Friday, August 29, 2014

Starlab Rocks!

This was a great week. There were several things that I could have led with but Starlab won out.

Let's see, I celebrated my birthday this week. I am at the point in life where I relish each and every one that I have. And, of course, it was my final birthday as a classroom teacher. A student who had me last year gave me a present - one of my favorite astronomically named confections: Moon Pies! Thank you Collin, and Erin for designing the bow. My other such favorites are Sky Bar, Star Burst, Milky Way and Mars bar. Never heard of a Sky Bar? They are made by NECCO and were around when I was a kid. They have made a bit of a come back. At least I see them occasionally in Florida stores.

Thursday night was parent Open House, again, my last. In my experience Pine View parents are a great bunch. At least all the ones who took the time to come to Open House were. They are interested in the classes their sons and daughters are taking and it is my job to let them know what can be expected in my class. And I do my best to make them laugh and feel comfortable that I am their kids teacher. All in all I view Open House as a positive experience, although it does make for a long day.

Then there is Starlab. For those who don't know, Starlab is a portable planetarium that I purchased for the school about 11 years ago with a couple of large grants. It has made teaching astronomy even more fun than it was before. We have class in Starlab once every other week, usually on Thursday. It is large and won't fit inside a normal classroom. So for now the best place for it is the auditorium stage. The first time we use it each year, each class period I set it up, explain what it is, take the students inside, have a fire drill (we get out of the dome in 5 seconds), set it back up, get situated, start the music, bring the lights down and show them the night sky. After 5 or 10 minutes, it is time to bring the lights up and pack everything up for the next class. The kids love it (so do I.) There is so much to do in Starlab, but I have learned that the best way is in little doses so it leaves them wanting more. It is just one more way that I try a variety of techniques and methods to helps learn about the heavens.

When I was a planetarium director, choosing music for the programs was a critical part of the production. It is still the same today. I use music to engage the students and draw them into the unique environment that we have in the dome. Over the years students have occasionally made suggestions of pieces of music to use in Starlab. And I have used some of them. But the two students who took this on as a personal project and proposed many pieces that I still use 10 years later are Michael Arbucci and Roger Zare. They helped give my collection a more contemporary component and helped me see the value of using movie sound tracks. Thanks Mike and Roger.

I have scheduled our first stargaze and hope for cooperative weather. If it flies, I will talk (write) about it next time.

Thanks for reading this.



Friday, August 22, 2014

One Down, Thirty-five to Go.

In a play on the name of this blog, I titled this post after the fact that I am finished with the first week of school and have 35 remaining. So the question comes, what did I learn the first week of school? A couple of things, actually. First, I enjoy teaching. Really, I mean it. I look forward to seeing the students, to interacting with them, to learning about them and their interests and goals. I enjoy messing with their minds. These are gifted kids and many of them have never experienced difficulty in understanding new concepts before. In Astronomy we have to deal with 3 dimensional thinking when studying the celestial sphere and coordinate systems and, well, 3-D spatial reasoning is not widely taught these days. It makes most of them have to exercise their "mental muscle," if just a little bit.

Second, I learned that I am part of a terrific department. (I am actually part of 2 departments: science and technology, and they are both terrific, but my new classroom is in the science building, so most of my time is with them.) The science department at my school is made of some of the nicest, most helpful, most considerate teachers I have known in my career. As colleagues they are among the best.

Third, I learned that having only two preps (see my post "So the First Shall Be Last...") makes a difference. I find myself more relaxed between classes, not worrying about getting the switch made from one subject to another. I have a little more time to think, pause, reflect and talk to students. I'm liking this.

Fourth, in teaching 4 sections of the same course, I have found myself asking a given class, "Did I mention a certain topic to you yesterday?" And a couple times I found that I mentioned it in 3 of the 4 sections but not the other, so I had to cover it for them. I have to work out my own way to make sure I cover everything I need in all my sections.

I also learned that my departure at the end of the year can have an effect on others. I am clearing out teaching materials that I have kept thinking I would use them somewhere down the road. I had a few packs of construction paper that I would not need this year (which now means never) and took them to an elementary teacher and gave them to her and told her why. The next day she said she was sad that whole evening knowing I am really retiring this year. Glad for me but sad at the same time. I get that. I'm afraid that mixed emotions will be a common companion this year. Which is one reason why I want to document this year, so I record and remember as much as I can about it.

Thanks for reading this.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Move In Ready

I spent this, the week before students arrive, doing 2 things: attending meetings and preparing my new-to-me classroom for this year's batch of enthusiastic learners. (And I mean that. No sarcasm.) I have nothing to say about attending meetings. It could get ugly.

My first job was to make the new room dark. One entire wall of the classroom is windows. There are no blackout curtains. Let me just say that aluminum foil is now my friend. I can now show images and videos of faint and low contrast celestial objects with some fidelity.

It has been my experience that classroom appearance is done extremely well by most elementary teachers. Creating an inviting yet organized and safe environment for young students, I'm convinced, is in their genes.  Every wall has something that tells the student this is a great classroom. From there the trend, again anecdotally, is for the nature and quality of the decorations and messages to decrease as the grade level increases. I teach some sophomores but mostly junior and seniors (that's 11th and 12th grades.) See where I going here? So one of my decisions was what would I use to grace and adorn the walls of my room? 

There is one bulletin board in my room that was crying for attention. It was covered with a faded and brittle construction paper background and cut-out construction paper letters of a terrific quote attributed to Thomas A. Edison about inspiration and perspiration. I overcame my initial fondness for the quote and decided to make a change. So I tore the letters and background sheets off, realizing too late that the brittle paper tore and left over 200 staples embedded in the board fibers (not cork). I removed them because I had made the decision that whatever was on the board was going to be mine. 

A colleague gave me a roll of white paper used to cover table tops and with 2 swaths I quickly gave the board a stark bright white appearance that I found slightly startling. I had to cover it up. But with what? Now I teach astronomy. I found some cool images from a calendar that I printed for 2014, so there were 5 months for me to mount. (Note to self, school years are different than calendar years.) I found a nice laminated image of a total lunar eclipse time lapse sequence. That's a winner since there are 2 of those eclipses this school year. (The first is in October. I will post about it later.) I decided I would wait to staple anything more for a few days. I am exploring options. The pithy quotes will have to come from the Activ board.

Then I found a package my wife had come across on a shopping trip some time this summer. It was vinyl type stickers of the planets and sun. When I say sticker, these were not your ordinary every day put in a book sticker. The sun was nearly 2 feet in diameter, the earth about 4 inches and Jupiter about 10 inches. Not to scale but still cool. I put the sun at the back of the room and the planets in order on one side of the room on cabinet doors. (My granddaughter helped me with the placement.) That's it for appearance except for a few boxes with stuff laying around looking for a home in the new digs.

Later on I will begin bringing out my collection of educational manipulatives. OK, toys. They will have their own post later.

Monday marks what everybody says is the first day of school. Ha. Teachers have been at it a week (or more) already. Let the count down begin. Remember, this is going to be a great year.

Monday, August 11, 2014

So the Last Shall be First and ...

I  am pretty sure that a recurring theme of this, my final year in the classroom, will be "lasts." The last this and the last that. I guess I already started that by referring to this as my 'final' year. I will do this sparingly, I assure you. But this time, I must. Today was the first day that teachers were back. Students return next Monday, August 18. So-o-o-o this was my last first teacher day. There, it's done.

And now to the news of the day:
After 21 years in the same classroom in the technology building, I moved over the summer to a new-to-me room in the science building. I can safely put this in the column "Things Teachers Dislike Doing." But I'm good with it. The main reason is that, in packing up for this move, I had to toss things that I hadn't used in years and I knew I would not use this year. I'm going to have to do this again at the end of this the final year, but now the job shouldn't be as bad, since I got rid of a lot for this move.

The moves means that a substantial portion of my time this week will be spent in personalizing my new room. It is not a bad room, as classrooms go. But it lacks something....my stuff on display. I have my own posters to adorn the walls, puzzles to lay out for students to manipulate and astronomical equipment to set out. I should have this room up to my standards by a 7:18 next Monday morning (that's 3 minutes before kids arrive and class starts.)

On another front, I find myself with 2 preps this year. Now, for the non-teachers in this vast audience, a prep is the term for a class or subject that you teach and have to prepare a lesson for every day. The more subjects you teach, the more preparation time you usually have. Many teachers teach required courses, which means that a lot of students take it. So those teachers usually have 5 or 6 sections(periods) teaching the same thing (say Algebra 1) 5 or 6 times each day. They have a lot of students but only one prep. Most of my career I have had at least 3 preps and sometimes 4 or even 5 (I would teach a different subject each period.) Never have I have fewer than 3 preps. Until now, my last year. I have one section of Advanced Placement Computer Science and four sections of Astronomy! I would be worried about the monotony of teaching the same thing 4 times a day, except for the fact that it is astronomy. Come on. How good is that.

One final thing for this post: I have determined that this is going to be a good year, maybe even a great year, for me in the classroom. I have thought about this a lot and realize that there is much in my life that is beyond my control. The good, the bad, and the in between - it all happens without seeking for my permission. The one thing I can control is my response to those things, which a direct outgrowth of my attitude. I may not succeed all the time, but I am resolved that my attitude and response will be gracious, caring and encouraging. From time to time I will let you know how I am doing.

Signed,
Astrochap (my WWF handle)

Thursday, August 7, 2014

What is this?

I am a teacher. Growing up I did not plan on becoming a teacher, had no desire to be a teacher, but here I am about to start the final year of a long classroom teaching career. Now doing something for 40 years that I did not plan on doing says that I either ended up really enjoying it or was too lazy to try something else. I'm pretty sure it is the former.

As my blog title may indicate, I have taught 40 years and have just this one, about to commence, as my last. And I want to document it. Just a little. So this is an informal diary of my thoughts, recollections and anything else I want to just throw out there.

I'll start with a list of the places I have taught, when and what subjects (memory willing).
1968-71 In Ohio

1971-72 - Virginia

1973-76 - Nashville, TN

1977-87 - Norfolk Christian High School, Norfolk, Va.

1988-present - Pine View School for the Gifted, Sarasota then Osprey, Fl.
6th grade physical science, computer exploration for 4th, 5th and 6th grades, computer programming (3 levels), AP computer science A and AB, geometry, honors physics, AP physics B, physics 2, fundamentals of robotics, and Astronomy.

A couple years I was in grad school full time (I have 2 masters degrees) and one year I worked in industry (didn't like it.)

Along the way I married a wonderful woman, adopted and raised a daughter who married a terrific guy and gave me a grand-daughter! But that is for another blog.