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Golden Sierra High School, Biology Teacher 1985 --1989.
My first professional position began in the fall of 1985. I was hired by Black Oak Mine Unified to be a biology and general science teacher. For the next four years I taught biology, earth science, physical science, forestry, and algebra I. I also was the head track coach and the J.V. boys soccer coach. It was during these early years that I became exposed to computer technology "the Apple IIe". By 1986, Golden Sierra had its very first computer lab (15 early PCs). We were off and running.
Northside School, Science and Technology Teacher 1989 -- Present.
In the spring of 1989 I was
transferred to Northside School to develop a science program for the growing middle
school. Over the next two years I developed a science program based on state and county
standards that merged into the existing program at the high school.
In the twelve years that I have been at Northside I have served in many areas:
activities director, track coach, school site council representative, and member of the
district technology committee.
During the summer of 1999 I served as a teacher with the district summer technology
institute. We developed an intensive two week summer class for G.A.T.E. students.The goal
of the institute was to expose the students to technology that they could use in their
classes during the following school year. The students loved working with digital cameras,
creating Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and web pages.
That summer institute encouraged me to try and incorporate more technology into my
curriculum. What I needed now was more training in curriculum development
using technology, and along came the iMET program. This program was exactly what I was
looking for: a Master of Arts in Education that focused on curriculum development with an
emphasis in educational technology. The format of the program being 25% class time (twice
a semester face-to-face meetings) and 75% online (6 hours a week) was perfect since I
teach full time and have a young family. The rest is history.
My philosophy of teaching is
based on the constructivist approach. It is my experience that students retain more
information in situations that allow them to discover and create knowledge. I still
emphasize reading and note-taking, in conjunction with my basic premise that students
learn by doing. I take into consideration all the different modalities(visual, auditory,
and kinesthetic) that students use to learn.
I feel technology is a tool that students should be trained to use to enhance their
understanding of the subject and promote self-expression. In the 21st century, students
need to know how to access information digitally and evaluate it for validity and
accuracy.
My classroom management is based on the understanding that students have the right
to learn and teachers have the right to teach.
In the student work that follows, you will see how I develop lessons around constructivist learning, and how students use technology to enhance learning and promote expression.
The following samples of student work show examples of the types of lessons that I create. I emphasize constructivist learning while integrating technology to enhance my curriculum. These lessons were completed by students in my 7th and 8th grade science and technology classes.
Protist Lab In this lab students are examining local pond water for different types of organisms, protists, monera, or invertebrate animals. The students are required to diagram all the organisms that they see and list the characteristics that they observe. After several days of identifying organisms the students then must create a classification system to place the organisms in based on the characteristics they observed. The students then create a data base with MS Access to accomplish this task. The final write-up is done using MS Word with Access data base tables inserted.
Sediment Lab In this investigation students are learning about how sedimentary rocks form. It starts with an explanation of weathering, erosion, and deposition. The class then moves outside to observe examples of weathering, erosion, and deposition. While on the excursion, the students collect samples of weathered rock. The rock samples are brought back to the classroom and placed in test tubes with a small amount of water, and vigorously mixed. During the next class they make observations of the sediments in the test tubes and explain what happened. Using MS Word and Paint, the students then create a document that explains their findings and relates it to the formation of sedimentary rock.
Story in Stone This written assignment was the culminating experience of a two-week study of the rock cycle. It is based on the G.E.M.S. lesson Stories in Stone . The students started this unit off with stories that they modeled with clay to recreate the rock cycle. They finished with this Word document and timeline created with Paint.
Peanut Lab This lab deals with heat and temperature and is teaching students about calories and the differences between calories and food calories. The students create a calorimeter and burn different foods to calculate the number of calories. Most students quickly learn that food calories are kilocalories. They also learn that potato chips, peanuts, and cheetos should all have warning labels "Keep away from flames: Fire Hazard".
Rubber Band Car
Lab 1
Rubber Band Car Lab 2 This
lab is based on Sir Isaac Newton's 3 laws of motion. Students build a rubberband car using
cardboard, masking tape, and coat hangers. Then, they create their own experiments to test
Newton's 3 laws. They used MS PowerPoint to create the final lab presentation. They also
used MS Excel to create the graphs.
Turbine Lab 1
Turbine Lab 2 Students do
this lab during the energy unit, They have to create a convection turbine and then
determine what fin pattern gives them the maximum R.P.M. When they start they have to
hypothesize what they think will be the ideal fin pattern, and then explain the results in
the conclusion. Students used MS PowerPoint for the lab presentation, and MS Excel to make
the graphs.
KiloWatt Lab This assignment was also part of the energy unit. Students were required to choose anywhere from 5 to 10 electrical appliances and record the usage per/day and per/week. Using the usage data they had to calculate the Watt hours/day, Watt hours/week, Kilowatt hours/week. Students used MS PowerPoint to create the presentation.
Density Lab In this lab students were given 4 known substances that they had to calculate the density of. When they finished the known substances, they were given a piece of brass which is an alloy. Based on the findings of the known substances they had to determine the composition of brass based on density and color. They used MS PowerPoint to create the final presentation.
Tobacco Presentation This was an assignment that was completed by a couple of students for extra credit. They used MS PowerPoint for the presentation.