I'm willing to bet that this year's going to be a crazy one, I've somehow picked up even more responsibilities this year and I'm hoping that maybe one of our new teachers will pick up one or two of my clubs to help with my staying sane. As of right now, I'm National Honor Society sponsor, Girls in Engineering, Math and Science club sponsor, Robotics coach, Astronaut Challenge Coach, (all things I did the past 3 years) and Global Technologies magnet program coordinator (that one's new). It also looks like I've got 5 sections of astronomy with -last time I counted - 133 students total. The classes and numbers are subject to change as I've witnessed and been part of (remember that time a few years ago where my 2nd period switched from one class to another over night? that was fun), but I really hope it sticks. I love teaching astronomy.
Last year was so fun. We participated in astronaut challenge again, skyped with Fred Haise, played with moon rocks, looked ahead to New Horizons, went to Kennedy Space Center, took our first district end of course exam... and the list goes on.
This summer did throw a bit of a curveball at me - which only a few people know about - and I thought for a minute that I might not go back to the classroom. I had a job offer for a total dream job and though it was a decision a wrestled with for awhile, I decided to stay where I am. (thanks to the few people who I vented to and who helped me and listened to me while I talked through making decision... I appreciate all of you)
Having that almost-not-going-back-to-the-classroom experience made me realize that really excited to teach astronomy this year. With all the New Horizons stuff I really want to incorporate more planetary geology into my class and with all the stuff I learned at my Mars MAVEN workshop at NASA Goddard a few weeks ago, I'm pumped up and excited to go.
One thing I always do at the end of each school year is give my students a survey to see what they thought of the class. I have 4 years of data (3 years of good data) and I use it to help me get ready, make changes, and reflect on what I can do better for the next year. My students last year were some of the coolest humans I've ever met and I respect them a whole lot, so I was really glad that when I read through the surveys most of them enjoyed the class, enjoyed my teaching, and learned something they consider valuable. There were about 160 students who answered survey questions, so there was a bunch more data this year than the last two years. In 2013 I only had 70 responses and in 2014 just 68. Those years I taught physical science too, but last year I had all astronomy.
First the bad news: I talk too fast. I had about 8 or 9 students answer the "what could I do to be a better teacher" question with "SLOW DOWN!!" or something similar. I work on it often, but I just can't. I also had maybe 4 or 5 say something about my "sass" or "sarcasm"... luckily most of the students get it, but I realize I need to watch myself sometimes.
I find that some of the best data comes from students who I know don't really like the class or "click" with me so I actively hunt out their surveys and look for what they said - I know they'll be my harshest critics, and I'm ok with that. I was really surprised that one girl in my 1st period who missed class quite a bit and had disagreements with me often (I was by no means innocent in our disagreements either) commented that she really like our interactive notebooks and it really helped her stay organized. I also had a student who wasn't always with me say "you're a great teacher, I just wasn't always the best student." I hope he remembered writing that and gives some of his future teachers and easier time.
I also ask students for a describe this "class in one word" - which shows they don't always follow directions, because some of them wrote more than one - and these are the results of that, in a wordle. I like pictures :)
The results of my "which unit was your favorite" and "which unit was your least favorite" were yet again ALL over the place. We do 6 units throughout the year, sky, sun/earth/moon, solar system, light, starts, and the universe. Lots of students told me light was "confusing" and had "too much math" but just as many students said it was their favorite. I guess it's a good thing that the results are evenly split...it tells me that at least some of the students thought every thing we did was the coolest thing we did. (I'm choosing to look on the bright side of this one.)
Now for the numbers game - which might be my favorite part - I love data.
I'm where I want to be with grades - I think this data (increase from 88.57% to 93.9%) tells me the students know that what they learn is what will determine their grade.
I've got to work on the online part of our class. They don't like moodle, but they like online resources, which is funny because moodle is where all the online resources are. I'm not sure the students are at the point yet where they see the internet as a place to learn things. I have to figure out a way to make that better.
Not enough students are feeling challenged. It's up a bit from before, but definitely not enough.
I'm pretty proud of the "clear about the goals for this class" result (increase from 70% to 92%) because at least I know they know what they're getting into. I'm also glad the "you had high expectations for me" numbers went up again (increase from 45% to 68%) but it's still not good enough.
Most of the numbers I wanted to go up did, and I think that's a good place for me to start the school year... feel free to keep following on twitter if you'd like to come along for the ride.
-d
No comments:
Post a Comment