Fitting It All In: 6 Tips for Science Experimentation on a Shortened Schedule

So you've figured out set-up, take-down and storage of your lab materials using some handy tips from our previous blog post. You've just gone over the directions and your kiddos are ready to get elbow deep into a frog exploration when the bell rings. Wait... WHAT?!?!? What happened to your class time?  Where did it go? You just looked at the clock and you had at least a good half hour left. How can anyone get through an elaborate lab such as a dissection or an inquiry lab from start to finish in a 50 minute (or less) block of time? In this day and age of "go, go, GO!", teachers have to be flexible. Over scheduled students are changing classes, heading to constant testing which alters schedules for weeks on end, participating in plays, sports activities, and the like which pulls kids from your room on a whim. So, how do you ensure that every student experiences experiments and labs in this kind of chaos? We've got some teacher-tested tips for you for when time is of the essence!

1. Smooth Review: To ensure a well organized lab day, go over lab expectations, rules, consequences, procedures, materials, etc. the day before the lab takes place.  Allow students to complete their hypothesis and ask them to read over the procedure again for homework. The following day, do a quick overview of the lab by letting students summarize what you discussed the day prior, quiz them with a few of the most important questions and then set your kids loose! They should be ready and set to go.

2. Work Together: Don't be afraid to work WITH your students in coming up with a feasible hypothesis or logical conclusions. Students can still develop their own inferences, but when the class brainstorms ideas together, the process can go much more quickly. For summarizing or analysis questions, answer them as a class or allow them to work with their groups. This will speed up the time that's often wasted "thinking stuff up" and will help lead those that were a little lost down the right path to the big picture.

3. Pre-fill and Pare Down: Another great way to fit labs into shortened classes is to have graph paper partially filled out with the correct data range so students can easily create a title, identify their x and y axes and fill in their plot points (provide two versions and you have a great differentiation tool you can use for your students who just don't quite get science or math concepts as quickly). Where possible, reduce the number of trials during an experiment. You can also limit results and conclusion questions to those that are most important to the lab. Simple recall assessments are time wasters.

4. Split it up: If you're able, complete one half of the lab one day and the other half on the following day - this is especially helpful for labs like dissection when exploration is really necessary to gain a full understanding of the concept at hand. Wrap up specimen in a gallon ziplock bag with the group name written on the outside for storage overnight. Have time to complete the lab, but not the analysis? Ask students to answer important questions for homework. The next day, spend 5-10 minutes reviewing the main takeaway of the experiment and revisit any misconceptions students may have. Whatever end point you reach, be sure to incorporate a little time for closure because you never want to leave your students hanging when it comes to understanding the big picture.

5. 'Round Robin quizzes: Dissection is a major component of what life science and biology teachers do, and ensuring identification and understanding of the many working parts of an organism is key to success in our labs. Unfortunately, time constraints often limit our ability to ensure each student sees each organ and understands location and function - to this end, we do group quizzes. Create a quick checklist that you can hand out to each group and have students put their names at the top of the sheet.  Prior to exploration, inform your kids that a verbal group quiz is how they'll be graded for their participation. The checklist can also be a guiding handout, with a graphic of what kids should be locating. Once you've visited each group and observed they are on the right path, use the last 15-20 minutes of the lab to visit each group and quiz the students about where each structure is located and what the function of each is. It saves time and your sanity as you try to assess their level of involvement in and comprehension of the lab.  

6.  Demonstrate it: When time is really crunched, there is no better way than to do the lab yourself with students assisting throughout the process.  Tell students the problem at hand and have them help you brainstorm the best procedure to achieve the desired results.  Set-up the lab at your desk and ask for student volunteers to help complete the lab.  Formulate a hypothesis and answer analysis questions together as a class.  While it may not be as hands-on for the students, in a shortened class period it can be a real time-saver and still allows the students the experience of the concept you are demonstrating.   

Please feel free to comment below and let us know what kind of shortcuts you've incorporated in your classroom when you're in a time crunch in science! 

Homework - To Grade or Not To Grade

It's almost Christmas - so don't shoot me OK? I am not a fan of grading homework for about a million different reasons. For me, homework was an all or nothing mark in the grade book. You either do it - with effort or you don't. I know many teachers who do grade homework and if that's you, rock on!

Students in Middle School are different (as if you didn't already know that). Homework shouldn't be given unless you know students have an understanding of the concept. Why? Middle schoolers are grumpy and often lack patience. If they have homework on a skill that is difficult, brand new or just plain hard, they aren't going to do it. You and I both know it. Don't punish them because all you will end up doing is punishing yourself.

Why homework shouldn't be graded:

1. You have enough to do. Seriously. You are grading classwork and exams, going to meetings (PLCs, IEPs,) dealing with parents, dealing with students, trying to have a life outside of school. You don't need to take up your time to sit and grade every single homework assignment. 
2. You shouldn't pick and choose when you grade HW and when you don't. It isn't fair to the students. They need to know what is and what isn't graded. Going back and forth isn't providing them - or you - consistency. As you know, consistency is the KEY to successfully managing Middle Schoolers. 
3. Not every student has the same resources. Some kids will go home and have their mathematical engineer mother help them with their homework. Others will go home and ask their big brother who is in AP Biology to do it for them. There will be kids who go home and take on the role of parent because their own parents work in the evening. When students are in class, they are given the same resources and opportunities. Outside of school, the environment isn't controlled. 
4. It really isn't that important. Gah. I know... terrible right? Think about it. What is important? Classroom interactions, cooperative learning, assessment performance, classroom behavior, kids being GOOD people. Those things are important. Outside of schools, kids need to focus on things that will really truly matter in the future. They need to spend time with their families. They need to play sports and participate in other activities that will teach them how to work together and be a team player. School takes up enough of their day (think about how much of your day it consumes). Don't let it take up their evenings too. 
5. Going over the homework in class requires the students to pay attention to their own work - and you! If you pass back homework that is graded, students will not pay attention to you when you are trying to go over it. The kid who had nothing wrong has zero reasons to pay attention. The kid who has most wrong will be irritated and not pay attention - probably shoving the paper in his or her notebook. Giving back a paper with a simple checkmark ensures they will at least listen to the answers you give and check their own paper. Often this will lead to questions.  Learning from mistakes is one of the best ways to learn!

Now. I'm NOT saying homework should never be given. Before a test, absolutely. Real world projects? Go for it. I'm simply saying that it doesn't need to be graded - unless your school requires a homework grade. And even then, grade for completion. A simple check or zero gives you points in the grade book without taking tons of time to check every single question. 

FREE Holocaust Resources

Hey all! I hope everyone is surviving the chaos that is December!

I will admit, I was VERY hesitant about missing a day and a half last week to go to a training. On one hand, it IS nice to not be in the classroom during the wild and crazy weeks leading up to winter break when the kids are all hyped up every.single.minute. On the other hand, I really did not want to subject one of our sweet subs to that torture. I wasn’t sure that I would even pay attention because my Christmas shopping is so not even close to being done, and I would most likely end up jotting down ideas and surfing Amazon while hiding my phone under the table. #sorrynotsorry

I am happy to admit that I was TOTALLY wrong. The training I attended was beyond amazing. It was the best training I have been to in a LONG time. What was this training, you ask?

The Georgia Commission on the Holocaust provided an amazing training about all aspects of the Holocaust. Yes, it is in Georgia, BUT: many, many states have their own Holocaust resources. So if you live in another state, Google Holocaust museums and/or commissions in your state. Many of these establishments provide many of the resources I am going to talk about in this blog post. You can also Google colleges and universities in your state for Holocaust resources. Kennesaw State University in Georgia provides many resources, so be sure to use your state colleges! There is also the UnitedStates Holocaust Memorial Museum that also provides resources. The BEST part of all of this?????? The resources are FREE. FREEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! Sometimes you may have to pay a return postage fee, or a small travel fee if you want a speaker to come out, but most often you pay nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Which, for educators who always seem to shell out our own money, this is priceless. If you do not live in Georgia, I hope you keep reading and get excited about the resources I discuss. So much that you go out and Google your own state and area to find similar free resources. And you can still use some of the ideas and resources posted on the websites I include.

Who Is This Post For?

Upper grades peeps who teach about the Holocaust! Not every grade level teaches about the Holocaust, but in Georgia grades 5-8 and high school world and US history courses do. I teach 6^th grade and part of our curriculum is European history, so we do teach the Holocaust for a period of time. The Holocaust is  a subject that is very delicate and emotional, so when I discovered these resources, I was so thankful and grateful to not have to figure it out on my own. It was also fabulous to know how to handle the emotional side because many children will become upset.

What Is This Post About?
The training I went to was offered by the Georgia Commission the Holocaust, and, not only was it free of charge, they even paid for my substitute and gave out incredible resources. Not only that, but they had George Rishfeld, a Holocaust survivor, speak to us (which we also found out he was available to travel to schools to talk with students). The first-hand account stories he told us were intriguing, sad, and so crucial in helping future generations learn about the Holocaust. He is not the only Holocaust survivor who comes out to speak to schools. With a little time spent on your state’s Holocaust resource pages, you will be able to find speakers, too. I feel like I have jumped around a little bit in this post, so below I will outline the resources made available to Georgia educators through either the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust or by Kennesaw State University since these are the two I have experience with.  

Professional Development Opportunities

This was the training I attended. Like I said, it was free of charge, the organization paid for my substitute, provided a hot dinner the first evening and a lunch the second day, and they gave attendees several resources that will be used a lot in my classroom. There is actually another training identical to the one I attended in January in Thomasville, Georgia. Click {here} for the registration information. At the training I attended, there were a few teachers from South Carolina in attendance, so I don't think this training is limited to Georgia educators. I did not to think to ask them, but it is worth looking into if you live near Thomasville and are out of state. 

The training covered a wide range of Holocaust topics, and lessons (along with materials) were provided. **I talk more about these lessons below**

One of the biggest take aways I had from this training, were the guidelines for teaching about the Holocaust. The link takes you to the USHMM, and these guidelines are very helpful in knowing how to approach the Holocaust as well as what you need to keep in mind as you navigate through your unit of study.

And of course I LOVED the two books that were given to each attendee. One of the lessons includes excerpts from Salvaged Pages, by Alexandra Zapruder (page 102 of the PDF- I'm Still Here). This particular lesson integrated literacy which is awesome! I did actually buy the DVD  (*this is an affiliate link*) I'm Still Here: Real Diaries of Young People Who Lived During the Holocaust that is mentioned. You don't need to DVD if you have the book, but the DVD really brings the diary entries alive. And you don't need to buy the book if you attended the training. If you are interested in buying the book, Salvaged Pages, you can use this affiliate link. One of the other big takeaways from the training is that many people use The Diary of Anne Frank while teaching the Holocaust. However, it is very important to make sure students know that this is just ONE girl's story. There are many more diaries out there, and Salvaged Pages has several diary entries from survivors and non-survivors.

The other book given to us had many photographs with a wealth of information about the Holocaust. It is called The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust As Told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, by Michael Berenbaum. You can order this book by using this affiliate link. Some of the lessons from the PDF also include photographs from this book (for example the time line activity, which is on page 166). In fact, many of the lessons that you can access in that PDF are integrated with literacy...so even ELA teachers can use them. #winning Many book titles are included, so it makes my reading heart happy.

Lessons & Activities

My favorite activity I have used this far is the Holocaust ID cards activity that uses ID cards from the USHMM. The lesson provided by the GCH includes smaller ID cards that students use.

This link will take you to the PDF that contains tons of lessons/activities, including the ID card lesson. The ID card activity begins on page 128. The cards on this download don't have the photos (which are on the link above from the USHMM. If you attend a training, though, the cards you receive do have the photos and a map on the back with significant places to that person (which is why the image above includes the photos of the people and maps on the ID cards). This link will take you to a PPT for the ID card lesson. 

**disclaimer** ALL of the documents I am posting are FREE of charge and available to ANYONE to download.

The PDF download from above contains SEVERAL lessons, and in most cases, the needed documents/materials. I am telling y'all! These resources are a GOLDMINE!

This link contains additional activities if you scroll to the bottom of the page (the top link on the page does not work, and I posted the second link above). You want to look for the hyperlinks listed under the third trunk (which brings me to the trunks in the next section). Overwhelmed? Yes, me, too! Even though I went to the training, there are still so many more resources I need to dig through. Perfect task for your team to help with!

The USHMM has a wide variety of resources on its site. I have not even began to look over most of these resources because I am still digesting all the information I have from the training I attended. I have used some of the animated maps because they are very clear and concise for students to understand. Showing this particular map really helped show students the magnitude of Hitler's conquered lands, and helped to set the context for my students to learn about the Holocaust. 

**I highly recommend previewing any map you might want to show your students to make sure they are age-appropriate**

Trunks, Exhibits, & In-House Programs

I have used traveling trunks before but not traveling exhibits. Kennesaw State University sends out trunks and exhibits free of charge. You will either have to: 1. pay for return shipping; 2. if you live close enough, you can drop them off yourself for free; 3. or, do what we are doing, schedule an in-house program for the last day you have the trunks/exhibit and the presenter will take them back for free. #winningagain

We have not used these yet, but we do have them scheduled for the first 3 weeks in May. You can reserve the trunks and exhibits for 3 consecutive weeks, so that's what we are doing. Because the in-house program is free, it is too pricey for KSU to send out the presenter multiple days, so for our grade level, we are combining our 3 social studies classes into one room for each of our class periods. So there will be about 90 students in each period, so that way all of our students get to participate, and KSU sends out someone for just one day. And since there are 3 of us who teach SS, we have 3 trunks coming at the same time, so we can rotate through the trunks and keep each one for one week. The exhibit will most likely be housed in our media center. #haventthoughtthatfarahead

Trunks include a variety of items that relate to the trunk's theme, along with the lesson/activity plans, suggested book titles (score!), and anything else needed. SCORE! The exhibits are 8-10 large, free standing panels that provide a context for many topics relating to before, during, and after the Holocaust. These also come with everything you need for the lessons/activities. DOUBLE SCORE!!

KSU also provides a free museum to Georgia residents, so all you would need to pay (if your school was fairly close) for would be transportation. 

All of the trunks and exhibits come with teaching guides, so you literally have EVERYTHING you  need before, during, and after you have the trunks and exhibits.

Sorry I don't have any photos of the actual trunks or exhibits. We have not used them yet :( 

Not only does KSU have trunks, but so does the GCH. These trunks are slightly different, so it is worth checking into even if you have used, or are planning to use, the trunks from KSU. This page also has the teaching guides for their trunks (which is the same link I posted above for the ID card activity). The GCM also has exhibits, but they are loaned out a little bit differently.

Homeschool Parent?

Homeschoolers, KSU also has resources just for you!

I do hope you are able to use some of these resources to help plan out your unit. If you don't live in Georgia, I do hope you will take some time to Google available resources and museums in your state. I can't imagine teaching the Holocaust without these resources! Want to help out a fellow teacher? If you have found resources for your state, post the link(s) in the comment section below. That way you are all helping each other out!

Heather- 2 Brainy Apples

 

The Problem With Digital Interactive Notebooks

With what seems like everything going digital these days, more and more schools are also picking up on the trend. Even my son's high school uses their 1:1 policy as a selling point to attract more students. But is all-digital really better?

It isn't often, but every couple of months I'll have a teacher ask me how he/she can adapt interactive notebooks and make them work in a paperless, all-digital environment.

Umm.. you can't.

Disclaimer: I love technology. You don't know this, but teachers who have taught with me know me as the Technology Queen. I spent 4 years as a technology director, coaching other teachers in instructional technology, writing grants, and outfitting classrooms with all the technology I could get my hands on! I have a Master's Degree in.. you guessed it! Educational Technology. My non-teacher friends call me before purchasing a computer. They laugh at me because I always have the latest gadget. I was the first person I knew to get an Apple Watch. I am an elite breed of tech nerd. I'm no hater! But technology does NOT make everything better. It is NOT the answer to every problem. It's not.

Let me give you an analogy. Stay with me!

Two young boys are making mud pies. Boy A is doing so via computer simulation. He uses his mouse to pick up the shovel, dig the dirt, and put it in a bowl. Then, he uses his mouse to measure and pour water in. He picks up a stick with his mouse and moves it in a circular motion to stir the mud pie. Voila! He has now made a mud pie!

Boy B is making his mud pie outside, in the dirt. With dishes from his mother's kitchen, he messily measures water and pours it into a bowl. He grabs handfuls of cold earth from the ground, dirt stuck under his fingernails. With a prickly stick, he stirs the mud pie to the desired consistency. Voila! He has also made a mud pie!

Both boys made a mud pie. And now, both boys know HOW to make a mud pie! But, Boy B definitely had a more meaningful experience. Boy B is MUCH more likely to remember that experience in the future! He felt the cold dirt, the stick, the water. He smelled the mud pie as soon as he mixed it. He had a sensory experience!

That is what we are missing when we take digital too far.

I don't have to tell you that interactive notebooks are a sound, research-based practice. Two minutes and a Google search are enough to stifle any doubters. This can take the place of me boring you with lengthy explanations about learning styles, multiple intelligences, and right brain vs. left brain.

What I CAN tell you in plain English is WHY interactive notebooks revolutionized my classroom.

I taught for 8 years before landing my dream job teaching middle school literature. This was it. This was what my years of experience had prepared me for, the grade and the subject I'd wanted all along.

I spent the entire summer enthusiastically reading middle grades literature and planning lessons around the best stories and novels I could find. The year started. I was ready!

One month into school and I realized something. I stunk! I was not an effective middle school teacher. I was not an effective literature teacher. I just stunk.

I did what my predecessor did. I did what my fellow middle school teachers did. I gave notes. I lectured. And I tried really, really hard to spice things up as much as possible. But my students were bored. They couldn't remember a lesson from one day to another. They couldn't plot a story. I was teaching the same concepts over and over again. Half of them were bored with the repetition, and the other half were lost and hopelessly clueless about literature concepts.

Then, the Kindergarten (yes, Kindergarten!) teacher told me about a workshop she attended on foldables. I asked her to show me, and she did. I figured this might be worth a try - it looked fun to me! It was too late in the year to jump on the bandwagon full-force, and I didn't know enough, but I experimented and tried some foldables and activities with my students for a few months. That summer, I went to a workshop, and my life hasn't been the same since.

When the next school year started, I was rock and rolling! No longer did my six classes consist of bored, apathetic teens and preteens sitting and staring. My students were BUSY! They were trying to keep up. They were retaining information. They were smiling. They were doing stuff. They were engaged. They were engaged with the content. And they liked it.

Quote whatever scientific data you like. But I can tell you that my students were learning because they were moving. Drowsy, passive learners were replaced with engaged, active learners. Cut this. Color this. Glue this. Fold here. Color here. Glue there. Write this. Snip that piece. Add color here. Voila! They were moving.

And they HAD something. They had a lot of somethings! They had a masterpiece. Everything that I deemed important to their learning was now in one neat package. And they were learning. So. Much. They retained information like never before! Why? Because they were interacting with the content. They constructed those interactive notebook pages by hand. They created the shape, the object, and they added the color. The color almost always meant something important. It was all color coding! And they wrote those notes and terms and definitions and descriptions and content. With a pencil.

The reason interactive notebooks work is both the process and the product. But the product only means something because of the process involved in creating the product. When you attempt to make interactive notebooks digital, you're removing the  process. You still have a similar product, but it is not as meaningful without the process.

A file on a computer somewhere cannot take the place of an actual, real-life notebook with meaningful pages that a student has hand-constructed. Even if he interacts with the digital content, types the words in, fills the boxes with color, it isn't a replacement for actually doing it and actually having it. Did you know that simply hand-writing information with a pen or pencil on paper instead of typing it actually increases retention? It's that simple.

Cutting Corners - 9 Time & Energy Savers for the Science Lab

Labs are the epitome of science class. They provide meaningful, real-life experiences in a hands-on manner which allows students to dig deeper into the material. They are wonderful learning opportunities for students, but boy are they time consuming for teachers! The prep work to create and set up the lab, buying (sometimes expensive) materials, getting students familiar with the background information and procedure, going over safety precautions, the lab time itself, the review of concepts they should come away with, and lastly clean up can be overwhelming and exhausting. Labs are always 100% worth the effort but they can be a daunting task, especially if you are required to do labs several times a week.

We thought long and hard about how we made lab time work for us, especially when it comes to set up and take down. Below is a list we've come up with that will help you cut corners to save time and energy, but not at the cost of the lab experience itself.

1. Team work: Chances are you collaborate with several other science teachers in the same grade level. Why not plan ahead and come up with several labs each month that ALL of you will do with your classes. Share the responsibility of set up, best practices, and clean up, especially if you have a common lab space.  The team can set up when the first class is ready to experiment and clean up when the last class of the week is done. This setup also allows you to share lab equipment, consumables, and other supplies. If something is expensive, split the cost amongst the lot of you and save some cash.

2. Student helpers: If you have kids you trust and they have a free period or maybe have finished a test early in another class, by all means, ask if they can assist you! Start this process early on in the year and you'll find yourself with a handful of students you can trust to follow your directions implicitly. Maybe they can even arrive to school early to help or stay late to clean up. Better yet, start a science lab or experimentation club and part of their duties is assisting you in the prep work! Kids get great experience learning lab materials and procedures and you save time!

3. Parent assistance:  As middle grades teachers, we are less likely to reach out to the parents of our students to ask for help. We're here to tell you to DO IT! Send out an email blast or newsletter requesting materials, donations, volunteers, and if your school would allow, money to purchase the things you need for your room. You might be surprised by how many responses you get from stay at home parents, working moms and dads, grandparents, and even aunts and uncles who would LOVE to spend a day or class period in your room assisting you, especially if they can see their child in the school environment.  This will really come in handy during dissection days when more than one pair of eyes is essential with all of those sharp instruments!

4. Lab stations to the rescue:  Everyone will tell you that lab stations are a must in the middle school classroom. When designing your classroom layout, envision how you would want labs to flow.  Identify your stations with a number, name or some other moniker that will be easily referred to throughout the year.  Then, think about how students will use the stations:  will students remain at one station, or will they move from station to station?  Will they have multiple microscopes to view at their station, or will they have several slides that they will need to swap out as they progress through the lab?  Will students always be assigned to the same station or rotate?  Whatever you decide, know that you can always switch it up depending on the type of lab you are implementing.  

5. Review labs ahead of time:  Go over safety protocol, materials, procedures and expectations the day before the lab.  At the end of the day's lesson, give your students a quiz.  The purpose of this exercise is threefold:  1) Students will already be prepared for the lab the moment they walk in the door the next day,  2) your lab quizzes will let you know if students are truly prepared for the lab, and 3) your quizzes will serve as a perfect guide for creating your lab group leaders - those students who can help facilitate the lab tomorrow with their peers.  

6. Make it visible:  A great way to make sure your students know what they are supposed to be doing when they walk into the room is to project the lab directions on the board, or if technology isn't available, have a copy of the lab directions at each station.  You can also use your projector in a pinch to find microscope or dissection images on the Internet.  Project them to the front of the room to show students what they need to be looking for, or use them for a virtual teacher-led microscope or dissection lab when supplies are limited.

7. Prep lab materials in advance:  In order to ease the stress of set up, we used to arrive to school early the day of the lab to make sure everything was in order. If this doesn't work out, set aside time at the end of the day to prep so when you walk in the next morning, the room is organized and you're not panicking to get things ready.  One key thing we did for our labs was to make our slides and pre-cut our dissection specimen.  For example, if you're doing the famous "e" lab, make your slides in advance by cutting out your newspaper e's and taping them to a glass or plastic slide with a little piece of scotch tape.  For frog or earthworm dissections, shave some time off of the actual "dissection" portion by making the first few major ventral and transverse incisions in your students' specimens, giving them more time to explore the specimen and make meaningful connections with the material they are learning rather than rushing through the lab to get finished.  

8. Get organized: remember you will probably do this lab again next year. After a lab is completed, don't hurriedly stuff things back into your closet. Take the time to organize your lab closet by topic covered. Take your supplies from each experiment and keep them together in a tub or bin. Label the bin with the name of the lab and even place a folder with your lab handouts in the bin just in case your paper filing system fails you. This way, the following year, your activities are grab and go!

9. Plan for the future:  Once you have a few years of teaching under your belt, you'll hopefully have a general idea of what you want to teach and how you want to teach it. Create a planner or calendar and visualize the topics you would like to cover and activities you would like to do and realistically fit them into your schedule. Once you do this, you can ensure that there are no surprises. Get lab equipment and supplies in advance, send out notes and emails home if you need assistance, and make sure copies are made and materials are ready to go for lab day. 

We hope this list will help keep you on the track to running a smooth and efficient science classroom. Got any other helpful tips? Please comment below and let us know!

Next time we'll tell you a little bit about how we fit lab experiences into shortened or altered class periods and make the most of the small amount of time we have for experimentation in the middle grades!

 

Classroom Management Starts With This...

I taught in a tough school. Super tough. EVERY year (no joke) I had at least one student who was pregnant or already a parent. At least one student who was classified as homeless. I had students from jail, one who was a registered sex offender and many students who were gang members. The neighborhood around our school was an open air drug market that was full of crime and prostitution. 

I taught two years in 4th grade before I moved to middle school. That first year as a middle school teacher was a huge learning experience - most of it was learning through failure. I was slightly intimidated by the fact that I was teaching 8th graders, so I thought the key to my success was to be "friends" with my students. That literally should be on the top of the list of things NOT to do as a teacher. I remember telling my class on the first day, "I don't care what you did last year, yesterday or 10 minutes before coming into my classroom. You are here for a fresh start." That's a really terrible thing to say to a classroom full of students who have had a long history of trouble making. I was honestly, terrified of some of my students. I had fights in my room that involved chairs, and students, being thrown. It was impossible to have control over people I feared - people who knew I had zero clue what I was doing. 

One day... I gave up. I was so frustrated with the lack of respect that I broke down in tears and walked away from my class. I grabbed my things and told my principal I was going home sick. I wouldn't recommend doing that. Not at all. Looking back, I’m pretty impressed that I didn’t get fired! I hated my job that year. Every single second of it. 

The next school year, I spent the majority of the school year pregnant with my first child. I gained a TON of weight and ended up swelling like a balloon and having elevated blood pressure (imagine that). To avoid my doctor forcing me out of work, I did nothing but sit on a stool for the last few weeks before my daughter was born. My classroom management pretty much didn’t exist because I was miserable. I went out on maternity leave in March and returned mid-May. My long term sub was a “friend” to my students (remember how well that worked for me the year before?) and my classroom was an absolutely nightmare when I returned. I was not able to get things back on track and the remaining few weeks of the school year had me on survival mode. NOTE: If you have a baby, do NOT return for just a week or two at the end of the school year. Trust me on that one. Take the unpaid leave {if you can} and just stay home!

The third year teaching middle school was a HUGE year for me. It was the year I finally figured it out. I didn’t try to make my students like me. I didn’t try to make my students fear me. I was determined to make my students respect me. I had very clear classroom expectations and procedures for every little thing. My students knew what to do if they were absent. They knew I didn’t lend out pencils. Ever. They knew I didn’t take late work. Ever. I didn’t bend for anyone. BUT… they knew I respected them. If they were having a bad day, I’d find a way to touch base with them before class or during the warm up. If I caught wind of them acting foolish in another class, I'd talk to them to find out what was happening. If I knew a student was dealing with something at home, or had a sporting event coming up, I would talk to them about it. My students knew I cared about them – but they also knew my rules for them. My classroom was suddenly a much more manageable place than years before. 

A few weeks into the school year we had an intake meeting for a new student. All I was told is that he was coming from an alternative education school in the next state and he was going to be in my math class. During the meeting, the vice principal and other classroom teachers were very stern with him. Almost mean. He was so polite to everyone, “Yes ma’am” and “No sir” to all the adults even though they were treating him as though he was a problem before he even started. I made the decision to treat him like my other students, regardless of his circumstances. A few days after our meeting, I asked about him. I was told that he had just been released from jail for armed robbery. He was the one with the gun. He ended up being a student who LOVED math, which made me super happy. He was one of my favorite students that year. He didn’t give me a single issue all year, even though he had a tough thing going in the community and was an issue for other teachers. 

From that year on, I maintained my philosophy that in order to have a truly successful classroom, my students were going to have to respect me. Not be afraid of me, not hate me, and not want to be my friend. Each year, the types of students I had didn’t change. I had many students come through my room who were absolutely terrible in other classrooms, but they were different for me. Now, I certainly DID have my problem students. Whether they just hated math, or me, or my rules... they were not fun to have in class. I didn’t let those students bring down my attitude or the rest of my class. Even though we are the teachers and we are the adults, we need to RESPECT our students. They are people too and they deserve the same respect that we command from them.

So, there you have it. Successful classroom management begins and ends with RESPECT. 

Paper Video Slides

Hey all! I'm Heather from 2 Brainy Apples, and I am SO excited to be writing my very first blog post for this awesome middle grades collaborative blog! I absolutely love teaching social studies, and I hope that I am able to give you all some new ideas to spice up your lessons.

Today I am going to share a paper slide video activity I had my students complete last week. I chose this particular activity because using paper slide videos isn’t just a social studies thing. You can take this idea and easily adapt it to another subject area (I suggest some ideas at the end of this blog post), so if you aren’t a social studies teacher, hopefully this will be another activity you throw into your teaching bag!

YOU NEED

• something to record with- phone or iPad work great. You don’t even need a fancy phone. If you have a wi-fi set up in your school for BYOT, students don’t even need to have a plan for a cell phone to use it. It’s just like an iPad with its own wi-fi. Ask your students’ parents if they have old phones sitting around collecting dust. Maybe they will donate them to your classroom! Most kids have phones that record or an iPad, and you only need as many as you have groups. I had 7-8 groups in my classes.
• blank paper and coloring utensils

WHAT ARE PAPER SLIDE VIDEOS?

A paper slide video consists of the students creating paper slides (on good old white paper) and sliding them across a table while someone videos it. Pretty old fashioned, and I wasn’t quite sold that my students would really enjoy this activity when we are so bombarded with pretty cool uses of technology. Still, I thought it was a simple enough idea and didn’t require a lot of programs to use (because we know how unreliable technology can be), so I thought I would give it a shot.  And a teacher created a paper slide video explaining how to make a paper slide video. She uploaded it to YouTube so everyone can benefit and not recreate the wheel! This video is what I used to explain what a paper slide video was to my students. 

WHY PAPER SLIDE VIDEOS?

Well, teaching social studies means a LOT of facts, which means a LOT of reading. Kiddos don’t like sitting around and reading ALL the time, so I have been coming up with activities for my students to do that doesn’t “seem” like they are reading. It is very important students are able to read and comprehend text during social studies, and that they are able to comprehend the text at a deeper level. History, government, ecomonics….these concepts are all about cause and effect, why, how, etc. I need to make sure my students are reading on a daily basis, but putting a text in front of them on a daily basis can become quite, well, **boring**.  Enter paper slide videos!

PAPER SLIDE VIDEO ACTIVITY

We are in the middle of our World War II unit, and there was a reading article I wanted my students to read because it had tons of great information included that they needed to know. Instead of giving them a copy and having them close read it and answer questions or write a summary, I decided they would jigsaw read the article and create a paper slide video in their groups.

This time I let my students choose their groups of 4. For my on-level classes, I had the article already divided into 4 parts. For my advanced classes, I let them decide how to divide it into 4 parts, and who would read what part. Once they had their part, they started reading just their own part. Once they were done, they had to think about what they would put on their own slide. Then they shared with their group members what their part was about and what they were going to be illustrating. I told them that I didn’t want too many words on the slides; just captions, labels, or short sentences to help understand the illustration if needed.

They had thoughtful discussions about their reading sections while they discussed their ideas for their illustrated slide and their script. Unknown to them, their script became the summary I would have had them write. {insert evil laugh} Once the group came to a consensus on everyone’s slides and an overview of their scripts, they began working. Once the chatter of the group discussion was over, you could hear a pin drop. They were so engaged in their illustrations and scripts. It was awesome! Some students used more color than others. I didn’t FORCE them to fully color the pages. Some wanted to print off pictures from the Internet. I let them. I didn’t want poor or insecure artistic talent to prevent them from enjoying this activity. 

Some of my students made their illustrations into political cartoons. Political cartoons! We have been analyzing these bad boys for a while, and I love it when something we have been working on pops up out of the blue! I didn't tell them to think about making political cartoons. They just did it. #happyteacherheart
When they were all done with their illustrations and scripts, they began practicing. Once they were happy with their paper slides, they were sent out into the hallway to tape. Our hallway is quite long and straight, so several groups were able to tape at the same time and spread out.

This activity took 2 class periods (My classes are 55 minutes long). The first day was how to make a paper slide video, expectations, groupings, reading, and beginning their discussions. I had several start their illustrations at home. I didn’t even tell them to, but most, MOST, of them did. Even those students who rarely do anything at home. The second day was finishing up the illustrations, finishing their scripts, practicing, and recording. It was a tight squeeze, and I didn’t think they would all finish, but they did because they were all actively engaged with minimal off task behavior.

Here is an example of one of their videos:

Click Here

I admit, I did not provide a rubric for this go around. I really wanted this to be a practice session and not grade them on it.  And I also did not want them to spend a very long time doing take after take after take because it was not going to be graded. Yes, I told them that, and they still did a pretty darn good job. Which leads me to believe that they really liked the activity, and it was interest driving their effort and not a grade. HOME RUN! Now that they know how to do one, I think it will take 2 class periods because all I will have to do is tell them what the topic will be. They can do the rest on their own (unless it's a very large topic).

IDEAS FOR OTHER SUBJECTS

• Math- have your students show each step in an equation or problem solving while they explain it.
• Science- have your students show each step in a process like the water cycle; explain how an earthquake happens; or show the different parts of a cell.
• Reading- have your students break down a story into its parts on separate slides (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), or have your students analyze the main characters on different slides.
• Writing- have your students break down a text structure they can use to write an expository piece (a compare/constrast piece can have either a point-by-point structure or a block structure), or have your students show each stage in their writing process to show how they brainstormed, drafted, revised, edited, and published a piece.

What I love most about paper slide videos is that they are so easy to make, you can use them in any subject area, and students love creating them. My students were able to read a small bit of information, yet learn all the information in the article because they jigsawed it. Then they had to discuss their individual parts to make sure the whole video would make sense and flow in a logical manner, which also cleared up any misunderstandings. Best part: my students close read without being told to, and they didn’t even realize they were doing it. AND they wrote a summary for their scripts. I take that as a win!

Have you used paper slide videos before? Please share your ideas below. We would love to hear all about them!

Heather