Blog Challenge: Day 12

How do you envision your teaching changing over the next five years?

In the next couple of years, my goal is to eventually teach all Biology courses and really specialize and hone my strategies for that course. In this coming year, I am going to be teaching a section of all English Language Learners (ELLs) for Biology and I am hoping to focus on developing strategies I can use not only with that class but with my other courses also. 

This year was the first year I used interactive notebooks and I am hoping to perfect those in the coming years. I think it provides so many opportunities for students to interact with the material and really evaluate and think about their learning. 

I am in a constant battle to become more organized, so hopefully over the next five years I can find organizational ideas that help me keep all of my student supplies and teacher supplies organized. 

In terms of teaching, I hope that over the next five years (and further than that) I can come up with ways to keep students engaged with the material. There are portions of every unit that I find are hard for students to stay focused. I also want to continue to add variety in my classroom, where every day isn't the same. Over the next five years, I want to really work on integrating technology into each unit as well as engaging labs, group work, vocabulary work, and writing. 

This is a huge task, but over the next five years hopefully I'm able to take some baby steps to creating units that use a variety of strategies and create meaningful experiences for students. I feel like right now a few units are great and a few units are not. 

As an educator, I hope to take on more of a leadership role for our Biology instructional team. It's an area I'm very passionate about and I would love to facilitate meaningful collaboration with my other colleagues because I feel like that would really improve my teaching in the classroom. 

Blog Challenge: Day 11

What's your favorite part of the school day and why?

This school year, I chose to teach extended day -- meaning instead of having 5 classes, 1 lunch/homeroom, and 1 planning period, I have 6 classes and no planning period. To make my day more chaotic, what would normally be my lunch/homeroom period is instead spent in the computer lab helping with credit recovery. My school day is busy, fast paced, and does not give me time to plan during the day. 

My favorite part of the day is the first 45 minutes to hour that I am at school. I arrive literally when the doors unlock and spend the first portion of my morning planning. Because I don't have a planning period during the day, I have to get all of my planning and prep done before the school day starts. At the beginning of the day, there are no lines for the copy machines, there are no distractions, and I can get so much done in that short period of time. I can make my copies, put together labs, and finish any other last minute planning. When that is all finished, I feel ready to take on the day. 

Other teachers think I'm crazy for arriving so early, but I find that is really the time when I can get the most done. The end of the school day has too many distractions, and frankly, I am too worn out to be truly productive at that time. In the morning, I have my coffee in hand and am ready to tackle the day. 

It's not my favorite part because it is my most enjoyable, but its my favorite part because it is the most essential and is the part of my day that allows the rest of the day to run smoothly. 

Blog Challenge: Day 10

Share Five Random Facts About Yourself

1. I have traveled to four different continents. 
2. I like Twinkies best when they are frozen. 
3. My favorite authors are David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs.
4. Our cats are named after our World of Warcraft characters (Kata and Lora)
5. I find baking and cooking to be relaxing after a long day. 

Share Four Things From Your Bucket List

1. Travel to the other three continents. 
2. See the northern lights.
3. Go skydiving
4. Own a dog

Share Three Things That You Hope For This Year, as a "Person" or an Educator

1. Eat More Veggies
2. Drink More Water
3. Not Be Afraid to Say "No"

Share Two Things That Have Made You Laugh or Cry as an Educator

1. Cry -- One of my students who had a rough home life became pregnant, soon after homeless, and ended up leaving school and running away. I have no idea where she is or how she is doing.
2. Laugh -- While dissecting pigs at the end of the year, one of my mischievous troublemaker students looked at his group extremely seriously and said "I think I found its butthole."

Share One Thing You Wish More People Knew About You

1. I'm introverted, and sometimes when I say no, its just because I've been around people too long and need time to recharge and relax. 

Blog Challenge: Day 9

Write about one of your biggest accomplishments in your teaching that no one knows about (or may not care). 

If you read some of my previous posts, you may know that I worked on curriculum during my first years teaching at an alternative school near Detroit. The curriculum was online based and required a lot of hands-on teaching to get teachers to be able to use the tool efficiently. 

One of our biggest challenges initially was with the online platform, since we had no formal training in it and the department in charge of the platform was not communicative with us as a staff. By the end of the first year, we had identified it as the biggest headache we had dealt with throughout the year. 

I have always been a technology-minded person. I play video games in my free time, I have a husband who builds computers and we talk a lot about technology together. I tasked myself with being the link between the technology department and our school, with hopes of things running more smoothly. I met with the technology department head during the summer, had some crash course training, and was put in charge of editing and transferring our curriculum for the next year. It was a huge undertaking and I was excited to be a part of it. 

I spent hours working on our Biology and Chemistry courses to ensure they would work as a template and model for the next year, a model the other teachers could use for their courses. I transferred every single course in our school to our website for students to have access. I helped my other coworkers with issues they were having in their specific courses and continued to provide support throughout the school year. I worked with our whole staff to help solve some of the big issues from the previous year.

It was a ton of work and it was work I was not necessarily trained to do. Many of the issues were ones I needed to research and resolve on my own, but it was all work I enjoyed doing and I learned so much about not only curriculum design but also about technology integration within classrooms. 

By the end of the year, I was awarded Teacher of the Year for our building -- an award many colleagues did not seem surprised by, but it didn't really explain why. I felt like I had done a great job with my teaching job and with my students, but I knew that a portion of why I was awarded TOTY was because of all my technology work with the staff. 

That was the last year I worked in Michigan, and it was so difficult to say goodbye to the staff after having the feeling that we had traveled through the trenches together. I still have the award on my desk today and I look at it often and remember how well we worked together and how much energy I put into ensuring every educator in the building had the technology support they needed.

Blog Challenge: Day 8

What's in your desk drawer and what can you infer from those contents?

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how clean my desk was at the beginning of the year? 

Needless to say, its April now, and it doesn't look anything like that. It's currently buried under papers that need to be filed or graded or handed back or copied... how in the world can one desk collect so many papers? 

I honestly don't use my desk drawer much, so I'll include the things (non-paper things) that are also on my desk. 

• Laptop + Accessories (a necessity)
• Writing Utensils -- my personal pencils, highlighters, pens, sharpies -- that are for my use and not for students. 
• Post its of every size and color imaginable (the best way to remind myself of things)
• Planner with Lesson Plans (my organizational lifeline)
• Coffee mug (again -- a necessity)
• Fake Flowers and Picture Frame with quotes (These make my desk feel more personal)
• Breath Mints (for after the previously mentioned coffee)
• Lip Balm
• USB drives -- who knows where they actually come from, I rarely use them!
• Paper clips, binder clips, and other miscellaneous school supplies

I feel like this is a pretty standard list. Keep in mind all that stuff is buried under the piles of papers. I always start the year with my greatest intention of staying organized and neat, but throughout the craziness of the year, that gets put at the wayside in favor of a few more minutes of grading or a moment or two to catch my breath. I spend very little time at my desk during class, but it is where I spend the majority of my time before and after school. It is where I keep my necessities for the day -- mainly my planner, my laptop, and my coffee. I'm pretty sure I could get by without the rest. 

What are your school necessities?

Blog Challenge: Day 7

I know, I know... I skipped day 6, but I didn't like the prompt, so we're skipping ahead to day 7! Let's just call it the 29 Day Blogging Challenge, okay?

Who was or is your most inspirational colleague, and why?

I could probably write a literal book on this question. I have worked with so many wonderful educators in the past several years.

I can honestly say that I would not have the job I have today or do the work I do today if it wasn't for the first teaching job I had while I was in Michigan. The school I worked at was an alternative school situated in a suburban district that bordered Detroit. The school was located on 8 Mile Road, if that gives you a better idea. 

We had a tiny staff -- a total of 12 teachers the first year, I believe. We started the school from nothing and worked together to come up with procedures, expectations, rules, schedules... It was a true learning experience from start to finish. As a staff, we were incredibly close. We had weekly staff meetings where most of us were not afraid to share our opinions and argue with each other. We all had the same goal: Help these students graduate. 

There were two staff members that I grew particularly close to -- our program director, Renee, and our school administrator, Kerri. 

The first year I was there was also my first year of teaching. I met Renee at a job fair and interviewed soon after. I was excited and had no idea what I was getting into. We had staff development at the beginning of the year to get to know the other teachers we were working with and help plan and set up this new school. Renee had clear expectations from the beginning and tried to instill in us the desire and passion to teach students that don't necessarily want to be taught. 

Renee helped me to realize how important it is to build relationships with students and to help them through whatever they are going through. Even as a program director, she built special relationships with certain students. I learned to be flexible to student needs -- not every student fits the same mold. Some students need alone time to work, other students need to focus on one thing at a time. She taught me to listen to their needs and to accommodate the best I could. 

Kerri was the driving force behind the program during its second year. Together, Kerri and I worked on curriculum and scheduling. Together, we made a great team and were able to simplify and streamline a lot of the issues from the first year. From Kerri, I learned how to truly collaborate with another educator. We had completely different fields of expertise and brought different strengths to the table, but we worked incredibly well together despite that. She taught me the need for structure and firmness with students, while still building strong relationships with them. 

Both of these educators focused on students and on creating a program and curriculum that would focus on students first. They both inspired me to have a student-focused mind when planning my lessons and making decisions. 

Blog Challenge: Day 5

Post a picture of your classroom, and describe what you see -- and what you don't see that you'd like to

Here it is. My classroom. My second home. It's a chemistry classroom -- meaning its long and narrow with lab benches on either side. During the summer, they pack lots and lots of desks in the back of the room. I end up moving them to create more space in the back to move around. Unfortunately, the narrowness of the space doesn't allow for much creativity with desk placement -- although I'm open to suggestions if you have any!

One of my goals for next year is to be much more intentional about my word walls. The upper cabinets on the wall are going to have most of my vocabulary words (plus pictures). Seeing as I have two different courses to do vocabulary with, I may have to figure out another plan, but that's what my plan is right now.

One of my favorite parts of my classroom is my Wall of Awesome. This picture is from the beginning of the year, when the wall was empty, but it is currently FULL of student names. Whenever students get an "A" on a test, they get to write their name on a post-it and glue it to the wall. It's right in the front of class so students see it every day as a reminder to be awesome!

This area of my room is going to get a revamp this coming year. This year, half of the wall was dedicated to posting grades for students after big assessments. I'm going to skip this next year since all the grades are posted online and I want students to get into the habit of logging in to the class website anyways! The other half of the bulletin board was for binder organization. Since I am going to be doing notebooks in all my classes next year, this isn't needed! I am thinking of replacing that side with a word wall, or a helpful reference wall, or anchor charts, or something... I'm not sure yet! Ideas are welcome! 

The front entrance of my room used to have these awesome folders for students to "rank their week" on Fridays with their warm-up papers. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep this or not -- should they still turn in papers instead of gluing them in their notebook? Perhaps use it only for exit slips on specific days? I'm not sure, but chances are it will not look this way next year. 

Things I'm keeping for next year: Wall of Awesome, Seating Arrangement (unless I have another great idea), Exit slip folders (maybe)

Things I'm going to change for next year: Word Wall placement, back bulletin board

I would love to see if you have any great ideas! I am open to suggestions!

Blog Challenge: Day 4

What do you love most about teaching?

It is so hard to lose this focus when it is April and you're anticipating End of Course tests and finals and you are crossing your fingers just hoping -- praying -- that all your hard work pays off and your students do well. You're stressed, your kids are stressed, and you cannot wait for summer to come so you can maybe have one day when you don't have to think about teaching. 

This is how I feel right now. It's the end of spring break and I'm anxiously planning for the week to come and thinking ahead to all of the review strategies I could possibly use as we approach finals. It's stressful, but would I want another job? Absolutely not. 

What I love most about teaching is the kids. The kids are the reason I wake up at 5 am and rush to work, being sure to get there extra early so I have time to plan before they arrive. When they get to school, some come into my room to interrupt my planning with last minute questions before their test or to eat breakfast in my room to get away from the craziness of the hallway. Some come in to finish a test or make-up a quiz. I am surrounded by students before the day even begins, and I absolutely would not change a thing. 

I have worked with a lot of different students who have gone through the struggles of bullying, anxiety, pregnancy, violence, homelessness, abuse... Every student has their own set of circumstances they are dealing with. It can be easy to dismiss some as having it "easier" than others, but in their eyes, they feel like they are struggling. As a teacher, I try to acknowledge and guide them through whatever they are dealing with. Sometimes this is talking to counselors and parents, and other times its just being someone for them to vent to. 

Many people think as a teacher, my job is to teach -- which is true. A lot of my energy goes towards creating resources and planning and replanning lessons. I truly enjoy that part of my job. I love the reward of having created something and seeing it help my students understand content. The other part of my job is about my kids. They need to learn, and in order to learn, they need to be able to focus and feel safe within my classroom. 

I truly believe that every student needs a teacher in the building that they feel like cares for them, as a person, and will be there for them when they are having a bad day. For students who want to come and vent to me, I try to have an open door and make the time for them because I know that if they feel comfortable with me and are able to feel supported by me, they will be able to focus and learn in my classroom. 

What do I love about teaching? The kids. The reason I teach is for the kids. 

Blog Challenge: Day 3

Discuss one "observation" area that you would like to improve on for your teacher evaluation. 

I was able to get some great feedback this year, especially in the area of Classroom Instruction. One great piece of feedback I got this year on my evaluation was how I called on specific students and had them explain their answer, even if they were wrong. 

Since I read that feedback, I have been much more attentive to whether I do this during class. On some days, especially when I am frustrated, I find myself relying on choral responses which really don't tell me about what specific students think. If I call on students randomly, I find that some of them shut down or get very nervous, which are not feelings I want to stir up in my classroom. 

The area of classroom instruction is very broad and includes both day-to-day strategies as well as year-long routines. One of my goals (as I previously wrote about) is to establish a more defined routine in my classroom. I think this will help both myself and my students. 

The goal of classroom instruction is to have students learn and understand material. I want to be more meaningful in my planning and ensure that every activity we do has a clear purpose and goal. Of all the evaluation areas, I think that classroom instruction is the one that impacts students the most and is going to be my biggest area of focus this year. 

Blog Challenge: Day 2

Write about one piece of technology that you would like to try this year, and why. 

I am always one to hop on a new tech tool. I love finding and integrating new technology. One thing I would like to better integrate into my class next year is Google Docs. 

I have personally used it for years to help organize my files and create graphics, but I haven't integrated a lot of the collaboration components into my work. Since I will be the main organizational force for our instructional team, I want to really work on how to best utilize the collaboration tools. 

One thing I have already worked on, is creating our instructional calendar in Google Calendar. From there, I can easily share it with my other colleagues, edit it as needed, and even embed it onto my class website. 

My next goal is to have all our common assessments, study guides, and labs on Google Drive to be able to share them with each other. We have limited storage in our email and our school share drive is not accessible at home. With Google Drive we can all access it from wherever we are. 

I also want to use Google Forms in my classroom to have students take polls and give feedback -- especially when we try a new project. I often have students vote for their favorite project and this would be a great, easy way to do that. 

What new tech tools are you excited to try? 

Start of DNA Unit for INB

A typical unit for different teachers can vary a lot. As some of you may know, the notebooking for my class does not follow the popular left side-right side or input-output, as discussed in my previous post. Instead, we focus on creating a reference tool for students, like a personalized textbook.

To give you an example, I wanted to share some of my DNA resources with you!

First, we start with DNA structure and function. I use this organizer to do "notes" with my students. We also color code the parts of the nucleotide (sugar - red, phosphate - purple) and each different base gets its own color that corresponds to a lab we do later (A - Green, C - Pink, G - Yellow, T - Orange). We are all about color coding and carry macromolecule color coding all the way through the school year!

Below the structure and function organizer you can see the top of our DNA organization flipbook. We cut and glue it together as we discuss it as a class and we watch a video afterward about how DNA is organized (portion of this video from TedEd).

Our first lab is a candy DNA lab. This is maybe a little different than ones you have seen before. Students first string together their backbones (Cheerio phosphates and Twizzler sugars) and then add their nucleotides following our color coding rules from before. Students can even twist it into a double helix shape after. They really love this lab and it helps reinforce the structure of both the backbone and the nucleotides. Students answer questions on the lab in their notebook.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas for how to start your DNA unit!

I wanted to share some of my resources with you all! You can get copies of them by clicking the links below. 

Intro. DNA Structure and Function

DNA Organization Flip Book

Types of RNA Diagram

Blog Challenge: Day 1

I came across this Reflective Teaching 30 Day Blog Challenge. Originally it was for September 2014, but as this school year starts to wind down, I thought it would also be appropriate to start it now! I will be following the prompts listed at the following site:

Reflective Teaching: A 30 Day Blogging Challenge

Write your goals for the school year. 

I have already started thinking about the next school year (which seems insane to some, I know). I am a person that feels relaxed when I can plan, so reflecting and thinking about the school year when it is fresh in my mind helps me to do that. 

Here are some of my goals for the coming school year. 

Be more attentive to student (freshmen) need for structure. 

I would love to be able to sit and have discussions and conversations about content with students, but he reality is that my 14 year old freshmen are just not at that point yet. They are trying to navigate high school for the first time and trying to figure out the new social atmosphere. I find that my classroom works best with structure and I want to be more attentive and meaningful about providing that structure for my students. 

My plan is to have a more specific routine for the class. This started great last year, but as I made some instructional changes, this fell by the wayside. I also want to be more mindful about giving time limits and deadlines. I find my students do a great job of staying on task when there is a timer on the board and I want to remember to do that more often. I am going to be more attentive to their need for specific instructions and expectations for assignments. 

Be more organized and reduce the paper. 

As much as I love being planned and organized, after a few weeks my desk is buried in papers and a complete mess. I am going to be much more mindful about only keeping what is completely necessary and recycling the rest. 

Plan Thoughtfully for Chemistry Notebooks

This past year I started notebooking with Biology and I absolutely love it. My goal for this coming year is to also notebook with my Chemistry class. I want to focus on planning thoughtful and meaningful activities and instruction for Chemistry since I feel like those were my weakest classes this year. 

What are your goals for the coming school year? 

Interactive Notebook Setup

Interactive notebooks can be setup lots of different ways. This is what works for me in my classroom, but you may find something else that works for you. INB's are wonderful because you can customize them to fit your classroom and content!

I strongly recommend using composition notebooks. I have had students use spiral notebooks and they just do not hold up as well -- covers fall off, pages get torn. Composition notebooks are much sturdier as long as students don't rip out any pages.

On the inside cover I have students glue their Plickers code and create a pocket for holding their homework and other papers if they don't finish in class. Plickers is an awesome quick assessment tool, you should check out the link if you haven't heard of it before!

To create a pocket, have students fold over one corner of the front page, then glue around the edges. This type of pocket has worked great for us and is the perfect size to fit a sheet of paper folded in half (such as homework papers).

Then, I have students flip their notebooks over so they are looking at the back cover. They count 10-12  pages from the back for their glossary section. Students glue down a mini-post it to make a tab so they can easily find the page. These are not the sturdiest tabs, but they are easy, available, and get the job done. I have students add a few drops of glue to the sticky area to make it more permanent. You can also create tabs in Excel and print them on cardstock. I have started doing this most recently and the tabs are much sturdier.

Click here for a free downloadable version of the tabs I use for Biology!

The back portion of their notebook is for their "glossary" section. I create a Quizlet vocabulary list for each section and print a list of the vocabulary for their glossary section. The list also has a URL for the Quizlet list for easy studying.

Checkout my post on Printing Tips for INBs for ideas on how to easily print the pages to fit!

I also have students make a reference section by counting five pages before their glossary section. They also add a tab for references. I have found this so handy to include this year. We glued in a copy of the syllabus, a lab equipment reference, graphing references, and will continue to add reference pages as we go. It's a great, subtle way to give struggling students some extra support with some science basics so they can focus on the content.

When students are finished with that portion, I have them start numbering their pages. This takes a while and is a good filler for students who finish early and you are waiting for others in class. On the day we set up notebooks, numbering their pages is their homework if they don't finish. Page numbers allow for easy reference for both me and my students and allows them to complete their table of contents easily.

If you're interested in learning more about how I implement interactive notebooks, check out my other blog posts under the "Interactive Notebooks" label!

Introduction to Interactive Notebooks

Interactive Notebooks are one of the newest and most talked about teaching strategies right now. There are so many ideas and opinions it gets easy to get lost and not know where to start. I want to share with you why I decided to start notebooking, how I setup notebooks, and how they work in my classroom.

I wanted to start notebooking during my first year of teaching. I had heard so much about the Left Side-Right Side or Input-Output setup and wanted to try it out. My problem was that I was left figuring it out, on my own, during my first year. It was far too overwhelming and became too confusing for me and for my students to be effective. Only a few months into the school year and I scrapped the notebooks and went back to traditional fill-in-the-blank notes and handouts.

The lightbulb moment for me came when I met one of our new science hires at school. She had been doing notebooks for four years and had already experienced many of the growing pains that I had gone through. Almost immediately, I started asking questions to figure out how she made it work. She described notebooks in a way that made sense for me:

It's like students are creating their own version of a textbook. 

Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that students fill the pages with paragraphs and paragraphs of text, but it does mean that they are a reference tool for students and hold all the information students will need to be successful in a unit.

Why did I start notebooking?

1. Organization: As a teacher of freshmen, there is a constant battle to help students stay organized. Notebooking helps keep them organized because we do all of the organization together in class.
2. Accountability: It keeps them accountable because I ask them to go back and continue to review and reference past content. Because notebooks are kept in my classroom, I can page through notebooks at any time and remind students who are falling behind. 
3. Ownership: Students take pride and ownership of creating something that is theirs. There are lots of students who stay on task to make sure they have time at the end of class to color things just right or make their headings colorful. When students take ownership of their work, they try their very best to make sure they are doing everything correct. 
4. Brain Breaks: Notebooking allows me to build in automatic brain breaks that I often forget about otherwise. Teenagers have short attention span. Giving them a few minutes to cut and glue gives them time to refocus and get back on track when they need to. 

What does a typical unit look like?

We take some notes -- although they are simplified and shortened -- and glue down diagrams, graphs, and pictures to help the notes make sense. We color code diagrams and paragraphs. We make foldables to use as study tools. We do labs with data tables, graphs, and conclusions. We write paragraphs. We do science.

The variety within the notebook helps keep students engaged. No two pages are the same and no two days in class are the same.

I am able to use many of the same activities I have always used, I just modify them for notebooks -- usually shortening up the procedure, or printing them in a smaller format to fit into the notebook.

What does a typical day in class look like?

• Students have 2 minutes at the beginning of class to collect supplies (usually glue, scissors, colored pencils), take their seat, and answer the warm up question. 
• Take notes for 5 minutes and analyze a diagram. 
• Discuss diagram and examples while students are cutting/pasting the diagram into their notebook. 
• Give directions for activity, and students find a partner and get to work. 
• Students have the rest of class to finish activity and notebook work. 
• Early finishers can work on coloring, vocabulary, or past assignments. 

We stay busy and we stay engaged with material, but we are moving and interacting. My classroom is not the type where you only sit and listen.

How are notebooks setup in my class?

This is something truly individual to each teacher. I have done a walk through of my notebook set up in this separate post.

Interactive Notebook Setup

How are notebooks graded?

This can vary widely from teacher to teacher. I grade each assignment in their notebook as individual assignments -- even dividing them into classwork/lab/homework grades depending on the activity. I typically grade notebooks at the end of each unit (about every 4 weeks) and I am able to grade them almost 100% at school on test days. I am no longer drowning in a pile of grading!

Hopefully this gives you some confidence and information to help you decide if notebook is right for your classroom.