Wanna Be A Blockhead?

Last class we met up with another science class and talked with them about box theater. At first, much like us, they were pretty apprehensive to go outside and stick a box on their head but soon enough you could hear the "OH WOW!"s coming from within the box. Our group of four (Melonie, Dayna, Amanda, and I) had a group of four students from the other class. All four of them got in the box, and all but one of them seemed pretty interested in what was happening and either wanted to see it again or offered up some thoughts on how it happened. Part of me wishes we had more time so really do more of the experiments and actually start with a small hole like we had done and "play" with it a little more before it worked so that maybe the students could have seen the box as more than just some weird contraption. On the other hand, there was a bit of an awkward moment when we were trying to talk with them about it because they weren't as enthusiastic as we have been the past several weeks. I think part of that is because they didn't really have time to think about it on their own and digest it and consider it from all angles. They pretty much saw it and then were asked "Why?"
Once we got past boxing everybody, we asked them specifically what they saw- a "beam" when the hole was facing the sun and a "projection" when the hole was away from the sun. They got that the hole facing the sun was too much light, and at first thought that the tape had something to do with it too. We shared ideas and they were pretty much on the same train of thought I was minus a couple details like the concave shape of the tape when it was punctured but I just don't think they had time to come up with a full explanation. We eventually got them to throw out more ideas (conversation wasn't exactly flowing) and they agreed that the light from the sun must hit the objects and then "bounce" into the box. We didn't get much in to the whole color topic... I don't think they really cared to go there, so we just shared our thoughts. They nodded. I think they knew that this was sort of a short term thing for them, so honestly I didn't get a lot out of it at all, although it was still fun to share the experience.

How to Talk

The articles, "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk," and, "How Not to Talk to Your Kids," both reinforced how to use praise effectively when teaching or coaching children. "How to Talk" really made a point of one thing: justifying. You can say "Good job!" "Fantastic!" "Way to go!" all you want but children really need to know why. They not only need to be praised but they need to know what they did that earned it- truly. Basic praises without that reinforcement are hollow and open to sarcasm or false pretense. In the exercise within the article, I generally answered opposite of what I feel the article was looking for. When I saw the praise I usually took it as, "What a relief I pulled that off..." rather than skepticism. I do however, know a friend that is always skeptical and paranoid about everything that is said to him. He sees things as a trap. When I thought about it, I know that my parents do tend to reinforce the praise they give me like the article says. My mom says she's proud of what I've done because (fill in the blank here). My dad gives me advice and then tells me why he feels the way he does. This leads me to believe that my friend may not have been experiencing that same praise. I don't think that necessarily means he was raised wrong by any means but as the article said a good job can be taken away with a poor job the next day, while a reinforced praise can be taken back out treasured for much longer. I thought about this article a lot today because I taught my high school marching band kids. We have been having a lot of trouble getting them to take responsibility for their actions and take initiative and behave. Because we are on such a time crunch, our praise is really lacking a lot of that justification and reinforcement. This next week, I'm hoping that we can discuss as a staff these articles and try and implement these practices and hopefully get some harder work all around. I think it's going to be a difficult transition, and probably seem to be more trouble than its worth, but after it has time to take effect I hope that it will be better in the long run.

Ready, Set, Science!

The Ready, Set, Science article really opened my eyes to how NOT hard it is to incorporate science in to every day thinking. Actually- this class kind of did that. When I was in elementary school, I dreaded school but I particularly dreaded science. That feeling lasted all the way until well, now. I just never could be given enough time to really understand what was happening and the pressure put behind that understanding- or lack thereof- made me scared of it.
In the beginning of the article, it really just cleared up a lot of misconceptions about what scientists do and some basic principles about the subject. Just as I was starting to panic again I realized there was no need because my science brain somehow came alive fairly recently. For me, it seemed like as soon as we did the box theater experiment, a flip got switched and suddenly I was going all "Beautiful Mind" on everybody but instead of seeing math I saw science. Things began sparking my interest and I wanted to know how they worked. For example, after riding home in my friend's truck, I saw the reflection of all his stuff in the dashboard on the mirror. Why was it left-right backwards? How is this similar to box theater? And then I just KEPT thinking about it. I didn't just decide I didn't care. This is the kind of thinking I want to active in students. Just like in Ms. Martinez' and Mr. Dolens' class in the article, I want to get kids to think for themselves because that is what they will have to do in the natural "real" world.
The kids in the article seemed to undergo the "Think-Pair-Share" strategy. They were given time (very important) to gather their own thoughts, discussed those thoughts with others in a small group, and then presented them to everyone. This allowed for plenty of time to grow in their thinking, edit, and change their minds if they wanted. The best part is... they liked it. They were being scientists even though they weren't wearing goggles and gloves and mixing oddly colored liquids. I think it's so important to open up this world of science to children especially with how rapidly professions in science are growing in our world today. We need those innovative thinkers if we want to be a progressive nation and by living in fear of assessments and drilling test review after test review we are accomplishing little long term progress and going back to the "mile wide-inch deep" learning ways that JUST. DON'T. WORK. By integrating real world experiences with background knowledge and a little free innovation we will be teaching kids a wealth more than what we are now. We just have to believe that they are capable of that.

Block Head & The Virtues of Not Knowing

After our box theatre experiment in class, all I could think about was my reactions to what happened that day. I remember as I was assembling the boxes, questioning exactly why we had to do everything so precisely. I understood blocking out all of the light, but the part where the hole was poked I was curious about. We had to cut a square out of the box, cover it with the aluminum tape (best at blocking out lots of light), and then poke a hole. Why couldn't we just poke a hole straight in the box? Maybe this is me over thinking, but that simple procedure is what I have based my whole thought process on the box theatre upon. The important part was that I was thinking.
Before the experiment I had a pretty basic idea of what I thought would happen. I thought I'd just see a shadow of my head--- big whoop. What really happened totally shocked me. I actually thought that it was a trick! My mind was obviously blown and my inability to explain it irritated me. I spent the rest of the class pondering... but it didn't stop there. I thought I had an idea and talked myself in and out of several solutions- much like the students in the examples in the Eleanor Duckworth reading. The student who was observing the water volume experiment had a very similar reaction to mine when I stuck that box on my head and saw what I saw. We both had an idea... and then had to edit it. We talked ourselves in and out of it, talked in circles, and then finally started to settle.
I thought the article really brought in to perspective a lot of the faults in the way we teach today. I teach a high school drumline and just from being around them and observing I realized how terrified they are of being wrong. They want so desperately to have the last word and to be correct but in reality that is so irrational. Since then I have tried my hardest to teach them that it is TOTALLY OK to ask questions, to not understand, to talk about things, to figure things out... Very rarely will they get things right the first time, but that isn't what our education methods are teaching them. Dr. Seuss has a book called "Hooray for Diffendoofer Day" and my favorite line in the book is when the teacher, Ms. Bonkers tells the students "We've taught you that the earth is round, that red and white make pink, and something else that matters more- we've taught you how to think." That is the kind of teaching I want to do.