Sometimes, it's Ok to Lie.

It was early in my teaching career.


Photo Credit: Evan-Amos as a
part of Vanamo Media

A student with some severe social, emotional, and anger issues was moved into my class after some trouble with another teacher. It wasn't the teacher's fault, but the student seemed to like her a little too much, and after he started petting her arm, the move was made. Although he has reached adulthood by now, let's call him Brian.

When I was told of the schedule change, I was understandably nervous, although I didn't let it show. Brian was notoriously known by every staff member (and probably most students). I was still a relatively inexperienced teacher, although at that time, I didn't realize how inexperienced I was. Still, I had an idea. When Brian came in, I decided to give it a try.


"Hi, are you joining the class today?"
"Yes."
"Great! What school are you coming from?"

With that, Brian stopped. He looked at me like I was out of my mind.
"This isn't my new school. I go here."
"Oh yeah, that's right. Anyway, I'm glad you're here. Why don't you take a seat right there and I'll be over to talk to you in a minute."

Brian walked over and took his seat, making about five students uncomfortable in the process. After getting the class going, I went over to make sure everything was going ok.

"Hey, so how is your first day going so far? I know it can be hard to change schools."
"This isn't my first day - I told you already."
"Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. Anyway, is this seat ok for you?"

I repeated this one or two more times over the course of the next 40 minutes, stopping short of pushing Brian over the edge. At the end of the period, I asked Brian to stay after class for a minute and decided to take one last risk.

"I just wanted to let you know how well you did today. I know how hard it can be to switch schools."
"I've BEEN at the school all year." A little tense.
"Oh yeah, I'm sorry. I keep forgetting. Anyway, I'd like to call your house and let your parents know how well you did. Is that ok?"

And with that, I won Brian over. He came in the next day, and asked if I could call his house again. I told him I'd be happy to call when I had a good reason to. I honestly don't remember if I ever called again. Now, I'm not saying that Brian behaved perfectly in my class, because he didn't. But I can say that I can't remember a single incident in particular, and he was with me for the rest of the year.

My point is this: As a middle school teacher, students should not see you as their friend. It is, however, imperative that they think you like them, and hopefully you do, as building relationships with students is the name of the game. My interactions with Brian gave him a chance to make a fresh start with a teacher who appeared to be happy to have him in class. During the middle school years, kids are acutely aware and impacted by what they believe others think of them

Sometimes, it's ok to lie.

Gross! (and Awesome) Lab

One of the messiest, grossest, and BEST labs that I have - Oobleck!

With very simple materials, students can create this strangely behaving non-Newtonian fluid. It acts like a liquid when handled slowly, but solidifies when handled quickly! (I usually use it in my middle school classroom to teach about atomic/molecular motion in solids and liquids).

A day or two day ago, I uploaded the lab to my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
(See it here - there's a free downloadable preview).

Due to some curriculum and grade level changes, I haven't had the opportunity to do this lab with my classes in a couple of years, but looking it over reminded me what a great learning experience it is - I've had kids come back to me years later and still remember it.

Below are some videos (not of me or my class) showing Oobleck's strange behavior. 
Think you know how it works? The first three comments on this post get the lab and key for free! (Please leave your email address in the comment, or email it to me separately if you'd prefer).

Oobleck on a Speaker

Mythbusters Making (and Trying to Walk Across) Oobleck

 

There's also a recipe that involves glue and Borax.

 I haven't used it, but I know others who have:

Cool Science Tricks

Today, I wanted to share some of the cool science that my class has been doing. 
(Although these particular videos aren't from my classroom, they showcase the science).
Enjoy!



Egg in Vinegar
When the egg is dissolved in vinegar, the shell dissolves, but leaves the inner membrane in tact. Besides being cool in general, it's a great example of diffusion - Certain fluids (and small solids) can pass through the membrane.

"Blowing Out" a Candle
When baking soda and vinegar are mixed, they create and invisible gas - carbon dioxide gas (the same stuff you breathe out). This gas is denser than air, and can be poured just like water. 

Decomposition of Water
Electric current breaks water into hydrogen and oxygen gas! The salt is to help the mixture conduct electricity. (A lab similar to this is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store). 

 

Please share any cool or interesting science from your class!

A Bad Lesson

I like interviews.

I like them so much that, when my close teacher friends go on interviews, I always ask about questions and how they answered them. I'm not exactly sure why - it's probably because I like talking about teaching. Some of my friends indulge me, others don't.

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine went on an interview for a teaching/department head job. I've been the head of a science department for six years now, so I was especially curious as to the questions they asked. I also wanted to think about how I would answer them.

 I only remember one of the questions. When she told it to me, I secretly thought, "Ohhh, I have a good answer for this one." Then, when she told me her answer, it made me stop thinking that. Her answer was better than mine. A lot better.

The question was, "What would you do if you observed a teacher in your department and saw a bad lesson?" It's a pretty simple, straightforward question. How would you answer it?


At the time, I probably would have said something like, "Well, I hope that I would have already formed a relationship with this teacher, and that I would have a good idea of whether this was an normal lesson or an outlier for them. Then I would discuss it with the teacher, asking them to reflect on the lesson."

My friend didn't say that.

She said, "Can you explain what you mean by a 'bad lesson'?"

That made me stop and think. Describing a lesson as a "bad lesson" really doesn't get at what the purpose of the lesson is. Looking back on it, it really isn't such a great question. The interviewer explained that by "bad lesson," she was referring to a classic, boring "sage on a stage" type lesson that didn't usually engage the kids.

So, what makes a bad lesson?

My friend continued, "I'd have to find out if the kids were learning. As long as the kids are learning, I don't know that I'd call it a bad lesson, so I'd need more information as to why or what parts of the objective were not learned."
This was a great answer - if I had been interviewing her, it would have been a HUGE plus in my notes. (She did not, however, get the job. Their loss).

Anyway, this makes a very important point - lessons and teachers should be assessed by the results they produce. Any lesson that efficiently progresses students toward a worthwhile objective is by definition an excellent one.

While teachers, as professionals, should be willing to try new things and grow our skills, we make a huge mistake when we judge lessons and teachers based on teaching strategies alone. A teacher that lectures students regularly is not necessarily doing a bad job, nor is a teacher regularly using student-centered strategies doing a necessarily good one - or vice versa.

Any teacher that effectively builds relationships with kids and consistently effects learning is good enough for me.

There They Were Again - Kissing.

Do you remember middle school? I do. 

Every morning, I got off the bus and walked towards my suburban New York middle school. I waited outside until the first bell (we had to wait outside until the first bell). I walked through the hall on my way to my locker, hoping it would be clear. 

But every morning, it wasn't. Every morning, they were standing there, leaning against my locker, kissing.
Not just smooching, or pecking, but full-on, make-out kissing. Looking back on it, I'm not sure why nobody stopped them - we don't even let kids hold hands in my current middle school - but that wasn't my perspective then. Back then, I remember that every morning, it was my job to awkwardly interrupt them so that I could get to my locker and put my jacket away. (Yeah, I was interrupting them).

Thinking back on it, there's probably no way that this happened every morning, or that it was even close to as bad as I remember, but that's how I remember it. It's funny to think about.

Now, every morning, I get out of my car and enter school at around 6:30am, walk through empty halls, open my room, turn on the coffee maker, and get myself ready for the day's lesson. (Don't pretend you're not impressed with how far I've come). But as a middle school student, I don't remember thinking on the way to school about the lessons I would probably experience that day. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but I definitely don't remember it. And I didn't have especially bad teachers - there were even some good and excellent ones in there.

I'm pretty sure that the reason I didn't think about it was because I was twelve years old, and I had other things on my mind. Like if Jared and Emma would be in front of my locker. Kissing.

So that's the kind of stuff I try to remember now. Somehow, I have to wade through all of this middle school stuff and teach 30 kids four times a day what an endoplasmic reticulum does. And the funny thing is, I'm good at it. I even enjoy the middle school stuff now, and I enjoy helping current twelve year olds find their ways through it.

Do you remember middle school?