Know. Think. Do.

Careful what you wish for…

I’ve been afraid. Not afraid of what I might say in this final reflection blog for 2012-2013, but afraid of getting started. I knew it would take work and energy to focus all the thoughts clattering around in my head. Fortunately I’ve got Mind Node Pro to help me sort out my ideas. When I got started, the ideas really started to flow, become specific, and connect. As usual, there was really nothing to be afraid of. It was just a matter of getting over the inertia, or the activation energy, (or plug in your science analogy here). Anyway, after a few hours of mapping, I’ve come back to where I started several years ago. Great science teaching, in theory and IN PRACTICE comes down to three things: What I Know. What I Think. What I’m Going To Do About It. The end result of these three things are students who understand science.

What I Know.

Class time constraints and the proliferation of content on the web have changed the way science is taught for the better. Given that virtually all the information contained in a typical science class is available on the Internet, it makes no sense to repeat what students can learn on their own. Therefore class time should be sacred space where students apply their knowledge. By creating opportunities for students to collaborate, and apply what they know, more students will engage in the lesson, and I can assess what my student know more frequently. One of the many upsides to this approach is the classroom/laboratory becomes a much more interesting and fun place to work. This approach works for me because I’m not interested in lecturing and teaching facts. I am, however, interested in teaching students how think.

What I Think (it far exceeds what I know).

Speaking of thinking…I think if I’m interested and passionate about what I teach and how I teach it, then my students will get into it (I could say “respond in a positive manner” but I’m F’ing tired of “eduspeak”). I also think that science education claims to value skills and reasoning, but bloated curricula suggest otherwise. I think there are two solutions to this problem. First, teachers (myself included) have to figure out ways to teach content through lab work and “inquiry”. Secondly, teachers need to be the content filters…and each teacher needs to determine what content (concept, fact, skill, whatever) is essential for developing student understanding of science (insert your discipline here). If it’s not essential, dump it. This is easy for me to say, because I’m much more interested in teaching science concepts as opposed to science facts.

What I’m going to do about it.

I’m going to continue down my path of loosely-guided inquiry within the confines of a typical school day in order develop student understanding of science. I’m going to keep using data to drive the discussions in my classroom. I’m going to put students on the spot more often to present and discuss their findings in hopes of generating higher quality work. I’m going back to my old practice of starting each lesson/lab/whatever with a question. Yes, this increases the time spent on an introduction because students struggle and often don’t know what they’re talking about, but it allows me to develop a shared understanding of the concept/lesson/whatever, and students are immediately invested what we’re doing for the day.

I’ve got lots more to say about What I Know, What I Think, and What I’m Going To Do, and all these ideas have been developed. Perhaps this is the genesis of a book. Regardless, for me it’s all about putting the ideas into practice. I am, after all, a man of action.

A teacher looks at 40/I teach therefore I am

“Will it go round in circles?”
– Billy Preston

Tomorrow I get to start again…and I’m psyched. Calling this a second chance isn’t appropriate, I chose to leave the classroom two years ago. Similarly, I chose to go back.

When I met the teachers I served at A+ College Ready  two years ago, I told them, “I’m a teacher, I’m a teacher, I’m a teacher.” I took the Science Content Director job to help other teachers learn how to teach essential AP content, and I always told them to trust their gut and rely on their best practices. After a year on the job, my initial words rang true. I’m a teacher. I belong in the classroom. I am best when I am leading by example, not as an observer and adviser.

Simply put, life is short. I firmly believe you should do what you love, and be great at it. In my humble opinion, a well-lived life is a life of passion, and a life where you can make a good living serving the greater good. I find that life in teaching.  I was put on this planet to teach science. Simply put. I made a decision to get back in the classroom early in 2012, and I’m going back.

I hope to inspire that passion, and that clarity of purpose in my students this year. I’ll be working with a wide range of young people. I’ll have the best and the brightest at JCIB as well as students struggling to pass the Alabama High School Graduation Exam. When I interviewed for the job, I was asked about this challenge. I used a running analogy to frame my thinking. Great runners aren’t just good at a 5K or a marathon. Great runners are good at all middle distances and long distances. Great runners have range. The same goes for great teachers. I think I’m a great teacher, and I think I’ve got range. My job is to meet my students where they are and push them further.

In closing (or is it opening?), remember the most important thing I learned as a Content Director: reflection without action is nothing more than mental masturbation. Great teachers are people of action. They constantly work to improve their practice, and improve the outcomes for their students.

Is it the middle of the middle, or the end of the beginning?

Here's a big idea from 1927

I had great intentions of posting a “meta reflection” near the end of May in order capture my ideas on my first year with A+ College Ready. Unfortunately, 2 weeks of travel for Laying The Foundation (LTF) and a week of vacation got in the way. Consider the time a filter. Consider the procastination a new opportunity. Here’s why…

Today (July 5, 2011) may be the middle of the middle of the beginning of the end. Today is my first day in the office after two weeks of Middle School training. I’ve got renewed interest in my work, and I’ve got a wider perspective on what students need going into a AP class. Today is a week away from A+ College Ready‘s big PD push for Alabama AP Science teachers. Break time is over, it’s time to get to work. Most importantly, today is the day the AP scores start rolling in. It’s only a trickle so far, and it’s been a little disappointing. But even with only 12% of teachers reporting, I’m associated with twice as many scores as I got in my classroom last year. The point is I’m scaling up.

The bigger point is that as I watch the scores come in, and as I reflect on the three essential things an AP science teacher needs to do, I am looking towards the future. The beginning is over, it’s time to move on.

So, what are the three things?

1. Teach to the AP standard, don’t pull any punches. The AP exams, by definition, are challenging (if not down-right hard). Students need to prepare for rigor of AP Multiple Choice Questions and Free Response Questions all year. A+CR teachers have to use the NMSI exams and debrief them. If you don’t test to, and teach to, the AP standard, you’re sending your kids to the “slaughter house” in May.

2. Science education should reflect science itself. Scientists ask questions, collect data, analyze data, communicate with others, and compare their data to current understanding. This. This is what we should be doing in science class. In short, people learn by doing and communicating. People rarely learn by listening.

3. The kids are comin’! This is from my colleague Robert Summers, and it’s probably the best advice you can give a teacher. The kids are comin’ whether you’re ready or not. Be ready. Science education is front-loaded as hell. Be prepared, be ready to be flexible, be ready to get your kids from point A to point B. That’s on a daily basis, on a “unit basis” and throughout the entire year.

And they’re off!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that the first four weeks of school are under our belts, and a three-day weekend is looming. My former colleague Vincy used to tell her students to, “Get on the Bus!” She worked her kids bell to bell and they loved her for it. I like to think of AP teachers on a plane. Right now, we’re on the accent, we’re not quite ready to lower our tray tables and release our seats from the fully upright position. In fact, we won’t hit our cruising altitude until November. But, let’s focus on the positive. Our take off was successful. No one has crashed yet.

Those dreaded first exams are done. Hopefully you have debriefed your exams, dried the students’ tears and assured them that everything is gonna be alright. AP Science is a progression after all. Your students will get better at critical thinking and they will become more successful on your exams…if you guide them…if you provide them opportunities to think…if you provide them space to reflect on what they know.  This intentional reflective practice is essential for your students’ development. I’m not advocating slowing down so that everyone “gets it”. You’ve got to press on. However, you need to make sure mistakes and misconceptions are fixed before they become deeply engrained.

I’ll close by going back to my marathon analogy. We’re well past the start. We’ve passed the first water station. The crowd you saw during the first two miles of the race has dwindled. It’s you and the pack you’re with. You should be settling into your rhythm, doing a mental check of where you are and what type of day it’s going to be. You will really hit your stride later.  Right now you know if things are going your way…or not. If they’re not going your way, ask for help. This is one marathon you don’t run alone.

See you out on the road.

And so it begins…again

“And so it begins…” That is the first line in my first Power Point slide for my former AP Biology classes. My job has changed, but the sentiment remains the same. This new adventure with A+ College Ready is just about to begin in earnest.

The beginning of every school year is filled with promise. Summer is never long enough, but it does offer a chance at renewal. You and your students are likely to be energized and ready to get to work. Use that energy. Don’t let it dissipate. Own your classroom culture. Be present and engage your students. Don’t focus on  obstacles or  limitations. Focus instead on opportunities for teaching and learning. Remember that teaching is a social endeavor. Our students bring their perceptions and misconceptions about the natural world to our classrooms and laboratories. You need to get to know your kids; and you need to know what they know, what they think they know and what they don’t know. Our job is to find out where our students are, and then push them further. As Lou Reed said,”It’s the beginning of the great adventure.”

commencement, part II. A shout-out to John Graves

I began this summer with a book I received for Christmas. It’s called Goodbye to a River, written by John Graves and published in 1960. 1960. It may be the most contemporary account of aquatic resources I’ve ever read.

Read what Graves said about the Brazos River 50 years ago. As you read, keep in mind what my friend Kurt says about environmental issues. He says environmental issues are basically the same, but the scale and intensity differ from place to place.

From Goodbye to a River:

“And furthermore that while all the rivers may continue to flow to the sea, those who represent us in such matters will at least slow down the process by transforming them from rivers into bead strings of placid reservoirs behind concrete dams…

Bitterness? No ma’am…In a region like (insert your region here), scorched to begin with, alternating between floods and droughts, its absorbent cities quadrupling their census every few years, electrical power and flood control and moisture conservation and water skiing are praiseworthy projects. More than that, they are essential . We river-minded ones can’t say much against them — nor, probably should we want to. Nor, mostly, do we…”

1960.

Can we say much? Do we? Do I? I am trying to find my voice. Check out the following link on Alabama Aquatic Resources I spear-headed this endeavor. I’m interested to see how it will play out.

"I think"…just keep reading

If anyone out there is reading…check out the latest RSS from the National Center for Science Education (NCSE). Their post about beliefs regarding evolution and the big bang are neccessary reading. I agree with the NCSE, we need to talk about evolution and origins. The other side of the story has pollsters saying the questions are poor.

The bottom line is people may have knowledge of evolution, but they don’t beleive it. Therefore the National Science Board (NSB) has deleted the questions about belief. I think that is short sighted, and the apparent disconnect between knowledge of evolution and belief in (about?) evolution indicates that the way we (2ndary and post secondary educators) teach evolution is flawed.

I have maintained for years that the evolution/teach the controversy/creationism stuff is a major distraction. A distraction that needs to be addressed and worked around. If educators have to spend time teaching students that evolution is a fundamental natural law, and depend that position, then we have lost class time to teach students the mechanisms, intricacies and beuaty beauty of evolution.

I’ll be wearing one of my Teach Evolution t-shirts tomorrow. Thanks NCSE for allowing me another day without an iron. (BTW…my NCSE bumper sticker gets me recognized around town (and on the running and mt. biking trails), but my admiration for this group of scientists, writers and thinkers goes way deeper than cool t-shirts and stickers.

My strangest insight of the year

On mitochondrial genetics (after 9 hours of contact with students…and sitting in church for the first time in a while)…Here’s what I know now. Watching this lab (mitochondrial genetics) unfold. Seeing the Novagen DNAs glow brightly on the gel box. This thing is bigger than me now. I am apart from it. Now understanding it as an outsider, not as the creator. My questions now are: how can it be improved? And what will others do with it?

The beginning of the middle's end

It’s time for finals at ASFA and we’re rolling right along. Check out the parallel  blogs asfaapbio and asfaenvironmentalscience to see what we’re up to in the classroom. I’ve been very please with the work my students and I are doing. I had an insight at NABT about inquiry. To me, Inquiry is more nebulous, more networked, and more integrated into a class culture than I first realized. When inquiry is working, it’s like Darwin’s view of the world: unfurling and constantly changing, unfurling even more. The class is the organism, and the questions are a population with one individual question driving the direction of the class, while other questions feeding back on that question.The class’s direction may move more swiftly, more focused in one direction; or it may move in a different direction thanks to different questions. Unlike  evolution, there is a driver/a guide, me. But like evolution, the system is dynamic, governed by laws, and underlying mechanisms exist.

My class room moves through units and I challenge students to make connections between units. My goal is that their content knowledge grows, but more importantly their ability to think…to think synthetically…to make connections gets more sophisticated. The way we look at a biological system is not rigid, but there is a process. This process  allows for a creative approach to the material, and open up opportunities for student insights. I am changing, my students are changing. We’re all growing.

Hollowed Out

If you’ve read previous posts, then you knew it would come to this. The end of a day, driving south on I-65 and I’m feeling completely hollowed out. My old friend, Mr. Gordon, used to say, “You give and you give.” I say, “Throw it against the wall, and see if it sticks.” I threw my best “open-inquiry-focus-on-thermodynamics-leading-into-a discussion-of metabolism” followed by engagement-in-a-guided-inquiry- laboratory-on-cellular-respiration. Well, it went over their heads, and I’m back to the drawing board.

Fortunately, their “guided inquiry on osmosis and diffusion” is going well. All except that pesky application of water potential on plant physiology. Oh well, I’ll re-teach that tomorrow in our review of cell biology. They have a test on Wednesday.

Tonight there will be more hollowing. Writing their exam, and packing for a one-day trip to NJ to work for PASCO. Yes, while I’m consulting, they’ll be taking a test. I scheduled it this way. I figure if they’re taking my test, they don’t need me around. I’ll be back on Thursday for more great metabolism talk. Hopefully it will stick next time, and I won’t feel so empty.