ASARCO

This is something to definitely worry about, considering that they are now bringing down the smokestacks and who knows what was incinerated in them!  Much of the west side of El Paso and the surrounding area is contaminated, and the city has voted to allow them to raze it and put a shopping center over the site?!

Using wikis in the classroom

Since my current assignment is 7^th grade science, the use of technology to do classroom projects would be a big boost to my students’ engagement and learning. Students already show their capacity to learn new technologies when given the tools to work with. Students already use collaboration techniques whenever they are given the opportunity to do so. Therefore, using a wiki to allow students to collaborate through technology is more likely to provide positive results in their learning curve. The old saying goes, “two heads are better than one.” When students are allowed to research and discuss their ideas with one another, they can create a product that otherwise would not have been created without that collaboration. 

I have seen on a multitude of occasions that students have had their previous learning stimulated by something that was said by a classmate, and they say “I forgot about that” or “I never thought of that”. This discourse allows the students’ mind-frames to be stretched and new ideas to be formed, allowing learning to take place.  When collaboration is used, the collective learning of the group is enhanced.

In my classroom, I will use the wiki to have students complete research on various topics, such as anatomy and physiology of the human being, terrestrial biomes and organism interactions, chemical reactions in living things, and any others that I can think of that relate to biological sciences, since that is primarily what is taught at my grade level.  I will employ a grading rubric to ensure that my students fully understand the teacher expectations for the project; I will give them positive and negative examples of work so that they can provide their own comparisons; I will create teams with specific jobs for students to choose from (hopefully with them deciding to choose from their own strengths to make the collaboration effort all the better); and I will provide them with frequent feedback mechanisms so help to assuage feelings and/or prevent too many ill effects of a collaborative group effort.

What I have recently learned through creating and using a blog for my students is that they learn quickly what is expected and will comply with teacher expectations as long as they are clear. Frequent checks for understanding are important, and when students do collaborate, they frequently are able to troubleshoot their own problems, so that the teacher becomes facilitator, as it should be.

Damage at nuclear facility after Virginia quake

Japan's clean up effort continues

New blog spots for me!

I've chosen to read the following, since they tend to deal with life sciences, science in the classroom, or 7th grade science:

"Superb Seventh Grade blog" at:

http://superbseventhgradeblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/welcome-to-superb-seventh-grade-blog.html

"Stephanie's Class Blog" at:

http://stephanie-stephaniesclassblog.blogspot.com/

"Ms. Bouliane's 7th grade Science Site-Ms. B's Science Blog" at:

http://boulianetms.weebly.com/ms-bs-science-blog.html

"Innovations Celebrations" at:

http://lisasnov8trs.blogspot.com/

"Flint News Now Archives" at:

http://topics.mlive.com/tag/Life%20Science/posts.html

"Science Buddies" at:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/blog/index.php?From=Tab

Creating a blog for the middle school Science classroom

Hello all-

After having worked with middle school students, specifically, seventh graders who typically range in age between 12-14 years for the last eighteen years, I have come to the conclusion that my little beauties require quite a bit of prompting and reminding in order to get things learned and to have assignments submitted in a timely fashion. Since my students enter my classroom with a generalized attitude that there are no “time limits” for turning in work, it is essential to a) engage them in topics that are of interest to them, and b) allow them the opportunities to seek answers in the various modalities available through Web 2.0.  One of the main difficulties in allowing this discovery and development of their young minds has been the continual disallowing of outside media (i.e., their I-pods, I-pads, PSPs, Droids, etc.) in the classroom. Ysleta I.S.D. specifically has an electronics policy that precludes their use in the schools. To get around this issue, a classroom blog will be created so that students will be able to access information and be able to actively participate in virtual classroom discussions in a more “meaningful” way than they might have ordinarily done in a real-world classroom under the scrutiny of their peers.

My Advanced Science students are required, per our Campus Improvement Plan (CIP), to propose and create a science project that is of their own choosing. I plan to use my blog to give students updates on project requirements and due dates; to give access to audio and visual podcasts to further their understanding about what constitutes a good project and how to determine appropriate scientific variables in a given project; to provide students with opportunities to use a digital camera to document their project and then to upload that information to the class blog; use hyperlinks to allow students access to my teacher website so that whenever they are absent they can retrieve assignments that must be completed; and probably most important of all, to allow them access to reach me even when we are not in the classroom, via email and texting so that they can get an immediate response to their various needs.  I plan to allow them to do an electronic project (if they choose to do so of their own volition), to let them incorporate their many talents in their own plan of exploration. I have, in the past, had a pair of students who created and wrote their own video game, and it actually worked! They were able to display their game and play it in class! Allowing students to expand their own learning horizons is key to them becoming critical thinkers in the real world, and allows students the freedom to say, "Hi Miss! I just love being in your class!"

If you would like to see my new class blog (under construction, so to speak) then check out:  dramsey2@blogspot.net

Ways to teach the I-generation

Hello all-
The article and the posts that I read on the I-generation proved to me one very important clue...even as "tech-savvy" as I might wish I was, I am no where near as tech-savvy as even one of my students. When I speak to them of applications in computers, gaming or their i-phones (and/or their Droids), they are able to run circles around me.  I am definitely the product of the "Baby Boomer" generation, but I have also diligently tried to be one of the most progressive and open-minded teachers that my students have. I've tried, always, to provide my students with opportunities to learn and use the available technology and applications at our school. One of the main problems has been that because of district behavior codes, electronic devices are typically not allowed in the classroom. There are reasons for that...sometimes students are off the teacher-imposed educational task and are texting their friends or surfing the net, or emailing someone.  Worse yet is when class is disrupted when a student's cell phone either rings or leaves a text for the recipient.  For these reasons, students are typically told to turn their phones off and they are only allowed access to them during lunch or after school.  This severely curtails their access to learning applications that they would otherwise be accessing so that they could learn more about a topic of discussion. My students have offered many times to "Google" something to provide the class with information. There have been many instances when I wanted to allow them to do just that.  Usually I will access Google myself to look up information when it is needed. Critical to having the student understand what's important is the teacher. It is the teacher's responsibility to point the student in a direction that leads to learning; to have them gauge a site with a critical eye and not to accept blatantly false information that can be posted by "just anyone."
Technology is rampant and used everywhere.  Although I do not have small children, my boys are of the Y-generation and are much more technologically literate than I am. As a matter of fact, one of them has taken computer programming courses at Hanks and has certificates of completion that could get him hired on the Geek Squad at BestBuy. When I require troubleshooting to my smartphone (I have a regular Blackberry Storm) or my computer, I usually call on my kids to fix it. (They are 26 and 25). My youngest is currently a troubleshooter at AT&T.
Recently, my husband and I were eating lunch together at a local restaurant and found a table of 16 people in which all young people in the group were actively engaged using their phones or personal gaming gear. There was almost no conversation occurring with the young people.  The elder people of the group were almost as bad, as they were texting and not talking very much to one another!  Maybe they were holding conversations in text... hmmm.  Interesting.  On another occasion, my cousins came to visit me, and all we did was exchange ringtones on our Smartphones. Never mind that one of them lives in Phoenix and the other one in Raleigh, N.C., and that we really should have been talking to one another!  It's obvious, the world is a-changing!