Chapter 3 Test (Day 39)

Today I subbed in a middle school special ed science class. Every class is either with an aide or is a co-teaching class, and so there's no "A Day in the Life" today.

But it is a science class, so you know what that means -- it's time again to compare today's science classes to what I should have taught three years ago at the old charter school. And unlike last Friday, this is middle school, so it more directly relates to what I could have taught that year.

Of the two classes with an aide, one is seventh grade and the other is eighth grade. The seventh graders have to read Section 1-3 on "Scientific Inquiry" and answer some questions. Once again, "scientific inquiry" is similar to "scientific method," which is what the last seventh grade science class I subbed for was learning -- this is special ed, so the class is a little behind. Oh, and that's Section 1-3 of the life science text, not anything on a Chromebook.

The eighth graders, meanwhile, are learning about LeBron James -- and how the laws of physics (as in Newton's Laws) enable him to make slam dunks. You might notice that so far, the seventh graders are learning out of a life science text while the eighth graders are clearly learning physical science -- as if this was the old California model instead of the preferred integrated model of the NGSS. But before we come to that conclusion, let's see what the kids in the co-teaching classes are learning. (As it turns out, all science teachers are at a meeting, and so "co-teaching" really means two subs.)

In the eighth grade co-teaching class, the following agenda is written on the board:

1. (erased -- this task is delayed to later in the week)
2. Get Chromebooks, read "Stemscopia Reading: Changes in Force and Motion"
3. Use reading for Changes in Force and Motion and Developing Motion Scenarios WS (2 sided)
4. Watch Newton's Laws 1-3 video on Google Classroom
5. Read/work on other schoolwork quietly

So apparently these eighth graders are also learning about Newton's Laws. They might be slightly ahead of the other class. And this time there really is a lesson on the Chromebooks.

Finally, there are two seventh grade co-teaching classes. As it turns out, I've visited this classroom before about four months ago -- I mentioned it in my June 4th post. That day, I subbed for the resident teacher, and today I'm subbing for the co-teacher. And of course, the seventh graders in this class in June have since moved on to eighth grade, so these are new seventh graders.

Here is the lesson plan for this class:

1. Volume Lab -- due Thursday
2. Metric Loop
3. RC/other classwork

So this class is clearly ahead of the special ed class. Indeed, it's still written on the back board that these kids took their test on scientific inquiry last week. Now they're studying the metric system -- the "Metric Loop" mentioned in the assignment is just a word search. The first six words in this word search are "ampere," "area," "balance," "candela," "Celsius," and "centi-." In the puzzle there lies a hidden message that completes the phrase: "The metric system is based on units of ______." The correct answer, of course, is "ten."

There's not much more I can say about this class, because I already described the entire year's curriculum in my June 4th post (as the students had a final project to do that day, based on what they've learned throughout the year). Anyway, that day I noticed that there was a unit on metric measurement -- and I surmised that this unit might be taught close to Metric Week, namely the week of October 10th.

Hmm, October 10th -- that's this Thursday. Thus this week is indeed Metric Week -- and therefore my hypothesis that the metric unit is taught during Metric Week turned out to be 100% correct. And indeed, I tell the students this today. "The metric system is based on units of ten. So if I wanted to create a National Metric Week, I'd schedule it for the week of 10/10. Let's see -- if 10/10 is a date, then when is it?" And as soon as the students figured out that 10/10 is this Thursday, I said, "Happy Metric Week!"

(Also, recall that last Friday, I subbed in a freshman Biology class and assigned them the vocabulary for Week 8 -- this week. Two of the words were "milli-" and "nano-." Is the Bio teacher also trying to observe National Metric Week in his classroom?)

Now let's compare what I see today to my old "science" class at the old charter. I obviously didn't teach the metric system during Metric Week at my old school. Instead, I made a big deal about Yom Kippur, lunar calendars, and astronomy. (Notice that in both 2016 and 2019, Yom Kippur falls on Wednesday of Metric Week.)

And so you might ask, why did I teach my seventh graders astronomy (which isn't part of the seventh grade curriculum) rather than the metric system (which apparently is)? My answer is, blame in on this very blog.

During the first two years of this blog, before I began at the old charter school, I posted an activity on the lunar cycle and calendars. It was intended for the last day before spring break -- which falls close to Easter at many schools. Thus the activity is really about calculating the Easter date and explaining to the students why Easter and their spring break change every year. Once I started working at the old charter, I noticed that it, like most LAUSD schools, closed for the Jewish High Holidays. And so that's why I was so eager to teach astronomy -- it was so I could give my students the activity that I had posted on the blog.

On the other hand, there isn't a long holiday break like Easter near Metric Week. In fact, in both 2014 and 2015 I posted the Chapter 4 Test during Metric Week instead of a weekly activity. I mentioned Metric Week on the blog in 2014 but not 2015 -- it didn't help that 10/10/15 was a Saturday. And 10/10/14 was the day of the test. Recall that this was before I adhered to the strict digit pattern -- this year I'm giving the Chapter 3 Test during Metric Week rather than Chapter 4. Then again, the metric system doesn't really fit either Chapter 3 or 4.

If I had posted a metric activity on the blog, I might have been eager to teach it. In my June 4th post, I suggested that I could have taught metric to all three grades. We see that during this actual Metric Week, only seventh graders get the unit on the metric system. Meanwhile, eighth graders are learning about Newton's Laws -- force, mass, and acceleration. Of course, those are all measured using SI units (newtons, kilograms, and meters per second squared), so it's indirectly related to metric. I don't know that the sixth grade curriculum has at this time of year or whether it involves measurement or anything metric.

There's no excuse for me not to teach this unit on the metric system to the seventh grade, or physical science to the eighth grade, since these subjects are closely related to math. I can claim that I'm not as strong with life science, but not measurement or physical science.

By the way, the special ed teacher has her grades from when she was a young middle school student posted on her wall. As a seventh grader, all her grades are A's and B's, including her A grade in eighth grade math (while still in seventh grade). But her B-minus grade for integrated science was her lowest grade -- and now she's a science teacher. Still, her B-minus beats the C grade that the "science" teacher at the old charter school earned as a seventh grader. Of course I'm referring to myself, the phony "science" teacher. (Note that this was a year or two before the implementation of the old California standards, so "eighth grade math" didn't yet mean Algebra I and "seventh grade science" didn't yet mean life science.)

Both the special ed and the gen ed eighth grade teachers appear to use interactive notebooks, but the seventh grade teacher has his students staple all work as packets to be turned in. In his syllabus he mentions notebooks, but it doesn't appear that he has students glue interactive work into them or turn them in for a grade.

In Geometry, today is the Chapter 3 Test, even though tomorrow is Day 40. Tomorrow is Yom Kippur, not the PSAT or the Chapter 3 Test. Since today's a test day, I ought to make this into a traditionalists' post, but I've already tied this post up with a discussion about science. And so I'll delay traditionalists until tomorrow.

Here are the answers to the test. Notice that I added a few multiple choice questions in order to make the test more PSAT-like. I hope I didn't make the test too hard -- but once again, I wanted the test to be of PSAT-like difficulty as well.

Here are the answers:

1. 90 < x < 180 (graphed on a number line)
2. D
3. 22
4. 150, 30
5. B
6. 72
7. 72
8. y = 4x
9. 11, -1/11
10. -8
11. A
12. Any isosceles triangle (three sides, two congruent)
13. Any nonconvex nonagon (nine sides, not convex)
14. The midpoint quadrilateral should look like a rhombus.
15. Any five lines that don't form a pentagon (because they cross or don't connect)
16. Isosceles and scalene both branch out from triangle.
17. Any linear pair (the picture from #4 works)
18. Use a protractor. (#5 claims to be 52 degrees, but in #6, the same angle is 72 degrees!)
19. 160
20. 80