Karen GoatKeeper's Blog - Posts Tagged "teaching"
A Year's Reading Challenge
Normally I write about some aspect of writing involving me over the week. This time I'm writing about reading.
Writers should read widely. Seeing how other authors handle subjects, interest their readers and different styles can help improve writing styles.
This year I plan to tackle "A Sense of History" one essay at a time. It is a book of essays on American history.
Everyone took American history when I was in school. They still do. But that doesn't mean we learn much history.
When I was teaching science, my students asked me one day why I never gave them a day off. Strictly speaking I did, the last day of each semester.
This is what I explained: Missouri required them to attend my class 178 days a year. Out of that 178, two ended semesters, ten dropped for testing, six dropped for semester tests, six were half days. Assuming that 178 days was 178 hours [periods are usually less than an hour], that left me 154 hours to teach science.
The state standards wanted me to cover 20 topic areas. I had to cover a topic every 7 days.Each unit of science included reading, classwork, labs and a test.
My students never again wondered why we worked every day. And, when they got to college, they were ready to tackle the college science classes.
History has a similar challenge as do all subjects. So, I don't know a lot of history, only bits and pieces. I would like to know more.
This 800 pages + book covers so much American history I am barely familiar with. So this book will come up on my reading list and will sit there for a long time. But I hope to know some history by the end of the year.
Writers should read widely. Seeing how other authors handle subjects, interest their readers and different styles can help improve writing styles.
This year I plan to tackle "A Sense of History" one essay at a time. It is a book of essays on American history.
Everyone took American history when I was in school. They still do. But that doesn't mean we learn much history.
When I was teaching science, my students asked me one day why I never gave them a day off. Strictly speaking I did, the last day of each semester.
This is what I explained: Missouri required them to attend my class 178 days a year. Out of that 178, two ended semesters, ten dropped for testing, six dropped for semester tests, six were half days. Assuming that 178 days was 178 hours [periods are usually less than an hour], that left me 154 hours to teach science.
The state standards wanted me to cover 20 topic areas. I had to cover a topic every 7 days.Each unit of science included reading, classwork, labs and a test.
My students never again wondered why we worked every day. And, when they got to college, they were ready to tackle the college science classes.
History has a similar challenge as do all subjects. So, I don't know a lot of history, only bits and pieces. I would like to know more.
This 800 pages + book covers so much American history I am barely familiar with. So this book will come up on my reading list and will sit there for a long time. But I hope to know some history by the end of the year.
Writing Science Investigations
I taught science. Every chapter was reduced to a list of topics covered, labs to include, worksheets and a test. This sounds so dry and some of it was. Too many science classes are only boring book learning.
Science is often maligned but most of us wouldn't be alive today without it. All of our technology, medicine, clothing, food, housing, transportation and communications were once no more than scientific ideas.
The problem for me is: I love science. I love teaching science. I believe science is fun and interesting and not buried in a book somewhere. It is there in front of you if you will only look and think about it.
"The Pumpkin Project" is based in this. That is why it is more than just the Investigations. The Investigations are the foundation on which the book is built. They have to be well thought out, written plainly and work.
There are 19 Investigations in the book. I am now working on number 17 although I have rewritten 18. The mind is filled with cotton. It's hard to concentrate. That lure of being done is overwhelming.
Except I'm not done. Several need pictures so I will be doing these over the summer. Then I will know for sure if the directions are easy to follow.
Fall looms closer. Will "The Pumpkin Project" be done? Today I wonder. But underneath I know it will.
Science is often maligned but most of us wouldn't be alive today without it. All of our technology, medicine, clothing, food, housing, transportation and communications were once no more than scientific ideas.
The problem for me is: I love science. I love teaching science. I believe science is fun and interesting and not buried in a book somewhere. It is there in front of you if you will only look and think about it.
"The Pumpkin Project" is based in this. That is why it is more than just the Investigations. The Investigations are the foundation on which the book is built. They have to be well thought out, written plainly and work.
There are 19 Investigations in the book. I am now working on number 17 although I have rewritten 18. The mind is filled with cotton. It's hard to concentrate. That lure of being done is overwhelming.
Except I'm not done. Several need pictures so I will be doing these over the summer. Then I will know for sure if the directions are easy to follow.
Fall looms closer. Will "The Pumpkin Project" be done? Today I wonder. But underneath I know it will.
