A much needed break

I've had such a hard time trying to deal with what happened in Newton. My heart has been so heavy all week. I didn't want to watch about it (which is weird for me, normally I cope by buying right into the media frenzy) but I felt overwhelmed by the surplus of coverage for this event. I felt like screaming "leave the schools and teachers alone". I hated logging onto Facebook to see everyone posting about their solutions -arm all the teachers - take all guns away - stick anyone with depression in a box - and was super frustrated when even Pinterest was taken over (my escape to look at pictures of puppies, pretty houses, and classroom ideas). For the most part my students didn't say anything about it. Until today. 

We found out yesterday that there was a rumor about a shooting today at my school - they found the person who started it and there wasn't any truth behind it. But my students were not as convinced and asked me before opening the door for their classmates if it was safe and whisper asking to me before beginning their test "you lock the door, right?". It makes me so sad. 

I think the reason that this is hitting me so hard is because I would do the same for each of my students. And that scared me when I realized it. They are the reason I love my job so much. 

I hope that teachers everywhere in the country can enjoy a much needed break. Spend time with your families, away from your classroom, let the media circus die down, and come back to school in January both having missed your students and classroom and enjoy the rest of what should be a great school year. 

Why are the digitial natives so frustrated with digital testing?

So there is a HUGE push in both my state and my district for digital testing. We have a whole online website/program built by our district created for the purpose of testing online and having all that data instant and at our fingertips. I really appreciate it.

But I hear time and time again from the students grumbles and groans about not getting to test on paper.

Why? Is it really that much different on paper? For some students I think so. Especially those more artistic creative students, those with testing anxiety, and the ones at the bottom.

Linear thinkers go from front to back and then review answers. These students are probably unaffected by an online test.

Some kids get frustrated with taking a test front to back. They like to be inspired and distracted. They might start at the number 14 (their favorite for some reason), work forward, and then go to 28 and work forward, in some pattern until they finish their test.

And those kids that get testing anxiety, even just a little bit? They look at the first question and the inner monologue starts... "that doesn't even look familiar!" but after looking to the next page or starting from the back they find something they can easily answer and boost their confidence with.

Or the low students who use tools like underlining important words to help them read and comprehend a question? What do they do?

I agree we need to get these digital natives used to taking online tests, but we need to give them online test prep to prepare them as well as making our online testing friendly to students of all abilities. Add a highlight or underline feature with the mouse (or better yet- touch screen!) make it easier to switch between questions and add the ability to "circle" a question or an answer to come back to it. If those are things we are teaching our students to do to be successful, why do we take it away from them when it really counts?

Does your school/district do online testing? Do you feel it is adequate?

Christmas is here!

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*After making this photobook for my husband's mom and grandmother for Christmas (hence the huge surplus of their families photos - I promise - I have a family, too!) Shutterfly offered a $10 gift card if you posted it to your blog! Can't hurt - and the process of making the book was so easy! I chose the custom path since the "timing" of the pictures according to their information was making it hard for the one the website put together to put in order but I was very happy with how easy it turned out!

Flipping Out!

So I think I want to flip my classroom.

See what it is all about! Friday Institute on What is a flipped classroom

Seems neat right? I went to a training put on by my county and Discovery Education on Saturday and Lodge McCammon was the keynote speaker. He gave a really interesting talk but the most exciting part for me? How efficient flipping is. He gave this great example of a lecture he used to give that took about 70 minutes in class which boiled down to about an 8 minute video.

So I went home and tried it and made a pretty plain jane video on Heat Flow. I know - basic - boring - and it is weird how I talk out of the side of my mouth... (much more noticeable in the next video).

They are doing an online training so I applied for a spot! I made another video for that (this is the obvious side of mouth talking... have I really always done that? or is it just an under pressure type thing?) about why I want to flip.

Are you flipping? Are you interested? What made you do it/ What is stopping you from trying it?

The Circus!

Rotations. Centers. Stations. Circus.

I'm pretty sure all those words mean the same thing. Lots of planning at the beginning, lots of downtime at the end. And possibly one of the most beneficial things you'll ever teach your students to do.

I didn't start using stations (the word I use for them) until last year. They are usually always different (for example, I know some elementary school classrooms always have the same station activities with different content but in my room they almost never are the same activity) but always have some "same" features. These "same" features are what makes it so super easy for me and what I am hoping to share with you to help you make it easier for you.

1: There are always 6 stations and we always rotate in the same direction.
-no, they are not always six different stations, sometimes I only had three good activities  so each activity appears in the room twice and they only go to three of the six stations.
2: I never go through the entire directions for each station before we go to the stations.
-what a waste of time! How many people can remember directions for six separate activities (even three separate activities) when your immediate task is only to do one of them, and the last one you might not get to for two-four days from now! Also, this eliminates the student who thinks they remember the directions exactly from when I said it and executes something entirely different.
3: I do go through the "highlights"/"things to know" for this station.
-I teach science. We use glass beakers. We use hot stuff. We use smelly stuff. If there are any "make sure of..." or "be careful of...." parts of a station that is what I go through.
4: I give students 10-30 seconds to "clean up" and then a separate 10-30 seconds to switch. This time does not count against them for actually competing their station.
-This is important for giving the students those brain breaks that they definitely need.

When I first started doing stations I felt like a ringmaster. A bad ringmaster. I was so excited about all the activities going on in each ring that I was bad at explaining all the directions and got frustrated with my students assuming they knew what was about to happen. I realized that when you are watching a circus the ringmaster doesn't walk you through every thing that is about to happen he just gives you a preview. Here is a tiger - here is a ring on fire. Enjoy! I had to get better at giving the "preview" instead of a narration.

Those norms keep me and the students from being overwhelmed by the fact that there are 6 different things that we are all responsible for going on in one fairly small space for 23 people to be occupying.

I'll talk soon about how I plan my stations but figured it would make more sense if my norms had already been discussed.

Do you do stations/centers/rotations?What norms do you have?

Subs...

So I had an unexpected day out yesterday... and a planned day out today. To be honest, I'm not sure which was worse.

I want to start by saying I am very thankful for substitute teachers. I promise I am. But, if you think subbing is an easy job you are out of your mind. I'm pretty sure subbing is the worst job. Like I'm not sure why Mike Rowe hasn't done a Dirty Jobs - substitute teacher version. These people are walked all over by students who think it is a "day off" and think the substitute hasn't ever been to school his or her self and try to trick them into thinking that of course we get to play on our cell phones and sit wherever they want even though there is a seating chart. We never do work on our own - always together in groups - and duh, eating in class isn't even a question it just happens. Always.

But if you are a sub, and you let yourself be walked all over, have no recollection of what school was like, and think it is an easy job than please stop subbing for my class.

I came back from a field trip today with my lesson blown apart. It is one thing to make changes... it is something entirely different to take a thirty minute lesson, in a forty one minute class, and still, somehow, only get ten minutes of it done. And have trash all over. And have papers left all over the room that are supposed to be graded. And turn an activity that the kids were going to do into a demonstration that they watch you do.

Unexpected days out leave you with low expectations for what is going to get done. You email off a lesson plan while dealing with whatever is causing you to be out (for me, this time, a fever, dizzy spells, and no voice) usually late at night or early in the morning because you really thought you would be ok, and hope that someone intercepts that lesson plan, makes sense of it, or you get a sub that really knows what they are doing and that lesson gets accomplished. If nothing happens, oh well, you didn't have time to adequately prepare, you can blame it on yourself, and rearrange the rest of your week and move on.

Expected days out (this time, for me, a field trip I was chaperoning) leave all sorts of questions in the process. For starters, I knew I would be there to be able to explain the lesson to the sub myself. For this reason, it was a bit more intricate. This means the kids were rotating activities and had to clean up after themselves. We have been doing rotations/stations/centers/why-are-there-so-many-words-for-that? since the 4th day of school. My kids have it down.

So I get back from my field trip about 35 minutes early. Still sick from yesterday I was given the clear to grab my things and head out (yay!!). I walk into my room to grab my bag and start picking up stray papers, trash (including a KING SIZE Twix... seriously? It took someone at least 4 minutes to eat that) and listen to what the sub was saying since it didn't sound or look familiar. Two of the three stations were still fairly intact. However the third station, which had students mixing baking soda and vinegar on a scale, then pouring it into a bucket, was gone. I understand this isn't a normal sub plan. Had I not been there to explain, demonstrate, and answer questions for the sub who assured me this would be fun for her to get to do a "real lesson" this would not have been my choice. But... it was. And I assumed it would be ok. Well you know what they say about people who ASS-u -ME? Yup. And I learned it.

Oh well... I'll have to rearrange the rest of my week and move on.

And get excited to see this same lady Friday during an in-school training for two hours. Where we will, obviously, be reading a book or article and never getting out of our seat. And it will be stated, no candy/food/gum/anything that isn't attached in your mouth.

Ke$ha'$ Kla$$room

So in honor of my unguilty pleasure of loving Ke$ha, and the fact that her new book My Crazy Beautiful Life coming out today, I have decided to share pictures of my Unit 3 Theme - Ke$ha!! I theme each of my units to something seemingly unrelated and make it related. For example - Unit 2 was Properties of Mater Matter - Tow Mater themed! We talked about how he was made of iron (a pure substance), there were solid and liquid parts of him, that he was magnetic, etc.

Last year I was super busy getting married that I was a bad teacher and didn't make a new bulletin board for unit 3 - changes in matter. It is a pretty short unit - 2 weeks long - and very related to Unit 2 so I left it up. Well - here is Ke$ha'$ Unit - Change$ in Matter!

I started this unit off by demoing a fake burning of a dollar bill (you put it in rubbing alcohol for about 10 seconds, use metal tongs to take it out, still holding onto it with the metal tongs you light it on fire and the bill doesn't burn, only the alcohol!), all my students know the song Tik Tok where Ke$ha talks about her getting ready routine, so we talked about our morning routines and identified all of the physical and chemical changes that happened as we got ready. That is all of the unit we have covered so far but the students seem to be enjoying it!

*EDIT: I did not play my students the song Tik Tok because I realize it references things middle schoolers probably shouldn't know. I just referenced how Ke$ha wrote a song about grabbing her glasses and making sure she was ready before she left the house.*

The Gradually Releasing 5 E Model...

I'm so torn. I really enjoy teaching using the 5 E model. I really enjoy the efficiency of the gradual release model. My students like both. They love the activity and the sense of wonder they get from the engage and explore components of the 5E model. They love the sense of accomplishment they get from being explained a concept and then applying it immediately with their peers during guided practice. They hate feeling they like don't understand what is going on during the explore section of 5E and they hate the notes/lecture daily repetition of gradual release.

I've been trying to get the best of both worlds. Just enough of the concept up front (definitions, maybe an example) followed by one of the normally engage or explore activities where the students start to ask more in depth question, with a few more clarifying notes as questions come up, and then some sort of tie it all together activity, usually hinting at whatever the next piece of knowledge is. It has been working decently but I know there is more that can be done.

Any thoughts? What do you do in your classes? Have you moved on to something entirely different (flipped classes?!?)

My lottery money dream. And other stuff about me.

So I'm going to be a blogger.

This is not my first attempt at blogging. However it is my first attempt at blogging about what my be the biggest part of my life- my job.

So a little about me so you know who I am...

Name: Amity Wyss
Age: My students think I am between 40 (they get F's) and 17 (they get A's). They are right. I'm 24.
About me:
-Teaching Wise - this is my third year. I've been at the same school same grade all three years. I teach 8th grade science - a mix of advanced, regular, and ESE inclusion students. I teach at a Title 1 Public School in Southwest Florida. I love my job. A lot. I love teaching science and I love teaching middle schoolers. Are they not the funniest people ever? Seriously, middle school definitely sucked as an 11-14 year old, but as an adult, it is excellent. I starting coaching sports last spring (track) and kept it up a lot this year (adding cross country and soccer). That is a fun way to get to know my students but I am not actually super at any of these sports- good thing its middle school! Eventually I really want to work in curriculum planning for science education and/or educational policy in general. But, I know to be an effective educational policy person I need to do my fair share in the classroom. Plus my students really are funny and I can't imagine not having them to talk to every day.
-The rest of my life - in my spare time (I actually have a little bit) I really like to stay home with my two babies and my husband. My babies are fuzzy and black and have 4 legs and weigh about 85lbs each. Cosmo and Gizmo. My lottery money dream is to be able to bring them with me everywhere I go. When I do leave my house I like to watch football, practice yoga, run, have cocktails and girls nights, and hang out with people who make me smile and laugh. But mostly, I wish I could bring my dogs every where I go.