Wednesday morning... Finishing my unit on photosynthesis with my Impact Alabama students at UAB. These are students from Birmingham city and Jefferson county schools are are going to be taking AP biology next year. My purpose? Give them a head start on some of the more difficult subjects and expose them to student-conducted research. Over the last two weeks we have covered cellular energetics - enzymes, cell respiration and photosynthesis and have conducted four labs each lasting 2+ hours. Next week the students will be working in groups to manipulate one of the labs that they have done in order to ask a new question.
I am happy to report that my EESL 650 class that I am currently enrolled in (teaching math/science to English learners) has drastically changed my teaching methodology compared to last summer. My students are keeping interactive notebooks and I have seen a dramatic increase in student participation and attention span with this simple addition. I have also incorporated a lot of the vocabulary exercises such as reading the vocab words aloud and having the students repeat them back. Graphic organizers have also been a popular addition along with colored pencils!
Nice looking science notebooks -- way to go Kurt!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ron, great way to utilize what we have learned in class! Great job Kurt!! :)
ReplyDeleteKurt,
ReplyDeleteI think your use of interactive notebooks in this setting is fantastic! I truly agree that they really enhance student engagement. I imagine you'll gain a lot of insight with your summer group that that will make it even easier for you to implement them full-force with your students at Vestavia in the fall.
Found out last Friday that the Vestavia gig fell through because I will not have my teaching certificate fully reinstated by then. It was a real downer as it would have been a 10 minute commute. Got on the phone ASAP on Friday and contacted all of my colleagues which got me an interview at Shelby County HS tomorrow... Will keep y'all posted!. Thanks Heather BTW!
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your interview! I really love how you have already implemented the interactive notebooks. We also did interactive notebooks during our summer camp, but used them for two subjects. Yours look fantastic! The students seem very engaged in the pictures. It looks like they will have a great head start for the new school year.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Amanda - your interactive notebooks look great! I'm glad the students responded so well to them. I plan to use them next year and am anxious to see how my students respond.
ReplyDeleteKurt,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed seeing this post. IMO there is nothing better than learning a new strategy and going out and using it with students right away. Do you have any student samples your can bring to share Monday?
I also think that's a great opportunity for the students to get a preview of the content! How did they recruit for the program?
ReplyDelete