MSTA Conference

Here it is, the weekend that many science teachers across the state anticipate every year. I am at the MSTA Conference in Grand Rapids. I spent all day yesterday sitting in sessions to gain ideas to use with my students. One of the sessions presented had to do with the state's content expectations. Oakland county has assembled Teacher Resource Manuals for the high school science content expectations. During the session, the presenter covered those found within the core of biology but shared the site where the others can be found. I looked through that site this morning and found some good resources. The standards have been broken down and activities have been included to use in your classroom. I haven't had a ton of time to look through it all yet, but what I did see appears to be helpful. If anyone is interested in checking these out, they can be found at: http://www.oakland.k12.mi.us/science/resources.aspx

Today's Students...

I am not sure how many of you are teaching in high schools, but I have a concern. We are currently in the midst of snowcoming week. For those of you not familiar, snowcoming is essentially the winter version of Homecoming. Instead of crowning a Homecoming Queen, we "crown" Mr. Genesee. Throughout the week, there are many activities including door decorating, theme days, assemblies every afternoon, and a mock rock. The upsetting thing to me is that students are not interested in participating in ANYTHING. These are suppose to be fun days with lots of silliness. I am concerned that students are not willing to participate in these crazy activities. As I sit here in my classroom, I am covered in orange and black face paint wearing a Tigger costume for Disney day! I look around the room and there are ZERO students dressed for the day. I am curious if this is something that is occuring just in our school or if this is something that is happening across the board. Are students becoming "too cool" to participate in these activities? What is going on with these kids?

Scared silly.....

After reading some of what our new state leader is proposing, I find myself more uncertain as to our states future than ever. I don't understand how we are to move forward and become a thriving state again when all our leaders want to do is to continue to cut the funding to education. Is anyone else extremely concerned about this????

Activity Site

I have the pleasure of teaching a Sports Medicine class. I have used a previously noted website to show students videos of various surgical procedures. I have recently found another site that demonstrates some procedures using animations in which the students complete the surgery. It is very informative and walks the students through the process step-by-step. My students loved completing the activity. If you teach anatomy or sports medicine, it's a great tool to use with students.

The website can be found at www.edheads.com

Brawls in Sports?

I am an avid sports enthusiast. I watch everything from high school sports to the professional level. I don't understand why things are allowed to get so out of hand when it comes to professional sports..........specifically hockey. In an article located on Fox Sports there is some debate as to whether or not fighting still belongs in the NHL. Personally, I feel that it is way over the top. Why is this something that is acceptable in hockey, but not in any other organized sport? There is no need for this type of violence within the realm of hockey. It has become progressively worse and tensions continue to escalate on the ice. Maybe it's time to put a stop to this and make the time spent on the ice more about hockey and less about the fights that break out.

Something else is bad for us?

I was watching the morning news and caught the tail end of a story about milk. Now, it appears that milk is also bad for us. Researchers are finding that milk contains too much animal fat. It boggles my mind that the more scientists research, the more they find wrong with the foods that we eat and drink. I have concerns that we are causing drastic changes in our foods because of the chemicals that we are adding to the plants and animals that directly produce these foods. Wouldn't it just be easier and safer to just go back to the way things used to be? We don't need to inject animals to create overgrown chickens just so we can have a larger piece of meat on the plate at dinner!

Formative vs. Summative Assessments

Over the last few months, many of us have been attempting to prepare our juniors for the upcoming ACT test. The big summative assessment, that according to some of my students, will determine their future. Ok, in my mind some of them are putting a little too much pressure on themselves when it comes to this test. Yes, it is a big deal, but are we putting too much into the whole idea? What happened to addressing what students know? What about all of these formative assessments that we are completing to determine if students are really understanding content? My concerns have increased since my students began commenting on the practice tests that they took in order to prepare for the ACT. Numerous students have voiced concerns that they have never of some the things found in those sample questions. Some of them have also complained that they have no idea what the charts and graphs mean or how to even read them. So, I am then forced to look at my teaching skills. Am I the one that is dropping the ball and not teaching my students the skills they need to take these types of tests? Is it too late to teach these skills by the time they get to me as juniors? Do I place blame on those teachers that came before me in the educational careers of my students? Or, maybe we lay blame on the test and those that created it. Many of my colleagues have argued that we should forget everything else and just "teach to the test". I'm not sure this is the answer either. Although, I'm not sure that there is a concrete answer out there. Anyone else have any ideas?

Surgical Procedures

I'm not sure how many of you are interested in viewing different types of surgical procedures or using them in your classrooms, but I have hit the jackpot in this department. I am teaching a Sports Medicine class and we discuss many different types of injuries and treatments for those injuries. On the website www.orlive.com there are many, many videos that demonstrate all different types of surgies. So far, I have shared an ACL reconstruction and total knee replacement with my students. Be warned, some of these are very graphic and bloody. Most of my students loved the videos, but others were not so crazy abut watching the procedures. I found that when I explained the process to them before watching, they were a little less apprehensive about what they would be seeing. If anyone uses the site and the videos, I would love to hear what you thought of them!

Fighting On The Rise

I recently found an article in which reserachers have found the aggression center that is found within the hypothalamus of the brain. It mentioned that when this region was triggered by electrical stimulation, mice became more aggressive and would attack other mice, regardless if they were male or female. This makes me curious as to if the same reaction would occur in humans. It seems as though there has been a significant increase in the number of scuffles and full-blown fights in our building within the last few weeks. Most of these incidents have occurred between young ladies. I'm wondering if anyone else has seen an increase in these behaviors or if it is just something that is happening here. I have some curiosity as to whether or not it is seasonally related or just girls being girls. There is nothing else like high school drama!

Chocolate Is Good For Us!

Finally, someone reports something we have all been hoping for! In the article found from Sicence Daily (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110207073748.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader), researchers have found that chocolate has a higher antioxidant capacity than many fruit juices. The results vary dependent on the variety of chocolate, however it appears that dark chocolate and cocoa powder are the best. It was found that hot chocolate had very little "super power" because of the processing of the substance.

Facebook Insults

Well, there it is. A student insulted a teacher on Facebook. They make it appear that this is something that never happens. The problem is that the student was "ratted out" and the school took action against him. The student was suspended........I believe it was three days. However, now we have groups coming forward saying that his freedom of speech rights were being violated. As a teacher, I have some specific feelings about how this is all playing out and how this is going to set a precedent. Some say that the school should not have attempted to punish him because it didn't happen at school. Some others say that the teacher should just ignore it. One of the most interesting comments I have heard came from another teacher. Her comment dealt with what would happen if the roles were reversed and the teacher had made a derogatory comment about a student? Immediately we all think that the teacher would be reprimanded in some way, but doesn't the same apply. Isn't it the right of that teacher to have free speech and to speak her mind? I'm curious as to what other educators think about this issue and if it has happened to anyone else.

Building Fluency

There it is.........one of the biggest and toughest challenges that we face as educators. It is our responsibility to teach fluency across the board. It doesn't matter if you teach math, science, or english, it is up to every one to make sure that our students are fluent in all subject matters. This is a topic that has caught the attention of our school improvement team through a program of response to intervention. I'm curious as to what other school districts are doing to ensure fluency among their student populations.

Article: The Write Way

Pre-School Benefits

I read an article today about a study that was completed and determined that sending children to pre-school was in fact beneficial, but felt that more should be offered for those children. It was found that the teachers did a good job at teaching the children some aspects of literacy. However, it was also recommended that there be a stronger emphasis on "vocabulary and exercises that build self-control". The researchers found that those students who spent two years in a pre-K program did better in literacy. I have a 6-year-old niece that spent two years in a pre-K montessori program. I think that the program was beneficial in a couple of different reasons. First of alll, the teachers did work with the children in terms of literacy skills. This in itself is an important aspect of any educational program. However, one of the other major impacts that these programs have is the socialization. Children need to learn to cooperate with others and how to behave in social settings. By sending children to these pre-K programs, I feel that younger children can attain these skills, along with others, which will give them a jump start when they do hit kindergarten.

Article: Pre-School Benefits