Chapter 3 Review (Day 37)

Today I subbed in a high school Biology class. And believe it or not, I'm actually subbing in my old district twice in a row. Again, it really is Day 37 in this district (Day 29 in the new district).

Since it's not math, I won't do "A Day in the Life." (A few classes have one-on-one aides.) But as I usually do for science, I will compare this class to my "science" class at the old school.

First of all, note that this Biology class isn't like middle school science, even though the mostly freshmen in this class are just one year removed from middle school. This is because middle school classes follow the Preferred Integrated model, while Integrated Science is -- even after the advent of the NGSS -- rare in high school (the integrated classes I took as a young high school student notwithstanding).

Still, we can compare freshman Biology to the life sciences component of eighth grade science, just as we compare freshman Algebra I to the algebra part of Math 8 class.

Here is the lesson plan for today:

1. Vocab Review (individual)
2. Quiz 7
3. Week 8 flashcards
4. Section 3-3

The first thing we notice is that apparently, these students take a weekly vocab quiz. Notice that as today is Day 37, it's indeed the eighth week of school (and seventh quiz, since there likely was no quiz the first partial week of school). Actually, the vocab "words" for the eighth week are actually root words -- for example, the some roots are "cyto" (cell, hollow), "soma" (body), "milli" (one-thousandth), and "nano" (dwarf or one billionth).

(Note: Greek/Latin roots are part of the middle school Common Core ELA curriculum. Indeed, while I was preparing cut-and-paste for today's Geometry lesson, I saw that on Day 37 last year, I ended up subbing in a seventh grade English class that was indeed studying Latin roots. Some of the Latin roots taught that day were "micro," small, and "mega," great.)

We obviously compare this to the "Word Walls" from the old charter school. Actually, there was no explanation how "Word Walls" were supposed to work -- all we were told is that they were a required part of the Illinois State curriculum. So I guess it's possible that I could have done my "Word Walls" this way, with flashcards and weekly quizzes, but no one directed me to do so.

The teacher has four different forms of the quiz to avoid cheating -- but then again, he has only one prep, Biology. At the old charter school I had three preps (six if we count math), so I would have needed to make twelve quizzes if I were to do it this way. Again, that's part of the reason why I had so much trouble with science -- it was difficult to come up with something great for sixth, seventh, and eighth grades and all the math I needed to teach as well.

At least the classroom has printed textbooks. The assignment for Section 3-3, "Cycles of Matter" (the water cycle, etc.), is on a worksheet from the text.

There are several classroom management issues today. In the first class of the day, several students aren't in assigned seats. I'm very strict with the seating chart on days when there's a quiz or test (especially with multiple forms). And so I must write down the names -- including one guy who's in another seat for the quiz, but returns to his seat for the assignment. Thus I can only assume that he's trying to cheat.

In subsequent classes, I open with the following:

Important Note:

Many students would rather break the rules and sit with their friends than follow the rules and sit in their assigned seats (on days when there is a sub). Since there is a quiz today, I’m enforcing the seating chart 100%. I will assume that anyone who switches seats is cheating on the quiz. If your teacher really, honestly changed your assigned seat and just neglected to change it on the seating chart, let me know and I’ll take the liberty of marking it on the roster. Again, we will compare the number on your quiz to the number on your seat to determine whether you are honest or not. Do not ask me if I need help or not. I need zero help if everyone would just follow the rules. (So if you really want to help, sit in your assigned seat, not wherever you want.) Do not change seats again until the dismissal bell rings, even if you finished the quiz!

Did this note work? Well, it sort of worked. In the next class, the students are in the correct desks, but it's what they're doing at those desks that's bad. One guy rubbed his eraser on the (black) desks, while another group is playing around by adjusting the table legs. Students in the next two classes are forced to fix the desks.

In the last class of the day, the senior TA's convince me to separate two students who are disturbing each other. This is well after the quiz is complete, so I allow the move. Perhaps I need to work on separating troublesome students more often.

The song incentive today is "Meet Me in Pomona," since this is a science class. Even though "Earth, Moon, and Sun" is also a science song (and the fair is already closed, while it's still the Jewish High Holidays), "Pomona" makes more sense for Biology -- after all, the song mentions the animals that can be seen at the fair. And besides, I've already written the corrected second verse in my notebook and have been waiting to sing it for some time now.

OK, let's get to the U of Chicago text. Chapter 3 is one of the two shortest chapters in the text -- it has only six sections. All the other chapters from 2 to 6 have seven sections, and we've seen that with seven sections, there's time for two review days rather than one.

But providing a third review day for Chapter 3 is awkward. It's one thing to review on Monday for a Wednesday test, but it's another to review the previous Friday for a Wednesday test. It's more logical to study two days before the test than five days before, unless it's a big test like the final (or the state test, or the PSAT, or the bar exam, and so on). With a mere chapter test, studying the previous Friday is counterproductive as students may forget over the weekend.

Oh, and by the way, earlier I mentioned the PSAT as an example of a test for which students may prepare five or more days in advance. It has come to my attention that many schools will NOT be administering the PSAT on Wednesday, October 9th. That's because it's Yom Kippur -- and as we know, many schools will be closed for the Jewish holidays, including LAUSD. So instead, the PSAT will be given a week later, on October 16th.

Originally, this was going to be my plan for the last few days of Chapter 3:

Friday, October 4th: Activity Day (Day 37)
Monday, October 7th: Chapter 3 Review Day 1 (Day 38)
Tuesday, October 8th: Chapter 3 Review Day 2 (Day 39)
Wednesday, October 9th: Chapter 3 Test (Day 40)

This follows the pattern that we've established earlier this year -- Chapter 1 Test on Day 20, Chapter 2 Test on Day 30, and so on.

But Day 40 is exactly Yom Kippur. Even though my old district doesn't close for Jewish holidays, it's awkward for me to post a test on that day. Our Jewish students won't be able to test that day, whether it's the PSAT or the Chapter 3 test.

And so instead, we take advantage of the shorter chapter to have two review days for the test (just like all the other chapters from 2 to 6). The spare day will be used for an activity that any religious students can afford to skip for Yom Kippur:

Friday, October 4th: Chapter 3 Review Day 1 (Day 37)
Monday, October 7th: Chapter 3 Review Day 2 (Day 38)
Tuesday, October 8th: Chapter 3 Test (Day 39)
Wednesday, October 9th: Yom Kippur alternate activity (Day 40)

Now for Chapter 2, we used the first review day for the worksheet and the second day for a special activity based on Geometry teacher Shaun Carter's blog -- but that was when the test was on a Wednesday and review days were Monday and Tuesday. With a Tuesday test, it makes more sense for the review worksheet to be on Monday (again because of the weekend).

And so today I post Shaun Carter's lesson. This looks like interesting way to teach parallel lines and corresponding angles. But unfortunately, he doesn't provide a worksheet for this lesson. Instead there is only a Twitter post:

https://twitter.com/theshauncarter/status/910927986542686209

I created a worksheet for this lesson based on what Carter has on his board in this Tweet. I like the idea of using color-coded Post-its just as Carter does. Notice that this lesson serves as review not just for Lesson 3-4 on parallel lines, but also Lesson 3-2 on linear pairs and vertical angles.