A few years ago, my district built a new middle school. We transitioned from a 7-8 building, to a 6-8 building. In addition to this, our overall master schedule had a major overhaul. As a result, all 3 grade levels have a different schedule and different transition times, so we don’t have ringing bells. If you know me at all, you know how frustrating this has been. I thrive on routine and schedules, and not having bells to hold my students accountable on transition time has been hard for me. Over the last couple years, I have tried several systems to try to maintain an efficient transition time. I teach science, and 42-45 minute periods are already plenty short. Longer than needed transition times had shortened some of my class periods to a point where those classes weren’t able to complete lessons. This was unbelievably stressful for someone who “teaches to the bell.” Some classes were just able to get more done than others, because they had 3-5 extra minutes. Bells in Middle School…Over Christmas break, I asked a question in a Facebook group. I was curious if there were a lot of schools in this situation. I assumed my school was an anomaly. Boy, was I wrong! Here, it turns out, there are a lot of middle schools without ringing bells. There were also other teachers as frustrated as I had been, because of the lack of efficient transitions. Many suggested that I set alarms on my cell phone, but I didn’t like that idea for several reasons. I had tried an idea that a colleague uses, but I talk to students too much during transitions, so even I lost track of time, and her system didn’t work for me either. Alarms & Clock AppDoing more research over Christmas break, I discovered the Alarms & Clock App on my school PC. In this app, I was able to set multiple alarms. I started experimenting with this when we returned from Christmas break. After determining an ideal transition times for each period, I set my alarms. I didn’t want to give them too much time, but I also didn’t want to rush my students to a point that their lateness was out of their control. There is an alarm sound at the beginning of all of my class periods, except for first period. Students are expected to be in the room before the alarm sounds. My school PC feeds into the speakers of my room, so the alarm is broadcast across my classroom. I was generous for the first two days and reminded students of the time that their alarm would sound. I told them I would start marking them tardy after the 2 practice days. We are in our 3rd week of this system its its working well. I record names of tardy students on a list on my front counter with the date they were late. After 3 tardies, I assign a lunch detention. With 120 students, I have assigned 3 lunch detention in the last 2.5 weeks. They really are responding well to this new system. If you are also frustrated with the lack of bells, I encourage you to try this system.
If you’d like ideas on how to organize interactive notebooks within your classroom, or on how to organize work for absent students, please read my other articles. For interactive and hands-on science activities, please Follow Me on Teachers Pay Teachers.
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This is only slightly related to science instruction, but has been a life saver for me. I am great at organizing my desk drawers, cabinets, other drawer space, filing cabinets, and my binders. However, I stink at keeping my daily tasks organized, such as current handouts I am using, papers that need graded, and interactive notebook activities. Many of these papers are papers that I may finish with one day, but am not quite ready to pack them away due to student absences, correcting poor assignments, and multi-day activities. These papers usually end up piling up on my kidney table, desk, counter space, etc. Well this year, I think I have found a solution. It has worked for the last month and I am impressed at how clean my classroom surfaces look.
1. For work needing graded, I have set out a stack of paper trays in order to have one tray per class period. Anything needing graded goes into the appropriate tray. I also have a set of identical trays for work that has already been graded and needs passed back. 2. I use one more stack of 5 paper trays that are labeled Monday-Friday. I copy all of my handouts for the week on Monday, so these trays help me keep those papers organized until I need them. 3. Lastly, my favorite addition of all! I bought 3 3-drawer carts (I didn't put the wheels on them.) These 3 carts fit perfectly until one of my work tables. I have labeled each drawer with a type of handout (bell work, interactive notes, quizzes, labs, etc.) When I am done with a handout for the day, I just throw it in the appropriate bin. The handouts end up in chronological order, so whenever I need to find one at a later time, they are easy to find. I plan to place the contents of the bin into the recycling bin at the end of each unit or grading period. None of these solutions are complicated, but they have sure made a difference in my room. Last school year, to teach 7th grade science, I used Interactive Notebooking almost exclusively. From this, I created a lot of great resources and learned how to create diagrams and graphic organizers on many topics. This school year, I am now teaching 8th grade science to many of those same students. Here is why I am no longer exclusively using interactive notebooking:
5. Many students enjoyed the time to cut, paste, and color various foldables; however that time ate up so much valuable activity and lab time. 4. Interactive note-booking seems "babyish" to advanced students of this age and it is the opposite for struggling learners. They have trouble keeping a notebook for the entire school year organized and in one piece. 3. Lab activities and inquiry-based learning is so much MORE FUN than cutting and pasting!!! 2. I attended the BWISER (Buckeye Women in Science and Engineering Research Institute at the College of Wooster, which is a science camp for 7th and 8th grade girls. This camp was life-changing in my role as teaching intern. I really learned how valuable inquiry-based learning can be, especially when helping girls become interested and successful in science careers. 1. I earned my master's degree in 2016. It is a Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Science Education. This program was 100% focused on using inquiry and research to teach science. I have read countless research on the best ways to teach science, and a proven model, based on research of Piaget and Vygotsky, is the Learning Cycle Model. Learning and applying this teaching model to my classroom has transformed me as a teacher. My students love coming to science and are begging for more activities. Instead of just memorizing facts and diagrams, they are doing science and retaining concepts, because they have first-hand experience. Its amazing to watch a student discover and define a concept before my formal instruction because of an exploration I have planned. I firmly believe all subjects should be taught using the Learning Cycle Model, which is also know as the 5e Model. Watch for resources using this model. I will admit, I hated interactive note-booking for the first few months. Students forgot to bring them, failed to number their pages, "forgot" to glue in foldables and other interactive notes, etc. I also felt like I had to build pages to fill the book. I started out with the idea that the left side of the pages (backs) would be for student work and the right side (fronts) would be for teacher work. This idea helped me get started, but I soon was burdened with trying to fill the "student work" pages. There were just times when I needed both sides for student work or both sides as a resource. There were also days that I felt like I was putting time into building interactive notes that wasn't neccessary...Cutting, pasting, and folding notes takes class time, building foldables and organizers was eating away at my personal time, and it didn't seem like students were using them.
WELL, MY THOUGHTS CHANGED WITH THIS LAST UNIT... In December, I taught a relatively difficult unit on wind and ocean currents and their effect on climate. I had read a blog where the author believed in always allowing students to use their resources (notes) on unit tests, because it will teach them good habits in using resources as adults. I didn't want to believe this because students can't use their resources on state-mandated standardized tests and I wanted them to "know" the content without using a resources. Boy, was I wrong. So back to the wind, currents, and climate unit...because of the difficulty of these concepts, I chose to allow students to use their notebooks on the unit assessment. They were not aware of this until the day of the test, and many of them had incomplete notebooks. I think this is the day the "lightbulb" went off for many. The next chapter, I noticed improvement in student notebooks...notes were complete, more absent students were asking for the notes they were missing, and pages were numbered. I also noticed that many students automatically knew which pages they could find needed notes and references. They were helping each other find items, they knew what specific foldables looked-like, and it seemed as if they were internalizing more and more of the information that we had put in the books. That next chapter, Moon, Earth, and Sun Relationships, was not as difficult as the prior unit, so I did not allow notebook use on that test, but I did notice drastic improvement in notebook usage throughout the unit and in to the next unit. I have seen more students using their notebooks as they complete class and homework assignments and I think I have finally convinced students that their ISNs are not just notes, but useful in many ways beyond that day of creation. To purchase my units on Wind, Currents, and Climate and Earth, Moon, and Sun Relationships, please visit my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. Wind, Currents, and Climate Interactive Notebook Earth, Moon, and Sun Relationships Interactive Notebook
I want to inspire you to bring interactive notebooking to your classroom. I have been using similar methods, such as foldables and lapbooking, but am now going to transition for full interactive notebooks. Please join me in my journey and feel free to add any ideas or ask questions. What's the point?When using an interactive notebook, students are engaged in the note-taking, plus they are creating a reference book that they will actually use. Students feel pride in these notebooks because THEY created it and THEY understand it. Last school year, my students and I created lapbooks for each unit and the kids took tremendous pride in the appearance of these and they hated when they were missing something. I even had a student ask me for all new materials at the end of a unit, because he wanted to make a neater lapbook that would be easier for him to study...his first attempt was rather sloppy and he knew he could do better. It's life changing to see students taking that much pride in their work.
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Kristy ShearerI earned my teaching degree in 2007 and was hired immediately. In 2016, I earn a Master of Curriculum and Instruction from The University of Texas at Arlington. In this degree, the focus was science instruction using the inquiry-based Learning Cycle Model. This degree forever changed how I will teach. It was an amazing program and really taught me how to effectively have an active, hands-on class. SCIENCe interactions
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