More Museum....

This is the panel that caused quite a stir, and that was before he put up his homemade barbed wire and camera!


THe landfills girls just did an amazing job!




The Rainforest information was amazing. I had no idea there were that many plants with cancer-reducing properties - and we are losing them at an alarming rate.


Billy worked long and hard to get the facts, but he also included an opinion essay tat was very well-received.


Great writing on this one -and she gave away low-flow shower heads during the reception!

I am waiting to hear if the museum will move to the district office....lots said, but no follow-through as yet....

And Now - The Museum...

Here they are - shots of the museum and a few of my students.


Koko worked on learning about AIDS, and in the process she discovered a great survey on line for people to indicate when they've taken an AIDS test. Pretty sophisticated stuff for 13.


This student missed most of the first semester and part of the third marking period, so there was a lot of catching up to do with research - and did a great job on the final product on a history of immigration.


Di worked on endangered animals, primarily fish and birds. His artistic talents showed here and in other panels, as he helped out his peers.


Check out the ebola and black death "stuff plush toys" in the background - from the site Giant Microbes.


Nice look at causes of endangerment around the world.


The student who worked on graffiti had an artist friend create some paintings just for the museum.


With all the different complex issues in global warming, the girls pick ice melt - and had great information about rising seas.

More coming....

Project-Based Learning

The museum opened on May 1 to rave reviews. I was so proud of my kids! They came through and were able to talk about their topics quite well. Now while project-based learning seems to be fairly new, I have been doing this for years - probably since I started teaching. The second year teaching my students sponsored a World Peace Day that they worked on all year, and the third year we sponsored a Model UN, with schools around the islands representing various countries. Both were fabulous events.

Probably the only difference, albeit an important one, is the direct instruction and structure that goes with project-based learning. I had to do a huge amount of work at the beginning of this, in September, in order for the students to have the skills to accomplish their panels. After all the prep, I basically didn't do much else except help with reading, note taking, citations, and the like, until the last month when we did the design and construction of the panels. Peace Day and the UN just happened, without a lot of direction at the beginning except a vision of what we wanted at the end. With the museum all the steps were very deliberate, and yet I don't feel like anything was taken away from the experience with the direction they got. Maybe part if also the difference between high school students and middle school students. Either way, it was a great experience and worth every lost minute of sleep!

My Principal's New Best Friend

So the museum opened last Thursday evening - we worked right up to the ribbon cutting getting everything ready. With the move I have been off line, and I have really missed the writing. Lots of stuff with the kids, applying for new jobs, and so on. But the museum was spectacular. My principal's boss spent an hour talking with the kids - it was pretty obvious that they knew what they were talking about, and everything looked wonderful. I will post pictures as I get them set. I've made the school look really good....

Lighting a Fire Under Kids

So the museum opens a week from Thursday. There are 7 class periods left to get things ready. I am freakin' out because the kids are moving so slowly. The press notices are out, all the invitations are out - we're just waiting....

I have to tell myself that for most of these kids it is the first time doing project-based learning, and that alone is a major accomplishment for them. I took it a step further and decided to take a page from museum learning and structure the projects in a totally different way. Maybe I bit off too much, but what I have learned over the years is that you shoot for the stars, and you will end up with a better product than if you made simpler demands. Well, I am aiming for Saturn - hopefully we get to Mars....(if you follow the analogy....)

Several of the kids are in fabulous shape, and you can tell by listening to them just how much they have learned. And...some of them are still plugging away on the computers, still thinking this is a typical research project.

I am proud of these guys - we have all gone into uncharted waters, and the payoffs all around look to be great. Kids can do amazing things - we need to give them the structure, the faith, and the opportunities. Now if it will just stop keeping me awake at night....

Data-Driven....

Ah, the new terminology with NCLB...I had a meeting this morning to look at the data from my math classes for the third benchmark - keeping in mind the third benchmark was the third week in March, and AIMS finished last week. The question for me? How will I continue to move these kids a few percentage points ahead between now and the end of the school year (a mere 24 days away, but who's counting)?

Shouldn't we have done this earlier?

At the risk of always seeming like a whiner, let me say this - I have learned so much being able to access data about the kids and how they are doing. I am a better teacher for this access, BUT I draw the line at determining who the two or three kids are that would give the school "the most bang for the buck" in focusing just on them.

And people think gifted education is elitist????

Part of me says, "Are you kidding about doing this now?" and the other part of me says, "Hmmm, I can really use this with the kids and help them see their progress."

So I ask why I am teaching 6th grade intervention next year, as I don't feel I am good with basic computation. The teaching assignments were made based on "data," and since my test scores for my kids are so good, the decision was made based on that data to make me the "power teacher" in sixth grade with intervention. Whoopee.

Part of me says, "Lucky me," and the other part says, "Hmmm, why don't we make more decisions like this based on how we do with the kids?"

Data, data, data - should be interesting to see how next year works out......

It's Official....

I'm a dinosaur. I've thought that for a number of years, but today there was absolutely no question. I combined my art class with the music class for a "down" day between AIMS testing. The kids looked at a video game called Guitar Hero. OMG.......

This was so interactive and full of so many potential skills for the kids: eye-hand coordination, working with rhythms, practicing, listening and discriminating sounds, use of digital art to set up each song, motivation. I could go on. About mid-way through my 5th period, all I could think about was "how can math possibly hope to compete with something like this?" A couple of the boys were outstanding, and we had two girls with the highest string of correct notes. I can see where some kids would stay glued to this game to practice for hours.

There's nothing like it that I'm aware of for math. And therein lies a huge opportunity - develop some educational games that excite and instill like this music one. Could you imagine how math scores would go up?

The technology is obviously there. The technology is beyond me - I'm from the black and white TV generation. While I like to think I am more computer savvy than the average person my age, this video is so beyond my understanding.

In redesigning the whole educational system, we need something like this....And redesigning - not bandaging - the system is the way we MUST go.

More Testing

So is it good news when the kids say the test was easy? I asked each of my math classes what they thought about the day's math test. Mostly two-thirds said they thought it was easy. Some kids said they took the time to reread questions. Some said they wrote and worked stuff out all over the booklets. No specific questions - I don't want to know, and I refused to let the kids give me any specifics.

It took most of them about 40 minutes for the math section, and they seemed really pooped at the end. I guess they are taking this seriously - which is a very good thing. Most of the kids even said they didn't need to guess on any of them. Yea!!

Tomorrow is a normal day as a break between tests - I want to start some new material on similarity, and then really get into it next week. If I can get through this unit, the kids will be well-prepared for next year. And one of the teachers is going to give me an activity for building an icosahedron, so that should be cool.

On the museum front, kids are starting to panic - which isn't necessarily a bad thing - they are starting to move toward finishing their panels, and they realize just how much time they have left. Spent some time planning for a graphics design lesson tomorrow so they have a few artistic principles for setting up their panels.

Lots of deadlines, very busy next three weeks!

And So It Begins......

Oh, the insanity of it all, the inhumanity (loud wailing and gnashing of teeth...). AIMS testing started today, with a full morning of writing. From what the kids said, the prompt was reasonable - no idea what it was because I signed a paper saying I wouldn't look at anything to do with the test, and I didn't want to kids telling me specifics.

The set-up was actually fairly smooth, but I gotta tell ya, all classes for 30 minutes makes for a really tiring day. And - all of the staff were trying to convince the kids that the principal really didn't mean for them to guess C on all their work (see previous post).

So who knows? Will the school fail again? Are the kids ready? Will they take it seriously? About half of my kids (and I have a good group) finished the rough copy and final draft in 45 minutes - that in itself doesn't bode well, although there was a rush for dictionaries.

And I'm scheduled to teach 6th grade math intervention next year - bleech. Turns out that's my assignment because I'm the strongest person. Great - I'm a victim of my own success........

How to Screw Up High-Stakes Testing

You'll love this. I spend since January working with the kids in math, getting them to work problems, show their work, use strategies to help work through test questions. In one fell swoop the principal destroys all that work.

Honor Roll assembly on Friday - one of the many unfortunate things - the principal and the counselors couldn't pronounce most of the kids' names. And then, in a "pep" talk about AIMS, the principal says, "if you have no idea of the answer, put C. If you can't figure the problem out, just mark C."

Say what? Or, as they say on line, WTF? Not "Do your best." Not "Work through all the problems," but "Pick C."

So all the kids walked out of the assembly and into class prepared to choose C - one boy actually said, "The principal says to pick C."

So do you think we'll lose the failing label this year??????