FEBRUARY 2023

WHAT'S GOING ON IN SECONDARY SCIENCE?

JORDAN SCHOOL DISTRICT

UPCOMING IN FEBRUARY

Whew! You've made it to the month of Valentine's Day, parent-teacher conferences, and Presidents' Day all packed into one short month. In this edition of our newsletter we hope to give you tips, tricks, and helps for teaching science in your classroom!

CONTACT YOUR SECONDARY SCIENCE SPECIALIST

I am happy to support any science instruction you may need!

TORI JOHNSON

VICTORIA.JOHNSON@JORDANDISTRICT.ORG

801.567.8466

UPCOMING EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES

Secondary Science Calendar

Here you will be able to see our upcoming events and professional development days! Click on the event in the calendar for more details. 

FACE 2 FACE EVENTS

One week long, face to face courses available to teachers. Courses are focused in content, 3D science, and pedagogy.  

Courses start in June 2023. 

ENERGY IN THE CLASSROOM

THROUGH UTSTA.ORG

PATHMAKER BRIDGE PROGRAM FOR TEACHERS

WITH THE HUNTSMAN CANCER INSTITUTE

Teacher participants will work in an HCI cancer research lab for six weeks during each of two consecutive summers and translate their experience to the classroom! Participants will also gain comensation of $10,800 and 10 credit hourse. 

The deadline for this application is February 5, 2023. 

TEACHER SPOTLIGHTS

7-8th Grade: Abi Hart

7TH & 8TH GRADE SCIENCE - JOEL P JENSEN MIDDLE SCHOOL

"Abi Hart is one of the best teachers we have at Joel P.! She has dedicated herself to being an educator that gives her students her best every day. She rides her bike to work (most days) and wears many different hats at Joel P. Obviously, she's an amazing science teacher. She teaches 7th and 8th-grade science, as well as a section of 8th-grade science for our ALPS students. In addition to teaching, she also is in charge of overseeing our stage crew, is an advisor to our Black Student Union and helps out with our ML students. Abi is a valuable member of our team!

"Abi Hart is a phenomenal teacher. She is so dedicated to her students and to honing her skills so that she can help them the best way possible. She teaches 7th and 8th-grade science as well as ALPS 8th, but she also teaches classes where a third are multilingual and a quarter have IEPs. She constantly studies how to best differentiate for her students and does a great job in the implementation too."

9-12th Grade: Chris Dennett

EARTH SCIENCE - COPPER HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

"Chris is a great team player, always willing to help and give of his time. He is also a great teacher as students use projects to show their learning. He is also very knowledgeable, not only in his content area but also education in general."

What do you love about science teaching? I love the natural world, it fascinates me to no end, and I love sharing that awe with others. Seeing the realization in people's eyes when they make the connection of how awesome the world around them is, is probably my favorite thing. 

What are some of your hobbies and/or how do you like to spend your time outside of teaching? My biggest hobby is learning new things thus I have had many hobbies over the years but the ones I actively participate in are; river guiding, blacksmithing, gem hunting, stained glass window glazing, drawing, camping, hiking, gold panning, fishing (especially fly), snorkeling, hunting, target shooting, and exploring. I am currently learning how to facet gemstones.


What's the best advice or mantra you live by for your teaching? Everything around us has a story to tell and something we can learn from it. 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

7-8TH GRADE SCIENCE

Upcoming Collaboration Days!

We will be hosting collaborations on the following days and providing substitutes for teachers to get together to plan, build, and work on various aspects of teaching science content. If you are interested in attending any of the collaboration days, please fill out the short survey below and contact Tori Johnson (victoria.johnson@jordandistrict.org) with any questions. 

Assigning Content to Students.mp4

Giving Assignments through ThinkLink

This video will help you to give assignments easily through Thinklink! This is just one of the many ways to push FOSS content to your students. 

FOSS Collaboration Day - TOMORROW!

FEBRUARY 2, 2023 - 8:00 AM - JSD AUXILARY SERVICES BUILDING - 

ENTRANCE D

Teachers using FOSS will have the opportunity to collaborate with other teachers in the district to look at scope and sequence, modifications to curriculum, proficiency scales, teaching tips and help, etc. If you are interested in using FOSS or have questions about this event, please reach out to Tori Johnson at victoria.johnson@jordandistrict.org. 

9-12TH GRADE SCIENCE

Continuing Teacher Collaboration Days

We are continuing to host collaborations and provide substitutes for teachers to get together to plan, build, and work on various aspects of teaching science content. If you are interested in attending any of the collaboration days, please fill out the short survey below and contact Tori Johnson (victoria.johnson@jordandistrict.org) with any questions. 

CONTENT RESOURCES

7-8TH GRADE SCIENCE

Protocols for Science & Engineering Practices 

Are you having a hard time incorporating or scaffolding the science and engineering practices (SEPs) into your classroom? No worries! The gals at G&C Science have created editable student sheets and scaffolding documents to help your students think through the SEPs. 

The documents are available in PDF, Google Doc, and Goodle Slide form. Click the link below to check them out!

Leo on Wheels from The Leonardo in SLC

Leo on Wheels is a free exploratory science program designed for 7th and 8th-grade students. Their current lesson, Forces in Motion, allows students to investigate the relationship between forces, motion, and energy as they design and construct their own Rube Goldberg machines. 

Lessons are fun, hands-on, and free to public school classrooms. Facilitators will come to your classroom and run the activity with your students. 

Covers Utah SEEd Standards 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.2.1, 8.2.2, 8.2.3

9-12TH GRADE SCIENCE

Dark Skies Kits

Tracy Aviary in partnership with Clark Planetarium has a dark skies kit available to teachers to rent for FREE for one month. The kit covers both physical and life science and includes STEAM activities, a teacher guide, binoculars, 32 Pocket Naturalist Guides to Utah Birds, 32 moon maps, 32 Orion Star Target Constellation and Celestial Object Finders, and 32 RedBeam Mini LED lights. Kits will be dropped off at your school and Tracy Aviary Staff will give you a 10-15 minute orientation!

What's Going On in This Graph? by the New York Times

"Graphs, maps and charts from The Times -- and an invitation to students to discuss them live."

What's Going On in This Graph? is an amazing resource for teachers trying to help their students become better at the Science and Engineering Practice of Analyzing and Interpreting Data. 

The Times provides readers with a graph with a simple lesson plan for teaching how to analyze and interpret the image with questions, discussions with a collaborator from the American Statistical Association, more resources, and a big reveal that explains the meaning and possible interpretations of the graph. 

SCIENCE TEACHER STRESS RELIEF

The Happiness Lab is a free science-based podcast by Yale professor Dr. Laurie Santos about what really makes humans happy. Some of what she shares might be surprising!

"In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships."

Ever feel like your students are crazy?! The video Why the teenage brain has an evolutionary advantage explains why your teen students may act a little wild sometimes. The information in the video may not only help you to understand them but may allow you to change your classroom or teaching to better fit your strange teens' brains.