Phew!!!

This is my first chance to work on my blog since school started. I plan on retiring from teaching in three years and I guess I’ll go out “firing on all cylinders”. Chemistry is taking up a lot of my free time. I am so glad I spent much of this past summer building the curriculum and I was actually to get the first semester all set up. Doing a chem lab every week is very tiring but also very effective. I build each week around one basic concept or set of concepts with coordinated lecture, lab, and homework for the class.

I am enjoying teaching chemistry and watching student expressions “light up” as they understand various concepts. Their lab technique was not the best, but in just two labs I have seen a lot of improvement. The lab this week involves determining the thickness of the layer of zinc on a piece of galvonized iron. Hydrochloric acid will be used to remove the zinc and the students have to be able to work with mass, area, and volume to calculate the thickness.

Teaching a section of physics between my two chenistry sections is sometimes confusing to me. This is my third year of teaching physics and I am still becoming comfortable with the subject. So, of course, I had to also take on chemistry! I had a comment from one of my chemistry students the other day. “Why do the physics kids get to play with toys and we don’t?” I love questions like that. It shows that the kids are communicating with each other about science, not just what they did over the weekend.

Physics labs are set up differently from the chemistry labs. In physics I work on a number of basic principles to prepare the students to successfully complete a lab. The lab itself may take several days, unlike the single period labs of chemistry.

This week we are finishing the lecture/worksheet part of lessons on velocity and acceleration in physics. The lab I designed has several parts to it involving scale RC cars, friction powered cars, and model trains (HO and O scale). The kids will have some time playing with “toys” and learning science.

Then my afternoon classes become the focus for the rest of my day. I have two sections of Natural Resources, a class for students who have a history of difficulty with their science classes in the middle school. My major goal in these classes is not to simply teach subject matter. I also try to teach self esteem by helping them become successful without treating them like babies, not an easy thing to do.

We have been working on insects and the interest is high, as long as they don’t have to overexert themselves. For the past two weeks I have been after them to bring in jars so we can go outside and collect some insects. I have four jars from 60 kids (I have one class of 32 and another of 27) and 9 jars from one young lady, who insists on dressing like a boy. Last week she was punished by her mother. She was made to wear girl clothing and put up her hair.

The afternoon is when I have to fight the cell phone battle and stop kids from chasing each other around the classroom. One boy likes to take things from other students and run off with them. The other day in another class he knocked a friend’s hat off his head. The teacher had to intervene to separate them and prevent a fight. Then they were both supposed to come to my class but luckily one went home early. I have the kicking, socializing, forgetfullness, throwing of objects, refusal to do homework, and several other behaviors coomon to middles schools. It’s amazing how different these kids will be after I have worked with them for this year.

It’s too bad I can’t bring former students back who left the system and never finished. I know of several who have bad jobs or no jobs, with wives (whom they got pregnant in school) and kids to support, and have just about given up on having any sort of a good/happy life. Unfortunately the ninth graders have to learn these things for themselves since adults don't know anything about what they are going through.