Post date: Oct 20, 2012 12:14:4 AM
Happy Friday!
Today was a bit too quiet at school without the usual energy and din in middle school alley! My day started with root canal surgery early in the morning, and then I joined the other teachers as we spent the day as students doing various activities about class climate, student motivation, and values clarification. Since I couldn't talk for much of the day, I was able to observe just how lively and comical our staff really is -- or maybe it was just the result of my loopy disposition!
Recap of the Week:
Felix's FreeFall: As a science teacher it is always my goal to connect the area of study with real-world events. Nothing could have provided an application of the topics in unit two better than Sunday's amazing accomplishments by Felix Baumgartner -- the topic of Monday's class discussions and activities. The lessons on gravity, air pressure, atmospheric density, free-fall, terminal velocity, and orbits were brought home by his great feat and the extensive media coverage thereof. YouTube was certainly my friend on Monday morning as I was able to show coverage that was informative and immediate!
Building Boats: On Tuesday (and part of Wednesday) the kids built boats of clay and tested how much cargo (pennies) they could support in water. Using some informal failure analysis and various design improvements, they achieved some great ratios of boat mass to buoyant force.
Pressure Track: Quite often throughout the year, I will build "tracks" on various topics. This involves finding great educational websites on the topic, coming up with questions for the kids to answer using those sites, and then assembling them into an easy-to-use single-URL interface. (details) At some point, the kids will be creating their own tracks on various subjects.
Chapter Quiz: As you certainly know, science this year is a hybrid design of book-driven learning and in-class investigations, labs, demonstrations, and discussions. At the beginning of each unit I create a recommended reading schedule and post it on this calendar, post my reading notes, and then leave it up to the kids to follow through from there in order to prepare themselves for the almost-weekly chapter quizzes. This process is taxing in that it is routine and not very exciting, but it is a fairly good way to learn to refine one's text reading and note-taking skills -- a justifiable complement to the other relatively non-traditional learning styles that are well-engrained into DCS students. There is a take-home test this time, due Monday by the way.
Coming Up:
Conferences: Most families have signed up for conferences using the links provided by each homeroom teacher. We are looking forward to watching the students take the opportunities they have to lead these conferences, share their goals (set in each subject), and impress you with some of their accomplishments so far (if they choose).
San Jose Courthouse: Room 23 is going on 11/1, room 25 on 11/8, and room 22 on 11/13.
Age of Sail: Starting at the end of November, each homeroom will be going to San Francisco to participate in a potentially powerful role-playing experience aboard the tall ship Balclutha on the Hyde Street pier. Each homeroom teacher will be working for at least a week to prepare their students for this trip and this page on my site has many resources if you feel like getting a glimpse ahead of time.
Last Thing:
My sincere thanks to the parents - scheduled and otherwise, who pitch in to make things great at DCS. In my class, the tasks are sometimes mundane, unclear, and/or less than completely rewarding, but every parent has helped out perfectly and given me valuable (usually) positive feedback. The students benefit in the form of multiple levels of personal feedback on work, practical demonstrations on science concepts, weekly missing work lists, and 1:1 assistance as needed/requested. In that same realm, I'd like to invite you to view the website of the DCS Science Task Force, and perhaps even tell us about a lesson or demo that you might be willing to do in the class (see this form).
Thanks again for reading and I'd love a reply :)
Chris