Sometimes it feels like you’re living a Jonathan Richman song — with so much going on you just have to throw up your hands …. how can I focus on any one thing for a blog post? I mean, there was the student who scrawled obscenities about me on a desk, the other student who [...]
Archive for February, 2012
Roadrunner roadrunner
Posted in commitment on February 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I have to revise my whole curriculum!
Posted in Cool science, good living on February 17, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Yes, an afternoon of careful study with a student has determined … My exciting jar full of pond life is teeming not with leeches but planaria. We tried a few tests, all of which were inconclusive, before throwing one under a microscope for a close look. Diminutive, no segments, greenish hue, two clear eye spots, [...]
Coming up this weekend …
Posted in good books on February 16, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The city’s library foundation is wrapping up its big book sale this weekend, which means Saturday is $7 for a grocery bag of books day. The details are available here. I will probably have to set myself a little budget, but one of the great things about teaching middle school science is that there is [...]
Early Valentine’s Day gift
Posted in Cool science on February 14, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
In the interest of giving some of my science students something interesting to peer at under their microscopes, I broke the ice on a nearby pond and scooped up a couple of jarfuls of muck and water. It being somewhere around 20 degrees, I wasn’t sure what I might find. A week or two ago, [...]
Heart of the Game
Posted in Uncategorized on February 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Recently discovered a remarkable documentary about a girls’ high school basketball team in Seattle. “Heart of the Game” follows a new coach — a tax law professor moonlighting as coach at a school near the University of Washington campus — through the first six years and ultimately a bid for a state championship (no spoiler [...]
Crunched by numbers
Posted in reform on February 8, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I am not sure how many stories I edited ever got held up by the principal at a school staff meeting, but that’s what happened this week with a story from The Star. Reporter Scott Elliott had a really interesting look at five area schools that have faced long odds to achieve a top rating [...]
Dr., the patience is ready
Posted in students, Uncategorized on February 4, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Perhaps, just perhaps, my patience was in need of a little medical attention by the end of the day today. The constant pushing back against students who are resistant to learning, resistant to working and eager to break anything — from colored pencils to test tubes today — as well as willing to pilfer Skittles [...]
Another milestone
Posted in students on February 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
In the ongoing trench warfare I am conducting with the irascible students in my home room class, pitting my desire to have well-behaved, respectful students against their desire to do whatever they want whenever they want using whatever language flits through their amygdala-dominated minds, I may just have achieved a breakthrough. Keep in mind, I [...]
