Etch 'n Sketch Reflections

 Did you ever have one of those weeks where every day kind of bleeds into the next, and by the end of the week you have a hard time remembering what you did on certain days prior? That's how I'm feeling right now. I would say that the main reason for this is that I'm sitting in an empty classroom every day. Even though the students are at home, teachers are allowed to work in their classrooms (assuming that they don't have any illnesses or have been contact-traced). We do have the option to work from home, but I felt that I would get more accomplished at school (fewer distractions :-) Now that the assignments are starting to roll in, it has definitely been helpful to have the quiet time at school to manage grading and identifying what is missing. However, I would much rather have a classroom bustling with activity (as most teachers would). So, even though I couldn't fully remember what happened on what day, looking back at my lesson notes has helped, and it was a pr...

Well, we got a couple of weeks into school, and it happened. We knew it was a possibility, but it would have been nice if it could have held off just a little bit longer. Yup, we are back to learning virtually at the middle school. Since the very first day, students have been going home with some of the warning signs of COVID (not that they necessarily had it--we aren't testing for it, just simply watching out for signs so that we can contain the possibility of spread). However, last Thursday we had our first confirmed case, and an entire class of students (and the teacher) had to begin complete virtual learning for 2 weeks. However, things expanded early this week, and due to some close contact situations with individuals who had tested positive, it increased the population of people who would need to learn from home as well as put a strain on being able to allow for substitute teachers in situations where teachers were in close contact with positive cases.  So, on Tuesday we got ...

So, I usually post my blog on Thursday nights (sorry this one was late, but I was REALLY tired last night), so with all things considered (with teaching in the world of COVID), my post for last Thursday made it seem like the first week of school wasn't too bad. Then Friday came. And it was time for my science lesson (not that I'm actually into my science content yet--we are still working on launching procedures with the students). If things could go wrong with my science time on Friday, they did. It was an EPIC fail.  My focus for launching procedures with the 5th graders has been centered around using Canvas, our online learning platform. On Friday, my lesson was about showing the students the different ways that they could submit an assignment in Canvas. My hope was to show a short video over the Google Meet that we had going so that we could use it as a jumping-off point to discuss procedures. Well, the volume levels in the different classrooms didn't really jive well wi...

 Wow, I can say that I've never had a first week like this one! It was mind-bogglingly exhausting! Tuesday morning was the first day, and in some ways it was normal: the kids come into school with feelings of excitement, but they are still shockingly quiet as they sit in their seats. We talk about what we did during summer, get to know one another, and discuss procedures and expectations. However, in many other ways, it was clearly not normal: classes of masked students, plexiglass dividers on tables, and many (MANY) squirts of sanitizer. We talked about and practiced procedures that are put in place to keep everyone safe. Probably the biggest change of all is the combination of in-class and virtual teaching that was going on. I have a cohort (class) of 24 students in my room. We are with each other all day, so in many ways, it feels like my old experiences at the elementary school. This is my core group of students--the ones I am going to end up connecting with the most. However, ...

                                                Usually I would make a comment at the beginning of the school year about how it seems like summer just flew by. I can't really say that this year. Summer didn't seem very quick this year. That's probably because it wasn't a normal summer. And this won't be a regular school year. I mean, gosh, walking back into my classroom for in-service felt a little strange, like I hadn't been there for 6 months...oh, wait, that's right, it has been 6 MONTHS! This was an in-service like I've never experienced; of course, that's because we are living in a time where much of what's going on hasn't been experienced in a very long time. However, I think our district has handled things well. And the number one thing that was done correctly was providing us with time. We are needing to prepare ourselves for teaching in a way that a large majo...

This week was most definitely the strangest last week of school that I can remember. It was a week of mixed emotions and one that I hope I don't have to repeat again. Cleaning, meetings, conferencing, teaching, and partying (yes, partying) all rolled into one week. In all my years of teaching, I don't think I've ever been able to get my room packed up and ready for the summer in 2 hours. Well, that's what I did on Monday. As a staff, we were provided with a sign up to choose a time to go in and clean things up for the summer. It was the first time I had been in my room since the middle of March, and the date was still on the board. When we left, we thought we were just going to be gone for a few weeks. Those few weeks turned into a few months. There wasn't a lot to clean up--I mainly just needed to wipe off the boards and clean off my desk and shelves. But it was just really strange to go through those things that had just been left there and to think about what had...

Memorial Day has come and gone, and the feeling of summer is upon us. While it isn't quite here yet, it's close. If we were at school, the buzz of energy from the students would be through the roof. Virtually learning, however, has definitely put a damper on that. At school, we would be wrapping up units while trying to rein in the students' attention away from their dreams of sleeping in late and other summer plans. This week, units are still being wrapped up, but that struggle of reining in their attention isn't quite there; many of them probably already sleep in late, and summer plans are obviously still up in the air. Last week was when I officially wrapped up my final science unit, so this week was made up of some enrichment activities related to that final standard. We have been learning about how chemical reactions occur when two substances are mixed and a new substance gets created. This week I gave the students an opportunity to dig in a little deeper to chemi...

It was really hard to get into a groove this week, and that was right from the get-go. Monday morning started out with our middle school staff meeting at 8:30 am. It got done at about 9:00, and the next meeting for the day was a 5th-grade team meeting at 9:30. Well, around 9:20 my wife, who was sitting across from me at the kitchen table (that's my "office") started to act strangely. My wife has multiple sclerosis, so there are plenty of stories I could tell you about her health. Needless to say, though, this didn't look good and needed to be addressed quickly. Out of nowhere, she began to tremble, had difficulty completing sentences, couldn't make eye contact, and had poor depth perception/motor skills. We've been together long enough, however, that some of these symptoms have come up in the past. As a complication to her MS, my wife is prone to UTIs--she probably gets one every other year, if not more. I took her temperature and he had a fever of 100.7. We c...

In class the last few weeks, the students have been working toward meeting a standard in which they need to conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances. In essence, the students need to be able to determine whether or not a chemical reaction occurs when two things are mixed. To be able to build up to this point, the students needed to understand what a mixture is (and they also learned the difference between a mixture and a solution). From there we learned about the differences between physical and chemical changes. This part was fun because it was an opportunity for the students to see some pretty cool changes. The idea of a chemical change resulting in a new substance was tricky for some of them to understand, however, because a lot of times those changes come in the form of gas being created. So we needed to look for evidence of gases being created, such as the substances getting very foamy or bubbling up. I think that...

Teacher Appreciation Week! It was a week filled with sporadic messages and tokens of appreciation from students, families, and colleagues. With how things have been, it definitely wasn't the typical Teacher Appreciation Week (is anything really going to be typical anymore?), but there were still several signs of thankfulness. The week started off with a nice note and gift card from my mom--she's thoughtful like that (I love you, Mom!). Then came a video message of thanks from a wide variety of individuals and families from around the district, along with free lunch, compliments of the school district. I'm going to have to find some time to take a drive to Sheboygan and get it! As the week went by I received several emails from students with messages of thanks for all the help they've received this year. Today brought a few surprises in the form of more cards and gifts, plus a nice visit! One card I received in the mail was from my mother-in-law (she's thoughtful l...

Not a bad week, but it just felt really long...one of those weeks where you can't remember what happened at the beginning of the week unless you really think hard. All in all, it was a good week (except for yesterday--yesterday sucked), but a rather busy week both in and out of school. Things have become pretty routine-oriented for school now. Monday is spent in staff and team meetings in the morning, and a homeroom video chat with the students tossed in before lunch. The afternoon is then spent emailing students with missing work updates and feedback from assignments turned in over the weekend along with prepping for Tuesday's science lesson and assignment. This particular Monday also brought a little excitement out of school hours; my daughter and I finished building a desk for her room. She wants to redecorate her room with some homemade furniture, and a desk was the first thing on the list. She designed it, I cut the wood, she stained it, and we worked together building it...

Well, the news of not physically going back to school has sunk in, and this week was better. The assignments this week also allowed the students to be a little more active in science class. Our current unit deals with matter, specifically the fact that matter is made up of particles that are too small to be seen. Up until now, we have been working on learning a lot of the conceptual knowledge that will help the students meet the standard. This week, however, it was time to put that knowledge to work. We started with a bit of an inquiry-based activity. I created a demonstration for the students in which I poured two cups of water into a bottle. I marked the level of the water and then poured it out. After that, I poured in one cup of water and one cup of rubbing alcohol. In this case, the two liquids did not reach the two cup line marked off from the two cups of water. The students had to try to explain why based off of what they had learned about particles in liquids. I had some hint...

There. I said it. That's how I'm feeling right now. I just found out that we will not be physically back at school this year. And that sucks. I want to see my kids. Not just digitally see them on Google Meet. I want to give them high fives and hugs. I want to be able to tell them, "Good job, you made it through virtual learning. Now we've got some time together to finish out the year all together in one place." But we won't. And that sucks. Don't get me wrong--I think I've been doing a pretty good job teaching digitally, all things considered. But it's just not the same...and that sucks.

So, to be perfectly honest, my lesson for the end of last week didn't go as planned. We were wrapping up our unit about space, and the standard the students were working to meet was supporting an argument that the reason the sun seems so much brighter than the other stars is that it is closer to earth than all the others. Along with this standard, I am working on teaching the students how to use evidence and explain it in a way that can support a claim. We have spent the last few weeks learning about stars: what makes them up, why they shine and how brightly, how big they are, and (importantly) how far away they are. Pretty straight forward. To help the students develop their arguments, we are using a method called the CER model (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning). We've used it in science class before, and the students are actually using it in writing right now to support them with opinion writing. Putting all of this together, I guessed that the students would be able to support th...

Well, after a much needed week of rest, it was back to work, but definitely not back to normal. It looks like we are going to be having a new normal for a while, and it is going to take some adjusting to get used to it. Spring break was good--very relaxing. I would like to say that my time was spent evenly distributed between getting things marked off of the to-do list, exercising, reading, and relaxing. But it was definitely more in the relaxing column, spent playing a game on my phone or watching Netflix. In my defense, though, I do watch Netflix while on the treadmill, so that has to count for something. I also got on my bike and rode around St. Cloud several days, so that was good too. As for "back to school" on Monday, the new normal finds my days spent in front of the computer. Having this experience of teaching from home has taught me that I am glad I didn't go into a profession where I would need just be sitting at a computer all day. I miss being able to walk a...

Well, if I thought some of my other weeks of school this year were interesting, then this one definitely takes the cake. Let's actually rewind to last Friday. Last week was my week of meetings, and it ended with an IEP meeting for one of my students during the last hour of the day. Just before the meeting began, there was an email sent out explaining that the students would be taking their Chromebooks home (they usually stay at school) as a precaution for school closings. At that time, it had not yet been determined that our school would be closed, though there were some other districts in the state that had closed school. With about 10 minutes left in the school day, one of my colleagues came into the meeting and explained our students were going to be returning from their specials early so that we could explain everything about the Chromebooks. The students were obviously in a tizzy, full of questions about what was happening and if we were going to have school this week. I could...

That is literally the best way to describe this week. I honestly can't remember the last time I had this many meetings in one week! Monday brought about a surprise meeting right away in the morning. One of my 5th-grade colleagues was sick on Monday morning and was supposed to attend a 504 meeting before school. A 504 plan, for those of you not in the education world, addresses ways that schools will support students with disabilities that aren't part of a special education program. There are any number of reasons as to why students might qualify for a 504 plan--some examples are students with ADHD or cases of anxiety. The 504 plan then lays out strategies that the students can use or accommodations that staff can put in place in order to help the student be more successful. So, one of the school counselors came into my room and explained the situation. What made things more interesting was the fact that I was currently in charge of watching about 35 students during Peaceful St...

And you know what that means...it's almost Saturday. I'm really looking forward to sleeping in. My body needs it. I can't say that it was an incredibly hectic week, but it was just a hodgepodge of a week. Getting to the bottom of some student behaviors was probably the most tiring (as it usually is). The one really nice thing about the week was that science was pretty consistent (in terms of what the students were working on) for the whole week. The first 3 days were pretty much research and preparation for constellation presentations to be given today and tomorrow. That meant lesson planning for the week was easy. Most of my week during science was spent checking in with students and the progress of their projects. The only frustrating part of it was some students not taking advantage of using the recommended resources that I had shared with them. I'm not really sure how many times I repeated the phrase, "Well, if you go to THIS website that I have included in the...

This week we are heading for the stars as we finish up another one of our Earth and Space Science standards. Our standard deals with collecting data and looking for patterns related to shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of stars in the sky. What better way to talk about the seasonal appearance of stars in the sky than to look at the bigger "picture" and focus on constellations? We spent the first couple of days building some background about what constellations are and why some constellations are only visible at certain times of the year. Part of the background learning that we did brought up the fact that many constellations have a mythological connection, and some of the students were able to make some quick connections to their reading units last year related to mythology (it's always nice to see that little spark in their eyes and to hear "I remember when we learned...). There are also a few students who are REALLY into the Zodiac signs, so we m...

There's a saying that teachers wear a lot of different hats as part of their job. Well, this week I had my detective hat on, and I would say that I wore it well. Yesterday morning, a group of girls came up to me pretty much as soon as the day had started. Apparently, a rumor had been started by about one of the girls in the group. On went my detective hat! From the sounds of it, the rumor had not been widely spread, so that was a definite plus. I collected the information that the girls could provide me and set off on my mission. Now, luckily, with the way that our schedule is organized, the students are actually coming into school and settling into the classrooms before school academically starts. We call it "Peaceful Start." It's a time for the students to peacefully ease into the school day (hopefully). Since it was peaceful start, I had the flexibility to check into my new case and interview potential suspects. The girl who the rumor was about had given me the na...