This past week has been a great one! I got engaged over the weekend and it was very exciting to share the news with my classes. I have always found it difficult to know how much of my personal life I should share with students, but I was too excited to not share this. My students were equally as excited, breaking into cheers and applause (I admit, they almost were more excited than I was!). It was so sweet to see how supportive of my happiness they were. On Friday, my fiancé was a guest speaker for our class, and the students were equally excited to meet him! It was an amazing feeling to feel so welcome and cared for by my students.

Highs:

•  The large activity of the week was a Jigsaw in which students learned and taught each other about non-Mendelian inheritance. The goal of the activity was to introduce these complicated topics to the students and allow them to take some responsibility over their learning. One of my classes took the activity really seriously, watched the videos multiple times and made sure that everyone in their groups was able to explain the content. When they separated into their sharing groups, some students went above and beyond in their teaching, using plates as mini white boards to show diagrams. A few students were even asking their peers probing questions! Even though at the end, the vast majority were still confused about sex-linked inheritance (the most complicated form), they had a firm understanding of incomplete- and co-dominance. They seemed very proud of themselves to have guided their own learning, and the learning of others.
• Prior to our practicum, we were encouraged to find a guest speaker. I am currently teaching the genetics unit, so I am extremely fortunate that my fiancé is a graduate student at the Genome Sciences Centre at the BC Cancer Research Agency! I arranged with administration to have him come in a do a presentation on cancer, genetic sequencing, and what his research is about. When I first told them we were going to have a guest speaker, I received many eye rolls and looks of disdain. Then I informed them that the guest was my fiancé and their expressions completely changed to excitement. It’s amazing how impressions change their attitudes! The presentation and activities went really well. My fiancé was extremely impressed by their understanding and the questions that they asked. I had students do a KWL for the presentation, and my fiancé went through and read all of the questions that they wrote down and even answered some that weren’t asked in class because he felt that they were extremely meaningful questions.
• My fiancé also spoke to the IB Chemistry students and IB Biology students about his research, research as a career, and UBC. At the beginning of his presentation to them he asked the students how many wanted to go to medical school. He wanted to show students about other careers that are possible, especially in the field of research and how it is so important to the medical field. These students were genuinely interested in what he had to say as they are thinking about their futures, university and careers. It was nice for them to have a primary source of information regarding university, medical school and graduate studies.

Lows:

• Even through all of the excitement of this week, I’m still incredibly sick. I can’t seem to kick this cold. I spent all week reminding students that if I have a voice, it is very easily lost. I told them that if I started to talk too loud to remind me (which they did!) but I’ve been finding it hard not to. When I’m excited, I naturally get louder. I’m finding that without the ability to get louder, I feel less excited. I’m also very tired which isn’t helping my excitement levels. I find that my students are more engaged when I’m seen as a form of entertainment, so their interest levels seemed lower this week.
• While the inheritance jigsaw saw great success in one class, it saw much less in the other. The students had less class time to work on understanding and explaining the material, and limited their knowledge to watching the video once or twice. They barely discussed the topics with each other an dI had to go from group to group to facilitate the discussions to probe for levels of understanding. They did not take notes on their topic like the other class, so when they had to break into their teaching groups, they were not able to explain their topics as well. They made huge assumptions that I was going to teach them the material and this was just a warm up (which I had not said). I told the students at the end of class that since they were now experts on the topics that we would be moving on tomorrow and if they still had questions, they should rewatch the videos later this evening as I had posted them all on the blog. The students seemed shocked but when I reminded them that they were being the teachers and were responsible for each other’s learning, I could see some internal reflection occurring. They were questioning their teaching ability as well as how seriously they had taken the activity. Of course the next day I had a handout that we went over on each of the types of inheritance, but I wanted the students to take accountability for their (lack of) understanding. It made me feel like the “bad guy” and I received many looks of “isn’t she the teacher, why isn’t she teaching us” but learning and being told are not the same things, even if they aren’t capable of seeing that yet.
• The guest speaker was a hit in one class, but not as much in the other. They were less engaged, and I spent my hour walking around waking students up. I felt bad for my fiancé as he was trying hard to keep them engaged, but a long presentation on topics that they were entirely uninterested in made it hard for them to stay awake.
• The students wrote a DNA quiz and did really well on the content, but I noticed that a large group of students did not understand the question and wrote down everything they knew about the topic. This technically included the right answers, but I did not give them full marks for the question as they did not answer the question. This resulted in many students complaining, but when I asked them “did you answer the question” their response was always a hesitant “no.” I reminded students how important it is to answer questions – if I ask them what kind of pizza they want, they can’t tell me how to make a pizza which includes the ingredients they want.

Lesson of the week:  I may be engaged (pun intended), but I can’t keep everyone else engaged. I can do my best with interactive lessons, a variety of activities and learning experiences, and even spice things up by not having me be the teacher, but it won’t always work. I know that this is a hard lesson for me to accept, but it is something that I will work on. I can only guide and offer opportunity for development, and must accept that not all students will be as invested in our learning journey as I am.

This week has been a busy one! Lots of lessons, feedback and learning, for both my students and myself. I’ve found myself wanting to do more every day, finding ways to improve each lesson and activity. I have found that I am overall feeling better after my lessons and am second-guessing my choices less frequently. Now I only reflect and think of ways to improve rather than harshly criticizing my choices. I want more – more learning, more teaching, more fun. I have been enjoying everything so much, I don’t want it to end!

Highs:

• I had a lesson on protein synthesis as part of my Science 10 biology unit that went extremely well. I wanted to try something new. I made the class completely interactive. I pushed all of the tables to the sides of the room and set up the chairs facing the front like a stage. The idea was that the class would work together to crack two codes: an analogy and then DNA. On the overhead was a code – a keypad with each number a specific colour. This code was locked away in a Vault and could not be taken out, but we needed the code in our hands to decode it. Students suggested we make a copy of the code which we did by matching the colour of the code and attaching a piece of paper onto a string to make a long chain of colours. This was then taken to the Workshop where it could be decoded. A Supplier had Parts, that had a decoding scheme of three colours to one part. The Workshop would indicate the three colours and the Supplier would find the correct Part, which was a piece of a puzzle of a car taped to the board. The idea was that the one code created only filled in parts of the puzzle. This was analogous to protein synthesis. We moved onto a code of DNA locked away in the nucleus. We had to make a copy of DNA, but used complementary bases to create the mRNA (A-U, C-G). The mRNA was then taken to the ribosome where transfer RNA would find the correct amino acid and create a protein. Students worked together to summarize the lesson on a graphic organizer. The students really understood the lesson and I am extremely proud of how well it went. I had very positive feedback from students, both verbal and in their journals. Some of my favourite quotes from the journals are below:

“I love learning about things such as genetics because it’s interesting to understand our body. It’s really helpful when we do activities (as we did today) because it gets everyone involved and you kind of forget that you’re learning. It is also a lot more fun than reading from a textbook.”

“I really like how you taught the lesson. It really made the process stick and made it more fun (not that science isn’t already fun, most of the time). I’d say that today’s lesson made me happier and like this unit a bit more. I feel confidence about this topic”

“The unit is going fantastic. For once I have a clue on whats going in. The teacher is really nice and understanding. I feel as if I can get an A if I actually do my homework.”

• One of my main goals every week is to connect more with students. I focused this week on students who have been struggling concepts or with handing in assignments. It also helped that I received some IEPs so I could better adapt my class to students who need additional support. I had some struggling students reach out for additional help. I think that a few of these students and I connected over humor and I had them really engaged in the classes this week as volunteers or answering questions. I am hopeful that I can continue building these relationships so that these students can meet their goals. As much as I am hopeful, I do constantly feel like I haven’t done enough. I need to figure out how to support my ELL students and my learning assisted students more. I don’t feel like I have done enough and that it is hindering their progress significantly.
• A fun part of my daily routine is engaging students in a voting tournament. The first tournament was to see what the Best Chemistry Pun was. Two puns were posted on the overhead and students had to vote on which was better to advance to the next round. On Friday, we finished the tournament to find our winner: He threw sodium chloride at me! That’s a salt. Our next tournament begins Monday with Ultimate Disney Movie of All Time, which the students chose and gave suggestions for movies to be included. Everyone is very excited for it. I had some students thank me for putting in so much extra effort in making this. Another teacher had a conversation about me with some students and they made comments about me doing so much extra work and that while they liked it, they wondered if I had a life. The teacher had to inform them that as a student teacher, no, you don’t. She’s right. But I’m not complaining! 

Lows:

• After being confident that my health would stay strong as others around me dropped like flies, I got sick. And sick I was. My body tends to overreact to colds and so I often get fevers and chills. With all the other teachers coming in sick, I knew that I could too. It is difficult teaching while sick. I wanted to be my high energy excitable self but it was too draining. I felt that my classes went by slower and everyone was disappointed in the level of engagement. I was honest with my students and told them I was sick and that I didn’t have the same energy level or voice, and they were very respectful and would quiet down themselves when they saw that I was waiting because I couldn’t raise my voice.
• I learned that my vocal chords are not able to withstand all the talking I do. It has been made worse by my cold, but I go home at the end of the day with an extremely strained voice. I need to learn to keep my voice down during class as my well-being needs to be maintained.
• I am still having issues with time management in classes. I have not yet figured out how much I am capable of doing in a class. I’m frequently pushing back lessons, and I’m uncertain how I can cover the content if this happens. I know it is happening because I have so many in-class activities, and I’m wondering if the frequency of them is useful. I also have been focused a lot on the little picture and all of the details of content. I have forgotten about the big picture and our inquiry question. A goal for next week is to bring that into three of the lessons. I want to make the learning relevant. Students are asking for relevancy and I feel as if I have been failing them.

Most important lesson of the week: I am only human. I get sick. I get tired. I am not capable of doing everything I want to do, but because I am aware of it, I strive to do more. I push to engage every single student. I push to have each class be full of fun and meaningful learning. I push for students to understand every concept. I push and push and push, but I am only human. I can accept where I cannot go above and beyond, but it doesn’t mean I still can’t try.

One of many of the sea of stickies…

Between the last two weeks, I have spent only 5 days in the classroom. I was fortunate to have a consistent three days in a row teaching this week, and loved (almost) every second of it! The biggest personal challenge I faced this week was a lack of organization. People who know me think I’m an extremely organized person: I always have documents put together and filed, my day timer (when used) is colour coded and indicates every little thing that I need to do, and I always know everything that is happening. But I believe that it is I just put out a really great illusion – I look organized so I can stay sane. These past few weeks, I switched from my day timer to sticky notes. I’ve been inundated with so many things to do that I have 20 different sticky notes on the go right now, and I can’t figure out what is what anymore. Some have ideas, others have to do lists or information that needs to be filed away but doesn’t have a home just yet. My lack of organization is resulting in higher stress, as I become frustrated when I can’t remember what I have to do and when things need to be done by. I’ve just pulled out my day timer and am excited to start using it again, as I think it will help me keep organized better. Other than tackling the sticky seamonster, I had a lot of really great moments in class to reflect on. Below are some of my highs and lows from the week!

Highs: 

• There were many times during this week that I saw how I had formed good relationships with many of my students. During the Study Strategies and Self-Regulation Skills Carousel activity (see Inquiry post!), I had the opportunity to talk to many students one-on-one about how they learn and how I can help them better. I had many great conversations about time management, test anxiety and how students want to study better, they just didn’t know how. I felt that the students saw that I cared about their well-being and success, and I found that after that after the activity, all 30 students were involved in a very positive discussion in which we worked together to come up with ideas for our attendance bracket. It was heartwarming to have all of the students happy and excited about the classroom.
• The students designed their own experiments over the last two weeks and were finally able to perform them. The designs were scaffolded in that students were test how to look at changing the rate at which an Alka-Seltzer tablet dissolved. The students did a really great jb designing their experiments, and an even better job performing them. The students were very professional in the lab and did really great work. I was nervous as labs can be very overwhelming, especially when each group is doing something slightly different, but it turned out to be a great activity. Students seemed proud to create and do their own lab. Many went above and beyond with their experiment topics, so much so that I had to jump to Chemistry 12 curriculum to explain their results!
• Today, we were finally able to move forward into the Biology unit on genetics. I had created a unit project in which students were asked to research an application of genetics that has ethical considerations, and present their findings in a gallery walk. I was hesitant as it seems like a really complicated project, and by handing it out at the beginning, they haven’t had any exposure to content of genetics yet. I was really worried about how the students would react to it, but my worries were completely unwarranted. The majority of the class was eager to choose a topic, and seemed really enthusiastic about the project. It made me even more excited, and I can’t want to work with the students more on them, and see the final results!

Lows:

• I’ve hit a wall when it comes to one student. They seem to have only a very basic understanding of English and no desire to pass the course. The student cannot stay awake during class, and when they are awake, are playing on their phone. I do my best, but I have 29 other students who need my help. I also feel bad calling them out every few minutes as it brings the student into a negative light for all the other students. My goal for next week is to go and talk to the ELL support staff to see what I can do to make things better. I feel like I am failing them.
• I handed back the safety test today, and one student challenged an answer to a multiple choice question. I’m not sure if I handled the situation well. The correct answer was the most obvious, but due to an experience we had in class, they felt that the answer they chose was more correct. They didn’t like the fact that they got 100% on the test (there was a bonus question) and then proceeded to ask for opportunities to do extra work. I don’t think that extra work after tests are fair, especially if its to get bonus percent on top of a perfect score. I didn’t give the student the mark, as I do believe that their reason wasn’t sound, but it left me feeling unsure if I did the right thing.
• This week, I’ve overall been very tired. I’ve had moments of high stress, and when mixed with difficulties sleeping, is causing me to be really tired. This is also contributing to my forgetfulness. I need to take some time for me, to boost my energy and find that balance between work and play. I need to exercise more too. I feel very worn down when I can’t be active and I have’tn figured out where to put exercise into my day. It starts at 5am when I wake up and ends at 10pm when I fall asleep, and it is full for every single second. I don’t like having to shift priorities but I think that it is very important for me to put myself first every so often.

Most important thing I’ve learned this week: Communication with students is essential to my success (as well as their’s, which I guess is also important). If I know what makes students happy, I can tailor the classroom to suit their needs so that I can be an effective teacher. Learning is happening all around me, and I love seeing, hearing, and being part of the journey.

With all of the snow we had this week, my five days turned into two! Even though I taught very little I sure did learn a lot about adaptability and flexibility.

I like to think that I’m adaptable and flexible, but these two qualities are in constant conflict with my desire for control over my plans and organization. I spend a lot of time planning each of my classes; every activity has a purpose and when I think about having to rearrange classes, I become easily overwhelmed. How do I choose which lesson and activity to cut out? How do I justify removing this piece of content? How can I make my plans work in new circumstances? These questions caused me significant stress this week. But through it all I learned how to answer these questions. I learned that I need to have confidence in myself and my abilities, and that whatever decision I make, I can l live with and make work. 

As a result, I’ve spent time analyzing unit plans, lesson plans, and making executive decisions on what I want to do and what I need to do. Every big decision I make has relieved some stress, but has also left me full of doubts on my decision. I’m spending my time accepting my decisions, and making the best of the situation. I’m learning to be more adaptable and flexible in my planning. I am thankful that I was able to work on these skills as I can’t always stick to my schedule. Change is inevitable and constant, so I must learn to constantly change to face the inevitable.