Vote

Okay, I need a new swimsuit for vacation this summer. I can't figure out what I want, so I need some opinions. What do you think? Keep in mind that I have an unfortunately ginormous bust line and I am trying to stay at least sort of modest. It's kind of a shame though...I bet I'd look real good in some of those plunging neckline suits! :)

The Big Picture??

4 weeks of school left- this has been a year I never want to repeat again but has been truly unique. I am ready to drop kick some of my students to the moon. I love my kids but they make me pull my hair out :) State and AP testing are this week and next and my kids assume they are done after that...hmmm...I wish we could ALL be done. I have been so frustrated and so excited and so worn out and so worried and so crazed this year! How am I going to make it through 42 more???

I am definitely sure I could not have made it through this year if I'd had a family or friends or hobbies to try to keep up with. It is super pathetic but right now my students are my social life. They want me to go to prom, they want me to go bowling with them, they hang out in my room...all...after...noon.... they even attempt to find dates for me. They are funny. I had to quit piano and organ for a while because I just didn't have time and it resulted in a full blown melt-down-throwing books at piano teacher-begging the bishop to be released from playing the organ- bishop giving you the "what do I do with you"? look- tears-never listen to music again melt down. I am back to playing organ on Sundays, sometimes, but that's it. Kind of lame of me, I know.

I miss being a student. I really do. I feel like my mind has a slow leak in it when I teach school. I repeat myself 50 times a day and things that my kids think are the most complicated things on the planet are things I can do in my sleep- they are merely tools, or a language, or a basis for understanding something bigger. All I hear all day though is how hard chemistry is. I know chemistry is hard. I really do. I have given blood, sweat, tears, and more for the sake of chemistry (literally!). And I understand and have empathy for the struggles my kids have. But sometimes I feel like shaking my head and telling them to hurry up and get it already so we can move on and talk about the interesting stuff!!! (2nd period knows they can derail me on anything physiology related). Maybe Heavenly Father feels that way, only in His infinite patience, he smiles and waits for us to sort through the forests on our own while He looks on the Big Picture?

San Fransisco

San Fransisco was a great shift from UT in the winter. It was warm enough to walk on the bay shore with no shoes on...that's warm enough for me. Being barefoot was great- and I was lucky enough to avoid stepping on any sand crabs. Chrissy Field is a great place to just walk and enjoy the sun. It is near the Exploratorium which is a very cool hands-on science museum. That was probably my favorite part of the trip. It was cool to experience all the things I learned in college up close.

They had a special exhibit about the mind. Nerdy neuroscientist that I am, I was fascinated by all those demonstrations. It was all stuff I'd learned about but for the most part had never experienced. It was especially cool because I knew all of the biological mechanisms explaining what t he exhibits were about. Lots of cool physics stuff as well. Take your kids there- they'll love it. I wish we had a science museum like that in UT.


We also spent some time at the famous Winchester house. Mrs. Winchester inherited her husband's fortune (the Winchester rifle fortune) and moved to CA. She says a spirit told her that to avoid death, she needed to build a house but never finish it. So, she did. The thing that makes this a tourist trap is that she used the most nonsensical architecture you've ever heard of. Doors that go to nowhere, stairs that go to nowhere. Cupboard doors with no cupboard behind, seonce rooms, 13 bathrooms, etc. Just weird stuff mostly. Yes, it's a tourist trap, but my friend wanted to go, so we did. And yes, this door is really a door on the second story that goes to absolutely nowhere, and yes, you can open it.

I also got to go to the Modern Art Museum while my friend went to the aquarium. (most of you know how I feel about fish...) Turns out, I like some modern art, I don't like some modern art. I learned that I go on vacation a lot like my Dad- I like to go and do and keep busy. I also have a navigational sense based on an internal compass instead of a road map. Basically I just aim the car in the direction I want to go and hope there's a road that goes there. My friend's idea of vacation was a lot more like my mom's- take it easy and relax.

Gotta love spring break!

I guess some of us just never have to grow up. I am one of the privileged few "working" adults who gets an automatic spring break. (Never mind that I spent 40% of it grading lab reports!) This March, I did something TOTALLY out of character and took a break! I went with a friend to San Francisco. I'll write more later, but just know that CA weather sure beats UT weather this time of year!

So long Sammi

I miss Sammi. I cried my eyes out when I had to say goodbye and abandon her. I can't believe she's gone. I miss her! I need to make a list of my memories with her- maybe that will help.

Driving her for the first time- on the highway outside of West Richland.

Driving her to work at the 300 area for the last 2 weeks I worked there.

Only listening to church music for the first 6 months I drove her because she used to be a mission car and I didn't want to disturb any sense of equilibrium.

Sammi came into my life during a time when I didn't have a lot to be happy about.

Packing all of my belongings and driving off to Utah for my last semester at BYU.

Driving down University Parkway in Orem headed towards Provo at night and seeing the Provo temple come into view as a beacon on a hill.

Going back and forth to Lone Peak for my first semester teaching.

Going back and forth to Riverton for my first real career.

Driving 4 wonderful ladies in my ward to the Manti pagent

Parking Sammi at Salt Lake International while I left on my first cross-country interview trip to Iowa City. I felt very "grown-up"

Looking for my car in the parking lot by the WILK for the umpteenth time after forgetting where I parked.

Locking my keys in the trunk on my last day of work at Riverton

Packing everything I owned and driving off to Salt Lake to start career number 2.

Hanging my institute parking pass on the rear view mirror and having a sense of security knowing that there are still good people outside of Utah County.

Driving to Orem to see Dr. Paulson on October 11, 2006- taking one Tylenol followed by throwing one out the window, etc. until I got to Orem. Dr. Paulson, in his gentle way, convinced me to go to the ER.

Repeating the above scenario a month later on my way to see Debra- it was Friday morning and I was supposed to be in the lab slicing rat brains, but instead I was on my way to ending up admitted into UVRMC.

Sammi had an arm rest with storage space that came in useful for storing pills. I sat in the front seat with a frozen water bottle when I took them in December.

Gingerly driving the long way to WA after being banished from the state of Utah. Sammi was my sense of security. The only element of my world that was going to remain constant.

Driving to the temple in the middle of the night trying again to understand.

Driving to my first day of work in my 3rd career.

Changing her front light bulb and the coolant while wearing a skirt in the VP parking lot.

Seeing Sammi as the only car left in the parking lot when being "escorted" out of the school at 1:00 am

Changing her license plates to the Utah skier plates while feeling like I was betraying her.

Weeping in the driver's seat after quitting piano lessons and music for the rest of my life.

I never should have gotten in the car Feb 10. Brother Packard and the Bishop tell me that I wasn't in my right frame of mind. So when I couldn't stop in time on 60th S and 9E...Sammi, I am so sorry!!!! I let you down. You were there for me and I was irresponsible and now you are being sold for parts. I miss you.

Your Dominant Intelligence is Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

You are great at finding patterns and relationships between things. Always curious about how things work, you love to set up experiments. You need for the world to make sense - and are good at making sense of it. You have a head for numbers and math ... and you can solve almost any logic puzzle. You would make a great scientist, engineer, computer programmer, researcher, accountant, or mathematician.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

One good day

I finally got my office organized at work..something I have been trying to do since August. Next task is the prep room, but that is quite the daunting task. Yesterday was a pretty good day at school-well, at least 1st period. My honors class has been talking about crystal structures and on Monday I had them make Alum crystals (Alum is in deodorant) and yesterday we looked at them under the microscopes along with some other types of crystals. I didn't give them an assignment about it and I think that was a good decision because they just took the opportunity to be curious. They were really excited about their crystals- they all turned out differently which was weird, but a lot of them wanted to take theirs home...a couple even want to come in after school and work on setting it up so that their crystals will keep growing. Then, after they'd looked at their crystals, they started looking at other stuff under the scopes. The boys were going about trying to find blood samples ( I had to keep taking away forceps from them) and the girls became fascinated with looking at their hair under the scopes. Typical!

Parent teacher conferences are at the end of the month- I just LOVE those.... March will be a long month, but at the end we have spring break- no plans which isn't a good thing for me, but I do have a few weeks. The AP exam is in May, and my kids don't realize how much left they have to learn so they really haven't kicked it into gear yet. (I have a couple of lazy guys-but the girls are on top of things) I am hearing a lot of talk about kids wanting to take AP next year, which is exciting for me, especially since it won't be my first year with AP next year, and I'll have a much better idea of how to teach the class. Also, I am drawing the line. NO more Saturday labs. Either they take the AP science lab as part of their school schedule or they register for the course at the U and take it there (unfortunately having to pay tuition) Saturday labs are just too much.

Thoughts about a good night of sleep

I like sleep. I really do. It's just that some times (okay, most times) it hits the bottom of the priority list. I mean, I have been grading lab reports in my sleep and wake up the next day unable to read what I have written. I have 3 alarms in my apartment in 3 different "rooms" to wake me up at 5:45. I am proud to say that I have taken naps in every building at BYU on account of being sleep deprived (tip- the orange couch on the second floor of the old section of the library in the mother's room of the women's restroom is a very good place to sleep. But if you are worried about waking up before your next class, hit the basement of the Benson building- its relatively quiet and there is a loud bell to wake you up before class) My parents complain that when I was a baby, I would open my eyes every time they started to leave my room after they thought I was asleep. In junior high, I would sleep with a flashlight so I could read under the covers without mom and dad knowing I was awake. I wrote my best papers between 10:00 at night and 6:00 in the morning. Bottom line: Long history of sleep deprivation

Last night, I came home about 10:30 and instead of going to sleep, I decided to grade the rest of AP Chem's thermo assignments (they hate thermo. they also butcher it) Then, I decided to eat a sandwich. While making the sandwich, it all of a sudden became necessary for me to look up the pharmacokinetic data for a certain prescription drug. After I satisfied that curiosity, it was time to decide what to wear to church to day. Then, I remembered that I was in the middle of making a sandwich. So, I finish with the sandwich and go back to my pharmacology research. It is now 2:00 in the morning and I feel myself giving way to sleep. I crawl into my wonderful bed, pull up my covers (I love sleeping with tons of blankets when it is cold outside!) I find my b-b and BAM! I am asleep. I wake up at 12:00 Sunday afternoon (Don't worry, church is at 1:30) It felt wonderful to get that much sleep. It was like I was a different person.

Now the question. Why on earth was all that other stuff so important to give up sleep for????? I am reminded of a line from Harry Potter- Ron comments to Harry about Herminione "She needs to sort out her priorities"!!!

Experience of a Lifetime

So, the absolute coolest thing...I got to play the tabernacle organ in Salt Lake City on Temple Square!!! Yes, the actual organ. 11,000+ pipes and all! I played 2 verses of Redeemer of Israel. I didn't set the stops myself. I am getting better with registration but the tabernacle organ isn't just any organ (duh). First verse was principals and reeds, second verse added a mixture. We got to go through the pipes and see the different styles and shapes and sizes of all of the pipes. We also got to look through the antiphonal organ (the one where the pipes sound from the back of the tabernacle). Playing the antiphonal ranks was crazy. When you play a scale, the pipes are sounding about 2 notes behind what you are playing. The purpose would be for special effects or for congregational singing (to keep everyone together). I also learned that the organist is the one who is in charge of changing the colors of the background lights. As if they don't have enough to keep track of!

We also got to see the huge blower for the air that goes into the pipes. The air has to be brought to the right temperature, pressure, and humidity before it goes into the organ. The barometric pressure is actually what makes the organ go out of tune more than the temperature. The organ goes through a complete tuning twice a year and during the rest of the year as needed. I bet I can think of a chemistry problem...gas laws anyone?

Bottom line...one of the best musical experiences of my life. Just to think of history housed in the tabernacle and the spirit found there is awesome. And to think that I got a chance to play!

Being Single with a Blog

I've had a great time catching up on the lives of friends and old roomates who have "grown up"...married, had children, moved away... I truly love seeing pictures and video clips of their families. At the same time, I wonder if I should even bother to keep a blog. I don't have cute kids to show off, wedding pictures to post, or even a boyfriend. My life revolves around work and my students. Even I get sick of talking about work all the time. I am not a creative or funny thinker or writer- so there's no point in reading my blog for entertainment value. So sometimes I wonder why I have a blog in the first place.

Student Tales

I've spent the past five months working at Sylvan Learning Center teaching math, algebra, SAT prep and working with some students on homework support. It's been a great opportunity to build personal relationships with students. I've seen one eighth grader come begin her program not knowing any multiplication facts progress through long division and fractions. I am so proud of her! She invited me to watch her debate at school. She's the kind of kid that could easily get lost in the school system so I was so happy to see her excited about school activites!

Another one of my students wins the prize for most smiley person I have ever met. He is shy and speaks with a quiet voice. I love to work with him because he is a sponge. He loves to learn and sometimes I can even get him to giggle! He never wants to leave when his lesson is over and he asks if he can come home with me. He even volunteers to ride on top of my car. He is awesome.

I teach pre-algebra to an autistic student. He never really has much to say, but he has a wonderful sense of humor. One day he sat tapping out melodies on his calculator. It was barely noticeable but gave everyone at the table a smile. He is learning to work with positive and negative numbers. I told him about the nightmare dream I had in middle school when I was struggling with positive and negative numbers. He thought it was the silliest thing he'd every heard. I warned him that some day he will have the same nightmare- so now he gives me the report every time he sees me. (Still no nightmare)

I have learned so much by getting to know my students on a more personal level. They come in each day eager to tell me about their latest boyfriend, the basketball tournament, their vacation...yesterday, one student even told me about running over a coyote with a swather! I love connecting with my students!

Scientist or Teacher?

That's the 64,000 dollar question. It has been a strangely liberating experience to be free of the ball and chain of academic science. I spent one semester in a neuroscience Ph.D. program and I decided to call it quits a few weeks into my second semester. Why, you ask? Isn't getting a Ph.D. full of glamor and glory? Absolutely not. In the first place, I was in the program to eventually teach at a university. After spending a semester pretending I was concerned about the statistical significance of a microscopic red spot on a confocal image of the parafasicular nucleus of a rat brain, I realized that my talents lie elsewhere. I am glad someone is concerned about the infinitely small details of human life, but I'd rather be explaining those details to eager young minds.

It turns out I have the heart of a teacher. Yes, my teaching has a lot of room for improvement, but that will come with practice. I feel as if a huge burden has been lifted as I have walked away from my Ph.D.- and not the burden of heavy textbooks! I no longer have to prove to anyone that I am "smart". For the first time in my life, my identity is no longer tied up in my academic performance. Maybe it takes a massive detour to prove you were going the right way the first time.

What They Don't Teach You in College

Now that I teach chemistry in a real high school with real students, I have some different ideas about technology in education. I am privledged to have a projector in my classroom and 12 computers in my lab. I enjoy using the projector-it is good for videos and Powerpoint presentations. I don't like to teach using Powerpoint, but I took over my classes half way through the year, and they are addicted to taking notes straight from the presentation, so I have not fought them on that very much.

So far, the computers in the lab have been more work than they are worth. I did a lab where the students were using temperature probes to measure the melting and freezing points of water. Only 8 of the 12 computers actually allow students to access the data collection software on the network. I have small classes for a high school in Utah, but with only 8 computers, the students must still work in groups of 4. When all the computers are running, it is impossible to use hot plates or anything electrical because the fuses blow out. So, during this lab, the fuses blew out 4 times during one period. It is never a good idea for the teacher to have to roam the halls every 15 minutes to reset the fuses while students are in the lab! Using temperature probes instead of alcohol thermometers is a much more accurate way of measuring temperature, but for all the hassle it caused, it would have been easier to have the students make their own graphs using pencil and paper!

I am not opposed to using technology, but it must be classroom friendly, or it is not worth it. I like the software data collection program I have (datastudio) but I am not sure the time I spend getting it to run on my computers is worth it. My lab should have been designed to handle a higher electrical load. I think that when education professors talk about technology as if it is the holy grail of education, they need a reality check. Maybe in university land, computers work magically and professors never have to worry about a classroom turning into a three ring circus because nothing is working right, but in university land, there are starving undergrads behind the scenes keeping everything running smoothly. In high school land, the responsibility lies solely with the teacher to keep things going.

Class is over...now what?

The best aspect of IPT 286 has been writing lesson plans. The opportunity to create a grading rubric and a lesson plan using technology was valuable and relevant. I will use these lesson plans in some form in future classes. The most challenging aspect of this class was remembering to do assignments, remembering where to turn in assignments, and the requirements of the assignment because of the lack of a paper syllabus. Also, finding access to the internet was occasionally difficult because I do not have the internet at home and the lines for computers on campus are only getting longer. My attitude has changed toward technology in so far that I am more aware of ethical issues regarding technology use in the classroom. I am not more or less inclined to use technology in the classroom, but I will be more judicious about using it when I do use it. The two things I will take away from this class are a working knowledge of blogs and an idea of how to integrate technology into my lesson plans.

Start young...

I was talking to my roomate (a third grade teacher) about what she is teaching her kids in science and math. She was writing lesson plans about measurement. It hit me how important it is to teach correct principles in the early grades. A lot of elementary teachers I have talked to recently have said that they dislike teaching science, even to the point of avoiding it as much as they can. Especially the physical sciences. Part of the problem may be that it is hard to teach physical science without the math background, but maybe the teachers just aren't prepared for it. I don't know because I am not an elementary teacher, but maybe if elementary teachers weren't so disinclined to teach physical science, kids would have a better foundation by the time they get to high school and show up in my chemistry classes. It is so important to build on the sense of wonder children have. The math can come later, but children need to see and touch and build conceptual ideas about what things like gravity, friction, heat, energy, reactions, etc. really are. If children have a strong foundation of correct principles, they will be so much more prepared to take more formal science classes in high school.

Lambert-Beer Law lesson plan

In this lab, students will use spectrophotometry to determine the concentration of ions in solution.

Subject matter/Grade level

This lab is designed for a high school chemistry class with access to a spectrophotometer.

Utah Core Curriculum

Stadard II, objective 1. Evaluate quantum energy changes in the atom in terms of the energy contained in light emissions.

Technologies


Students will use a spectrophotometer to measure absorbance at at specified wavelengths for several ions. They will measure solutions of Cu+ , Cr+, and Ni+ at various concentrations, and then determine the concentration of an unknown solution provided by the teacher. They will use excel to chart their results.

Teacher Crafted Example

The final product to be turned in for this assignment will be a lab report. The students will prepare lab report written according to formal lab report guidelines. This means that students must include an abstract, a background section, a procedure section, a results section, a conclusion, and an error analysis. They will include a description of the work done in the lab, the data they collected, the analysis of the data from Excel, and their final answer for the concentration of their unknown ion.

Assessment of the Final Product

Students will be graded on their lab report. They will get points for accuracy, and the lab report will be graded according to correctness. There will be a rubric assigning points to each section of the lab report, and describing what students recieve points for.

Ethical Considerations

The biggest area of concern for this lab is disadvatage for the students without computers at home or knowledge of Exel. To compensate for this, the students will have time in class to work on their calculations and analysis, and I will work with them in small groups to make sure that everyone knows what to do. This may create a management problem, so I will be aware of what is going on in the classroom and if certain groups seem to finish early, I will have a special project (i.e.-cleaning the lab) prepared if they create problems.

Our Deepest Fear is that We are Powerful Beyond Measure

Nelson Mandela said that we are frightened by our light, not our darkness. He said that we are all children of God, and our playing small does not serve the world. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. I know for me, this is true. I have shied away from the power within me many times. I have been afraid of letting people know who I really am. By overcoming this fear, we can help others bring out the best in themselves. Teachers can play a special role in helping their students recognize the light they hold within themselves and let it shine. Teachers need to be a model for students of confidence and of someone who is living up to a set of principles. They need to recognize that each student is a child of God and has the potential to shine and to manifest the glory within them. Students need opportunities to shine and we can give them these opportunities in class.

Ethical Issues

Recently, our IP&T class completed a discussion on ethical issues with technology in education. We covered software and media copying, flexible copyright, fair use, privacy and security issues, and cheating with technology. We talked specifically about how these issues affect teachers.

What I Learned About Ethics

This discussion opened my eyes to the wide variety of ways to break the law. Even though there are fair use laws making it easier for teachers to use copyrighted materials for educational purposes, there are still many issues to be aware of when using copyrighted information. I was aware of the basic copyright laws, but I was not aware of the specific details for some types of media. For example, I was not aware that it is only okay to play 30 seconds of a song from a cd. I also became aware of flexible copyright options. I like the idea of flexible copyright. It puts the power in the hands of the author or creator of the work. I realized that privacy and security issues have greater ethical ramifications than I had previously supposed. Letting students use the internet at school provides a way for them access content that is outside of the teacher's direct control. Teachers have an ethical responsibility to protect their students from inappropriate content. I don't know much about firewalls or other computer protection software, but if I use the internet in my classes, this will have to be something I learn. Our discussion about cheating also opened my eyes to the temptation to cheat that students face. I suppose I was somewhat naive as a high school student and didn't really pay attention to the different ways for students to cheat. Technology increases opportunities to cheat.

As a Teacher...

The thing that was the most useful to me about our discussion about ethics was the information about fair use and cheating. This information is directly applicable in teaching. As a teacher, I will probably be using the internet to find information and create assignments for my students. It was helpful to know what I am allowed to use, how much I am allowed to use, how I am allowed to use it, and what I am not allowed to use. I need to make sure that the software in my classroom all has the proper licensing. When I make handouts for my class, I need to avoid information that is copyrighted or not permitted according the fair use guidelines. I will also have rules in my class to help students avoid cheating. A big issue in chemistry could be calculators with programming capabilities. Students will not be allowed to program equations I expect them to memorize into their calculators. In class, we discussed the potential for students to copy their homework off of the internet. I do not see this a major problem in my class. If a student is concerned enough about their grade to search the internet high and low for a problem exactly similar to the one I assigned, well, good for them. But, it won't help them on a test. I expect students to work together and use whatever resources they need to figure out the problem. They may need to be taught how to work as a team without cheating by simply copying each other's work. I can have students practice this in class by assigning problems for them to work on as a group and monitoring how the class is doing at cooperating.

Lesson Plan Overview

Acid/Base Titration Lab
In this lesson, students will learn about acid/base equilibrium. They will titrate an unknown sample of KHP (potassium hydrogen phthalate) with NaOH (sodium hydroxide). They will determine the %KHP in their unknown sample by plotting their data using Excel and finding the equivalence point.

Subject Matter/Grade Level
This lesson will be designed for an AP Chemistry class in high school.

Utah Core Curriculum Standard
Students will understand the properties that describe solutions in terms of concentration, solutes, solvents, and the behavior of acids and bases.

Technologies
Students will use a pH meter to make measurments during their titration. This lesson can be adapted depending on the resources of the school. A software program and a buret with a stepper motor could be used to run the titration, but these resources are infrequently available in schools. Instead, the students can record the data by hand. They will also use Excel to analyze their data.

Teacher Crafted Example
The final product to be turned in for this lesson is a lab report. The lab report will include a description of the work done in the lab, the data that was collected, the analysis on Excel, the calculations, and the final answer for the % KHP in the unknown. The lab report will be written according to 'formal lab' guidelines. This means that students must include an abstract, a background section, a procedure section, a results section, a conclusion, and an error analysis.

Assesment of the Final Product
Students will be graded on their lab report. They will get points for accuracy, and the lab report will be graded according to correctness. There will be a rubric assigning points to each section of the lab report, and describing what students recieve points for.

Video Modeling Reflection

Here's the link to our group's video modeling reflection:

video modeling