tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.comments2023-10-23T14:25:57.470-04:00Reflections of a Science TeacherReflections of a Science Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16673400806932702851noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-91876894946603178732017-12-16T20:47:48.146-05:002017-12-16T20:47:48.146-05:00I wrote that post many years ago when I was still ...I wrote that post many years ago when I was still somewhat new to teaching, and I now think differently. Students are able to do less and less every year, and they are unwilling to put the necessary work into learning something... anything actually. They will be in a sorry state in the future. It seems that few are able to think for themselves.Reflections of a Science Teacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16673400806932702851noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-43496425459344923752017-12-16T18:20:33.545-05:002017-12-16T18:20:33.545-05:00Why our students refuse to put any effort, should ...Why our students refuse to put any effort, should be the title here?!<br />I teach high school math and for the last 10 years, I can see that the main goal for most of my students is to get a good grade without any sweat. Today's major bullshit in education is the student self-reflection/met-cognition crap, beside the Teacher-Coaches fraud.. Seriously, how can you solve a math/science/life problem without thinking, therefore reflecting. This is an inherently mandated part of any task for a human being. Thinking is what makes us Homo Sapiens. <br />Our students want to learn the Sport of advanced math and science, by simply watching the show. Or the lesson game as it's payed by the teacher. You can't learn to play tennis by simply watching someone playing it. You must get on the field and do the moves. Eventually, you'll get some after a while.<br />Teachers are required to get more and more training, attend Professional Developments, get more college classes, etc. All of this while, they've been told to lower the workload on the student's plate. WTF? WHo's supposed to graduate, the teacher or the student? In my state, lately, the amazing intellectuals of our state senate/congress decided that an exit exam should not be required anymore to graduate a high school. Right?! I mean why was there an exit exam in the first place anyway?<br />I'm told to use student-centered teaching, where my students should tell me what they want to learn. I can't believe this! Someone who's a high school student should tell the teacher what should be learned in her class. Why the heck are the teachers required to have a license then? Our students know what they want and what they need to learn! Right?! Teachers shut up! Teacher get a different job, 'cause our student would graduate without you! We don't need teachers anymore!<br />Talking about teacher-coaches fraud now! In many schools, you have teacher-coaches who taught for one year, got a master, or not, and now are going to enlighten everyone on what should be done in the classroom.<br />Kindergarten teachers get an administrator license and are now in charge with our high schools and tell their secondary license teachers how they should teach in class. What the heck is happening in America? <br />We're required to treat 17-18 years old teens as if they are 4-5 years old.<br /><br />Chemistry can be easy if your students will start working on it! They must take notes, pay attention, try, fail and try again! Some will be in the top, some will be at the bottom! And that's how will always be! We can't be all scientists, savants, highly intelligent or leading the way in all of life's domains.<br />We should stop promoting students into high schools, before they master 1st grade subjects. Mastery should be the norm!<br /><br />A Big Big Lie is leading the American's educational System now. We, the teachers refuse to admit it and keep lying to ourselves about. Students are graduating high schools without having the minimum requirements for it. Pretty soon there will be Special Education Engineers building our bridges and buildings! Scary scenario, but it might happen sooner than expected... Imagine two persons talking about one of this "great" bridges:"It was built by one of our Great Special Ed. engineers!" "Really!?""How beautiful!"" Yes! We're so proud that our university was able to give every student a chance to have a Bachelor of Science!"... " Oh My God is collapsing right now!!!!"Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06782885523412076028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-65606243117380351272017-01-13T18:22:12.423-05:002017-01-13T18:22:12.423-05:00Thank you! This is something that I have been thin...Thank you! This is something that I have been thinking about as we move toward digital. Sometimes I still give me students a postcard or certificate to take home (something tangible goes a long way). But I have just started to get into the digital badges and wasn't aware of the platforms to make them. Thanks!Science in the Cityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08912795185234572338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-79972948622641357042016-04-11T00:40:46.545-04:002016-04-11T00:40:46.545-04:00Thank you for sharing. With the initial phase of t...Thank you for sharing. With the initial phase of the implementation of NGSS, I remember reading about how the scientific method has been gone since the 60's. I understood what it meant in that science is conducted by inquiry and that the steps are not set in stone at all. Rather, the scientific method was initially developed in order to standardize scientific research papers.<br /><br />I had no idea how to explain this to my students or even their parents. This graphic is fantastic in that it makes it very clear to see how science is conducted randomly based off the path the researcher is led or decides to take. Thank you again for providing it!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06503492686817075579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-2413262048717553862015-11-24T20:26:22.100-05:002015-11-24T20:26:22.100-05:00I agree that badge standards are crucial, and I ho...I agree that badge standards are crucial, and I hoped that I had made it clear that it a set of criteria for badges is important. It must be considered, however, that there may be a wide range of badges that may be distributed, particularly given the diversity of subjects, ages, and abilities of our young people. For example, I am working on a set of criteria for students to demonstrate an understanding of the history of the Periodic Chart of Elements and trends within the periodic table, including understanding of valence electrons and electron configurations, at the high school level. This is fairly specific to my students, so I plan on establishing my own badge.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04564144045821886438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-37207097515549476312015-11-23T17:14:13.321-05:002015-11-23T17:14:13.321-05:00This post does a nice job of introducing the conce...This post does a nice job of introducing the concept of badges to teachers. I also like that it reviews a couple of softwares for creating badges images. Its important, however, that teachers also consider a "badge issuing platform" that uses the open badges standard. An open badge is not just an image, it is a set of metadata that explains when the credential was issued, who issued it, and what it was issued for. Some badge issuing platforms will allow students and teachers to host learning evidence outside of a separate e-portfolio software. For badge issuing platforms I suggest comparing Open Badge Factory, Credly and Badge List (badgelist.com - I am biased as I helped build this one.) Ben Roomehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741818394091065604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-81898570742386531822015-11-13T07:46:14.430-05:002015-11-13T07:46:14.430-05:00Good ,made me win my science festGood ,made me win my science festAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00704523166367947524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-2476548354521743172015-10-19T04:16:46.704-04:002015-10-19T04:16:46.704-04:00We have read the blog and it's a nice thing in...We have read the blog and it's a nice thing in your blog. Really helpful with the information provided.Thank you for the post.<br />For more information visit: <b><a href="http://www.clippingpathassociate.com/" rel="nofollow">clipping path service</a></b>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11510779248999921959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-75041450167334011622015-09-20T15:35:36.518-04:002015-09-20T15:35:36.518-04:00This year I am running into the same problem with ...This year I am running into the same problem with one of my class. They are really quiet for a class of 37 students. I would wait and wait, and occasionally would get a student brave enough to respond to my questions. I have been trying encouraged them to share their responses and letting them know that it's okay to to make mistakes - it's all part of the learning process - but they still haven't internalized this yet. Probably a little to early in the year to get them to buy in to it and the fact that most say it's too early in the morning for their brain to function.<br /><br />I like your idea of passing out the index cards to modify the usual 10-15 second wait time for a student's response. I think I am going to give this a try, but substituting the index card to strips of printing paper cut in advance. Index cards are too pricey for our school budget. <br /><br />SammiAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06800500686518895921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-119980012898791272015-08-22T04:40:49.139-04:002015-08-22T04:40:49.139-04:00I think you are really helping those students by g...I think you are really helping those students by giving them the notecards. I teach at a community college and run into something quite similar (students who just won't speak up) and my solution is pretty similar to yours. Some students are very nervous about speaking up and exposing themselves.... I could *force* them to talk (cold calling, punishment with points etc) but then you end up with inauthentic answers and zero genuine interest. I have found that giving students a way to write their questions, and then me answering them anonymously in front of the class actually tends to change the dynamic of the room. After a couple weeks of it more students seem to ask their questions out loud, and the ones who don't shouldn't be forced. By the way, my method is through feedback sheets, an idea I got from a 2009 MIT opencourseware class on teaching, which is the best set of lectures on teaching I have ever seen. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/chemistry/5-95j-teaching-college-level-science-and-engineering-spring-2009/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-62861262144356996622015-07-28T03:57:39.407-04:002015-07-28T03:57:39.407-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15576013157820031267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-67974503654585959862015-05-17T22:52:23.249-04:002015-05-17T22:52:23.249-04:00PcHsAmBa and others: I have found a great soap rec...PcHsAmBa and others: I have found a great soap recipe for beginners that hardens relatively fast and has good lather right off. The original recipe:<br /> Castor oil 1 oz<br /> Coconut oil 6 oz<br /> Olive oil 26 oz<br /> Water 10 oz<br /> Lye (NaOH) 4.4 oz<br />For students, I converted everything into grams and cut it into one-quarter the amount. It mixes well in a 400 mL beaker and makes four bars. Students also added "a capful" of essential oil for scent. I used grapefruit for its economy. Reflections of a Science Teacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16673400806932702851noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-8274238182552220242015-05-17T11:37:26.345-04:002015-05-17T11:37:26.345-04:00Going to give this method a shot in class this wee...Going to give this method a shot in class this week. I have also scoured the web for soap recipes in the hopes of finding one that was not overly dangerous to run with a room full of 20-30 teenagers. This one seems to fit the mold, so to speak... :)<br />Thanks!PcHsAmBahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10229449579434397433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-63153501003394848622015-05-16T10:40:25.472-04:002015-05-16T10:40:25.472-04:00Sandra,
It has been a few years since a really s...Sandra, <br /><br />It has been a few years since a really severe winter brought an exorbitant amount of snow days in Iowa. We definitely had the means to make up the work on some of those days through eLearning. I know it will happen eventually, but I wondered why my little school district didn't try to make it happen sooner. We were all using Google apps and other platforms that made it seem we could have done it.<br /><br />You have some excellent ideas for thinking outside of the old paradigm for making up days, not just eLearning, (That was my only idea.) Hopefully, your ideas will get some in your school district working together to solve the problem. This year, however, I guess you'll be going later than usual. Or has there been other arrangements made already?<br /><br />Either way, I hope your end of the year goes well! Thanks for sharing. <br /><br />Regards,<br />Denise<br /><br />Denise Krebshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00583406241247334445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-73794012678494967882015-04-07T18:28:16.007-04:002015-04-07T18:28:16.007-04:00Yes you can!Just size your pvc pipe and the seed b...Yes you can!Just size your pvc pipe and the seed bombs accordingly. ;)Reflections of a Science Teacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16673400806932702851noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-24452824049826861302015-04-04T14:38:50.661-04:002015-04-04T14:38:50.661-04:00I'm trying to figure out if I can make seed bo...I'm trying to figure out if I can make seed bombs that with fit in a marshmallow gun. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13089209379882280026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-54362503509524248542015-02-13T08:33:04.247-05:002015-02-13T08:33:04.247-05:00Great thoughts on this. I like the idea of the bli...Great thoughts on this. I like the idea of the blizzard bag. So many concepts need a little work each day, as you say, the kids lose momentum. Thanks for the post!Sarah- Share it! Sciencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04122885319111250945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-22055610528452509032014-11-14T22:29:55.299-05:002014-11-14T22:29:55.299-05:00Hi, just passing by your site to see something tha...Hi, just passing by your site to see something that will interest me and luckily you impressed me with your great article and I have a great time reading everything that is written. I'm looking forward to see more of your write-ups. If you have time you can also visit my site which indicated below.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.triciajoy.com" rel="nofollow">nhella</a><br /><br />www.triciajoy.comandrea chiuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04035532519352427999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-62872086388026579982014-11-10T05:10:11.093-05:002014-11-10T05:10:11.093-05:00Awesome! Inspiring! :))Awesome! Inspiring! :))Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11611745147118841547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-15589805395313893172014-07-30T08:59:28.186-04:002014-07-30T08:59:28.186-04:00You are most welcome, and thank you for posting yo...You are most welcome, and thank you for posting your comment!Reflections of a Science Teacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16673400806932702851noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-6294795052535345942014-07-30T06:52:37.921-04:002014-07-30T06:52:37.921-04:00Thanks for share this helpful info.
Best Physics ...Thanks for share this helpful info.<br /><a rel="nofollow"> Best Physics Tutors </a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12710690844728889549noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-51413605032297820802014-05-27T13:21:03.317-04:002014-05-27T13:21:03.317-04:00Thank you so much, Brian!Thank you so much, Brian!Reflections of a Science Teacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16673400806932702851noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-75632607502783623312014-05-24T12:38:08.321-04:002014-05-24T12:38:08.321-04:00This is the best step-by-step blogging guide for s...This is the best step-by-step blogging guide for students I have come across. Thanks for sharing!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08151021437770279866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-41162350083550101542014-04-15T06:48:10.504-04:002014-04-15T06:48:10.504-04:00I wanted to introduce you to a chemistry worksheet...I wanted to introduce you to a chemistry worksheet resource we are in the process of creating. All of the worksheets are free, can be easily customized, are formatted to be printed, and have no advertisements on them. If you get a chance please check us out.<br /><br />Thanks,<br />Peter<br />www.stemsheets.comUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07536103648852865613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4708327355963027949.post-38903639860699325612014-03-21T03:17:24.133-04:002014-03-21T03:17:24.133-04:00Thank you for all the suggestions...... :)
i'l...Thank you for all the suggestions...... :)<br />i'll try all d above steps.... If u have any more suggestions..... Please mail me... Gmail: lalakhaling@gmail.com <br />M finding chemistry very very......hard from my 10th standard....Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16619975032713521011noreply@blogger.com