Day 47: Dropping the Ball

For various reasons, including a senior trip to visit colleges, my classes were fairly light today.  I finished giving notes for the section on nuclear fusion with hydrostatic equilibrium.

I know I've said it before, and I will say it again, but MAN! I'm learning a ton.

Rather than lecturing for the whole class, I covered a topic and give them an activity to work on.

I've been worried about Physics.  More specifically, I've been worried about the sequencing.  I've been following two different curricula that SORT of coincide, but not completely.  I'm finding myself covering topics (inclined planes) that I think could be explained better with free-body diagrams, but we haven't done those yet.  One sequence wants me to talk about vectors while the other doesn't.\

This is something I need to fix.  Pick a sequence and go with it, Justin!

I worry that I'm creating confusion, and probably because I'm confused myself.  I've been relying on my own abilities and knowledge of physics to get me though and I think that was a bad choice.

I'm going to go back and look more heavily at the sequence, plan my topics better and have a more consistent set of scaffolds.  I think I was planning for this class to be populated with students of a certain level of requisite knowledge and skills and that's simply not the case.

Rather than letting them flop and flail, I need to meet them where they are to move them to where I want them to be.

I know they are capable, but I also think I need to be providing more of a structure and clearly identifying my expectations.

Two students have dropped the class already.

Day 46: One Rule

Everything I've read and everyone with whom I've interacted all seem to agree on something about classroom rules: Make them short, make them simple.

This really should be my only class rule.

At the beginning of the year, I told my students that my main rule is that they are not allowed to stop other people from learning.  This means that if they are disrupting the environment to the point where I am unable to teach, we have a problem.

Today in 3rd period, we had a problem.  The side-talking was getting very out of hand, to the point where the students sitting directly in front of me couldn't hear what I was saying.

I asked the talkers to please keep it down because some people were interested in the lesson weren't able to hear me.  When they continued talking, I lost it.

I screamed for the first time this year.

I'm loud.  I'm VERY loud.  My volume increase with my excitement level.  The kids are used to me being loud.

They are not used to me screaming.  I saw looks of relief on the faces of the students who have been trying to learn in spite of their classmates.

I told them why I was frustrated and they seemed to get it.  The kids who were talking looked appropriately contrite.

So I resumed the lesson.

And they resumed talking.

"Please leave my room."

In the space of 3 minutes, I had to remove 4 different students.  I told them to stand outside the classroom, but they wandered off.

With the example made, the distractions removed, the rest of the class did incredibly well.  They were interested in the topic (how the sun produces energy) and we had a nice discussion.

In 4th period, a student walked in with a late pass (that was signed for 15 minutes before he actually arrived) and immediately started picking things up around the room.  When I asked him to put them down, he told me that I was "all rude and shit."

So he left too.

I understand that people have bad days.  I understand that sometimes, various forces align and ton of stuff goes wrong, interactions are bad, conversations go sour.  I try to be understanding of students having bad days.  If someone needs to put their head down, that's fine.

What's not fine, or acceptable, is the destruction, willful or otherwise, of someone else's learning.  In 1st period, I had to remove a student as well because, while listening to headphones, he was laughing, dancing, snapping and singing.  He didn't even realize that he was and when we talked about it afterwards, he admitted that sometimes he does those things without knowing it.

When I asked him what he thought he could do to limit the distractions that he's giving off, he said he should probably not listen to music while doing his work.  I told him that I thought that was a good idea.  The problem that I had wasn't the music.  He got his work done and did it fairly well.  He was able to answer questions and participated well.  My problem was that what he was doing while listening to the music was creating a distraction to the other students and that was something I couldn't have.

He's a good kid.  I will try to speak with the other students soon.


5 minutes after the last student walked off, a different student (not one of mine) opened my door, poked his head in and said "what would happen if someone threw a bomb into Mr. Aion's room?"

I informed the principal.

In addition to this, there were 4 separate fights today, one of which I helped break up.  The video of that is circulating on Facebook.  Several students came up to me throughout the day to tell me what a beast I was.

That's me.  A beast.

Then I tried to wing-it with a problem in physics and messed the whole thing up.

Hooray Monday.

Day 45: ARTS AND CRAFTS DAY!

IT'S ARTS AND CRAFTS DAY!!!

With today being the last day of the marking period, I had a stack of papers to grade and toss into the gradebook.  We had also finished a section on the structure of the sun, so I thought it might be a good day for a craft.

ART AND CRAFTS DAY!

I found a really cool "Structure of the Sun" activity on The Wise Nest.  It was originally designed for elementary school, but I modified it by taking all of the labels off and removing the definitions.  I had colored pencils available and had them create a solar flip book with terms and roles for each layer.

The kids were really into it.  3rd period had about half of the students who just flat out refused to do the activity.  Since it was designed to help them and provide a fun way to learn the layers, I focused on the kids who was interested.  It was a great day.

We did have to have multiple discussions about how there was no "right way" to color or assemble it.

"It's a study guide for YOU. As long as the information is right and you understand it, put it together and color it however you want.

ARTS AND CRAFTS DAY!!!

Since I didn't have to spend any frustration or energy on trying to get kids to stop talking over me, the extra manifested in the form of song and dance throughout the day.  I also kept yelling "ARTS AND CRAFTS DAY" in the style of an excited, deep-voiced toddler!


And then came Physics.  I put a scenario on the board.

I asked them to find the angle at which the tank would have to fire in order to hit the hoard of zombies that were 18 km away.

This was a MUCH harder problem than they were ready for.

I intentionally didn't work it out ahead of time.  If I know an answer or process, I have a tendency to answer their questions in a certain way that may lead them down an inauthentic path.  With this problem, I couldn't answer any of their questions, except for in theory.

In addition, when I started working through the problem with them, they were able to see my authentic process and struggle.

And struggle it was.  The numbers I picked were WAY too big and we ended up having to solve a quadratic with a "c" term of 7,779,240,000.  It was a mess.

But it was a glorious mess.  It didn't take too long to solve, but at the request of a few of the students for "more direct" ways, we dove back in and tried to work through it.  When the bell rang at the end of the day, I was energized and my students dragged themselves out, once of whom claimed that she was GOING to do it over the weekend because she hated not knowing.

**tear**  I'm so proud.

I also spent most of the day walking around asking people if they wanted to see a picture of my sun.

"I love my sun. He's so bright, but he keeps his distance."

 I don't know why I got weird looks.  Were they expecting a different picture?

Day 44: Swedish Fusion

I'm starting to think that rather than "today my students learned ...," I should begin my posts with "today, I learned..."

I am constantly amazed at how much Astronomy I'm learning each day.  By the time I get to my fifth iteration, I feel like an Astrophysicist!

Today, I learned about the different layers of the sun and its atmosphere.

I explained how fusion works by shaking, and then crushing together, two Swedish fish.  Then I ate them.


The physics class worked on another 2 dimensional kinematics problem.  I am starting to realize that I've really been missing doing math this year.  I find so much comfort in it, especially in the Physics where you have to figure out multiple steps to get to a solution.

I'm still tired and don't feel like writing today.  It wasn't a bad day at all and I'll leave it at that.

Day 43: Catch-Up

With the marking period ending on Friday, the quarterly "how can I get my grade up" scramble is in full swing.

Since I am not under time pressure to cover certain topics and I'm not the kind of person who tries to use what Sarah Palin might call "gotcha" teaching, I have no problem taking a day or two to let kids turn in assignments that they owe and demonstrate that they do actually know the information.

The majority of my students spent today working on corrections to the test that they took on Friday.  They could earn back some points that they missed by writing the correct answer, an explanation of their reasoning and an explanation of what they did wrong the first time.

For those who had already completed their test corrections, or opted not to do them, I had them work on the next section of their guided notes, looking up information on the corona and chromosphere.

I couldn't help but notice a high correlation between students working on their guided notes and those who did well on this previous test.


It is a great time to be an astronomy teacher!  NASA just released a 30 minute video of high definition solar footage from the Solar Dynamics Observatory.  It is one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a long time (besides a baby's smile, a single blue flower in a field of yellow or a bald eagle soaring through the Rockies clutching an American Flag).
Since I had JUST talked about both the SDO and the photosphere yesterday, I felt justified it having this video run on loop in the background while the kids worked.  The music is gorgeous as well.


I think several students in the Honors Physics class are starting to realize how far out of their depth they are.  One of the trends that I've noticed is that students in advanced classes usually fall into one of two categories.  Either they have had enough background smarts to push them forwards, or they have great work habits and persistence.

The Physics class seems to be split about 50/50.  Many of these kids are naturally bright, but don't really know how to take notes, ask questions, or study.  When they find themselves lost, instead of buckling down, they tune out and wait for something that makes sense to them.

This is a fairly good short-term strategy, especially in classes that don't carry over topics and concepts from one section to the next.  It is, however, a terrible strategy for classes such as math and science where the topics are cumulative.

The students who only paid minor attention during the section on 1 dimensional kinematics are finding it difficult to keep up during 2 dimensional.  These are the same students who repeatedly simply don't turn in assignments.  I would care less about this if they could ace the tests, but that's not happening either.

Since "Honors Physics" is the lowest level of physics that's offered in my school, I'm wondering if I need to be changing my expectations of the students.

My issue with that is that there are several students who are working their butts off and doing amazing work and I hate to cater to those who won't work because they think they don't have to.


And after that last sentence, I feel as though I should call my parents to make sure they haven't died from the irony.

One of my coworkers stopped me in the hall today to tell me that she's been reading this blog lately.  She thanked me for my writing and what I share.  She told me that she finds it comforting to see that someone else is having the same struggles as she is, the same failures, the same questions.

When I spoke at NCTM last month, I said that I write for me.  I write to find my center, to keep myself on track.

But I would be lying if I didn't admit that I love interactions like the one I had today.  As a teacher, it warms me to know that I'm helping someone else, even if all I'm doing is sharing my struggles.

So I suppose I'll keep doing it.

Today is post number 400.

Here's to 400 more!


I'm lying! Can I be done blogging please??

Day 42: 'Sup, Sun?

I started today by playing a video.


We are starting the unit on the Sun so I thought a cool video with nice animation would be a good way to introduce the topic.

"Phil Plait speaks incredibly quickly, so don't worry about writing anything down or even catching all of it.  Just pick up what you can and we'll talk about it afterwards."

Over the 10 minutes, there were a few exclamations of "holy crap!" and "that's crazy" which I took as a good sign of engagement and interest.

Then I told stories.  I've said before that when I lecture, I do so in the form of storytelling rather than fact listing.  Telling the same story 5 times in a row also means I get more of the facts right and am able to add more details.  In talking about the photosphere (which I knew nothing about 3 days ago) for 5 periods, I now feel VERY comfortable moving away from just the basic facts and make it more of a story.

So, who wants to know about the photosphere...

Fine...


I'm feeling much better than yesterday.  One of the students with whom I had an altercation yesterday came up to ask me to sponsor the chess club today.

Sometimes it just takes a day or two to get your head right.

I helped myself to improve my mood by working on some 2-dimensional kinematics problems with the Physics class.  Hooray!

About a third of them had their heads down, waiting for us to either finish the problem, or not trying at all.  The other two thirds, however, worked VERY hard and I could actually hear brain gears grinding.  It was a glorious sound, seconded only by the cries of elation that a student gives when they have fought their way through a tough problem.

Day 41: The Good of The Many

I should have stayed home today, but I know it wouldn't have helped.

Yesterday, I started grading at 8:30 am.  When I finished at 3 pm, I had a headache, my stomach hurt, I was angry, frustrated and imagined myself as the worst teacher ever.

In my heart, I know this isn't true.  I know that my lessons are not super boring.  I know that many of the low scores are a direct result of the choices made by my students.  They CHOOSE to sleep during class, to not take notes, to not use the reviews, to not ask questions, to put their name on the test and then turn it in.

I know that when a student who was absent on Friday gets the test today, answers the first page while leaning on a locker, turns in it after 3 minutes and says she'll do the make-up, then spends the period talking to her friends, that she's making a choice.

I know that when a student calls me over to ask a question and then turns around and talk to his friend about sports while I'm standing there, he's making a choice.

I also know that part of school is helping students to make more productive choices.  I'm becoming less and less convinced that I know how to do this.

On a small scale, I can have conversations with students about their choices, but with 130, I'm not sure how to do it without having them think "he's talking about someone else."

My class is an elective science class.  Many of the kids in it are taking it because they need the science credit to graduate, and they thought it would be easier than Ecology or Chemistry.  It's not a hard course, but you do need to do more than just show up.

I KNOW that the score are a result of the choices that they make.


But that doesn't stop me from asking what else I could do.

When I start making of list of the things I AM doing to support them, I feel as though I'm making excuses.  I wonder how much of this is internal and how much is societal expectations that teachers never give up on their students.

For your own sanity, there has to come a point where you stop.  At some point, you have to do the math of how much you focus on one disruptive student instead of the 12 attentive ones.

No, you shouldn't give up any kid.  But why should one take priority over 29?  We have to serve every kid, but at what point does serving one student mean neglecting another?

These are questions that we can't ever discuss because no one wants to admit that they are giving up on a kid.

The reality, however, is that as a human being, I have a limited set of skills and there are students whose needs are beyond my abilities.

I am unwilling to sacrifice 29 for the sake of 1, especially when that 1 takes it as a personal mission to dynamite the classroom.  I know he/she has needs, that the behavior is rooted in something important, but I simply don't have the resources to cure those ills.

Spending 5 minutes on each student each day adds up to almost 11 hours each day.  So we focus our time where think it will do the most good.


Student: "Mr. Aion, I'm coming in Wednesday to retake a test."
Me: "Which one?"
Student: "I don't know which one! YOU look it up!"
Me: "I'm not doing that. It's your test that you want to retake. If you don't know which one it is, it tells me that you haven't prepared for it. That means it would be a waste of your time to take and mine to grade."
Students: "You're mad! Don't take it out on me just because you're angry."
Me: "Not at all. This is your grade and your retake, therefore is your responsibility."
Student: "STOP TALKING TO ME!"

I know that much of this response is a defense mechanism, trying to not feel stupid and lost, but that doesn't change my ability to deal with it.

I don't know how to explain that there needs to be some personal responsibility.

I called him up near the end of class and we cleared the air.  He looked up the test he needed and said he would study.  I felt better about it, but I'm wiped out.


When I told another student that he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing because he spoke over me while I was giving directions, he said something about "deez nuts."

And then something interesting and comforting happened.  While I was covering another class, a few students came from the din and asked me if I knew any math because they had some questions on their homework.

As we worked through the problems, as I explained concepts, I could feel myself calming.  By the time I had to head back to my own room, I was still upset, but in a much better frame of mind. This was aided by one of my own students also asking for help in algebra.

I find comfort and solace in the crunching and exploration of mathematics.  I love helping kids explore new methods in order to deepen their understanding.  It breaks my heart to hear a student say that a teacher requires them to use a certain method.  Math is beautiful and we our very best crush that beauty into rote procedures.  For a few brief moments today, I was able to help some students break out of that and see the beauty again.

It was glorious.