summer? i don't need no stinking summer!

I am already a week into summer and here I sit doing homework. (Well, I should be doing homework, I'm writing instead.) So far, I've cooked, mowed, and attended class; and now homework. Some summer! Oh well, its all by choice and will no doubt pay off someday.

Tonight begins what from outside appearances looks to be the most challenging (and rewarding) class yet: Assessment. I've just finished the "confidence questionnaire" and boy do I not feel too good about my practice. On the other hand, if I felt good about everything I do, there would be no need to take the class, would there?

Goals for this class for me: (my learning objectives)

1. Improve my ability to communicate to students what I hope they learn. (This is the only area I have any confidence at all.)


2. Build my skill at using different types of assessment styles for different learning objectives.


3. Increase my confidence at designing and building assessments.


4. Make a commitment to using rubrics on every project/paper next year.


5. And finally, increase my skill to balance assessment for learning vs. assessment of learning. (I remember Dr. Winslow saying that "Tests should be a learning experience." I like the idea, but I don't think it translates into my practice very well.)

Assessment is the area of teaching in which I feel I am weakest. So, as I've watched this module draw nearer and nearer, my level of fear and trepidation has increased proportionally. Okay, maybe fear is too strong a word. I guess I'm just afraid that I'll have to go into class and tell everything I know about assessment right off the bat and then we'll have like 3 hours, 59 minutes, and 45 seconds left in class. Yes, it's a 4 hour class!

On that note, I'll go ahead and write my working definition of classroom assessment: (this shouldn't take long...)

Classroom assessment is the way in which students know whether or not (and to what level) they have learned material related to a particular subject matter. This includes observation/communication by the teacher, classroom discussion (either asynchronous or synchronous), drawings (such as graphs or diagrams), self assessment, practicums (labs), and formal written assessments. These assessments should be spread throughout the time period of the subject matter and should guide all activities and pacing of the unit. Self assessment (reflection) is especially important for students. I prefer to allow/encourage discussion on this kind of assessment with peers in the form of a blog or discussion board.

Closure Part 2

Today was the final official day of work today for Putnam City teachers. This signals the end to an amazing year. There are so many things about this year that were awesome, yet during school, I felt like I couldn't wait for it to be over! Since I really prefer to remember things in a positive light, let's reflect:

I blogged more than ever before. I spent a ton of time talking about myself, but I feel like I've begun to truly reflect on my method as a teacher. According to the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, that convention is one of the single most important things to implement in an effective teacher's practice. So, while it may have seemed that I was "tooting my own horn", I'm really just trying to think about what I do.

I was challenged by some extremely smart students. Not to downplay the intelligence of previous students, but this year there were several students who really made me want to know my subject area better. Fortunately, I have found some really good blogs to read and I've learned so much! Reading blogs by teachers, physics professors, and researchers has really taken my thirst for knowledge to a whole new depth. I've devoted a page on my feed reader to science and one to teaching. I admit, some days I just click "mark all as read" because I simply don't have the time I'd like to devote to some in-depth reading. Other days, I drink in the knowledge and end up on an hour long "link-flow" from one good article to another. This year has been one which has seen expanded horizons for me.

I started a Master's program at SNU. That has been the onus for my increase in blogging. We are required to journal over our experience while we are in the program. Originally, we were supposed to write in a book! "What the duece?!?" was my first thought. I couldn't believe in a world of Skype, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, I was being asked to do some good old-fashioned handwriting! This was crazy to me. After just two years of teaching, I was already integrating some of this technology into my classroom, so why not in Higher Education? Shouldn't they be modeling what we are supposed to be doing in class? I'm almost halfway through the program now (after this next module) and its totally flown by!

I have gotten more heavily involved in the use of social media and technology in the classroom. I created a Facebook group for my students. (So far only the AP class). My thought was students are already using this technology. Why not have a homework reminder in their newsfeed? I mean, duh! Right? I have embraced the transparency of friending student on Facebook and its simply a way for me to model digital citizenship for my students. I sense that there are some other teachers in my building are beginning to catch on to this trend. At least that's my perception. (Perception is reality, right?)

I embraced the use of GoogleDocs in my classroom. If you don't currently use it or know about it, you should consider it! In my AP class, this has resulted in an almost entirely paperless. Students need to turn in a lab report? Have them share it with you on GoogleDocs! Students need to collaborate asynchronously on a presentation or document? Have them share it with one another on Googledocs! Would you like to embed a test into your teacher webpage? You can via GoogleDocs! Would you like to give a test with no paper used? GoogleDocs! Want to make a document and have it available for students, in other words embedded in a webpage? Yep, you guessed it, GoogleDocs! Oh, wait, don't have a webpage? Google can fix that with GoogleSites. BTW, if you are interested, and you are a Putnam City teacher, I'm teaching a couple of classes on how to use GoogleApps in your classroom! Check out .pc for information.

I was able to get some new technology in my classroom. I got a new laptop computer before the year started (a MacBook Pro). I got a new SmartBoard after I mentioned that mine was not working correctly. I was able to check out a new product put out by SchoolCenter, the company that hosts our teacher webpages. Its a pretty secret project so I can't talk much about it, but I'm going to get to take part in a presentation in Denver at the end of the month as a result of my involvement in the project. Speaking of Denver, I am being afforded the opportunity to go to the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) conference. I was blown away when they asked me if I wanted to go. Of course I wanted to go!

This year, I have even been given the opportunity to teach some other classes. I am going to be teaching a Bridge course at SNU. Its a course called Earth's Natural Disasters. If you are not familiar with the Bridge program, SNU has a deal where you can finish your undergraduate degree in 18 months, but you can only into the program if you have 60 hours. Bridge is where you get your hours to that level. So, I'll be teaching adults. This is going to be a major shift in my practice, at least as it concerns my interactions with students. I'm auditing a class right now and these guys are some major gradehounds! I used to think my students were worried about grades, they are nothing compared to these guys.

So, overall this year has been a fantastic year. I think I am in some of my best years of teaching. I am finally figuring out what I am supposed to be teaching. I am finally beginning to find out how to really do some authentic assessment of student learning. That's new. That's not something I learned in college. That is a skill that can only come from experience. I'm stoked to be looking summer vacation right in the face. However, I'm also excited at the prospect of what the next year will bring. What are you looking forward to?

Has this ever happened to you?

Tell me if this has ever happened to you: you realize that your pockets feel light and you think you have lost your keys (yes, like the keys to get into the school!). You think, well, I had them about 2 hours ago when I ran to the school, so they cannot be too far. You check your man purse, your books, your pockets like 59 times, the classroom in which you currently reside, only to realize that they are nowhere to be found! So, you hop on the motorcycle and drive about a half mile (retracing your route to SNU) and there, at the corner of 42nd and MacArthur, are your keys, lanyard and all. Has that ever happened to you? Because, yes, it JUST happened to me!

Closure Part 1

We just finished up a Module in MACI entitled "Evaluation of Curriculum and Instruction". Since the title of the program is MA in Curriculum and Instruction, I had mixed feelings about this class. I wasn't sure if it was going to be something like the capstone of the entire program or if they were going to try to cram the whole of the program content into six (very) short weeks. Additionally, if that was going to be the case, I wondered why this class wasn't at the end of the program or at the beginning? Interesting, I thought.

Professor comes in on the first night and we find out she is an administrator. Mixed feelings. I'm still developing my attitude towards administrators. (No offense to those of you reading this.) Of course, I'm learning you cannot pigeon-hole someone into a box, just because they chose to leave the classroom. We learned that she is an assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction (of all things!) in a large suburban district just to our north. Again, not sure how I was going to feel about this class! We learned the first week that she would only be teaching a few of the chapters... we were going to teach the rest! I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but then again, why not? I have done the same kind of thing in my own class, so why not in a master's level class? In fact, mishelleyb, one of the best teachers I know, does that for one of her undergraduate classes, so why not a graduate class?

I was given (out of pure chance/coincidence) the chapter on the knowledge base. What? Knowledge base? What is that? Yeah, those were my same thoughts when I found out I was going to present on that chapter. So, I read the chapter, and I thought, "What? Knowledge base? What is that?" Seriously, though. It was a very informative chapter. I learned about the knowledge base. Its where you learned to do what you do. I think it even goes beyond just education. My education will only carry me so far; I've also got to have some passion about my subject and I think that's part of the base. Its intrinsic and cannot be learned. Teachers either have it or they don't. I'm sure its something that can be lost and I've seen many teachers who seem to have either lost the flame of their subject matter or certainly its dimmed a little. I know, those teachers didn't do that on purpose, but nevertheless... At least now you know my train of thought while I was working on that chapter.

We went many different directions during this module. We covered nearly every chapter in the book entitled "Contemporary Issues in Curriculum". We talked about Kudzu, Rabbits, and school reform. We talked about grappling and budgets. But probably the most meaningful chapters in the book had to do with racial achievement gaps and equality in education. These impacted me greatly, as the population of my school has a high percentage of african-american students and a significant number of highly mobile Hispanic students. After 3 years of teaching, I am beginning to gain inroads into these populations and increase their enrollments in my classes. That means this knowledge is relevant. On the other hand, if its not already relevant, neither I nor my subject area will be relevant to these populations.

The essence of what I'm saying here is this class impacted me far more than I anticipated. I am beginning to see growth in my professional knowledge base. I see situations differently, I am able to handle problematic students differently (in a good way), I am able to structure or redesign my curriculum to meet the needs of my students, without wasting a lot of time on it.

Apparently, the one thing I'm unable to do better is communicate what I am able to do. I'll just keep trying.

thinking about teaching adults

Currently, I am auditing a class (attending without paying for the class) an adult class in the Bridge program at SNU. I can see, already, that this is going to be a very new and different way of going about things. During the first class, the instructor gave the students time to talk to one person and introduce themselves and tell their favorite movie (the class is American Cinema); the interesting thing was that the students talked for 10 minutes! There was actually discussion! So, I take it that adults, even if they don't know each other, will talk to one another! Woo-hoo! I love it! This I can do. For some reason it seems that this year my students have been very hard to engage in discussion. Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm slipping in the presentation of the material. If you don't know me, I tend to feed off of the energy of the students. I can be very animated in class. I start out with a pretty good amount of energy, but if the students just sit there like a bunch of statues, I tend to slow down considerably. All of that to say, I am so happy to find that the adults are going to be a more lively bunch!

The class I am slated to teach is Earth's Natural Disasters. It is exactly what it sounds like: Earthquakes, Fires, Floods, Hurricanes, Volcanoes, Plate Tectonics, and how these all affect the Human Population. Suhweet! I get to teach stuff about which I am interested! I'm telling you people, it doesn't get any better than this. However, it's really easy to sit here, hiding in the back of the classroom while someone else teaches the class. (BTW, this instructor is really good even though its the first time she has taught this class; her teaching prowess shows because even though she says she is anxious, it doesn't show).

Honestly, I am pretty nervous about teaching. I can't even imagine standing in front of a class for four hours and actually engaging students and causing learning to occur for that long. Yikes. Fortunately, I have several months to get ready (my class runs for 5 weeks in August and September) and someone else has already taught the class before. I'm hoping there is a Moodle course somewhere that I can work on adapting to fit my objectives. Hmmm. My objectives. Not the P.A.S.S., not the district curriculum map. I know, its not my objectives. Its the objectives set forth by the administration of Southern Nazarene University. But it is my interpretation of these objectives. I suspect they are open to a greater interpretation on my part than they are in public education. Although, I did learn last night that I am entitled, as a teaching professional, to academic freedom. I'd honestly never thought about that until last night. I've been exercising the right, I just hadn't thought of it.

So, I just wanted to share with you how grand my life is right now:

1. I get paid to do something I love, which is teaching.


2. I get to teach students with whom I can relate.


3. I am privileged to mentor the best students at SNU through my role as a class sponsor.


4. The school year is almost over and I get to spend even more time with my family.


5. During the summer, I also get to think about my favorite stuff: teaching science!

I dare you to say your life is better than mine.

I'll leave you with this question (which if you know me, you will understand): how am I going to integrate technology into my adult classroom?

why should students take ap classes anyway?

I have my own opinions on the matter and plan to share them here. In case I forget to ask, I'd love to hear what you have to say. I'll admit, my opinion won't be the popular one, but it is, after all, just an opinion and is not based in research or even very much experience (this is my 3rd year to teach).

I teach AP Physics. Wait, let me go back a little further. AP classes are supposed to be taught at a college level. The AP stands for Advanced Placement and is designed to prepare students for a test that can gain them college credit in the class taught, i.e. psychology, calculus, biology, spanish, etc. I'd love to hear input from some college freshmen that took AP classes their senior year and then took an equivalent class during their first year of college. Was it on the same level? Was it harder? Easier? Was the workload the same?

So, whether you are ready for my opinion or not, here it comes. Students taking AP classes should not be trying to take the class to get credit in college. Sure. College credit is a great benefit of taking the class, but should it be the primary objective? When I asked student in my AP physics class to tell me why they were taking the class, the overwhelming majority of them told me "so I can get college physics credit". However, most of these students will be entering college as a science or math major. My class is probably not (quite) up to the rigor of a college class, because of that fact, I am constantly trying to improve it and make it more like the post-secondary level it should be.

Bear in mind there are students in my class who have never made anything less than an "A" on their transcript. The parents of these students call and complain when they are making a "B" or (heaven forbid) even a "C". This is the argument I hear, "my student has NEVER made less than an "A", why are you not teaching them well enough so that they can be successful (meaning get an "A") in your class?" I hate to break it to you parents, there are a lot of students who go to college and don't make all "A's"! There is a serious problem called grade inflation and probably needs to be addressed in a separate post.

In my opinion, the purpose of my class is to prepare students for the appropriate class at the college level. If I am teaching physics, they should be able to continue their studies of physics in college and be successful (maybe even make an "A"!) Would I love to have all of my "precious ones" make 5's on the test? Of course! Since that won't ever happen, would I at least love to have them all pass with at least a 3? Yes! But honestly, I could care less about the test. Because the College Board says I have to teach to the test I do (which screwed us all this year since typically rotational motion is supposed to be about 20% of the test and my class is designed as such, but this year probably 50% of the test was rotational). But in reality, my underlying (sometimes not so subtle) goals are to increase student's problem solving abilities and prepare them for college.

That's it. If you are mad about that, too bad. However, I hope I have taught students something and given them a glimpse of what they will see in college. At least in their introductory classes. I think many students will be surprised at the amount of independent study will be required of them when they enter freshman-level classes. If memory serves (I only just graduated 3 short years ago and am currently working towards my master's) the professor doesn't spoon feed the information to students. They are supposed to be studying 2 hours for every hour they are in class each week. That means more than going over the notes the professor gave. In fact, most will give you their PowerPoint, so what's the use in taking notes, right? Maybe students should just read over the PowerPoint and then skip class? If I give the benefit of the doubt, and say students should only study an hour, not wait, a half hour for every hour they are in my class, then there should be about 8 hours per week of independent study going on. Oh and this does NOT include homework. Students are supposed to be studying that much in addition to the homework given by the instructor. I wonder how many of my students did that? Even on average? I dare say none.

I guess I didn't foster an environment that encouraged independent study. I think I started out doing pretty well at that, but then for some reason gave the idea that it would be okay just to get the notes in class, do the homework, and everything would be okay. The great thing about teaching is that there is always next year to change up what you are doing and try to make things better.

why did I become a teacher?

Yeah! Why did I become a teacher?!? I did it because I wanted to have a relationship with students in the same way I saw Michelle (my wife) have with her students. It was what got me into teaching and its what keeps me here. I had a student who was pregnant last semester. She and I emailed about her "plight" and we talked back and forth about how this isn't the end of her life. Its simply the beginning of another chapter of her life. Well, yesterday was the first time I had heard from her since last semester. She emailed me a picture of her son! This totally blew me away. We talked small talk to catch up (all through email) and then there at the bottom of the page was the sweetest little boy you've ever seen! I think this kind of relationship, one that lasts beyond the walls of my classroom, is exactly what I was "searching for" when I decided to teach. Do you have reasons that keep you in teaching? What do you do to build relationships that are meaningful and last beyond the walls of your building?