1) Attendance has started to go downhill for my Earth Science students. Given, we had a half-day and it was the week before Spring Break, but I can't afford to waste any instructional time. We have to keep moving forward with the essential content of the course. The challenge has become teaching new information to the class, while simultaneously catching-up the students who have been absent. This is no easy task, but I am trying to establish an atmosphere in which all students present on that particular day can be successful. The constructive use of the activity period has become critical for this approach. The problem is that students are often absent from activity period (i.e. they leave school after 4th block), which undermines the system.
The Corcoran staff spent the afternoon of the half-day becoming familiar with the basics of RTI (Response to Intervention). This is an initiative that the state is requiring to be implemented in all public schools. It is a 3-tiered approach, which basically means that students are divided into three groups (kind of like educational triage). Students are either flagged for additional educational services or instructional time (tier 1), are provided with diversified instructional opportunities in the classroom (tier 2), or are deemed good to go "as is" (tier 3). This approach can help lead to the success of all students, and can help me to more equitably and efficiently focus my instruction. It can also provide a framework for me to address this group of students who are currently "lacking" regular attendance. I plan to spend the remainder of the year "intervening" with the tier 1 and tier 2 students, and then subsequently responding to (and reflecting upon) these interventions.
2) My Earth Science students have become quite accustomed to the castle learning structure, and this is providing them valuable practice with multiple choice Regents questions. Castle learning assignment are either assigned as homework or executed as a "station" on the classroom computers.
ESF students used the computer lab to research specific environmental issues with the tourism industry in the Caribbean. Students prepared powerpoint presentations on these issues and presented them in class.
3) I have implemented a new classroom procedure called the "QOD" or Questions of the Day. This is a slight variation to the 1-question "on-time quiz" that I used previously. Students have the first 8 minutes of each class to answer 3-4 questions that I have created based on the textbook material. The question either addresses content that will be discussed in class that day, or content that was learned during the previous class.
These questions are projected on the Smartboard as students walk into the classroom. I recognize that this is not a very innovative use for the Smartboard, but it does serve a purpose. The QODS help to "warm-up" the students with content, reinforce scientific literacy, and provide an incentive for students to be on time to class. I collect the QODs each day (and grade them immediately). Students have been very responsive. The OTQ's had been collected every two weeks. The OTQ's failed due to their lack of immediacy.
4) I have organized a recreational basketball "semi-league" at Higher Onondaga Park. Friends (and friends of friends) meet every Sunday afternoon for pick-up basketball. The turn-outs have been very good. It is good fun and great exercise. It's always good to get outside when there isn't snow on the ground.
5) Some kid in the hallway on Friday warned me to "get out of his face" when I asked him what class he was going to. He then briskly walked away down the hall. I had an administrator help identify the student, wrote-up a referral, and had the student suspended for three days (vacation extension). This type of disrespectful behavior toward adults (or anyone for that matter) cannot and will not be tolerated in our schools.
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