Teaching AP

This year is my first year teaching the AP Physics class at my school. I have 8 students and they are all bright and, depending on the day, motivated. For the most part. I think. Well, perhaps some of them fake motivation better than others. Hard to tell, really. I have some As, Bs, Cs, a D and an F. I am not sure how much of the grade is due to me (good or bad), how much is the material, and how much is the student. There is also the fact that a few of the students bit off more than they can chew this year - academics, sports, social lives... And of course by social life I mean shopping aka the OMTs (obligatory mall trips that happen each weekend). The holy grail of teenagers apparently...

In any case, let me list the good parts so I can remember next year and laugh at my naivete. The students in this class do listen sometimes and they are clearly motivated by grades if nothing else. They work with me outside of class when needed and so far, I am delighted to meet with them during study hall or G blocks. I can actually get into the more interesting stuff with them and do cooler labs and more interesting problems. The grading is easier because I have a homework set a week/a chapter and I give them the solutions and they add to their homework so that they have a corrected version. I grade the tests (half m/c and half free response) and the labs carefully, but there isn't a lot of other stuff to grade.

Then there is the bad: since I am doing the B test, we have to go very fast. I have one student who needs help with the math, and most of them who have never taken physics before. Usually AP classes are the second year of the subject for the students. Not mine... Anyhow, I don't have much time so the labs I have done are not as well thought out, interesting, or fun as they should be. The problem sets are easy to grade but doing the solutions means I need to do the homework myself. Good for me but time consuming. When the kids thing, "Oh, she is such a nice person," somehow that translates into, "Her classes must be easy." Then they are shocked when the class is not the easy thing that they expect.

Anyhow, this next summer I would like to go back to the AP Summer Institute in St.Johnsbury, VT and take the AP lab week. I think that will really help me out. Perhaps next year I can teach C instead - half the material but adding calculus. I will have a different set of students at that point. I think I will also make a prerequisite of the completion of pre-calculus to the course since sin/cos/tan knowledge is prime and one of my students hadn't run into that before.

In the meantime, Physics 12 has a number of students who completely lack motivation and I can't even imagine what the springtime for those seniors will be like. I have taken a more traditional approach this year to see how things work, and so far - bleah. Tradition just isn't what it used to be. (-8 Next year perhaps back to a lab-based idea or a conceptual model. I will have to think about it. If I have a lab-based model, the write ups will be tough for the unmotivated students, though the labs usually get them into the material. If I stick with conceptual, it is tough to have extra/different stuff for the honors students who are planning on taking AP after this. I only have one of those this year.

Physics 9 has a wide range, as usual, but they are pretty good kids overall (not that the others aren't, but there isn't as much pressure for some reason). I have ESL mixed in with non-ESL this year, and they are doing relatively well now that we have passed the first mid-trimester phase.

Geometry is harder this year because I have it E block. I let the kids out early a few times because I had soccer games, and now I have interviews with the head of school candidates and one last soccer game and then a conference. That means every class this week will be shortened or I won't be there. I feel terrible about it. I should have thought twice about going to the AIMS conference since I already have so many obligations. Sigh.

Hopefully I can convince other teachers to help me out. Perhaps I can trade Starbucks cards for substituting. Who knows?

Blog once a year, whether you need it or not.

This year I am involved in a year-long learning program that will combine use of technology and new views of education and community. The complex environment of the global economy and the age of social media has changed the way students learn and our program looks at the way we teach and view education in relation to these changes.

Exciting, right? Sort of. It would be more exciting if I had more time... Reading a 3 inch binder about possible candidates for the next head of school and then grading 4 inches of tests, labs, and article summaries melted my brain. So here I am at Starbucks, writing in my poor, sad, abandoned blog in order to feel like I have at least done something positive about the PLP program.

What I am not doing are the two student recs that need to be completed by Wednesday. Maybe later?

Anyhow, here I am, being all digital. I have signed back onto Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/reraUM and I have even tweeted. Or Twitted, as my department head says. Department heads? He is my department head twice over (for math and science)...

I have also sent invites to the other PLP people to join MCPop, a Ning that promotes sharing of ideas regarding how to combine best teaching practices with pop culture. Very fun and interesting.

An interesting article on tech in the classroom and the rules for using it wisely:

http://summify.com/story/TotEI43fhxbeAAGP/mindshift.kqed.org/2011/10/applying-the-7-golden-rules-one-teachers-take-of-technology/

My favorite quote is: "I know that developing children into knowledgeable and successful adults is not about content. My role is to teach students how to learn. Do I worry about them knowing more than I do? Nope. The amount of stuff to know about today is mind-boggling. We learn together and from each other. Want to get a kid excited? Let them teach you something.We’re also working hard to get parents on board."

Good times. I need to take this to heart.

(-:

Harry Potter Movie!

I saw the new Harry Potter movie and it was brilliant. So I saw it again. Still brilliant. If movie tickets were not $14 a piece (!!) then I would go a third time.

Anyhow, it reminded me once again the terrible influence my Cranbrook students had on me. I just got nominated for Best WIP (work in progress) for a fan fiction I posted. All because my students said if they could do it, so could I. Darn them.

I am posting a short bit of silliness, just for the occasion. Warnings for my horrible sense of humor...

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Monster Book of Monsters: Supplementary Volume.

Notes: I love bad puns. Then again, there is no such thing as a good pun, so there you are.

ooooooooooooooooo

Bits and Pieces:

Sirius Black Loves Chewing Gum and Annoying Moony

ooooooooooooooooo

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were sitting in the Gryffindor common room by the fire on a cold Thursday evening. As usual, Remus was busy reading while Sirius was busy doing nothing in particular.

Tonight, Sirius' nothing in particular included chewing a piece of gum as loudly as possible. The constant smacking was irritating Remus who had been trying his best to study for the upcoming Care of Magical Creatures test. He knew very well that if he asked Sirius to stop, the black haired boy would only chew louder, thinking it amusing to test his friend's patience.

"You know, I just came across the most fascinating entry in here," Remus mentioned, pointing to his Monster Book of Monsters: Supplementary Volume.

"Hmm," replied Sirius, paying very little attention to anything but his chewing gum.

"There is an animal in here that's attracted to the scent of mint. It feeds on the leaves of the mint plant or anything mint flavored. No worries though, the creature is only dangerous to wizards if they have a minty scent on them."

Sirius stopped chewing. "Really?"

Remus nodded gravely.

Brows drawn together, Sirius asked, "How common are they?"

"Well, it says here they breed rapidly northern climates. I suppose that means Scotland," Remus added casually.

Sirius pulled the gum out of his mouth. "What are they called?" he asked, looking with worry at the sticky piece of peppermint gum in his hands.

"De-mint-ors," replied Remus evenly.

I made it!

Well, I made it through 2 trimesters, at least, complete with comments and grades and finals I created from scratch that were either way too easy or (this trimester) way too hard.

I had 2 students get close to a perfect score on my geometry final on the more difficult honors test. The rest of the "good" students, honors and otherwise, got around an 80/100. Mostly people scored a 60. I haven't ever really curved a score but this is a year of firsts. Anyhow, a few people still failed the test, but there is only so much I can do with a 25/100.

In good news, my 17% student from my last post has finally climbed to a C from an F. He is in the CLC program now and it has made such a difference. He does his homework and more importantly, he has confidence that he can do the work without too much time and effort, and do it correctly. I am so proud of him (and even said that in his comment). Now if we can get them all up to snuff like that, life would be grade. But I suppose that is the whole goal, isn't it?

The newest thing for me is lacrosse season. I made a great website, WNALAX, and it rocks. Well, okay, perhaps not. But it is there, which is really more than I can say about my sanity. Thank goodness spring break has happened. I had all sorts of plans to go to Ocean City, but I have just been sitting here on my duff instead, napping and playing on my computer. Lesson plans? Nope. Cleaning? Not even. Tomorrow perhaps. Or perhaps not.

Meh. Not much else going on. Or rather nothing exciting about which to post. Which is sad, now that I think about it, since it has been months since my last post. Ahh, the excitement of my life in bustling Colora, MD.

New Job

So this year, I am teaching 5 classes. I thought it was 2 preps, physics and geometry. Then I realized that it is really 3 preps, senior physics, freshmen physics, and geometry. Then I found out that really, it is four preps because one of the geometry classes is specifically for students with diagnosed learning exceptions (I have just one person in that class - the other two had to switch to my main class because of schedule issues). Then, low and behold, one geometry class meets 3 times a week and one 5 times a week. I am having trouble keeping them both at the same pace and they certainly don't have the same homework or class work.

Of course, I am also doing as much crossover as possible, and so perhaps I really do have 2 preps, depending on how you look at it. In any case, I am tired and behind in planning.

It has been a month and there are several quizzes, a geo test, and tons of homework assignments that I have given. The student who has a 17% is killing me though. If it were all tests, he would be doing great, but he cannot seem to do his homework. He is not the only one, of course. There are a number of students who struggle with the tests, and the homework and class work grades are what keep them afloat. They work hard, and ask questions, and I am pleased to give them a solid grade when I feel like they have learned a lot in my class compared to where they started.

On the other hand, failing a student who has a solid grasp of the content is really not what I want to do. I guess I have decided that the hard workers will get more points than the ones who understand easily. I will probably re-think this every year, possibly every trimester.

Coaching volleyball is really turning out to be fun. Even though it is every single day for 2 hours, I am enjoying doing some hitting and serving with the students. I don't enjoy it so much when they have meltdowns and refuse to participate or get upset because of lineup issues.

My goal for volleyball is for us to somehow win a league banner and for me to be able to serve overhand. That is to say, I can already serve overhand, it just doesn't get to the other side of the court.

Other than that, there is evening dorm duty on Wednesday nights, and every fourth weekend. Last night featured a screaming match and a very serious possibility of punches being thrown. At least that is how it seemed to me. This weekend will be much better. I have volleyball games on Friday night, then a mall trip and one to town on Saturday, and another mall trip on Sunday. I would rather be rock climbing with the students or doing the community service activity of clearing trails for a nature preserve.

I sound whiny, don't I? Really, this is what I want to do with my life, and I am happy. Just not yesterday and today. Tomorrow I will be much better. Especially if we win in volleyball.

I did manage to create some nice websites for my classes for geometry, physics 12, freshman physics, and volleyball. Nothing much exciting on the volleyball site until I get some pictures from them though.

Welp, back to the grading (yes, I am at Starbucks. Totally worth every minute of the 35 minute drive to get here).

A job!

So I managed to snag myself a job in MD. Good times. I will teach physics and math. It is looking like 3 preps (2 of Physics and one of math) with 5 classes. Probably I will end up with a total of 40 students. Total. There are around 100 students in the whole school, so that makes sense. I can't wait!

I am a bit stressed already about what I am going to teach though. I want to make sure it is really coherent and interesting enough to keep the students engaged.

In the meantime, I am trying to do my e-portfolio (think masters thesis). Yikes. It isn't easy. My educational philosophy is sounding like, "Wow, I like to teach," which isn't the best way to express myself. One way or another, I will be done by Monday.

I'm still teaching, still grading final labs (and chasing students down to get them all turned in), going to two graduations next week, one senior overnight, an interview, and my e-portfoio presentation. Not in that order. And last night at 2am, I realized I have to move out this weekend. Yikes!

I did have fun at Cedar Point with the students though. I went on the Dragster, Demon Drop, Wave Swinger, Power Tower, Corkscrew, and the Iron Dragon (worst ride, ever). The kids brought Star Trek to watch on the bus down there and it is the best movie, ever.



Anyhow, back to it.

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