Week 9

This Friday is a little crazy. The school is having the students take an exam. All grades, except for seniors, take this exam. Each day different periods are selected to take the exam. So each class is doing something different. First period is Astronomy; half of the class is seniors. They worked on their portfolios, while the other students took their exam. Two of the chemistry periods were taking the exam and the other two had taken it yesterday. For the classes that took it the other day, Mr. Ambrose talked about covalent bonds and molecular formula. I was not able to assist today as much as usual due to the exam and the teacher catching the students up.

Week 9 - Saturn and Valence electrons

These last few weeks I haven't been presenting anything. I have been focusing on helping the students, one on one. They seem to benefit from me walking around and checking up on them while they work on something. Whether they say it or not, it appears that they like someone caring about their work. Students are more willing to show me their work and want to know if they are doing it correctly.

For instance, the students had a homework assignment due today but were already given homework for the next day. A lot of the students were asking questions and working really hard to finish the assignment (the one due the next day)in class. I asked a certain student if they had turned in their homework. The student did not remember there was homework due and sure enough when he pulled it out there wasn't even a name on the paper. I told him there was 15 min left in class and he should work on it and I figured he could get most of it done to get partial credit. He told me he wanted to work on the other assignment because it was easier. I smiled at him and explained how easy the other assignment was if he took a moment to look at it. Sure enough he started working on it and finished most of it and turned it in when the bell rang. He just needed someone to give him a little nudge and some encouragement.

This week I cam in on Wednesday because I have a presentation on my research this Friday. In astronomy they filled out another profile, this one was on Saturn. In chemistry they learned about valence electrons. The students seem to be picking this stuff up pretty well.

Week 8 - Halloween

First period Mr. Ambrose gave a quiz on Jupiter and then discussed a moon of Jupiter, Ganymede. After he lectured on it, I went around and helped answer students questions on Ganymede or any other body to help finalize their profile sheets.

The chemistry classes had a quiz and an exciting lab. It was a Flame Test Lab. This was going to be the first really risky lab. The students would be working with fire and chemicals; of course the students were really excited. At each station there were 8 samples of different chemicals. They dipped a paper clip into the chemical and then held it in the flame. They would write down the color of the flame. One of the chemicals were labeled unknown, but was one they had already tested. They had to identify it by the color flame it produced. I walked around and assisted the students throughout the lab. Between the quiz and the lab, the students were very busy throughout the class and seemed to enjoy doing the lab.

Week5/Week6/Week7

Week 5 -
I did not attend any classes because I was at a conference presenting my research.

Week 6 -
In the astronomy class Mr. Ambrose has started doing a long solar system unit. He goes over a body (moon, planet, comet, etc.) roughly once a day. The students write down important facts about the body being discussed on a worksheet. They keep these worksheets to help them on tests and eventually they will turn them in for credit. today they were specifically talking about the Moon. The conference I went to had people presenting on everything in and around our solar system. I was able to contribute a fact or two that I had just learned about the Moon. Most of the students seemed to be intrigued that we don't know everything about the closest object to the Earth. Mr. Ambrose and I discussed me doing a presentation on Venus next week, since Venus is my dissertation work.

For the chemistry labs Mr. Ambrose had a interesting lab that helped them understand mass. They weighed a piece of not chewed gum. then chewed a piece of gum until it lost its taste and weighted it to find out how much sugar is in a piece of gum. The risk part is trying not to have gum all over the classroom. The students were very cooperative and seemed to get the idea of the lab. They all enjoyed chewing gum (since they are not supposed too) and then comparing their answers to the actual package.

Week 7-
This week I got to lecture/present a power point on Venus for the Astronomy class. Mr. Ambrose and I thought this would be great for me and the students. Venus is the basis of my research, so it was very easy for me to tell them some basics stuff about it and then try to explain my research to them. My research entails understanding Venus' dynamics. I use a 3-D model to simulate what we think is going on and compare it to data. There isn't any direct wind measurements on Venus so we simulate airglow on the nightside. The chemistry is being blown from the dayside to the nightside therefore you get the winds right if you have the airglow right. Most of the students thought it was interesting but did not quite get why anyone would care. That was a vaild observation. I feel like I did not get my point across very well, due to lack of experience describing my research to younger students and the bell ringing with the students running out. The class overall was fine. They all got their planet profile filled out and seemed to learn a bit more about the planet than they expected.

In chemistry they are learning about Bohr Models. This was pretty basic for most of the students. Mr. Ambrose had a lot of examples for the students to work through before doing it for homework. There was a couple of classes the students were very eager to show their answers. They would go up and write their answers on the overhead for the rest of their classmates to see the answer. It was nice to see these students finally feel confident about something they just learned in class. Also it seemed like the disruptive behavior is settling down. I think I could make a connection between disruptive behavior and not learning in class. =)

Sorry

Sorry for the funny fonts and sizes. I have trouble posting and then eventually it posts and as you can see things change a bit.

Week 4 - Power point presentation

Most people would have done this presentation on day one, but I waited until I knew the classes better and there was a break in Mr. Ambrose’s schedule. I began using power points in college and graduate school as a communication tool, so I thought this would be an effective way to give my presentation. Mr. Ambrose was able to borrow a projector this past Friday and the pictures became better than words. My presentation was about me, my journey from high school to the present, where science is applied, what kind of science is done in my department (a lot), and then a science story specific to my field (Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashing into Jupiter). At the end of the presentation I asked the class some general questions about where they see themselves in 5 years, what college they want to go to, what they want to major in, etc…

During the presentation I tried to involve the class as much as possible by asking them what they thought about the topic I was discussing. Sometimes I would ask a question, with the answer on the slide. It was amazing to see how many students were not paying attention. One of he biggest hurdles is getting these students to think outside the box. It seemed like a quarter of the class would fall asleep, a quarter would be interested and paying attention, and then half would be doing something else besides those two things.

My favorite part of giving this presentation was I had a slide of three pictures: a supernova, the sun, and the moon Titan. I asked the class if they recognized each of these pictures and every class could identify two of them, not Titan. By showing the Titan picture, I was trying to get them to think outside the box. I asked: why do you think it looks hazy…. dense atmosphere, why is it bluish green? - what chemical would make those colors?... methane. At this point in every period I had most of the students’ attention. They were so curious because they thought it was Earth and how could there be anything else in the solar system that looked like Earth. It was great to see this involvement. One student in a chemistry class came up to me after the presentation and asked if they were going to do anything like this in class. He was so excited about chemistry on other planets.

At the end of the presentation when I asked them questions about their future, I was quite surprised how many students had answers. My 1st period is a mix of mainly juniors and seniors, so I hoped they already knew some of these answers about their future. The rest of the periods are sophomores, so they should be thinking about these things now. I found out that the majority of the Astronomy class wants to do something else besides science. One student asked me if it was possible to major in computer graphics (design covers for video games or figures for video games).

Many of these students act tough and think they don’t need to pay attention, but when you get past the tough outer shell there are eager students who want to do something with their lives. Most loose interest because they don’t know how to apply what they learn in class to the real world.

Week 3 - Astro. Review & Chem. Lab

The week was a big step for me. I got to lead the Astronomy class (1st period) in a review and then got to help the Chemistry classes (3rd-6th period) with their labs. I could tell that I was getting more comfortable with the classes and they were getting use to me. There are still a lot of disciplinary problems, students still have to be called out into the hall to settle them down and there was a point where the assistant principle had to come down. From the sounds of it, that wasn’t the first time this week.

Any how, I thought my Astronomy review went over well. A friend had passed on a Jeopardy style power point, which I used as a review framework (if anyone wants to use the template just email me abrecht@umich.edu and I will be glad to share). This works for almost any subject. It was originally created for a Math class. I did fear that the whole class would not participate. So I created a crossword puzzle for them to work on when it wasn’t their turn and for them to take home for practice. The rules I created to help the participation went something like this:

1. – Split classroom up into three teams (could be as many as you want)
2. – Have each student write their name on a piece of paper and put into a jar (should be three, one for each team)
3. – Start with Team 1, pick a name (keep the name out of the jar until everyone on the team has gone) and then let them pick the topic and question
4. – Give them 60 seconds to answer the question (they were allowed to use notes and they could discuss with their teammates, but the person whose name was called has to be the answerer)
5. – If they answer it correctly they get the points and move on to the next team and start back at Step 3. If they answer incorrectly they get zero points and you pick a name from the next team’s jar. If the second team answers correctly they get the points and Team 3 would start everything off again.

Obviously there are many ways to carry out this type of review, but I found the Astronomy class responded very well. The only problem I did come across is two of the teams were very close in points, while the third was way behind. That third team lost interest and stopped trying. Some how I would try to find a way that would keep all the teams focused.

For the Chemistry class, they were doing a lab that investigated reaction time and different factors that may influence it. The lab required at least two people and no more than four people. One person held a meter stick while the second person’s hand is at 0.0. The meter stick would be dropped and caught. The students would then write down the number at which it was caught. The number represents the reaction time; the longer it takes to catch, the longer the reaction time. Along with the lab was a lab work sheet that helped them utilize the scientific method. Before they started they had to come up with a treatment, formulate a hypothesis, and write down the experimental design. After that they would go through the experiment, write down their results, graph their results, and then write a conclusion and discussion.

This lab did not seem to catch anyone’s interest. A lot of students were going through the motions and even copying off other students. The concept of a controlled experiment versus a treated experiment did not seem to be grasped during this lab. Part of the students just did not care and the other part tried to understand but gave up and tried coping down what I was saying for their answer. It appears that the teacher needs to give counter examples to the lab before hand to show the importance of what they are doing; however Mr. Ambrose has discussed most of these concepts earlier in the week and right before the lab but he usually has to discipline more than teach. Maybe labs just have to be two days long.

Next week I will be teaching/lecturing in all five classes for the whole period. Mr. Ambrose and I discussed that it would be helpful at this time to explain:
1) Student Teacher vs. Teaching Fellow
2) How I got to where I am today
3) How what they are doing in class can be used in many places in the world, if they are not already using it

During this time I will try to get the class involved as much as possible (e.g. how many plan on going to college? how many know what they want to do?....) Basically, I will be giving a motivational speech.

Week 2

This week was similar to last week. I did a lot of observing and helping with in class worksheets. When I help the students with the worksheets I try to learn their names and find out one thing about them to help me remember their name.

The Astronomy class was moving on in their lectures trying to wrap up Ch.1. They were learning about moon phases, eclipses, and measuring distances (e.g. the distance between Earth and the moon). They will be having a test soon. The Chemistry classes had a big quiz/small test. Half the period they worked on the quiz and the second half they worked on a worksheet. The worksheet had more practice with unit conversions.

Mr. Ambrose and I got to discuss our goals for this month. Our goals surround the idea of me getting more involved with the class.

Goal #1: Make personal connections with at least two students per class.

Goal #2: Improve grades and/or attitude towards science of at least two students per class.

Goal#3: To prepare and lead at least one fun content relevant hands-on learning activity for the students in astronomy or chemistry.

Next Friday I will be leading a review with the Astronomy class. At this time, I am still piecing together ideas. There is a lot of vocabulary within this chapter, so I might set up a crossword puzzle. For other topics set up a jeopardy style review. Stay tuned for more details in next weeks blog.

Week 1

Last Friday was my first day in an YHS classroom. I am helping Mr. Ambrose with his Astronomy class (1st period) and Chemistry classes (3rd-6th period). Currently, in Chemistry, the classes are reviewing and in Astronomy Mr. Ambrose is giving the students some background before jumping into the subject.

My job that day was to observe and when the students got a chance to work on homework or worksheets, I walked around and helped answer any questions.

As an observer you see a lot more going on in a classroom than a teacher probably does. In all of the classes there seems to be a few troublemakers, more in some than others. This aspect will be challenging for me, but I am trying to be optimistic. I think a lot of the outbursts and rudeness was caused because it was Friday, it is still the first full week of school, and lastly the classes are reviewing, i.e., the work is either too easy for some or too hard for others. There were some positives though. In all the classes there were relevant class participation. Students were trying to answer the teacher's questions and even asking their own. The students were inquisitive about how some came up with an answer and how that compared to what they got. When the students were given time to work on their homework, there were some that really did try to get as much done as possible. There was a football game that night! The best thing for me to see and experience was students were not afraid to ask questions and were not afraid to be wrong in their assessments.

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