Save the endangered tree octopus!

Tree Octopus

It’s a well-known fact that new animals are added to the endangered species list on a regular basis, and sadly, we can’t save them all.  Species are going extinct at an alarming rate.

Today I present to you one of the latest that is sure to be on the endangered list soon: the Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis).  This awesome creature resides in temperate rainforests and lives a double life; they’re amphibious mollusks!  They are extremely intelligent with amazing eyesight.  They use their tentacles to climb trees in a form of locomotion called “tentaculation”.  Sadly, their breeding numbers are decreasing at an alarming rate due to “decimation of habitat by logging and suburban encroachment; building of roads that cut off access to the water which it needs for spawning; predation by foreign species such as house cats; and booming populations of its natural predators, including the bald eagle and sasquatch”.  (Info from the Official Save the Pacific Northwest Octopus site)

Hopefully, most people can spot the humorous and ridiculous points in the above story.  But can our students? 

The current student population consists of mostly tech savvy kiddos, usually much more so than we are ourselves.  They’ve grown up with computers, the internet, DVD players, Playstations, cell phones, mp3 players, etc.  They know the basics of using search engines to quickly find information.  Surely this is a huge advancement and advantage compared to the way we had to research our projects and research papers “back in the day”.  Yet teachers know that students will often go for what’s easiest (or, what gets homework and projects done the fastest) without bothering to stop and think if what they have found is valid or reliable. 

Researchers at the University of Connecticut conducted a study involving the aforementioned tree octopus.  The goal?  To test students’ ability to evaluate information they find online.  The results?  Sobering.  “The students not only believed all of the fabricated information, but also insisted on the existence of the octopus, even when researchers explained all the information had been made up.” (From dailymail article)

If students are going to continue to use search engines and the internet in general, teachers must incorporate ways to show them how to do so properly.  We need to teach them how to validate the content they find online.  Much of what has been taught in the past on reading critically is, of course, still applicable. 

• What is the nature of the information being presented?  Is it original data, summaries of original data, anecdotal, etc?
• Is the information current?
• Are sources clearly documented?
• What are the credentials of the original information and the sources listed?
• Is the information verified by others in the field?
• What is the purpose of publishing the information?  Is it geared to simply inform, sell a product, entertain, etc?

There are several good articles (on the internet! ha) about validating information and reading critically.  Here are a few, in no particular order:

Assessing and Validating Information Found on the Internet

Critical Reading Tips from Indiana University

E-how article on validating internet info

Evaluating Internet Information from Johns Hopkins

Fellow teachers, I urge you to broach this topic when an assignment comes up in which you know students will be using the internet for research. 

P.S.  Also, if we all teach critical reading and validation, then Wikipedia can be used.  It is not the devil.  🙂

Awesome idea alert

 Jenga.  Who doesn’t love it?

 So why not turn Jenga into a game to review with your students?

 The author at “I Want to Teach Forever” gives you the details.  Pure awesomeness.

Why do you teach?

Why do you teach?

Is your goal to make sure each of your students learns the geographic impact on the rise and fall of major empires throughout world history?  Must all of your students understand the value of finding the limit of a function?  Do your students need to be able to explain how the architecture of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells suggests a common origin?

These are all worthy goals, to be sure.  As educators, we are passionate about our subject areas.  Naturally, we would love for our students to love them as well.  Not many things could make me more proud than for a student of mine to go on to do great things in biology. 

Realistically, I know that most of my students will never have a career even remotely related to biology.  Do our goals as teacher’s need to include covering the subject matter?  Of course!  That is what teaching, fundamentally, is.  Yet I fear that many teachers get bogged down at this level of education and never consider what other things they can be accomplishing at the same time.

Perhaps Chris at Practical Theory illustrates this sentiment best–

For four years, kids share their lives with us. We see them grow up through some of the craziest times of their lives, and if we are lucky, we get to have some small impact on them. Within the context of f(x) = x -3 and Newton’s Laws and Their Eyes Were Watching God, we learn about each other, and we touch each other’s lives, and then they move on, and we have a new group of kids who we have to care for with the same energy and passion and dedication as we cared for the kids who just left. It is a bit twisted, really, but it’s kind of amazing too.

Amazing barely begins to describe it!  I think some teachers are scared of this aspect of the job, and thus it limits their teaching to strictly focusing on the academics.  Maybe they think it’s inappropriate to have fun with kids, to get to know them, to spend time with them as people.  Maybe they are uncomfortable trying.  Maybe they are worried that they are incompetent in this area, and thus they simply don’t try.  Yet, kids often don’t care what you know until they know you care. 

Teaching isn’t just about academics.  Maybe it should be, and maybe it shouldn’t.  I suppose that’s a whole ‘nother debate.  What I do know is that I choose to look at it differently.  Not only am I fortunate enough to have the opportunity to share my love of biology with teenagers, but I’m blessed to get to be a part of their lives.  And also blessed that they get to be a part of mine.

Students are awesome

People say really stupid things to those that are grieving.  This was covered in a previous post.  However, people can be amazing during such times as well.

I received a sympathy card from one of my students over the Christmas break.  I knew who it was from when I glanced at the address sticker, and I figured his mother had sent it.  That alone was enough to make me smile and tear up.  However, when I opened the card, I saw that the writing inside was clearly the student’s.  Very nice.

Today, on the first day students returned from the break, another student brought me a beautiful arrangement of white roses.  *tears* 

Sometimes teaching makes us want to tear our hair out (or someone else’s), but then things like this happen, and it’s all worth it.

Firework Fabulous–the MHS lip dub

On December 8, 2010, the students of Magnolia High School in Magnolia, Texas came together to create something truly special.  The students performed a lip dub to Katy Perry’s “Firework”.  Nearly all groups (athletic, academic, you name it) at the school were represented. 

The lip dub basically portrays the simple story of a new student entering Magnolia High, nervous on his first day.  He is welcomed to the school by all of the student groups (dancing around the school to “Firework”).  It creates a family atmosphere and the student is clearly at ease by the end of the video, assured that he’ll find  a place to belong.  It’s really neat.  Thanks, MHS, for inspiring us!

Why do students have poor research skills?

A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education describes a study suggesting that many students lack basic research skills.  I think most teachers and professors would probably think to themselves, “Well, duh”  when reading this. 

Alison J. Head, a co-principal investigator for the project, said the results suggest that today’s students struggle with a feeling of information overload…Ms. Head said the findings show that college students approach research as a hunt for the right answer instead of a process of evaluating different arguments and coming up with their own interpretation.

I suspect Ms. Head is correct in suggesting that students are “hunting” for the right answer.  So why are students approaching school work and research in this manner?  And what do we, as educators, do about it?

Like, OMG, why are you so rude?

I’ve listened to my co-workers complain all year about how rude, snotty, mean-spirited, and lazy the students at our school are.  At first, I was puzzled.  Compared to my previous workplace (which was rife with drugs, sex, and violence), the students here are angels.  They are engaged in learning, seek their teachers out for extra help when it’s needed, are polite, and are just generally extremely fun to teach.

I wish I could remain under this enchantment, but I’m starting to understand some of my co-workers complaints.  Over the past few days I have witnessed several students (none of my own, thankfully) being rude, mean-spirited, and just generally acting like JERK FACES. 

Instance #1: While helping a fellow teacher  set up for a lab activity in her class, one of the senior boys, Jimmy, who had chosen his lab table called out to another boy, “Hey Peter!  Come over here.  Peter!  Peter!  Over here.”  Peter most definitely heard Jimmy asking him to be his partner.  Peter pretended not to hear and joined another table with much cooler boys.  I’m not one to let things like this slide, so I glance up at Peter and say coolly, “Come on, man.  You’re going to ignore Jimmy?  He’s been calling you for the past minute.  Not cool.”  Peter’s face turned red, and the teacher, also perturbed, then switched all the groups herself.  (Fortunately we have a good enough relationship that she didn’t mind me butting in.)

Instance #2: During one of my break periods today, I could hear some girls conversing in the science room next door very loudly before class began.  The conversation went something like this:

“Oh my god, you will not BELIEVE what happened.  Mrs. Robertson came into the bathroom when I was in there, and she STARTED TALKING TO ME!  I HATE when teachers do that.  I’m like, why are you talking to me?  Yeah, she said, ‘Hi, Bethany, how are you?’  We’re in the bathroom.  Oh, and then she TOUCHED my shoulder!  Ugh, I know!  I’m like, what are you a perv?”

I very nearly marched in there to proclaim, “Yes, clearly a teacher being friendly to you and speaking to you as if you are an actual person is clearly out of line!”  Somehow I restrained myself.  The teacher she was talking about is, incidentally, known as one of the kindest, most soft-spoken teachers on our campus. 

Mean Teens

Instance #3:  While walking down the hall during the same off-period, some students were sitting in the hall (allowable, as it was their study hall period).  I overhear one young man say rather loudly, “I pay $25000 a year to go to this damn school.  Why should I care about the freakin’ rules?”  I stopped and slowly (and rather dramatically) turned around and stared him down.  One of his friends noticed me and started hitting him in the shoulder, whispering, “Language, dude, language!”  I simply shook my head, and turned back around saying, “No, not just language, guys.  Attitude, too.  Language AND attitude.”  After witnessing this last display of teenage snobbery, I was feeling quite ill-tempered.  I returned to my room and vented about the behavior of the students in all of these stories to a colleague. 

Then something unexpected happened.  The young man from instance #3 appeared at my door and apologized profusely and sincerely.  I suppose there is always hope for the next generation after all.  🙂

(As a humorous aside, when I was looking for images related to “apology” and “sorry” to include in this post, Tiger Woods kept showing up.)

What to do with oddball answers…

Teachers, what do you do when you get odd answers?  I’m not talking about the ones that are waaaaay “out there”.  I mean the ones that attempted to answer the question but didn’t actually address what was being asked. 

For example:

If you are having a hard time reading this, the question reads, “What is bromothymol blue and what is its purpose in this lab?”  The student’s answer?  “because when its covered in vinegar (weak acid) it changes from blue to yellow”. (Note: this is not an actual picture of a student’s work.)

Firstly, the student never actually said what bromothymol blue is.  Secondly, it does indeed change color in this lab, but the student’s statement doesn’t explain why that is necessary.

Another example…

Question: “How could you and your partner work even more successfully together in this lab?”

Answer: “No.”

I think you get the point.  In these cases, I leave notes for the students and circle the parts of the question they either skipped over reading or misunderstood (like the “How” part of the previous question).  I talk with them verbally about it one-on-one. 

What do you do, though, when mistakes like this keep happening over and over and over?  Please share.

Are private school teachers spoiled?

Today someone told me something downright shocking.

The kids here are much more needy.

This was at a my current school, which is private, and very well-regarded in its community.  Virtually all of the students who graduate from this school will go to college, and many will go to Ivy League schools. 

I must have had a shocked or puzzled look on my face because the person then clarified by saying,

They need a lot more hand-holding.

This simply hasn’t been my experience at all.  I don’t feel like I’ve had to do much hand-holding at this school, minus teaching them how to use the microscope which is simply a tedious task no matter what.  The students are happy, have great personalities and good senses of humor.  Over 95% of them do their homework on a regular basis.  The majority of them are eager to participate in class.  They ask questions.  They want to do well.  They want to please their teachers. 

I’ve heard other teachers at this school talk about the students as if they are spoiled brats, and I just don’t understand.  I’m sure the longer I am there, the more complaints I will have, but so far, the kids are amazingly well-behaved.  I used to work at a school where teachers were occasionally assaulted by students, (this wasn’t an every day or every week thing, but I can still remember at least 4 instances during the several years I was there), there were student fights every week, and once there was even a riot.  It sounds like a horrible place when you describe it that way, but I did really love the students.  (Regardless, I am still much happier with my current bunch of students.) 

My current school has study hall periods set up for the students in which they are supposed to study, work on homework, and visit other teachers (if they are free) to get help.  The students use these opportunities.  There are many days where I feel like I literally teach all day because I have students coming to see me for help even on my “off” periods.  I don’t see this as “hand-holding”, either, though.  I see it as a great system to effectively help students learn. 

So there are no fights, no drug problems (at least not on campus), no standardized tests hanging over your head…what’s the deal?

I guess I just don’t get it.  What am I missing here?  Has anyone else had a similar experience in comparing public schools to private schools?

What sort of intelligence do you have?

What type of intelligence do you have?

At the Multiple Intelligences site, you can take an online quiz to determine what type of intelligence you possess.

You may be wondering, “Why would I want to do that?”  First of all, it’s just interesting.  Secondly, you might want to consider having your students take the quiz.

Multiple intelligences is an idea based on the observation that some people are better at understanding some things than others.  Some people can easily describe and picture electron orbitals, but those same people may be horrendous artists.  Some people learn music easily but struggle with relating to other people.  Instead of having one intelligence, multiple intelligences theory claims that we have several.  Depending on which research you are looking at, or who you ask, the intelligences are usually something like the following:

Kinesthetic	Logical
Interpersonal	Intrapersonal
Linguistic	Musical
Visual/Spatial	Naturalistic

“Ok, so even if I do this, or have my students do it, then what?”

Tic Tac Toe

Well, now you have a wealth of information about your students.  You have a good idea of where some of their strengths lie and where some of their weaknesses might be.  For example, if you have a class with a large percentage of kinesthetic learners, it would probably be  a good idea to create some lessons involving kinesthetic modeling. 

One easy way of using multiple intelligences in the classroom is to use a Tic-Tac-Toe board (sometimes called a choice board, a dinner menu, an extension menu, Think-Tac-Toe, etc).  A Tic-Tac-Toe board looks like…well, I think you can figure that out.

There are many ways you can use a Tic Tac Toe board in class, but one basic idea is that each student chooses 3 of the activities from the Tic Tac Toe board to get a “tic tac toe”.  Each square caters to one of the multiple intelligences.  (Yes, there are 9, rather than 8, boxes–you can either create a free space, or use an intelligence more than once, etc.  Use your discretion.)

For example, let’s say you are covering genetics.  One of the choices could be writing a poem about a genetic disorder.  Another choice could be role-playing as a genetic counselor.  By giving the students a choice, they are able to choose whatever they are good at/most comfortable with (their type of intelligence), but it also gives them a chance to grow in other areas as well.

So, what is your intelligence?