Halfway point!

I've made it to the halfway point of my first year of middle school, and I couldn't be happier! I have been very lucky (once again) to work with some outstanding people in my new position and having the opportunity to work in the new building! If you would have told me 10, 5, or even just a couple of years ago that I would be teaching middle school, I probably would have told you that you are crazy. But I am a believer in the idea that things are the way they are meant to be, and this is where I am meant to be! It has been an exciting, crazy, exhausting first semester feeling like a new teacher again, and I'm sure the second semester will feel the same way! But it will all be worth it, and I can't wait!
The 7th graders had a busy and fun week! We spent the last few days designing and testing out air filters. The students were provided with some basic materials (pipe cleaners, cotton balls, cheesecloth, Kleenex, and tape) and were tasked with trying to filter out pepper from an air filtration system powered by a hairdryer (picture below). The students needed to work through the engineering design process to create their filters, and we had a good variety of designs. Some were more efficient than others, as expected, but when the students were required to make improvements to their filters they really worked hard and had some pretty successful results! 

The 8th graders gave some performances this week about the seasons using models that they developed. The students had to use the models to show a variety of connections between the Earth and sun that create the seasons. They could give their performances live for the class or by recording it and playing it. Overall, the groups did a great job, but a few of the groups who made videos were so excited to make a video that they forgot to make a model to use in the video (which was the standard that they needed to complete). Their videos ended up doing more telling of the concepts than showing. So, we improvised and I had them do a live performance for me once they actually had a model to use--making another video would just take too long...
Well, see you next semester :-)

Mindfulness thought for the week: Not everyone will always support or agree with you. And that's okay. They don't have to.

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