Did you study my little kidlets? I spent my weekend working on making the midterms, so hopefully you spent yours study for your biology or anatomy midterm exam!
If you review material we have covered, I think you will do just fine.
P.S. I'm going to Miami!
The endeavors of a spirited teacher who hates wearing shoes. Follow me as I navigate teaching, chemistry, technology, grad school, vodcasting, blogging, horseback riding and more... all while trying to avoid traditional footwear (or shoes altogether).
Monday, January 17, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Struggling to Stay Relevant
Or, as I like to call it... curriculum development.
I had an interesting discussion with my carpool buddy today, and the subject hovered around the struggle to keep our jobs, mostly metaphorical and relative to the world as a whole. We, as teachers, face a rapidly differentiating majority: students who have literally grown up with technology and entertainment and pop culture, and parents/educators/generally old "farts" who have grown up with landline phones and books and celebrities that mattered.
How do we narrow the gap between "digital natives"and "digital immigrants?" I say, it must be curriculum development! Now, I have little to no experience in this area, but I have always been keen on the subject. I had a little introduction to it while getting my initial teacher certification, but I really have not seen it or experienced firsthand until my school began working on Maine Course Pathways. We've been developing syllabi for about a year and a half, but I'm not sure how integrated these syllabi are with our curriculum. Nor do I know how integrated/aligned each syllabus is with a coworker's syllabus (same or different discipline).
And so, with the start of my second grad semester at UMaine, I hope to keep my science classes (and myself) relevant and tangible to the students that must suffer through them.
I had an interesting discussion with my carpool buddy today, and the subject hovered around the struggle to keep our jobs, mostly metaphorical and relative to the world as a whole. We, as teachers, face a rapidly differentiating majority: students who have literally grown up with technology and entertainment and pop culture, and parents/educators/generally old "farts" who have grown up with landline phones and books and celebrities that mattered.
How do we narrow the gap between "digital natives"and "digital immigrants?" I say, it must be curriculum development! Now, I have little to no experience in this area, but I have always been keen on the subject. I had a little introduction to it while getting my initial teacher certification, but I really have not seen it or experienced firsthand until my school began working on Maine Course Pathways. We've been developing syllabi for about a year and a half, but I'm not sure how integrated these syllabi are with our curriculum. Nor do I know how integrated/aligned each syllabus is with a coworker's syllabus (same or different discipline).
And so, with the start of my second grad semester at UMaine, I hope to keep my science classes (and myself) relevant and tangible to the students that must suffer through them.
Monday, January 10, 2011
BUHHHHHH...... Edline!
I have been procrastinating SO BAD. I'm usually pretty good at updating grades on Edline, and I have TOTALLY been slacking! I'm sorry to my kidlets for this, I'm a total bonehead. I'm getting some of the grades up tonight, and a few more this weekend. It is my "New Year's Resolution" (among other things) to post to Edline every 7-10 days. I hope this will be enough for you guys! Also... forgot to bring a bunch of stuff home tonight, so I'll have to grade quizzes tomorrow.
In other news, I'm in two new grad classes - "Dynamics of the Curriculum" and "Computers & the Collaborative Classroom." Don't those sound fun?!!! For me, yes; for you, probably not! You'll probably be part of another experiment or two soon enough!
Also, I'm thinking about doing a "30-day challenge/365 project" about one of my classrooms. Any input would be appreciated!
In other news, I'm in two new grad classes - "Dynamics of the Curriculum" and "Computers & the Collaborative Classroom." Don't those sound fun?!!! For me, yes; for you, probably not! You'll probably be part of another experiment or two soon enough!
Also, I'm thinking about doing a "30-day challenge/365 project" about one of my classrooms. Any input would be appreciated!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
This could change everything...
Scientists have discovered a bacterium that can convert arsenic to phosphorus. All of life on Earth uses phosphorus as its DNA backbone... except this bacterium. Wow.
In other, more relevant news, I'll be photographing the Winter Ball this Saturday! For those of you ladies that read this blog, don't overdo it on the foundation make-up! It shows up really well with flash photography, and not in a good way!
Also, how are you going to get photos? As you know, I have a Facebook, so I'll post the photos there. I can't tag you, but you can see them all and make your favorite your profile pic. You might be able to tag yourself and others, but I don't know for sure! My page is http://www.facebook.com/mrs.medeiros27 for future reference.
What if you want to buy prints? Most likely, this will be through Shutterfly! Stay tuned...
In other, more relevant news, I'll be photographing the Winter Ball this Saturday! For those of you ladies that read this blog, don't overdo it on the foundation make-up! It shows up really well with flash photography, and not in a good way!
Also, how are you going to get photos? As you know, I have a Facebook, so I'll post the photos there. I can't tag you, but you can see them all and make your favorite your profile pic. You might be able to tag yourself and others, but I don't know for sure! My page is http://www.facebook.com/mrs.medeiros27 for future reference.
What if you want to buy prints? Most likely, this will be through Shutterfly! Stay tuned...
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Expect an exam...
We've been flying through cells in biology, and covering lots of stuff about bones in anatomy and this of course means that I have to test you on it.
But not to fear young ones, I am also a super pretentious grad student! One of the classes I'm taking, as you may know, is "Educational Assessment." In other words, "testing your learning!" My final project in this class is to create an assessment that covers a unit of instruction (i.e. "cells" or "bones"). It has to have 50 multiple choice questions, a table that shows the "level of learning" for each question and a project or essay or the like that has a rubric for grading.
I haven't decided which class I will choose to do this for... biology or anatomy... but that class should consider themselves very lucky to be tested so thoroughly. Teachers that take the time to do this for every unit are likely to have students that perform very well. I think I will be able to write up a really good study guide for the exam, too. Doing a project like this will enable me to analyze the types of multiple choice questions I'm asking, and to take a step back from the assessment in question and say "what is the outcome I want from this unit?" I have already asked myself, "what do I want my students to walk away knowing about [unit]?" And I also thought about what a "good grade" looks like on the next exams.
The averages on the last exam were pretty good, right around 76-82. I want to bring that up this time... let's aim for 83-86 in all the biology classes.
That's all for now... time to start making those exams and writing up my project outline!
But not to fear young ones, I am also a super pretentious grad student! One of the classes I'm taking, as you may know, is "Educational Assessment." In other words, "testing your learning!" My final project in this class is to create an assessment that covers a unit of instruction (i.e. "cells" or "bones"). It has to have 50 multiple choice questions, a table that shows the "level of learning" for each question and a project or essay or the like that has a rubric for grading.
I haven't decided which class I will choose to do this for... biology or anatomy... but that class should consider themselves very lucky to be tested so thoroughly. Teachers that take the time to do this for every unit are likely to have students that perform very well. I think I will be able to write up a really good study guide for the exam, too. Doing a project like this will enable me to analyze the types of multiple choice questions I'm asking, and to take a step back from the assessment in question and say "what is the outcome I want from this unit?" I have already asked myself, "what do I want my students to walk away knowing about [unit]?" And I also thought about what a "good grade" looks like on the next exams.
The averages on the last exam were pretty good, right around 76-82. I want to bring that up this time... let's aim for 83-86 in all the biology classes.
That's all for now... time to start making those exams and writing up my project outline!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Anatomy!
We just started the skeletal system. I have to say, aside from the Nervous System & the brain, this is my favorite system to study!
Here are a few pics from the lab we're doing:
What's going to happen?!
Here are a few pics from the lab we're doing:
.JPG) |
| Chicken leg bone in vinegar. |
.JPG) |
| Chicken leg bone in bleach. |
What's going to happen?!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)