Week 2

Week 2 was good overall. My classes did indeed test me as everyone had predicted, but I was able to keep control in most of them. The most common issue was low level misbehavior such as talking when I was explaining something or when I paused in between giving instructions. Luckily, taking away Super Scientist Friday (SSF) time and being consistent in my consequences worked for most students.

One thing many of my students like to do is to ask questions. This is not a bad thing, in fact, it's great. However, it's not so great when you get 100 off topic or tangential questions that have interesting answers during class. One successful thing I've done to manage this behavior is that I created the "Question Bag." It's a gift bag in the back where students can ask any question and put it in the bag. I then answer the questions on Thursday night and share the answers on Friday. The questions range from personal questions such as "do you have kids?" to science questions such as "how do people get Down Syndrome?" It works well because the kids get to ask their questions and I get a good response for any question that is off topic that is asked in the middle of a lesson. Many were receptive to the idea and the bag was quite full during its first week of use. Plus, when I get a complicated or obscure science question, I can have time to research it instead of telling the student, "I don't know."

My 5th period is my tough period as the management strategies that I use in my other classes do not work during that class. Almost every time I spoke or tried to get something done, the students simply ignored what I said and started to talk. This happened a great deal on Friday when I was trying to do the demo and other fun stuff, so SSF got canceled (after a few warnings). We had a study hall in silent instead. They seemed genuinely surprised and shocked. During the silent work time, I had a few trusted students create a new seating chart and they came up with a pretty good seating arrangement. They knew who would talk and who could not sit near each other, so we'll see what happens tomorrow.

I also tried to go to the football game on Thursday, but lightning canceled the game. Luckily, the teachers and I were able to attend the high school game on Friday and it was a lot of fun. The band has a new director and although they were small they were pretty good (no half time show yet though). The high school team is quite good and easily won the game. I saw many of my students at the game and I think they were surprised to see me outside of the classroom. It's true, though, I felt the same way in high school and middle school. For some reason, you don't make the connection that teachers are "real people" and have lives outside of school. When you see them out, they look and act differently.

Having an LCD projector is a very useful tool during science class. I used one of the school's projectors on Friday and it seemed to work well. I can create Power Point presentations on the day's material and I don't have to worry about writing everything on the board or making 100s of copies. I can also find amazing pictures and short videos to show the entire class. I even have templates of game shows (like Jeopardy or Who Wants to be a Millionaire?) that I can use for review. While the school only has 2 that must be shared, I may use some of my mentoring grant money to buy one for the class to use almost daily. Basic ones can be found for only $300-$400 (as opposed to others that are more than a $1000).

I'm grading diagnostic tests right now and getting prepared for tomorrow. I realized that I have to work more on student investment. The idea is a TFA idea, but it's basically getting students to care about your class and their education. I have some ideas that should work, but I'll update on those once I try them out this week.