Opposite Days

Yesterday and today were completely opposite days. On Monday, the students received their 9 weeks tests along with their grades. Many were not happy. I had As in almost all of the classes and Bs in each one. Students got a study guide a week ahead of the test and we reviewed before the test; however, some did not do that well. This caused many to want to discuss the past 9 weeks and my teaching. This turned into class meetings for each class as I realized by 4th period that we weren't going to get anything done in terms of learning. I had students put their desks in a circle and we discussed the past 9 weeks along with their grades. This seemed to go quite well and my 4th-7th period classes seemed to take the news better than 1st and 3rd. Of course, I did my own reflection and I realized that I need to give them more tools to study and to comprehend the information in class.

One of those tools that I used today were vocabulary cue cards. They are a type of "foldables." Foldables are when you take pieces of paper and fold them or cut them in different ways to create study aids. Generally, foldables can have layers, flaps that open, and other crafty mechanisms that hide and reveal information. Middle schoolers are still at the age where something like this isn't seem as "dumb" or elementary. For this one, students folded a piece of paper into fourths and then read a small amount of text on unicellular organisms and protists. Students then selected sentences from the text that used the vocabulary words, created their own definition, and then created their own picture of what the word looks like. Each step goes on one of the flaps with the vocabulary word on the outside. The end result is a step-wise tool that students use to quiz themselves on various representations of the vocabulary words. Surprisingly, this worked quite well. Reading is not an 8th grade strength for my students especially with the technical vocabulary of science. However, because the amount of text was small and we were doing something with it, almost all had no problem. We had a tough time at first with the first foldable, but right after it, they were able to get the 2nd vocabulary word foldable with little help from me. The idea is for them to have these on them at all times during class so they can review them at the beginning when they finish their "do-now" (or bellringer) or when we have time left at the end of class. Using literacy and having them write also gets them used to "open-response" problems, which is our major weakness across all subjects.

This worked really well because of some good teaching advice that I had received but never fully realized until today: The students should be doing the work not the teacher. They should be tired at the end of the day; you should not be. This was actually true today as there was very little stress and the students were kept busy in class working on their foldables. I polled the classes and almost all of the students found this method better than writing down definitions off the overhead.

Not much else is going on except teaching each day. It feels good to be in a groove. It still feels weird to have a full time profession as a teacher. Of course it's completely different from college, but it's also different than internships/summer jobs I've had. Work can't stay at school--I have to worry about each and every student I teach. School is the top priority each day (as it should be).

Tutoring has been going well too with an amazing turn out. I tutor in one of the nearby towns that we took over last year and I must have had 15 or 20 of my students in the restaurant where I tutored. I had to circulate around to multiple tables and help only with very specific problems. The other teachers and I are looking into the nearby community center as a better place due to space and noise concerns as the place we used was quite small.

That's about all for now. This job never gets boring.