Curriculum Planning

       I love the idea of incorporating the world around us into our curriculum.   I know that depending on the school and the kids and their ages it might be more than challenging at times, but I think it's essential.   Being associated with the military I have had to move many times to different states that have different personalities.   The first thing we do when we move is to jump right in and find out everything we can about our new home.   We end up finding all the good divey restaurants, the great places to hike, where to go look at birds.  To find new places we talk to people who have lived there for years and often end up finding places many people who live here don't know about or don't visit often.   We only get 3 or 4 years in a place before we leave and we want to make it the best experience possible!   It has lead to many different adventures and I love it.   My favorite was hiking on the knife edge volcanic ridges of mountains in the middle of Oahu and feeling them literally shake when they were testing munitions nearby.
       I think by planning a curriculum to include the neighborhood around you, it's possible to open new opportunities for learning.   I can see how it would be easier to do with elementary students where you can incorporate a topic like the Sandia mountains into all aspects of your curriculum.   But, I think it is possible for middle schoolers and high schoolers as well.   I am considering being a middle school science teacher.  In an earth science class for example we could study the geology that formed the mountains.   Then we could study the water cycle and observe and measure how much water flows through the arroyo behind the school.   We could then study plants that grown in the Sandias, and discuss photosynthesis.  We could study the effect of altitude on the plants that are able to grown at the bottom of the mountains versus the ones at the tops of the mountains.   We could end out studies with a hike in the Sandias to observe the biodiversity of the mountains and the geology first hand.  
       By planning a curriculum like this it would let the students feel involved in the world around them and to feel like what we are studying actually has some relevance to where we live.  We live in an extraordinary state and the mountains and bosque provide wonderful opportunities to study science right here where we live.

February 17th The Bias Blog:

I see the young men walking down my street in a group every day.  They may be the most polite and educated kids to walk the earth.   But, I don't know them and if they are bigger than me than my bias is against them.   Yes, I am frightened by groups of boys walking down the street.   Admittedly that sounds pretty lame.  

For me it is a big concern, as a potential middle school teacher it highly probable that many of the kids will be bigger than me.   Also, as a parent to three boys who very likely will be much larger than me, it is something I have to deal with.  

In college there was an incident that I believe stems my bias.  I have accepted this part of my past, and have moved on, but it is a part of who I am.   However, I can't be afraid to interact with my students because they tower over me.  Lots of people tower over me, but often when seeing them from far off young men intimidate me, make me feel awkward and afraid.  I sometimes think "what if they tried to hurt me, they could probably succeed".    I like to think of myself as pretty tough, so I think that is why one young man doesn't threaten me like a group does.

I don't feel like my bias is debilitating, I can interact with teenagers and not feel petrified.  I volunteered with our youth group and had a good time.  I think once I get to know the students this bias will be put to the back of my mind.   So, I will make an effort to know my students and feel comfortable interacting with them.   I want to be a good teacher and a good role model and I can't do that if I feel afraid.

National Teacher of the Year for 2017, Hails from Albuquerque
Article by Amanda Hugnkiss

Albuquerque Public Schools made national headlines this week when the National Teacher of the Year was announced as Madison Middle School's own Sarah Askey.   Mrs. Askey has been a science teacher at Madison for only 3 years but has already made a big impression in the hearts of her students.  

I recently spoke with Mrs. Askey and asked her how she came to be a nationally recognized educator, she said  "I am so overwhelmed by the support I have received from my students, their parents and APS.  However, I would never have been able to achieve this award without the excellent training I received from CNM's Alternative Teaching License program.   It was there that I began to think outside the box"

Think outside the box she did, sometimes ruffling feathers along the way.   Jennifer Garcia principal of Madison has this to say "When Mrs. Askey started here at Madison, she had big ideas.   She wanted a hands on approach to science that we have never really done here before.   She and I had a few conflicts at the beginning but after her class received excellent scores on the standardized tests, I began to think her methods might have some merit."

What were those unorthodox methods?  We turn to Whitney Hull a social studies teacher at Madison Middle School.  "Sarah is very enthusiastic about science and her students.   She takes the time to really understand where they are coming from, their background to say.   She uses that to tweak her lesson plans so that they are fun, exciting and relevant to her class.   I often peak in to see what she is up to."  said Hull.

The parents are pleased with her teaching methods as well.  "I never thought my son had an aptitude for science, it just wasn't something he cared about.   Mrs. Askey changed that.  She took the time to find out he was interested in skateboarding and focused a whole physics lesson around a skateboard.   She made it relevant to his interests.  He is now thinking of becoming a middle school science teacher.   Mrs. Askey was always very up front with us parents, she explained the grading criteria and kept in touch with updates on Will's progress."  said Abigail Smith.

Will Smith had this to say about his nationally recognized teacher, "Mrs. Askey rocks!!!!  She always had a fun interactive experiment for us to do or watch, they usually use fire or explosions.   Once she filled a tub with cornstarch and water so we could run across the non-Newtonian fluid it made, it was awesome!   She makes me look forward to coming to school, and that says a lot."

Here is a video of the class enjoying the non-Newtonian fluid experiment in Spain:

It's 2017,  newspapers are all online now and you are reading this on your iPad.

WHO AM I?

I am a person who has seen the movie Zoolander way too many times.  

Seriously though, who I am as a person will undoubtably shape who I become as a teacher.   I believe that everyone has good in them.   They may choose not to exhibit it, but I think deep down, humans are compassionate.  I believe that everyone can learn, this differs for the individual of course.   I think that kids thoughts and beliefs are like the proverbial lump of clay and teachers are the sculptors helping to mold their thoughts.   

My purpose in being a teacher is to get kids excited about the world around them.   To fire them up about science.   To make them not dread the hour in class they will spend with me.   To inspire their creativity and to help them be self-confident.   I guess this also carries over to the aim I have for my classroom.  I would like the students to respect me as their teacher and their peers.   Mostly, I aim to make class fun and exciting, sometimes goofy, while teaching the content that I need to cover.  Hopefully the students leaving my class will be interested in science and learn ways to make experiments and tests to prove or disprove.

Lastly, I don't follow sports or watch TV.   So this hypothesis is not based in fact, but I'm from Jersey so, go Giants!   

Science is fun!  

I found that the ScienceFix blog http://www.sciencefix.com/  by Darren Fix shows how excellent it can be to have interesting experiments in class.  

Mr. Fix is a middle school science teacher who uses to blog to display videos of experiments he has done or plans to do in the classroom.  He posts videos showing different chemical reactions that a teacher would be able to reproduce in the classroom.    The then gives a short description of the science that forms the basis of the experiment.  

It is a useful blog since experiments seem like a wonderful way to introduce hard to grasp concepts in science.   If you get the class to conduct an experiment they can prove that the scientific hypothesis in question is correct and true.  

Some of the experiments on the site show different ph reactions, different ways to classify and sort matter.   There is an experiment where Mr. Fix mixes two liquids to produce a solid and then proves that no mass was lost, or gained in the process.  He also has experiments with exploding eggs and one where he lights his hand on fire.  

As a former middle schooler I can verify that most kids love explosions and fire and this blog is full of safe experiments that are sure to capture a students attention and perhaps foster a life long interest in science.   I am excited to try some of these at home with my kids, but maybe not the fire hand.

What is the fundamental purpose in teaching?

I looked over my answers to the questions given to us in class last Tuesday, about the fundamentals of education, schooling and teaching.    My answers all seemed to be universal.  They would apply to a kindergartner, a teenager, and a 30-something stay at home mom, or a septuagenarian who is still interested in learning more about the word around them.  

For example, question number four asked what the fundamental purpose in teaching is.   I replied that it is to share knowledge and inspire a desire to learn.   I think at any stage in life or schooling there is an innate urge to try to better yourself.   For me, that is about learning and trying new subjects and ideas. 

The question that brings up for me is how do you share knowledge and inspire others to learn?   It’s easy when you are passionate about a subject to share your enthusiasm.   However I can imagine it would be hard to get others interested in what you are saying if you aren’t really interested in it yourself.  

My eldest son’s teacher uses humor, he can throw his voice across the room, and makes up silly words to get the kids laughing.   My kindergartner’s teacher uses attention, love and caring to get the kids to respect and listen to her.  

I have had a few teachers in my life that were very good at sharing their knowledge and inspiring a desire to learn.   My physics teacher in college was so dynamic (ha ha) that he had us riveted to the overhead projector with only his enthusiasm to make physics fun and to make sure that everyone of his 115 students understood the basic concepts of physics.   It couldn’t have been an easy task and he always had students coming up for help.   He took the time to make a personal connection with his students, and I think overall that is the fundamental purpose of teaching. 

John Dewey said in his pedagogic creed that education “is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.”

This belief caused me to think about a few friends of mine that home school.   They follow the un-schooling approach, and educate their children based on what they are working on in the home, or what the child has interest in at the moment.     

My friends don’t follow a curriculum and can often have topics fly off into tangents.  But the process is intriguing to me, considering that is how I feel I learn the best.   By having a hands on approach to what I am most interested in at the moment.   I tend to be more engaged and willing to work on things that I find important to me.  I find that the same is true of my children.  If they are excited about a topic, it is easy to teach them.  If they have homework to do and are just checking the boxes, they give me a lot more grief. 

My friend’s kids won’t be tested on reading or writing or math, but they will have amazing knowledge about the world around them.  Things like why baking powder makes pancakes puffy, how your stomach breaks down the pancakes.  Maybe, where the wheat comes from.  Possibly even the weather systems that bring the rain to make wheat grow.

Would this type of approach work well in school?   No, probably not.   Kids are interested in different things at different times.   I think it’s important for them to learn grammar and math.   However, I think if we allow ourselves to follow children’s lead, and make school fun and more relative to the world around them, a more meaningful and personal education will follow.