! "You don't have to teach all of them" he said "just maybe the next two and we will leave the last period to so-and-so." I told him I would take just one because there were an easier group and would have appreciated my return more. The other part to all of this is that at the time, it was illegal for me to teach at that school because I was not registered all the way through with the City. I did it anyways, had a nice lesson on waves. Anyone else would have let them do whatever they wanted, but I had a plan and engaged it. All went well, the students noticed I am a lot more confident in front of them, only because I knew what I was talking about, and I got use to teaching over the last couple of months. The period ended and I only had some time to say hello to a few people coming in the next period, I was done with the school until next time, whenever that may be.

I went to a luncheon with former colleagues I worked by when I was getting certified to teach. There was a Society of Physics Students meeting, and after I introduced myself, the older students were able to point to all the new members that I was a former President of the society. I wasn't much of a president but I did come up with many new projects to do before I took the position. The same year I took it I student taught, so I was hardly ever there. I had a nice talks with professors and soon to be teachers about how everything is going. I gave them as much advice as any new teacher can. Which of course is not much.

The next day, I finally got the bike fixed up. I took it with me to get to another luncheon at Northwestern University and used it to ride a few blocks from where I parked. Some of the people attending the luncheon were able to recognize me from earlier that week, "You are the guy who brought the bike!"

"I brought it to campus." I told them.

The point of the luncheon was more of a get-together with fellow physics teachers in the Chicago area. The man who wanted us to me was a nobel physicist Leon Lederman. He had spent a lot of time in Illinois with both science and science education. My theory is that if you can get anything to work here, you can get it to work anywhere, just like the town of Peoria might be used. His plan is to reverse the order the way the sciences are taught, Physics First is the name of this program, followed by chemistry, and then biology. During the luncheon, he told us he realized that this might sound scary: A froshman taking physics! That sounds scary to not only the student, but sometimes also the teacher! "They should call it Biology on Top!" that sounds a little more reassuring. He has been long since retired and is now trying to transform the entire science curriculum. I dont know yet where I stand on this but I do see a lot of signs dealing with the way physics ought to be taught. I did tell him that I am doing Physics first, but I feel like I am going to have to do Chemistry first. My physical science class is a froshman science introduction course that has the first year more chemistry based, and the second half of the year physics based. I know I am going to teach the same thing twice to the students with a couple of years in between. This needs to get straightened out. The science department is already setting up a new curriculum that will mainstream health science as a way to catch people's attention to come to this school. Luckily as a physics teacher, I may not have to deal too much with this change, but I will have to let certain board members take my students on mini-field trips to the hospital to learn about different health careers, whatever.

So that is my spring break in a nut-shell. I did have a lot of fun, and it was definitely worth it.

More to come as the year is ending.

It's been a while

2009-03-30T20:06:00.002-05:00

It has been too long since my last post. I have been busy as normal and face merely the same challenges since I eased into the place. It might not be a good idea to have so much time pass in between post, or else what pretty much will happen is an explosion of information that would be meaningless or nonsense to read because everything would have been bottled up and my innocent readers (whoever you are and thank you for being a reader by the way) wouldn't know what hit them.

It is a couple weeks into the fourth quarter and I have the chance to relax a little more, but I still must keep myself from easing on my students. I swear they will get the best of me if I let my guard down. The last couple days I have been running out of stuff to go over for the lesson, but I have been keeping them engaged. I am planning a big day for wednesday with having the students show their creativity. It's like a magic show and I need to plan little side tricks before the big event.

I used excel to grade everything last quarter which wasn't too awful for me, I have experience trying to figure out functions to perform on a spreadsheet, there were a few creative moments too! This time around I found an online gradebook the students (as well as parents, which is important) can have access to. This is nice because they can contest a certain grade, hopefully a participation grade, and I will point out to them why their behavior reflects that grade. They shape up, things get easier, and life goes on. Their parents may do the same as well. They find out about their daughter's behavior, they punish them, the student shapes up, things get easier, and life goes on. A key idea that I have been told before and I will tell anyone, "Make things easier for you."

I have reached an interesting point with the "teach-as-you-go" curriculum: some of the topics I want to teach with some classes have already been taught to them in a different science subject. I was going to teach wave mechanics to my seniors, and they told me they learned that in chemistry! They did nail most the common parts of a wave, so I was thrown off. I did find some new territory for them to go into by the end of the period, so they are back on track for some despair! I will show my froshman and seniors the same thing that I have going on for wednesday just because I am in awe of what they can do at the end.

Overall, I think I am slightly losing my touch, I have no clue what I can do to do better. The only new thing I have going is the make-shift new-teacher induction meetings that happen almost regularly after school with the other new teacher who started a little after I did. I read in a classroom management book that it is a really good idea to look into being part of a new teacher induction program with whatever district you work in. You share and build off one another to keep the spirits alive and prevents you from being burned out. As for us, this sounds like bad news: we have the same students who give us the same issues! As long as the veteran teacher still has the same issues with them, we know we are doing alright. The only rubbish they throw back at us is that they are not cool with their teachers being changed up. They have no choice, and we cant help that. You get a job, and get a new boss, you better sing to their tune. I hate ending talking about that, so let's figure out something positive...I have my chemists in the lab for most the week, they just figured out how to make Molarity solutions so now I can trust them with making stuff on their own. Only how they do it is the next challenge.

Still swinging

2009-03-11T09:02:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, all of my classes had lab. I think it was wonderful to get them engaged and see science concepts in action. My froshmen have labs to work on for the rest of the week, next week I will hit them with a test. My physics class will be wrapping up a magnetism lab, and I will hit them up with a test, and my chem class started electrolysis, and I will hit them with a test. Despair, I know. I feel evil but it must be done. It looks like im getting some of my students to come around to how they should be working in the class, I wish I could say all of my students know how they are suppose to be working when in the classroom. Today is the last day of the 3rd quarter, I started here at the second week of this marking period. I am having a good ride so far.

There should be two ways to reflect on how I am doing, one mode of reflection is for daily, the other is for overall. This might be like summa and cumulative grading. I need to start doing better so that I have a good record overall. I'm told the first few years of teaching might be rough. So if I think I am having a hard time with something, I just think, "I'm still a rookie teacher then this is suppose to be difficult!" and then I feel better, no really I do. Some bad news, I have not officially planned out what the next couple of weeks look like for my students, but I do a mental map of what will happen. So when crunch time happens, i just pull out resources that will guide their learning when the moment occurs.

Still hanging out here late as ever only almost every night, not every single night like the last few weeks. I leave, and it's nice, only the disastrous area remains. Tomorrow night I'll spend time in there, I feel like leaving early today.

PD day

2009-02-27T12:29:00.001-06:00

I've had a few 4-day weeks lately, there is one next week as well. Too bad it's not on Monday, but 4 day weeks are relaxing. I have been wanting to get through this week more than my students wanted to only because of an exciting weekend lies ahead of me. The teaching itself is finally getting better. I think one of my classes (that I count as a class) has no one failing, a couple borderliners, but they know how to get their act in gear. A few in the other classes that have issues with their grades really dont care they are failing. As long as I've done some outside notification personally then I have done everything that I can. It is now up to them. Monday I better make some phone calls, I would do them today, but the students were not in school today, and the vision of answering the phone when it is your teacher on the other line is very shocking. So I wont risk that. It happened to me once, I almost dropped the phone. There are a couple weeks left before they can get their grade up at the end of the quarter. They can try. I had a professional development seminar today. A free tool for grading, composing lessons, contacts, etc all in one, online, and did I mention Free was what the workshop was about. It's not too bad when describing how user-friendly it is. HotChalk is the name. I might transfer my scheme of things on it starting the 4th quarter so that everything is fresh and new, nothing old. Anyways, I finally locked in on my chem students with what to teach. All along for the first few weeks I was here, I was trying to teach them some general chem that they didn't know. I would ask them at the end of class if they knew about a certain topic, if no was the answer, that was going to be what I was going to teach them for the next time I saw them. Finally I put it all together. "If the only tool you have is a hammer, treat everything as if it were a nail." - Anonymous. I am a Science teacher with a Physics background. I started teaching my chem students and have been able to stick with the same content with the last few weeks because I was teaching Nuclear Reactions with them. The lessons were easier for me and I was finding something to engage them with. It all makes sense. Next I want to teach electrochemistry, and then go over some organic chem since it touches close with the hot topics of saving the enviornment and what not. I am off to enjoy the weekend.

Relaxing Limbo

2009-02-17T09:45:00.002-06:00

So I have it in the back of my mind to make things as easy as possible for me. Well, I think I have that on auto-pilot. I am planning on making this an easy week for me. Started the week on a tuesday with a test, perhaps tomorrow will go over corrections, so that only leaves two days of new content. Awesome! more later.

At ease

2009-02-08T10:13:00.002-06:00

There has got to be something going wrong, because I do not feel that stressed out about anything. I need to be observed and critiqued on how I am doing in the classroom. The last couple weeks have been just slightly over-bearing for the students which should be where I want them. I want to get closer to that point where it is just barely beyond their capabilities until I step in to assist them. Overall I have great and talented students that can make it in the class if they just learned how to focus. I am afraid they get easily lost in day-dream world or feel that they dont have to use their talents in the classroom.

Last week was mostly on Lab experiments about Newton's Laws. Too much time was spent on Newton's 2nd Law with motion sensors, calculators, and borrowed lab equipment (almost 4 days!). What I re-learned from this experience is to answer all questions at the end of giving instructions. That way, I know I covered how to perform the lab in one sweep, not in multiple stages. It could have been worse, I did spend a lot of time getting the lab room (which is still a disaster area) prepared for this, so now everyone has a spot in the physics lab, but for a tech-savvy generation, I thought they would be able to navigate through a calculator even with the directions on the board. I still scratch my head on that one. Newton's 3rd was a success. There was not a lot of technology to use, and they were outside the class for the period getting physics in action.

A lil bumpy

2009-01-27T20:35:00.001-06:00

My teaching intuition is as sharp as its going to be for the time being. I like to do a few demos in front of the class, but they seem to fall short of something exciting. I get the ones who are starting to annoy me involved. That just ends up keeping them hyper when they are back in their seat. I need something to get them to pipe down when they are supposed to. As soon as I know how a simple detention is followed through, I'll be fine. Surprisingly for a mixed culture, I am getting the same problem from various groups. I get complaints that they are thinking too much. That makes me happy whether that is good or bad for me in the end. If it is the ones who really want to give me trouble during their class, then my job is going along smoothly.
My planning is etchy, I know the major concepts I want to get across for the week, and then it breaks down when its showtime. Hopefully as the weeks progress, my planning goes exactly how it should. The good news is that my bag of tricks is still full, and the planning vs showtime difference works in my favor since I am breaking stuff down more for my students rather than jumping from one major concept to the next.

First couple of days

2009-01-21T20:41:00.001-06:00

Alright, I taught 2 full days, then had 2 snow days to end the week, then had monday off for MLK. This job is awesome! Everyone returned tuesday a little out of control. One because of the extended weekend, and also a pep rally for the girls basketball team. I was surprised in some of the students behavior, but had a better day today. It was a regular teaching day that I do not have any complaints about. I hope its like this for the rest of the days to follow. I plan only a little bit into the future for the class, and it might haunt me if I do not plan at least a week or two into the future, but thats what I hope to accomplish on the weekends. When I am not teaching, I am trying to spend as much time as possible getting the lecture room and labs organized. This will be a while, but the students are telling me it looks so much nicer than before. My systems have been improving, and now I need to grade. More later.

I HAVE A JOB!!!

2009-01-13T15:46:00.001-06:00

I just completed my first full day as a science instructor.
It is the middle of the school year, the second week of the new semester, and I interview at a school for an immediate science position. At the end of the interview, the job was straight up offered to me. How lucky can this get?
The school is close to home, really close to where I student taught. No worries, its a private school. The catch is that it is all girls, so let's re-state those worries. The teenage thinking, adolescent changing, long-term grudging type of school, and I am their science teacher. I have 3 Physical Science Courses, 1 Chemistry, and 1 Physics class. I am more concerned about the chemistry course because my background is not that strong, it barely exists.
I am fortunate to have nice classroom size for my classes, I average about 18 students per class.

My workspace is pretty amazing, and pretty messy. "Show me a clean lab station, and I will show you where no work is being done." They need to stop working for a couple days so I can organize. I have a lecture room that connects to a chem lab, and in the other direction a physics lab. It will take forever to get everything situated the way I want it, a few of the ways I picked up in student teaching.

I tried to make it a point of how I wanted the class to be managed. The day of the interview I met some of the students in a couple of my classes, and they were just a little out of control, today being the introductory first day, I made sure that is not to happen. Tomorrow will be their first of many normal days in the classroom. My goal is to achieve a balanced diet of routine between lecture, activity, book work, and something else im missing? Someone help me out. So far so good, I just need time for organizing, including the content so I know what I am talking about. Nothing should be complicated after this semester.

Now What?

2009-01-02T13:19:00.001-06:00

Ok, that chapter of my life is over, the unpaid chapter we could call it. Consider this the preface to a new chapter, if that is possible in a literature sense. Its the last friday of winter break for the school systems and I wont be going into a new school to teach on monday. What are my options? I can substitute wherever for the next couple of months. Why not? I am not tied down anywhere, and I can get a peek into different schools. I can join some tutoring group for a little while to make some small change, or go into the private sector and work in some industry not knowing what I would be doing. Who knows?

All said and done.

2008-12-14T15:27:00.000-06:00

During my last "official" week, I had dinner with my supervisors. They started off with asking me if I was finished. I told them that I had to make up for the two days I missed over the semester, so I was going to be there a couple days longer. There is this lab I want to end on, and the students are almost at reaching that subject. The response in my head when they asked was a little different: YOU MEAN ITS OVER? We talked about my portfolio I had for them. I have two: one is personal that has any documents, notes, lessons, etc for my class, the other is a final, almost like a professional portfolio of anything I personally have wrote up and is legitimately my work. The supervisors wished to see a hard copy of my final, even though I can make many digital copies. They told me that I should get that to them since grades were to be posted the next day at 5pm. It really was over! I could not believe it. The feeling I would tell people was that it felt like I was handed an Honorable Discharge! The war was over, Im coming home! Only, I am going to stay, this time to get paid!

It was funny when teachers and students would ask when my last day was, before it was never, now I tell them I finished yesterday! Yet I still show up. It is "officially" over for me, but I'm still teaching until I say I am finished. Which will be this week.

Last official week

2008-12-08T20:58:00.001-06:00

To sum it up, I guess I got the hang of it. An issue arises, I just keep to my routine of issuing referrals. I dont care how severe the punishment is, just the fact that the disturbing student leaves my classroom, Im happy. Sure you fall behind for the moment. but I intend to catch up. I talked with someone who has been a teacher for two years. Supposedly, a lot of the people with the school think I am an actual teacher here. The new teachers who have to go to new teacher meetings think I've been here a little longer than they have. I took it as a compliment. Anyways, she told me, when the bad students complain, it means you are doing your job. When the good students complain, maybe something needs to change. My mentor is telling me that this is the worst that it will ever get. I've said it before, the bad news is I feel fine, the good news is that it gets better! I would like to leave it at that, but I just have to ask, WHEN? When does it get better? I have one week, and a lot of the students know it. So if they have to go down in a blaze of glory, so be it. Im not the one sabotaging their grade, THEY ARE!

Need some positive momentum going

2008-12-05T10:19:00.001-06:00

I glance at a group of chatter boxes in my class and wonder how this happened? How did all of them get together like this. I swear something is not right. Always keep a hard copy of the seating chart, check. Always keep a seating chart with students who were enrolled late in the semester, d'ohh! It worked earlier this week in a different period, and the rough edges weren't as jagged for the rest of that period.

DEMO OF THE YEAR!!!

2008-12-02T14:29:00.001-06:00

I am sorry to those who missed it, but I've heard through the grapevine that you can catch it on YouTube! Just kidding, I wish! This was one of the easiest and best days that I ever taught, yesterday. I forgot to write about it when I got home. Today was a lil rough being under the weather, but I managed. So what happened? Well, let's say it's a Bill Nye / Mythbusters crash demo. So that set's the stage for a scientific, but overall entertaining show. I had to teach the students about pressure, and instead of giving them a great amount of force through a small area, like through a compressor, why not spread a great amount of force through and even greater surface area! For the past couple of weeks, me and my mentor would work on something we cannot top. We would shoot nails evenly over a 2x4 sheet of plywood so that the ends of the nails pointed upward when flipped over. If the force of someone's weight was placed on one nail, one small area, then going to the hospital for a deep punture wound would be in order, maybe a tetanus booster too. What if the weight was spread over a few thousand nails? Well, that might get a rise out of a few, meaning the scared. Why not make two sheets so there's nails sandwiching a body together? Still not amusing. Then fine, Steve put a cinder block on the top board I was sandwiched in and smashed it over my chest! You cant top that! We never said dont try this at home, but if I put up pictures, then follow the format. (make it look how we did to not get hurt, if you get hurt, claim you didn't do it our way!) Safety goggles and helmet were in order, better to be safe then sorry, but it's easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.

Today had to be a bore compared to yesterday. I wrote up a Power point review an hour before classes started and used it for the entire day. It was in the plan to review, but this was a last resort because I couldn't find the resources I needed. Now I have to write a jeopardy PP for tomorrow. I dont know how, but hopefully google can help me.

The wrestling team has their first match of the season today. I was almost going to take off cuz of my close to delerious condition. I dont want to think it's a building year, that means my expectations for them are not high. Not cool.

Wrote up 2 students today, got one kid suspended yesterday. My reactions to incidents are becoming more professional when it comes to things I don't want to happen in the class. It was their choice to go against my word, it was their choice to be disruptive in my class. Their choices either lead toward consequences or rewards. Only a few types of choices lead toward reward. Only a couple times a week do I see good choices over bad, but I hold them higher than when I am issuing negative consequences.

What went wrong, and what could I do better

2008-11-26T19:47:00.001-06:00

The day before Thanksgiving and I made 2 parent phone calls. The good news was that there weren't any offenses to make these phones. Its really about the poor attendance and progress of one student and the lack of focus and constant tardiness of another. Both present the fact that they want to pass, but it is really easy to see it coming that when marking periods come around, they never really hold their end of the bargain, and wish to try and make their grade change overnight. Did that make sense? When they are surprised of their grade, they thought they were angels, and deserve better. I dont think so. I have my first conference with a parent. It is not a harmful one, its more of an informing type of conference. The weird news is that I have worse students who have far more absences and much much worse grades. It is not that I have given up on them, but they just dont care, so it's really up to them to tell their parents that they did not pass because they never came since the first three weeks!

It is after 21 days of not being in the class that there is no possible way to be aloud to pass for the semester. I am fine with that. I know when a student has cut my class with no excuse. I am wondering what they are doing, this was never that case at my school, you couldn't cut. Discipline is a factor. Well, there's discipline and then there's nothing to lose. Many have nothing to lose, so they just go carefree into the world. When they get out there in the real world, their nothing to lose attitude becomes nothing to ever gain. So i suppose the parent phone calls were a pro-active move, It is better to be pro-active than reactive.

I have a couple more weeks of Student teaching, and I think I need those couple of weeks. I have finally made it to the part of student teaching where the idea of getting experience is synching in. I am running ideas now past my mentor that are for what goes on in the class, as well as outside the class. My goal is that I leave something he can use. Not all the ideas I have suggested are my own but I can get around to something soon. The grading is piling a little, and hopefully he starts to retrain himself on grading since I have been taking care of it most the semester. I have lost the point of all this, I might have lost the point in most of my ramblings, but all is well, cant wait for monday after I get a plan together first.

Not too bad

2008-11-24T14:20:00.001-06:00

I was slightly sluggish today, it's not that the periods got worse as the day went on, but I did have a little less effort each time around. Now last Friday was different. Every period got better and better. I would think about changing it up each time, but I just did not want to go over time in the period. This is now where I reflect; What went wrong, and What worked?

Stuck in a rut

2008-11-17T14:09:00.001-06:00

So today was alright, it was a lab day, which I prefer over other days, because the students get engaged, and lecture is minimal. Of course, there needs to be a lecture to setup the lab and to get them going. My trouble is how far they make it when they are on their own in the activity. Then trouble is that they get stuck. Today I can sort of see why and its in the questions that are asked as they investigate. However, I was just out of things to say when I was trying to introduce the lab. So when I reflect on this, I tell myself that I know I can do better, but how? more later...

Behind closed doors

2008-11-14T21:17:00.001-06:00

it felt like real life and I didn't even know it until after steve came back at the end of the classroom. There was one class where he left, and the students thought they didn't have to learn anything today. I appreciate those who were patient during my lecture pauses, but it's the ones I look down on that have shaped my philosophy of teaching. It was too bad that those who are more mature had to suffer with the wicked. I tried my best to weed out those who think they can have their own world going on in my classroom, but if I am ready to teach, and the students want to keep yapping away, that's fine since I control the grades. I turn it on them to take action and act more respectable in a classroom. Enter the power-trip. It was best that I stopped trying for the day and turned the class period (with 15 minutes left) into a reading assignment with a handful of questions to be turned in on monday. The wicked wont do it. The mature ones know better and they will come out okay in my class, especially if the wicked shape up. They use to be one of my favorite periods, not so much anymore. My last period was wonderful. Time flew, I got through my lecture, did my demonstrations, they had time to work on the assignment, double extra credit points, the whole nine yards for how a classroom should be managed. Then Steve walked in, and I apologized he missed it. The part I want to get across is that I dont regret any of the actions I took for any of the periods I taught. I am just trying to set them up for success in the long run, and it is not my problem if they choose to head down a path that will ruin them. That sounds a lil harsh, and didn't come out the way I wanted to say it, but my naive beliefs as a teacher are slowly disappearing into what its really like to be a teacher. The bad news is that I feel fine, the good news is that it gets better.

Report Card Pick-Up

2008-11-13T13:34:00.001-06:00

Today I met some of the student's parents. Not as crazy as I imagined. Last night I was talking with steve my mentor, and I told him, "just feed me to the lions. It's inevitable, but there is reason for some of the students not-so well being, and the parents must hear it. I froze on one set of parents I had dread talking to for the night. The idea was to stay firm as a rock, but to this family, I was not a rock, but I was nowhere near collapse. I never set the tone about this student passing, but the student was always rocking the boat into the failing pool. He asked if it was because of his poor performance on the latest exam. After I told him that everyone did poor on it, he protested that there was not enough time, and that he should have compensation because he was a special needs student. That he was, but I dont know why I didn't bring it up, but I could have also mentioned the countless amount of times I told him to sit forward and keep his eyes on his own exam. My only response to his protest was that he is the only one I know that didn't finish the test. Everyone had ample amount of time with it. I am learning my lesson. They try to turn it on me, and I didn't turn it back on them as much as I had to. Lesson learned.

I had no problem talking with other students and their parents regardless of their performance. If they were in trouble, all I had to do was give my advice on how to improve, and if those improvements were noticed (behavior, punctuality, focus) then everything should be pleasant for them from here on in. One student shows with her parents, and Steve wanted to break the news to them, "I'm sorry, your daughter is only getting a 97.3% in the class! I know this must be devastating for you." I wish I could do that with one of my own students one day. I actually had a 110% at one point my second quarter in high school physics. How you like them apples!

Grades

2008-11-05T15:35:00.001-06:00

Mr Campion? How am I failing!? You know I do all of my work!

Yes, you do your work, but not ALL of your work, if it IS your work that you are turning in. I can tell by how well students do on the tests. Let's also consider the nature at which you do the work. Coming in late, having your own conversations with people, interupting my lesson by being constantly reminded to be seated, and then handing in something that serves the equivalent purpose of recycled toilet paper will end you up with something nowhere near a passing grade.

You see what happened there? No, that's alright

What the students will always do when they get something they dont like will be to turn it back on the teacher. Always turn it back on them!

It needs to stay in my mind all the time. It's what the HAVE and HAVE NOT been doing that adds up. Lack of assignments plus poor behavior equals F. It's like this graph I have. Consistency vs. Effort.
As the slope goes up in both categories, the higher the grade. If they are here, they can give the effort. Never works by not being in the class.

Turn it back on them because they have grief that it was them that got this grade and they are trying to put it back on you. They will try with as much effort as possible. If you let them do this. They will do it every single marking period. Game Over.

I teach, therefore I am

2008-11-04T18:49:00.001-06:00

Election Day. I told some of my students who I voted for, others I told I voted for them, but part of why I did not want to give it away was because I bet I have poor or no political opinion, so why would I place political influence on anyone?

Skip this next paragraph if you want to hear about my teaching experience.
This was my first time voting in the presidential general election. I had the chance last time but the absentee ballot arrived at my campus mail the night it was due. Oh well, the outcome of that made me feel less-hearted about this election for the sole reason that majority vote will not guarantee victory. Sure, the division of the states work alright for representatives, but one larger voice over another should exemplify who ought to be running the country. Maybe it's just me, and I grew up in a majority registered democratic setting where I think my vote didnt count, but I digress.

So today I had to make a bold move to get a message out to a couple of rowdy students. We give them handouts and they dont want to work. There are some who I know wont work, but they wont bother anyone, especially me, during class. but I took the handout back and told them they helped me decide their grade, (the ones who do want to get on teacher's nerves). This feels like I am going against some of my naive fantasy beliefs of trying to keep the students in the classroom as much as possible. They are in the class and lost their chance to be engaged cuz I helped them make that decision. I usually try to push them to focus on what I am teaching. I dont feel like giving up, I just feel like giving up on those who want to play games. Of course I am a sucker who doesn't keep on them whether they were angels that day or not. I was told and will be told and am telling others, do not let your guard down. It is hard to practice, but once you start practicing, it gets easier. Just like teaching overall, as I have been told.

On the lighter side of things

2008-11-03T10:49:00.001-06:00

I chose to stay positive today, its going great! The only trouble i have today is to stay focused. It is unbelievably impossible.

There is a collaborative team teacher for some of my classes. He is just somewhat physically there.

Its no problem to interupt my lecture when he wants to address a student for a couple of minutes just because he has a hoody on in the class. That's fine, lets lose some time.

The hardest thing is to do nothing.

Overall I enjoy what I am doing here. If i enjoy myself while I am here, then student teaching shouldn't be a sweat.

I sound like i have naive beliefs right now, but I should build on the positive aspects.

We are going over Newton's Laws, i like it because its pretty basic.

Plus my thematic unit was over this stuff. However, I will only know it so well after i teach it.

Back to grading...after I read my old posts and what not.

Rant

2008-10-27T22:10:00.001-05:00

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but my philosophy on modern education has definitely been skewed, if only because I have seen real-world education on guilty adolescence, or my previous mindset, which I know was going to be a naive one on my part, has finally vanished.

Everyone can learn physics, that was the old one.

Everyone should make their own choice to learn physics, is sort of the new philosophy. It needs to be taken upon themselves to have a focus. Physics will help with problem solving skills. You dont realize it, but they are word problems, the worst type of math problems, and I got use to them and like them. Kinda odd.

A physicist has a great skill at problem solving. A problem is presented and they set a method of solving it. The solution is not presented in ABCDE FGHJK format like in ACT style tests. No, its the way we have to administer tests in the school which is ridiculous. There are famous problems the students need to see, and i want them to do the work on those problems, not give them an answer with other possible answers. I didnt even do well on the ACT myself, so i dont think this really matters.

I was afraid to take Physics, and it turned out to be one of the greatest things that ever happened to me.

The courage should be summoned try new things. Im not sure about trying scary movies, not until its been out for a couple years. I try anything at least once, then gain from that experience.

2008-10-22T10:53:00.001-05:00

You don't really understand something until you can explain in to your grandmother! - Einstein

If i try to keep that in mind, I may develop a new type of dialect when I talk to my actual grandmother.
Test review today, since the school changed into a College Prep (joke) they came up with a plan to give all tests in ACT format. every odd problem goes A-E and all even problems goes FGHJK.

What to do with our regular physics tests? Solution, transform to practice exams. I remember some practice exams being brutal so the test was no problem, and vice versa. I hated the vice versa exams. Those were very tricky when the test came. they made the practice exams look like cliff's notes.

I was able to establish a form of classroom management by turning themselves against each other. I was willing to give the answers to the practice exam only when the room was quiet and they had my undivided attention. The ones who try to make the least amount of effort in the class were yelling at the ones who even worse just take up space. The Good vs. Evil. I sort of had them cut out some of my work for me. All they want is the answer. Usually I would tell them in a higher order thinking form, and they just look dumbfounded. "Explain it to them in bite-size pieces" - Steve

That's all for now.

"It's Like Herding Cats!" Steve Farr

2008-10-17T09:57:00.001-05:00

I realized yesterday that the students in this type of setting are harder to manage because they have thousands of thoughts going through their head in a split second. Anything can happen in that moment whether you want it to or not. My last period yesterday was probably the first time I noticed that everyone was on the same page (mentally) and had no problem keeping them on task. How do you herd cats? They never want to be near each-other nor head in the same direction! That's funny, but that happens sometimes when you get them to do work outside the class. Should I keep them in the class? NO. It's too small anyways to do proper physics experiments, like the one for yesterday. So I actually had the students only have one thought go through their head, and it was to collect data. Everyday is different, as of now the moments either make or break me. Overall I think I have been doing fine with plenty of space for improvement.

Wasn't a bad day, thank god it's still nice out.

2008-10-14T14:20:00.001-05:00

forgot the important thing I wanted to say. I think this was it. Maybe four weeks I have been going over Linear Motion with the students, and I think they understand 40% of it. My mentor is commenting on the despair I have FINALLY come to grips with when realizing how much time has been spent, and how far we have gotten (very little). "Dont worry, it's not your fault.", then who's? I taught 2 of the classes today and was able to get one to run smoother than the other only because I could see problems happening for the second class that could be easily taken care of. I wrote the questions I was repeatedly asked and put them on a Power point slide along with the answer underneath. Now I only had to take care of Classroom Management, and I guess I can be a painful pistol if I have to be. Same student who's parents I called is almost back to where he needs to be, but it will be a bit of work for this guy to play catch-up.

Oh Well,

2008-10-09T14:17:00.001-05:00

I kinda lost some of my students. They were doing well, and now they dont care. Time to make some parent phone calls. If you THINK you need to call a parent, seriously call a parent because you want to let them know how you feel, but I would never intend on being so dramatic about it.

Side Notes

2008-10-08T22:56:00.001-05:00

When you have no income, you never get full. Eat as much as you can while student teaching, so you spend less money on food.

Stupid TV quote, meaning not from MASH: Anything worth trying for is never easy.

First Full Day

2008-10-06T15:31:00.001-05:00

My foot hurts, but I think I strained my arch from running this weekend. It made me walk a lil funny around the classroom during the afternoon . Though today was different in another way. Right at the beginning of the morning bell to the end of my seventh period, I was in charge, teaching. For the first time I had all five periods to teach, each with a set plan. Some worked better than others. The bad news is that I feel fine. The good news is that it gets better! I even had a few of my own announcements. One started with a story, telling them where I lived (Palos Heights) and that one Saturday I rode my bike from my house all the way to Uptown which is a mile north of Wrigley Field. On the way I took a professional teacher's exam here at Bogan. The announcement was that this weekend I found out I passed that exam so as long as student teaching runs smoothly for me, I should be able to teach anywhere I want in January and actually get paid. This brought a lot of attention to the students to make them realize that I dont get paid. The sympathy moment lasted only as long as it took for them to realize it, which im not surprised. A substitute could have walked in and he could get paid to sit there while I taught the class. Funny how the system works.

I have been grading a lot, I like it. Be sure not to overwhelm yourself because it could happen. I would be able to give everything back tomorrow if only I was able to get on the grading system at home would then all my work be finished and cut out for the next couple of days. Oh Well. I will catch up. As of now its just punching numbers into a computer.

The inquiry based teaching is not cutting out as well as I hoped, Luckily I am in my beginning naive style of teaching, so it gets better! It's not that I am getting to them, but it is a little harder for them being underdeveloped to comprehend full inquiry-based physics, so in the end I give a little more information than I should when they ask a question. By a little more information, it's almost the answer. There is just not enough time for them to get through all of it when I demonstrate concepts that way. Hopefully this is only going on with the regular students and not my IB (International Baccalaureate). They have to receive a more open-ended type of education.

Student Teaching Blues

2008-09-30T09:52:00.001-05:00

I've heard some terror stories for student teachers, this is scary for me in the non-frightening crash course way. Some student teachers have all their worked dumped on them after the first week of school. I am on the fifth week feeling very calm and at ease, and am just waiting for this huge task to be presented to me that would carry on and take all the energy out of me until the end of the semester. I get to be in charge of the classroom occasionally. Hopefully I am on the start of being in front of the classroom more and more. Yesterday went very well going over vectors, but i was in front of the class for only 2 periods. Eventually I will be in front for all the periods, I just not sure when. Fortunately the classes are all the same, except the very first period (Physics II) . CSU told me it alright not to add that class to the list but at least get practice working on that class as well, which I am totally for, because eventually I would be teaching those topics as well. Everything outside the class: grading, attendance, documenting, etc. I am a whiz with or have almost reached proficiency in. There will be days coming up where my mentor will be absent for important meetings downtown. Guess who gets to run the entire day! I might get some observation done that day for the periods I am off, just to be able to point out what I should be doing, or how I should be addressing students whether it is behavior, demonstrations, or lead discussion. When I first started writing this entry, I was a little worried about my progress as a student teacher, but after talking with CSU and a few others, I feel a little better, but that doesnt mean I have time to relax, it means I have to stay on task.

Mindset

2008-09-22T10:25:00.000-05:00

You want to have the ability to speed up their learning from what you would think they know and how they should apply it to the new concepts.

I would not walk away from a student without telling them everything they need to know to solve a problem or realize a natural phenomenon, i just want them to figure out the last step. I crack up at them when they shout at me to give them the answer. They are responsible for their own learning. It takes a lot for them to understand that, but unfortunately I am afraid they wont realize it until later in life. My mentor told me that I have a lot of patience. Now I need structure and Guidance. The motivation portion of teaching has come in waves for me. The ISPP incident gave me another lift when I thought I was alright. As long as I get enough rest and time with people outside of the school, then I'm set.

3rd Week

2008-09-21T12:08:00.001-05:00

I just finished my third week of student teaching. The only thing I can say is that these students need help, in a good way! I am starting to identify those who are just a little under educated with those who are plain ignorant, and to all of those teachers out there, no matter where you go, expect both! What is funny is that you need both! The ignorant ones are those who keep me on my toes with practicing (1) who is in charge, and (2) how school policy is listed and conducted. I do my best to keep all of the students in the class room, ALMOST regardless of their behavior. I had no problem booting students out of the classroom for repeated offenses. They are looking for a line to cross. Let them cross that line, but show them you can support your side with authority as long as they have not seen the limit to your power. I have already thrown down the hammer. The students were very well aware, but they have not seen what they want to come across. This does seem like bit of a power trip but there is always the chance for the students to test your limit. A note from my mentor: If the IDEA to call their parents comes up when you have already ESTABLISHED all possible ground rules (meaning no new rules come up on the fly) CALL THE PARENTS!!!

Professional Organizations

2008-09-15T10:39:00.001-05:00

Modern teachers have a chance to meet up with people of their field. Science teachers, like me, join organizations for various reasons. One organization is the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). There are groups for special areas. The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) has multiple chapters throughout the region and plan occasional conferences. There is one more physics association that meets monthly unless there is an AAPT meeting for that month. This group is mainly restricted to the state of Illinois known as the Illinois State Physics Project. Here is a snipet from the website:
ISPP is a loose organization of High School, College, and University Physics Teachers in the Chicago Area who meet once a month , except November, July and August, at host schools to discuss teaching methods, lecture and lab demonstrations, and teaching techniques. We emphasize the use of phenomena to engage the student, so the presentations usually involve activities.

I went to a meeting last thursday at Chicago State. High School and College teachers met to do sort of a "show and tell" of physics experiments they introduced to their class that challenged everyday phenomena. Since I had to take my mentor to a student teacher meeting prior to the ISPP meeting (that was on the same campus) we showed up very early. I had time to grab some equipment I left at Chicago State the day before that I used to show my supervisors in one my class earlier that week. Walking around with this, everyone assumed I was going to show THEM something. I wasn't going to show them whatsoever. As the ISPP meeting started my mentor mentioned to me that he signed me up to perform a demo with what I had. "The mystery tube" as he had everyone calling it.

There was a reason I didn't want to show this off. One, I was sure they had seen this already, and two, majority of the people have lots of experience with teaching physics or other general sciences. I was more nervous in front of these people than I would be with my actual students! The host assured me that the audience is not as vicious as I would expect. I have heard this before. The nicest audience, that was used to describe Science Seminar when I was an undergrad. A science colloquium presented by the students for the students, and the profs would supervise. It was my turn to show off what I had with me, I can feel my heart beat in my stomach. I like to have attention, but not professional, mature, attention. These are people I look up to, and now I went before them...

My, name is Jeremiah Campion, you can call me "the young Jerry" no offense (as I point to Gerry Leitz who was one of the founders of this organization sitting in front of me). I have been teaching for negative point five ( -.5 ) years but once I am done with student teaching over at Bogan High School, I can officially walk to any school and tell them I have zero years experience.

that got me to settle my nerves and I was able to show them the demo I used with my students. I told them who I got the idea from and that I was surprised no one had seen it before. It was a cardboard tubes with strings tied to one another so that if you pull on one end from any side, a string from the loose end gets pulled in, and so on. The point of showing the student was to help them understand Scientific theory, in that even though you cant see it, doesn't mean we don't have an idea of what it looks like or how it works (like an atom), until we can find ways to further our investigation. I showed them how it looked on the inside, but by doing this, we are "playing god". The crowd enjoyed what I had brought forth to them as I always enjoy what they want to show everyone else. This is not going to be the only time I would present something, I've always wanted to actually, but not until after I had a few years of teaching under my belt, and my own bag full of tricks that I would try to find worthwhile to show off. I'll get there eventually.

Let's reflect the day after

2008-09-10T14:16:00.001-05:00

Today went by so much smoother. I had a class to myself for the majority of the period. They were good students however, so it counts as cheating. I was fortunate to have an assistant principal walk by and notice the students keeping busy. (SCORE). The other classes did everything they were told with less challenges presented to them. I graded the work they did the day before and left notes for what they needed to improve. If i had the chance, i would go over what i meant for the repeated comments i made. They will understand better after that. I wish they could hang on to the information so they are not repeat offenders. Good for now, important note: everyday should get easier, not harder. another important note: Those who know what they are doing understand that it is just busy work. Those who do not know what they are doing are just going to end up busy with a lot of work.

These days will happen

2008-09-09T17:54:00.001-05:00

At least it was very nice and sunny today. You want to have a nice sound system of support for your school and pretty much the contact numbers are invalid or disconnected from a person's emergency info. No one was seriously hurt but an urgency to contact a parent was very necessary. This is not the first this has happened. I hope it is not the parent's intention to leave no way of getting a hold of them if anything were to happen. I had a first full Physics Course Plan Committee Meeting with the principal as a special guest. It was only the second week of school, he was there just to see how things go. However the repeated reminder from him that the administration makes to all course committees was made. "We know, we will try to incorporate that into our course" even though it's a skill you build in a High School English course to learn how to write a paper. Writing a few lines for a lab report is the best they can do as of now, if I'm lucky. There are some great students in the class. One unfortunate thing I've done so far is memorize the name of all the students who cause problems. I should have all of them down by the end of the week if I work on it properly. As for the student teaching pace, I may be a little behind schedule as well. All I have to do is teach one lesson to one class. Once I understand the curriculum of any of the classes for the week, I will let the mentor know where I want to jump in and do it the way I would teach it, along with modifications that go along with school regulations, resources, etc. Soon I would have to continue with making lessons for an entire class, then another class, so on and so forth until I am teaching all the classes that I have been observing. Hopefully all of the students kinks have been worked out before it is my turn to get to them, Just kidding, the kinks never get fixed, but you know how to delay their problems. More later.

JC

Quick important note:

2008-09-08T09:44:00.001-05:00

If there is anything to do to still be considered a teacher, take attendance. The next important thing to try to do is get and stay organized. The rest should fall into place.

First full week

2008-09-05T15:28:00.000-05:00

According to CSU, this is my second week of student teaching (now 3rd week after finish editing, I forgot over the weekend). The first week I was suppose to only perform guided observation. Unfortunately, I was not able to meet that criteria until this week since this was the week the students finally arrived. The second week I started memorizing names and taking attendance. I was aware that the students might try and be smart when it comes to name and seats, but thanks to IMPACT, I was on top. It did feel like team teaching at first when Mr. Farr would give me a chance to put in some words on the topic at hand, but as the days passed, my words were short. I felt a lil disappointed with myself for not being more complete with content knowledge on the spot. (to be continued)

The third week starts off with a lab (horray!). This is the magic happens.
sorry to cut off, will write more later, only because I have to, but this is kinda neat.

JC

First week (not first full week)

2008-09-03T19:45:00.000-05:00

After 2 years of professional development, inquiry training, and whole lot of other only slightly useful non-sense (sorry to all who put forth the effort, but stuff starts to come clear as the days go by), I finally get to practice a purpose in life I find worthwhile. If i was not doing this I would not be able to tell you where I would be, and doubt would be excited or happy about it.

My first day was not entirely the first day for students to arrive. There were staff development meetings throughout the next couple of days to lead us toward the 3-day weekend. I met with my field-based supervisor, whom I will call my mentor for as long as I live to tell student teaching stories, and ran with our own type of experience of becoming a high school physics teacher. He handed me everything the school handed him that day, which consisted of a Teacher handbook (on top of me already using my "Student" Teacher handbook), class schedule, development schedule, and power point notes for the principal's welcome back address. The only reason I held these was so he could do lesson plans on his laptop. No that was not the only reason. He told me to get comfortable with the handbook and schedule. It will give me insight on school policy and classroom management, plus a calendar so I can plan accordingly for the next 4 months.

We went to development meetings for the first 2 days, then friday we skipped out and got caught by an assistant principal. Chewed out best describes what happened to us. We were however trying to fix his wife's computer so she can send attendance via school program to the registry. Yes, she is a music teacher there. It still at this time is not fixed, but we tried and cannot continue from there.

Real teaching started the day after Labor Day. Getting there early was nice, but I was already proving that I had been accidental when I left all the rosters for each period on his wife's desk over the weekend when my task was to create a seating arrangement for every one of them. I had actually gotten half the classes complete but not finding everything when I wanted to was disastrous. Luckily with the attendance program, another roster was visible and was able to give the students an overhead visual the second before they walked in. Word of advice given to me, be prepared, and of course, if you dont have a plan, then you plan to fail.