Day 7: Blue Lantern Corps

I was part of a conference call earlier in the week with several astronomy teachers from around the country.  They were friendly, fun and knowledgeable and our discussion centered around our plans for the year.

I became increasingly apparent to me that I have no clue what I'm doing.  Having a passion for something is important, but is not nearly enough to be able to teach that subject.

The teacher who has been teaching this class in previous was kind and generous enough to give me everything he had.  As I look through it, I'm becoming increasingly aware of how much work I have to do to get up to speed.  I'm not going to pretend to be an expert and I told my students that, since this is the first time I'm teaching the course, that I would be learning along with them.

Earlier this week, I ran into a cashier who had some very nerdy and cool tattoos on display.  The one that got me thinking about the crest of the Blue Lantern Corps, soldiers of hope throughout the universe.  I think that I will be channeling them this year as I try to stay a few steps ahead of the kids.  I have hope that I will be able to right by them.

During the conference call, I asserted that I wasn't super pleased with the order in which this course was traditionally taught and that I might switch it up a bit.

I'm thinking that I'm not doing that.  Maybe if I keep teaching it, in a few years I'll feel more comfortable, but for right now, I'm sticking to the outline.

That means this coming week, we will be starting to talk about astronomical tools.  The outline for the coming chapter starts with waves and light.  I figured that since we had a quiz yesterday and were doing some pretty numerically intensive work this week, today would be a good day for a video.

I pulled up a video from Crash Course: Astronomy from Phil Plait that dealt with distances and how we determine them.  We will be talking more about parallax later in the year, but this was a great intro.

No, not you, Parallax.

Two Lantern references in one post? That's pretty dorky, even for me...

I also showed them a brief video about black holes and how small or big they can be.  That sparked a short discussion about how black holes (and anything with gravity) bend the space-time around it.  The majority of the students were VERY interested in that.

Then we went into the hallway with a VERY long slinky and I gave them a brief introduction to compression and transverse waves.  I'm hoping that I can continue to hold their interest with the various demonstrations and activities.

Hooray! Supplies!

My loopiness may have manifested later in the day with me chasing students around my room with a boom cannon...  When I aimed it at one of my physics students, he threw his hands up and yelled "black lives matter!"

Day 6: Channeling Frank

It's quiz day!!

This is basically how I introduced assessments in all of my classes today

"Quizzes and tests are not a measure of who you are, or even really what you know.  They are a single measure of what you are capable of at the moment when you take them.  I know everyone has off days and brain farts.  It's also important to me that you not overstress about this class.  It's an elective and supposed to be (and will be) awesome!  I use tests and quizzes to show me what I need to cover more deeply, not to keep you from graduating.

"If you have an off day, or just decide that you don't like the grade you earned, you'll be able to make it up.  I want you to grow and learn.  When you have finished with your quizzes today, go to the back of the room where I have put some answer keys and check your work.  You will be grading them yourselves using the highlighters I've put there."

This last part comes from the brilliant Frank Noschese and helps students have more ownership over their work.

Later in the year, I'll be giving credit for correcting mistakes, but for now, I wanted them to get used to grading their own papers.

First period seemed to do very well with this setup.  The later periods told me that everyone was going to get 100% because they were just going to mark everything right.  We had a brief conversation about the value of learning over grades and it MAY have sunk in.  I wasn't convinced, so I reminded them I would also be marking them and they wouldn't get 100% if they didn't show me that they knew 100% of the information.

I was pleased with how seriously most of the students took the quiz and the opportunity for immediate feedback.  Several students came up to asking me to explain why the answers were the way they were.  I was very happy to see that they wanted to know not just that they were wrong, but why.

I was less pleased with the results, but I'm not going to be too upset about it.  As I promised, I'll provide them with the opportunity to re-do the quizzes if they choose.  Due to the diverse gap of mathematical background knowledge, I don't plan to emphasize too much in terms of calculation.  I am much more concerned with theory and practice.

I'm looking old...

I want to be telling stories rather than working formulas.

Day 5: I Bore Me

I'm making notes for next year, should I teach these courses again.

The first note is "DO SOMETHING ELSE THIS WEEK!"  Not being overly familiar with the classes, I've been sticking to the sequences, resources and activities that previous teachers had used.  I'm adding my own style to them, but not as much as I would like.

And I was bored today.

Teaching five sections of the same class back to back is bound to have an element of tedium to it, but today was bad.  The course sequence for Astronomy has this first section be fairly intensive in terms of scientific notation.  Looking through the rest of the year and seeing minimal calculation, I can only assume this chapter is here to talk about scale.

Over the last few days, I was able to incorporate scientific notation into the background information about the planets, but by the end of yesterday, I realized that some of the students had no idea where the numbers came from.

As a result, I decided I needed to spend some time today talking about how and when to use the notation.  This started causing a problem when I looked at schedules and realized that I have a few students who are taking Algebra 1 for the 2nd or 3rd time and a few who are in AP Calculus.

I can differentiate, but that gap is a bit out of my wheelhouse.  My hope is that the lack of calculation later in the course will even the playing field a bit.  In addition to this, my room has 27 seats and half of my classes have more than 27 students.

This is not a complaint, merely an obstacle which I need to tackle.

Tomorrow, the Astronomy kids are having a quiz on scientific notation and so we spent today answering questions and going over examples.  I think it was very beneficial for many of them.  Probably less so for the young man who yelled out that he could do it in his head and then talked through the review, but if he doesn't need the practice, more power to him.

5 sections in a row of scientific notation review can be a bit grating on the nerves and by the time the last class rolled around, I may have been a bit loopy.

With a few minutes left at the end of one class, I decided to try out the 3Doodlers.  My attempt was not a complete failure and, I think, not bad for my first try.  I'm looking forward to playing around with them a bit more.

In Physics, one of our literacy coaches came in to help the students with RAFT reading, a process of close reading that helps students to identify main points and supporting details.  This is the introduction to an activity that we'll be doing all year and I wanted an expert to get them started.

It's hot.  I am ready to be home with my daughters.

Oh Benedryl, how I love thee

Day 4: Making Choices

I understand the irony of the following statement.  I also understand that I am in no position to judge or ridicule anyone for it.

I need to stay away from complainers.

It's so easy to fall into the trap of complaint when things don't go exactly as they should.  Perhaps the schedules aren't as perfect as they could be, perhaps the kids aren't as prepared or attentive as they could be, perhaps a cloud moved in front of the sun when you wanted to get a tan.  All of these things are out of the control of the faculty and staff.

People complain for many reasons.  It might be to assert some power over a situation where they are powerless, to distance themselves from consequences when things don't go as planned, to build camaraderie with those who are also "in the trenches," or just to hear themselves assert their own superiority of intellect in a given situation.

I am guilty of all of these things, and more.  I have spent WAY too much of my time and energy whining about "injustices" done to me or my students.  I have railed against organizations and people who are CLEARLY stupid and don't know how to do anything right and should probably just put me in charge.

But this is all nonsense.  Regardless of my schedule, the student schedules, the phases of the moon, the preponderance of land-breezes versus ocean-breezes, I have no control over any of that.

I only have control over me.

I am choosing not to get bent out of shape about things that normally would bother me.  Are they annoying? Yes.

Can I change them by being annoyed?  No.


I don't have control over my coworkers and I know enough to know that I DON'T want to be the one who walks around telling everyone to be chipper.

What I CAN do is choose with whom I spend, or don't spend, my time.  I truly do have some incredible coworkers.  They are supportive, creative and dedicated.  Many of them are also overwhelmed and frustrated.

So I offer my help and a smiling face whenever I can, greeting colleagues in the hallway regardless of how, or if, they respond.  Every person is fighting their own battle and I'm aiming to not take it personally if I don't get the response I am looking for.

I am staying in my room, with the door open and welcoming, but I'm being very careful about whom I seek out.  Complaining has its place and can be very cathartic, but I feel as though it's not what I need right now.

After the long break, now that they are starting to get comfortable in school again, some of the rowdiness is coming back to the students.  I noticed many more of them to be very distracted and having side conversations today than last week.  The layout of the room is going to take some getting used to on my part since I normally walk around when I talk and now there are lab tables in the way.

I'm really enjoying the diversity in my classes in terms of types of questions they ask.  Some of the classes keep asking about colonizing planets while others want to know how planets are formed.  They are keeping me on my toes and I'm VERY quickly getting out of my depth for general knowledge.

Time to read more...

I stuck around after school to help some of the Physics kids work on dimensional analysis.  The more I talk to the students, the more I like them.  I liked the 8th graders, but the level of maturity is monumentally different and it's wonderful.

I suppose it makes sense that I would rather spend time with the students than with the adults.

Also, I am LOVING the chat feature from Remind. My message to my students today contained a question and in the chat, we are discussing answers and strategies.

I think some amazing things are going to happen this year.

Day 3: Thanks, Rick Riordan!

In all of the previous classes that I have taught, I have run into the problem of my tangents.  In order to hook the students, and in truth, to keep myself interested, I have a tendency to relate the content to something that interests me.  For the most part, this has been astronomy.

When I go off on these tangents, students would ask all sorts of questions to keep me going.  Sometimes this was because they were genuinely interested and sometimes it was just to derail the class.  I would indulge them (and myself) for a little while and then steer us back to the task at hand.

Now I'm TEACHING astronomy and my tangents aren't off topic, but rather out of sequence.  I found myself saying "I promise, we will get to it!"

Today, we continued our look at the sizes of planets and their distances from the sun.  I began by giving a brief history of astronomy, moved into constellations, the discovery of planets, the move from geocentric views to heliocentric views and tying everything to mythology.

I was taken aback by how familiar my students were with basic knowledge of Greek gods.  Then I asked a question and everything feel into place:

"How many of you know this stuff from reading mythology and how many know it from Percy Jackson?"

Most of the hands went up for the latter.

Admittedly, very few students knew the Roman names, but as soon as I gave the Greek analogs, they knew exactly who I was talking about.

I wove history and mythology into a story with facts and figures and used them as a review of scientific notation.

I also noticed another MAJOR difference between my 8th graders and these students.

They wrote stuff down.  Eyes were on me, but when I put something on the board, heads went down and they copied.  I don't care all that much about them taking notes, but their willingness to do so means I should be able to engage them in more routine tasks when we have to do those.

They were FULL of questions!  With the exception of the small group of gentlemen who kept talking over me, I felt as though I was just telling a story for 5 periods in a row.  It was wonderful!

In regards to those gentlemen, a student came up to me after class to ask if there was another section that she could transfer into.  She loves astronomy and enjoys my teaching style, but is worried that they are going to ruin the class.

The only rule that I really have is that no student is allowed to detract from the learning of any other.  I plan to pull those boys aside on Tuesday and have a long talk with them.


Today was also the first double period for Honors Physics.  I handed them the Noah's Ark activity from the admirable Fawn Nguyen and told them that any answer they found would have to be thoroughly justified and proven.

They went to town!  Some of the students worked alone and some in small groups.  As I watched, they argued, moved around, worked with different people and came up to me looking for validation.

I refused to give it.

I forced them to explain their reasoning and wouldn't agree or disagree with the answer.

I was incredibly impressed by their work and they were incredibly impressed by my spinning tops.

I am exhausted, but in the best possible way.

Day 2: The Greatest Show On Earth

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen!  In the center ring, you will see a middle school mathematics teachers doing an uncanny impression of a high school astronomy teacher!!

Today was the first day for my students.  It was...interesting.

I have a very front-loaded schedule, which works very well for me.  I teach astronomy for four periods in a row in the morning, followed by a quick break, another astronomy, lunch, prep and then I finish the day with Honors Physics.

I very much prefer to have a front-loaded schedule because I run out of steam around noon, regardless of where my classes are.

Since the student schedules aren't finalized yet, I didn't want to waste today giving out and going over the syllabus.  I had students sign in and I introduced myself.  I talked about growth mindset and my basic philosophies of education.

Then we talked about space!

"Tell me something you know about the solar system."

They had a ton of great information already and a lot of room to grow.  What I loved is how interested they were in having the correct information.

Almost invariably, the first answer I received was "it's really big." After we talked a little bit, I came back to that.  We discussed how the human mind has tremendous difficulty really grasping how immense the solar system is, let alone the universe.

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, there is a torture device known as the Total Perspective Vortex.  It doesn't cause any physical harm to the subject.  It gives them a view of their current position, much like Google Maps, and then simply zooms out.

And zooms out.

And zooms out.

It demonstrates the unbearable insignificance of the subject in question, reducing their mind to jelly and causing a nervous breakdown.

We did a mild version of this.

I took the class into the hallway, at one end of which I had taped a scale image of the sun at about the size of a tennis ball.  I had them walk down the hallway and stand where they thought Mercury would be.  Some kids went to the far end (mostly the 6+ foot students).  Mercury sat about 19 floor tiles from the sun.

Then I had them move to where they thought Venus would be.  After Mercury, their estimates improved drastically and I commended them on the adjustment.

With each new planet, we talked about the planet and how long it would take light to reach it.  The jump from Mars to Jupiter was quite significant, and Saturn was outside of the building.

At the scale we were using, the nearest start would be in Los Angeles.

This activity grabbed the kids and got them thinking.  If I had had more time, I would have taken them outside and we would have done it on the road.

After the last group left, I wandered down to work in the air conditioning of the library to get ready for Physics.

This class is a double period every other day and closes out the school day.

Again, rather than handing out a syllabus, I had them do the Bouncy Ball Lab from Frank Noschese.  They were given a rubber ball and told that at the end of the class, they would be asked to have it bounce to a specific height on the first try.

They needed to design the experiment, collect and organize data and make predictions.

The teacher who taught this class last year told me that they major emphasis is on the scientific method and thinking.  Perhaps their ongoing homework will be to watch Mythbusters!

I'll give extra credit to anyone who can grow a Jamie-mustache.

There are two major things that I noticed with upperclassmen in the building:
1) Seniors are TOTALLY DIFFERENT THAN 8TH GRADERS!!
2) I am very short...


Overall, this was a really good start to the year.  Former students continued to come up and greet me warmly with hugs and smiles.  It's a great reminder of the impact that we make on student lives.

Things are looking up.


Now...what to do tomorrow...

Day 1: You Are Not Alone

This is how a new school year starts, not with a bang, but with the exquisite chaos that is students and teachers entering a new building.

My schedule this year has me teaching 11th and 12th grade students so I don have any classes until tomorrow.  Today, my task was to be available to help out the 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students and faculty in any way that I could.

Early in the day, I found a woman who had just been hired as a long term substitute and made myself available to her.  Thus far, I have seen 6 teachers who are new to the district and I've done what I can do to help them and reassure them, including drawing a rudimentary map of the school on a note card.

I remember my first week as a teacher and know how valuable (and vital) it is to have someone who will answer your questions with patience and empathy.

Over the summer, I participated in many discussions that included the question ¨what do you wish you had known during your first year?¨

My answers have changed over the years, but have all been moving in the direction of what I now believe is the single most important piece of advice that can be offered to new teachers:

You are not alone.

This job, this career, this calling, is amazingly hard to do well.  Fewer teachers are as bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and optimistic as first year teachers.  We all come out of the gates believing that we are going to change the world.

This is a wonderful attitude to have and can get you through many dark patches, but it is exhausting.  I could write an entire post on education programs and whether or not they prepare you for the realities of teaching, but that's not my goal.

It's so easy for new teachers to burn out because they feel as though they should be able to meet all of the challenges on their own.  They can run themselves ragged trying to look like master teachers.  They may be master teachers right out of the gate, but this job is way too hard to do alone.

During my first week, I cried almost every night.  My coworkers were fabulous, but I didn't rely on them for the support that I needed.  I did everything I could to never ask for help, to never show what I thought was weakness.

The real weakness is not asking for help when you need it.  We often say that you can tell much about the character of a person by the company they keep.   I want to be a great teacher, so I try to surround myself with teachers who I consider great.  There are so many in my district and I am honored to learn from them every day.

I wish I had known this when I started.  I wish I had spent more time with teachers who look for solutions, who build up, who connect meaningfully with students.

Luckily, I get to have a new start every day.  I get to come to work and choose the people from whom I learn and grow.  Even more importantly than that, I get to BE one of those people if I choose to.

And I choose to.


So, to all new teachers, veteran teachers, long term substitutes, short term substitutes, administrators, parents, students, human beings.

You are not alone.  This is a struggle for everyone.  Find those who help make you stronger.