Etch 'n Sketch Reflections

Tomorrow will be the last day of my 15th year of teaching. 15 years...that means my very first group of 1st graders are in their 20s. That would make me feel kind of old when I say it like that, but I definitely don't feel like it. And I think the reason that I don't really feel old is because of the adventure that I had this year. Making the jump from 3rd grade to middle school definitely got me out of my comfort zone, and I think that it really reinvigorated me. I can truly say that I had that "new teacher" feeling this year: being in a new building, learning TWO new curriculums, and meeting new colleagues (even though I've been in the district awhile, I can say that there are people I met this year that I wouldn't have been able to name last year). The only thing not really new about my move to middle school was the students. Having those familiar faces around was really nice! That "new teacher" feeling brought back some old memories of late night...

Having Monday off really throws the week out of whack (not that I am complaining)! You spend all of Tuesday thinking that it is Monday, and Wednesday is a nice little surprise all of a sudden! And having a busy week to compound things really speeds things up. Both the 7th and 8th graders have had a lot of activity! The 7th graders started working on their Rube Goldberg machines this week. We spent Monday (I mean Tuesday) with the beginning of the Engineering Design Process, asking and answering questions related to the guidelines of the machines, brainstorming designs, and working in teams to come up with a plan. Yesterday the students were able to start creating their machines and then carrying out some immediate improvements based on testing. It was pretty much the same for today--a lot of hustling and bustling, dominoes falling, and a lot of marbles rolling around! I'm excited to see how they all turn out--there are a bunch unique ideas being created! Our goal is to have them w...

I would say that odd would kind of be a way to describe this week (but mainly just the last two days). My mornings were pretty much "business as usual" with the 7th graders. We are in the depths of studying physics, and the students are learning about transfers of kinetic energy. To show their understanding of the concept, the students needed to create a demonstration for the class and then explain the energy transfers that were present. I told them that they needed to be creative with their demonstrations (I didn't want to see 9 presentations of one student tossing a ball to another student and explaining that the kinetic energy in their arm was transferred to the ball and made it move), and I wasn't disappointed. They came up with some pretty good demonstrations and explanations. Many of the students still wanted to show off their athletic abilities, so we did need to borrow some sporting equipment from the gym teachers. Most of the demonstrations needed to happen o...

So, having taught 3rd grade for all the years prior to this one, I've never really had to teach about Human Growth and Development. Being in middle school now, things have changed. You see, as you get older, your body will begin to go through...just kidding. Earlier in the year at a science meeting, the other 8th-grade science teacher and I were informed that due to 8th graders not having health class, they would be having "the talk" during science. Well, we put our heads together and determined that the best time to do it would be to include it with our unit on body systems. And, to be honest, it worked out perfectly! The class is learning about cells, and the main Human Growth and Development topic for 8th grade is STDs. There were quite a few connections between the two! Some of you may be thinking, "Well, didn't you make them connect so well because you planned it that way?" Nope. At this point, I should state that I didn't actually have to plan out...

I'm sticking with my commitment to post every Thursday, but this one is going to be short and sweet because frankly, I'm tired. This has been a week of little sleep due to some sicknesses at home. On Sunday afternoon Olivia, my daughter, began to complain of a pretty serious stomach ache and threw up shortly after. And the thing about Olivia and getting sick is that she does it on a very set schedule. Sunday's schedule was every 30 minutes for all of the afternoon. It wasn't until the evening that her episodes became more sporadic, and I thought we might be in the clear for a somewhat decent night sleep when it was finally time to get to bed. But alas, 'twas not so...2:00 am rolled around and she was waking me up with the message of more stomach aches and a mess. So, that led to no more sleep until I was able to take a nap around 1:00 pm Monday afternoon (if you haven't guessed already, I stayed home from school to take care of her). We follow the 24-hour rule o...

Well, with one about one month left to go, it should be a wild ride as we finish out the year! Both the 7th and 8th graders have some units that are hands-on and high energy! In 7th grade, we are continuing on in our unit of force and motion, and the students were given the task of developing their own controlled investigations to put the laws of motion to the test! We had a variety of investigations happening around our classroom: ball drops from the upstairs to downstairs, students building and testing ramps, adaptations of our catapult lab from last week, and even one group of boys who made a bow and arrow out of a clothes hanger. It was great to see the level of problem-solving that the students were doing as they realized some aspects of their investigations would need adjusting in order to meet the constraints of the investigation! Of course, there were a couple of groups that needed some steering in the right direction, but once they got the handle of it they carried out their ...

Another busy week is just about in the books, and both 7th and 8th grade had plenty to keep them busy. The 7th graders started a lab this week that focuses on Newton's laws, and we are making catapults to measure the comparisons between the amount of force that is used and the distance a ping pong ball travels. It has been a little while since the 7th graders have done a lab (and, therefore, a lab report), so we needed to have a refresher on putting together the foundations of the lab report, discussing the creation of a hypothesis, identifying the variables of the investigation, and developing the procedures they were going to follow. Building the catapults was definitely a fun part of the lab, but in order to earn their ping pong ball, groups had to show that they had their procedures and data analysis ready to go. Gotta make them earn it! This week was an odd week for the 8th graders due to afternoon Forward testing. The 8th graders only had one test this week, but I needed to ...