... Lab Day Today!

My chemistry students did a lab today that is one of the most intense labs they have done all year. The first semester of chemistry is mostly just the basics of matter and mixtures, but we don't talk too much about chemical reactions until second semester. This is the first lab we have done that involved a chemical reaction.

The lab we did involved a single displacement reaction of iron with copper (II) sulfate to produce copper and iron (II) sulfate. Students really seemed to like it since the copper (II) sulfate is a bright blue solution. Bright colors seem to catch their attention :) 

Typically, in order to do the lab students have to complete a pre-lab assignment that has questions about key prior knowledge and specific lab procedures. Instead of students doing the pre-lab on their own, we did it together in class. I also walked through the lab with them and explained techniques like decanting that were foreign to them. I do not normally take class time to go into that much detail, but this lab required it. It is a stoichiometry lab, so precision is absolutely necessary. I emphasized this to them as much as possible. 

Students walked in for lab day, I gave them a few last minute pointers and instructions, and they began working on the lab. It was quickly evident who was paying attention and who was not -- but we made it work. 

For the lab, students had to carefully measure out copper (II) sulfate, add distilled water, and heat it on a hot plate until it was fully dissolved. The reaction works best when the solid is completely dissolved and the solution doesn't boil. 

  

While the solution was still warm, they added iron filings and let the reaction sit for five minutes. Pretty quickly it was evident there was a chemical change -- strong odor, color change, solid forming. The originally bright blue solution turned a more brown-green color as the reaction occurred and copper solid formed. The solution is decanted into a waste container and the copper solid is washed and dried. 

The analysis portion of the lab asks students to compare the theoretical mole ratio (we did this together in class yesterday) with their experimental mole ratio. They have to perform several stoichiometry problems, calculate their percent yield and their percent error. 

To assess the chemistry labs, I give them an online quiz on our eClass platform and will also collect their lab to grade. The quiz is an easy way for students to see how well they understood the lab, since they are graded automatically and because it usually takes me a while to grade labs. I used this lab after we had spent several days practicing stoichiometry problems. This was their first chance at seeing why and how those calculations are actually used. 

This was my first year doing this lab, and I must say that I am impressed! For groups that followed directions correctly, their percent yield was pretty high -- although many of them lost some due to the decanting. This lab is available on my Teachers Pay Teachers website and includes teacher notes with supplies, safety precautions, and recommendations. 

I am hoping all the teachers out their had a great end to their week. I know I am personally ready for a weekend! What great things happened in your classes this week?

... Vocabulary can be a Huge Hurdle

Scaffolding is a term thrown around a lot in education. It is the process used to break down complicated topics into more manageable parts -- the idea being that students can't fully understand a topic unless they understand all the components. It's a buzz word, a word that is emphasized over and over.

At my current school, I teach two team taught classes that have a mix of both regular education and special education students. They can be some of the most challenging classes to teach because the range of ability is so vast. Scaffolding becomes key to ensuring each student can succeed.

But where do you start? Science courses have a huge bundle of academic language and vocabulary that goes with each unit. They are unavoidable words that students are expected to be able to use in conversation during activities. For many students, this is where the struggle begins. In order to effectively scaffold the content, my first task is to reinforce vocabulary.

It isn't enough for students to know the dictionary definition of a term, because more often that not it really doesn't give students a good grasp on the meaning of the word. Take the word heterozygous for example. The dictionary definition is "when a genome contains two different alleles for a gene." I'm pretty sure if my students don't know heterozygous, there is a good chance they won't understand allele or even gene. The definition is not helpful for understanding the word. Some teachers have students do vocabulary work by writing down the definitions from the glossary of a text book -- I have done this in the past -- but I find with science, there aren't any synonyms to help explain terms and the dictionary definition is usually not that helpful.

I start many biology units with vocabulary work. I like to change it up so students are doing a different sort of activity for each unit -- not the same routine each time. Some activities work better at the very beginning when they have limited knowledge of the topic, others work well for a review at the end of the unit.

Here is my short list of vocabulary activities:

• Slip Sort: I type a list of the important vocabulary words or phrases onto computer paper and cut them into individual strips. Students partner or group up and they have to arrange the words in a way that makes sense -- sort of like a free-form graphic organizer. There isn't a right answer; there isn't just one way to arrange the words. The idea is for students to talk about the words together and find connections between meanings of words. The discussion and conversation is more important than the final product. 
• Graphic Organizers: I'm a fan of graphic organizers, especially after we have covered all the material. They are a great way for students to visually see how information is related. I usually provide a word bank and give some hints in the boxes. I like making them using Google Drawing because they are easy to format and the lines connecting them stay nice and neat! Two of my graphic organizers can be found in this Biochemistry Remediation pack on Teachers Pay Teachers. 
  
• Frayer Model: The Frayer Model is something I was introduced to when I took a class on Reading Intervention Techniques. The way I use them in my courses aren't exactly the same, but sort of expand on the same idea. Each word has four boxes to fill in: Definition, Picture, Test Question, and Application/Use. These vary depending on what the word is. For example, for biochemistry, one of the boxes was about the monomer of the macromolecule or the test used for that macromolecule. They really can be modified to account for any key points they need to know. There are two examples also included in the Biochemistry Remediation pack on Teachers Pay Teachers. 
  
• Use Them In Writing: The easiest way to reinforce vocabulary is to ensure students are using them in their written responses. For certain labs, I will include a list of words that need to be used at least once in their responses. I make some of them less obvious so they really need to think about how it is connected to the lab. 

This is my short list; my most used techniques. There are so many other great ways to incorporate vocabulary and academic language into each unit. 

How do you reinforce and teach vocabulary and academic language?

... Today I made a Tutorial Using my SMART Board!

Today I made my first tutorial using my SMART Board! It was surprisingly simple and I'm a little sad I didn't give it a try sooner! It was such a simple way for me to provide support to struggling students and to help students with make-up work from when they are absent.

To make the tutorial, I used the "Recorder" option on the SMART board toolbar. The toolbar I'm referring to is typically docked at the side of your screen. And looks something like this:

If the "Recorder" option isn't on the toolbar, you can click the Settings button on the bottom to add it (just drag and drop it). The icon looks like a little camcorder. 

Once you have the tool located, you can click it to open it up. It brings up a small box that has a few buttons: Record, Pause, Stop, and a Menu drop down menu. From there it's pretty simple to figure out -- Record to Record, Stop to Stop... you get the idea.

The SMART board I have has a microphone built into it and records audio along with screencasts while recording. The screencasts will show whatever is showing on your SMART board screen, including any ink notations or other tools you use. This allows you to work through a problem on the board and it will record your writing simultaneously with your voice. Awesome! Students not only get the benefit of seeing how you work out a problem, but also get your verbal explanation. 

After you are finished recording, click stop on the recorder screen. It will create the video file for the recording (this takes a few minutes) as a .wmv file (played in windows media player) and you can save it to your computer. I chose to upload my tutorial videos to a YouTube channel so my students can easily locate all of them. This also allowed me to link them to their online course page (eClass). 

For my first tutorials, I used a few stoichiometry problems we did together in class. Stoichiometry is one of those topics that students have to repeatedly review and practice and I chose to show them problems they had already seen so they could follow along with their work and hopefully find how to fix their mistakes. In the future, I'd like to also include key lectures for units so students can use them to study for tests. I was able to make three stoichiometry videos (about 5 min. each) in one prep period, and I am able to use them and refer to them over and over. Seems like a short time commitment for a great payout! 

I wanted to post a link to my YouTube channel so you can see for yourself what they look like and how helpful they will be to students. 

Has anyone else tried this out? What do your students think? 

... Literacy Needs to Have a Place in Science

At my first teaching job, I not only taught science, but I also taught a reading intervention course. It was aimed at the very lowest readers in the school and the results were remarkable. It was a class completely disconnected from my other courses, but I enjoyed teaching it just as much. We worked with very simple books, very simple sentences, and broke them down word for word to get to their meaning. What they learned was astonishing.

My current position is only for science courses, but after having the experience teaching a reading intervention course I realized how extremely important literacy skills are, both reading and writing, even to high school students. This is an idea that is brought up in education courses but seems to get pushed aside when teachers are expected to teach a certain set of standards and have their students reach a certain benchmark. There doesn't seem to be enough time in the day.

I am by no means an expert in this area, but it is an area that I am actively trying to improve in my teaching. I am trying to incorporate both reading and writing skills into each unit.

For me, the easiest way to incorporate reading is when we are discussing famous scientists. Each unit seems to have at least one -- Charles Darwin, Gregor Mendel, James Watson and Francis Crick, and the list goes on. Many textbooks have special sections to highlight these scientists and there are a lot of books and articles available that may highlight key points of their research. I try to find an excerpt that is relatable and has some  personality. Students who dislike reading or are not very strong readers it is especially important to give them a piece of reading that is approachable. If the introduction uses too many large, unknown words or if the language is too technical, they will lose interest and will either completely give up or will struggle through it and not gain any knowledge.

The key is finding a middle ground between what my students call a "baby book" -- that being a picture book usually, or a very simple piece of writing -- and a dense, dry technical piece from a research journal. It is trial and error at first. Your classes may not all be at the same point, but eventually you will be able to determine what types of readings work for each class.

As students read, I give them a simple method to organizing and remembering what they read. All they need is two colors -- either pens or highlighters. One color they use to underline or highlight things that were confusing, such as vocabulary words, difficult sentences, or overly technical language. The other color they use to underline or highlight main ideas -- important points, interesting facts, information that is new to the student, or summarizing sentences. I love this method because students do not need any extra papers or special writing utensils. When we discuss the reading, we start with the questions and confusing passages to help students piece together what it was talking about. As a class, we identify some key passages that helped them understand the article better. It's a great way to get students to read activity and provides clear places for discussions to start.

I like to follow reading assignments with written responses. I don't always like assigning them questions that have precise answers because students tend to just skim for the information; instead, I like to ask them to give their opinion or to summarize the main points. Often times I have them post these responses on our online class page (eClass for our school) so they can respond to each other and continue the discussion out of class. It's a great way to provide content enrichment without losing valuable class time that is needed for reviewing key concepts.

As we know, literacy involves not only reading, but also writing. I already have another post on one strategy I use to incorporate writing into each unit, called Let's Talk About DBQs

What are your literacy strategies? I would love to have more ideas in my arsenal!

...How Do You Feel About Homework?

A few weeks ago, my husband and I debated the merits and downsides of homework for teenagers. It was prompted by an article by Huffington Post that detailed a dad who did the same amount of "homework" as his daughter, who was in middle school. Basically, by the end of the article, the dad was making a plea for less homework.

As a teacher, I see the reasons for giving homework: provide additional practice, enrichment outside of classroom time, review for upcoming assessments... But my husband, who is not a teacher, was completely against homework, for the most part.

I don't think I give a lot of homework. Most of what I assign is additional practice -- especially for math concepts in chemistry -- or writing assignments that would consume a large portion of class. We almost always review the assignments and talk about them before they are turned in. We are about one unit into second semester and I've had several brief conversations with colleagues about the homework issue. I am going to try a few different things this semester to try and lighten the grading load.

For a science teacher, it can be an extremely time consuming process to grade lab reports. A colleague of mine gives lab quizzes instead, using a response system so they are graded automatically. She pulls questions straight from the lab, so if they did it -- great! If they didn't do it, chances are they won't do well on the quiz. I have modified this idea and give quizzes on our online school platform (called eClass). The quiz is worth half as much as the actual lab, but I feel less pressure to grade the lab word for word since they need to have it finished before taking the online quiz.

Another colleague of mine uses homework notebooks. He assigns journal entries and keeps a running list on his board of all the entries needed and students are responsible for keeping up. Then, once a unit, he collects the notebooks and reads them. Not a bad idea - but still time consuming! I tried using notebooks at the beginning of the year, but grading them took a lot of time even if you only do a checklist like what I was using.

I observed a math teacher who rarely gives homework. She basically has class periods divided in half -- first half is instruction and review while the second half is practice and homework checks. She has an answer key available for students to check their work and review before turning it in. I have modified this idea for my science classes. We typically have a full class period learning the material (notes, videos, discussion, example problems, etc.). The following class period (or multiple, depending on the topic) we do a few problems together, and then they partner up. I may do the same thing the next day but with solo work instead of partners. I have even turned one class period into a "race" to see who can correctly solve the problems the quickest without additional help from me (we review after for those that need more help). I like switching between full class, partners, and solo as all of them are helpful in their own way. I also give them options -- some students love to work on their own, while others would rather partner with a friend. My only rule is that they must be working, or they don't get a partner!

I see a few benefits coming from this lessened homework load this semester. I'm finding that students are asking questions more often. While students are working either on their own or with a partner, I have a chance to walk around the room and check-in with them. This is a much less intimidating situation for introverted students and they seem more willing to ask questions and get help. It also allows me to catch mistakes early and try to correct them before they end up doing the entire assignment incorrect.

Another major benefit is student engagement. If I give them a class period to work on an assignment and tell them I will collect it the next day, most of them use their time wisely and stay on task to avoid having homework. Even if it's not the most exciting material, when they are collectively working on the same assignment, conversations start happening and the class seems to be more engaged and more cooperative.

The debate has many different arguments both in favor of and against homework. My basic thought is that students have a lot to do after school, especially in high school, and often times homework is not the primary concern. Homework can create a divide among students -- those who do homework and those who do not -- when all the students are trying to get to the same end goal. Sometimes homework is inevitable, but for this semester, I am trying to keep the homework load light.

What are your personal opinions and philosophies on homework? Are you pro-homework or pro-classwork?