Donna

March Entry
I am frustrated by my biology classes. We worked on mitosis for about three weeks. Finally, I felt confident that the kids "got it." Ken and I gave a quiz that we have used in years past. The first class to receive the test averaged 1.0! I asked what they had done to study. The most common answer was "nothing," followed by "I glanced over the stuff during the 5 minutes cram time you have." I also heard, "I forgot" and other variations on the same themes. In short, no one prepared for the ANNOUNCED quiz.

A week later when the other class was ready for the test, I shared the results from my first class with them and explained that they would also fail unless they prepared. Tom Danylik, my co-teacher, gave the kids some very specific ways to study the material such as making flashcards, doing questions and answers with a friend in class, and a few others. This class averaged 1.6. Again, I heard the same explanations about not studying or forgetting about the quiz.

Prior to the quiz, we used LOTS of literacy strategies. The students had a graphic organizer for the phases in the cell cycle and mitosis. The students watched an animated website, drew pictures of the phases and wrote the major events in the organizer. We took two-column notes on mitosis and the cell cycle.

We had a class activity where they saw a picture of a cell and had to identify which phase the cell was in. Each student held up a card with the phase he/she thought. Then we checked the correct answer and analyzed why the class answer and the correct answer were different.

The students had a lab where they identified and counted cells in the various phases. As the students worked on the class activity and the lab, they used the vocabulary for the phases and events.

Finally the class before the quiz, the students reviewed the cell cycle with another animated website. In pairs, the students played a game of concentration with the phases and the events.

What else can I do? Aside from doing the quiz for them, I'm at a loss.

January Entry
I responded to Katie Killam's post about a graphic organizer for multiplying matrices.

This lesson plan shows a way to help students create their own organizer. I have not implemented it because I'm not teaching chemistry this year. I created it during a class this past summer.[|Math Lesson.pdf]

December Entry

 * Dilemma**

In biology, important concepts in cellular transport are osmosis and diffusion. Students often have difficulty understanding the concepts and how the processes work.

This year we did an inquiry lab with starch and sugar inside a bag of dialysis tubing and water and iodine outside the tubing. We made predictions about what would happen to each substance. Then we did the experiment and shared data.

I used a modified think-pair-share to analyze the data. I posed questions to lead the students to understanding osmosis and diffusion. The students wrote the answer independently in their journals. Then in groups they wrote their answers on white boards and pretended to be scientists in different countries working independently. After that, we had a "scientific symposium in Geneva." Each country shared their findings. As I listened, I posed different questions and we repeated the process. (This is very similar to Pam's modeling so thanks Pam!)

At the end, it seemed that they really understood osmosis and diffusion in greater depth than I've seen before. They also said they enjoyed the way we did it with the white boards and the "scientific symposia." Since we finished the experiment and analysis the day before Christmas break, I decided not to make them do a formal lab report.

After vacation, I gave them a modified KWL chart on cells. They first wrote what they knew from their own brains -- no resources. Then they shared with each other and could add to the list. Finally, they could use any resource in the room, including their book, journal, posters, and laptop. Only 4 out of 25 students wrote they know osmosis was a cellular process. They added that to the list at the end when they could use resources.

I wonder if they forgot about osmosis/diffusion during the break or if they didn't really learn it in the first place but had a fun time doing the symposia. Any suggestions for improvement?

Dilemma
In forest ecology, students need to master approximately 20 vocabulary words in order to be able to do tree identification. This year, the students seem to be struggling more than the past two years. I have a mixed class of grades 9 to 12 and a wide variety of ability levels.

So far, I have started with a triple-entry vocabulary journal. Then we played “Concentration,” where the student would flip over an index card with the definition. The student would then guess the word. If they needed help, they could “phone a friend.” We have looked at leaves in the woods and tried to identify them using the vocabulary. After 3 classes, I did a quick write on “I still need practice on. . . “ The most frequent answer was “vocabulary.”

What else could I do to help the students? Their assessment is due at the end of September.