Dr. who?

My students have a characteristic way of telling it like it is, I must say. I'm sure they get a little irritated by my antics & can often predict what I'm going to say. It's mildly amusing to hear them imitate me (since I take every opportunity to imitate many of them, I admit).

I was a little taken aback by one of their comments this week. Sometimes instead of nagging or chirping at them to stay on task, I try the opposite approach. I guess at one point I'd said, "Come on, guys, we can do this. I believe in you," etc. a little too much. A rather exasperated student replied, "Man, you sound like Dr. Phil!" He did provide a little comic relief to my day, but I can't say it was one of my prouder moments.

Speaking of comic relief, I had many hilarious moments this week. I coerced my students to participate in what I called, "Atomic Idol." The kids wrote their own songs about matter & atoms, and them performed them in a fierce "Atomic Idol" competition. I turned the classroom into a stage, complete with colored lights (too bad I didn't have a disco ball!), and greeted each kid at the door with, "Welcome to Hollywood!" I can't believe I act so silly with them sometimes, but, surprisingly, most of them now know their subatomic particles . . . and their clever songs have been running through my head for 3 days straight!

As for now, I'm off to enjoy a teenager-free weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed our 2 snow days, but they made it a looooooooong stretch before our next teacher workday!

Nice change of pace

I love science, but I have to admit that sometimes I have content-area envy. Some days I want to read poetry or debate an idea or discuss the history of something once in a while. I've even done most of these things in my class at some point or another.

Recently we were studying infectious diseases, and I wanted to play on the kids' emotional side for a bit. I also wanted to scare the socks off some of my students, and correct a few blatant misconceptions. We spent quite a bit of time on HIV / AIDS. After explaining the science of the disease, I had them read stories written by teenagers affected with HIV . . . some were engaging in at-risk behaviors, some had family who were HIV+, and some were suffering with AIDS personally. As my students read the stories, a somber hush fell over the room . . . in each period, without fail. I think they were shocked to read about kids in their own country who deal with this frightening disease. It's so easy to think that HIV is hovering about in Africa and not as close as next door.

We "debriefed" for a bit, and talked about parts of the stories that impacted them the most. I then made them write about what it would be like to wake up one day and find out you were HIV+. Their responses intrigued me. Some admitted they would never leave the house and would feel ashamed forever. Others said they would live life to the fullest, and try to make the best of the time they had left. Still others said they would want to help as many people as possible, and try to warn people about at risk behaviors.

It was so refreshing to hear their thoughts & opinions on an issue, instead of just discussing the facts & procedures & details of a topic. I realized that I need to structure more activities this way, if for no other reason than it provides a nice change of pace from my normal routine way of teaching science!

I don't get it

Sometimes I think I think too much. I'm trying to figure out my principal's response to a recent request, and I just can't.

She recently encouraged us to think of ways to challenge & push our academically-gifted students. I received an email invitation to bring students to a local university for a scientific lecture. The speaker is an expert in herbicides & pesticides, and will present his studies on the links he's found between these chemicals & cancer rates. Chemicals, cancer, and toxicology are all part of grade 8 science curriculum, without stretching or manipulating. The lecture is free, and a teacher even offered to drive a bus in order to eliminate transportation costs. Basically, it's an opportunity for kids to visit a college campus and hear a "real" scientist speak on a current, curriculum-related issue.

When asked about whether we could take a few students to this, our principal responded, "I'm inclined not to do this." End of discussion. (For now, at least. I'm not sure my indignation will allow me to "let it go.")

If she wants to focus on classroom instruction, that's fine; just say so. If she would rather bring speakers in and not take kids off campus, I suppose that's understandable, but she's never said that. I guess the scientist in me always wants to know "why," and when I'm not given a decent explanation, it seems absurd.

What could be wrong with taking a group of interested students to hear a lecture at a university? Don't we want to expose kids to higher learning? I remember very little about grade 8 science, but I know I would have remembered hearing a scientific lecture outside the classroom.

Our principal seems to like events & ideas that she can control. So, if taking kids off campus is too unpredictable, just say so. It's so completley disheartening & makes me feel defeated just to hear a negative response without even a "let me think about this a little more."

Arrrrrrrrrgh.