Life Of The School Podcast: The Podcast For Biology Teachers

After 6 years, I am taking a break from podcasting. I am calling it a summer vacation for now, but we will see if the break is actually a bit longer. Before I go, I am going to leave you with a clips episode from some of my favorite conversations during the early years of the podcast. This episode could have easily been 60 hours long, but I hope you enjoy these 2 hours to keep you company during summer break. Clips are from: Episode 1: Brian Dempsey Episode 7: David Knuffke Episode 13: Paul Strode Episode 14: Chi Klein Episode 15: Lee Ferguson Episode 16: Paul Andersen Episode 17: Bob Kuhn Episode 18: Ryan Reardon Episode 21: Chris Baker Episode 23: Chris Monsour Episode 25: Mark Peterson Episode 29: Valerie May Episode 30: Jon Darkow Episode 36: Jen Pfannerstill Episode 38: Ryan Lacson Episode 46: Brittany Franckowiak Episode 61: Tanea Hibler Credits: Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/

We made it?! I don’t know if it was that we had our expectations too high or that the pandemic has broken us all, but the 2021-2022 school year was rough. With that in mind, we are going to hunt for the silver linings to the storm cloud that was this past school year. Show Notes: We start this show with the goofy question: What is one of your favorite things to do by yourself on a completely free, unscheduled day? Joining us from Texas, Lee Ferguson: catching up on TV, shopping Joining us from Wisconsin is Sedate Kohler: Walk my dog to Starbucks and listen to music (maybe sing out loud to the world as I do it) Joining us from Ohio is Tanea Hibler: Walk my dog, dance in my living room, roller skate, maybe record a podcast. LOL!! Aaron: Take myself out to lunch with a book. Questions Discussed in this episode: - What was one of your best interactions with students from the school year? - What is one thing you learned or got better at during the past 2 years of teaching? - What are you most looking forward

One of the topics that teachers have been discussing a lot this year has been how issues with student behavior feel worse this past school year compared to the past. Today we discuss this topic and reflect on how we may reframe this issue next year. Show Questions: We start this question with the goofy question. What is a dumb rule that you have had to follow at some time during your life? Joining us from Ohio is Tanea Hibler: Honestly, most rules are pretty dumb, but we have them becuase humans are just dumb sometimes. Like in Arizona you don’t have to wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle, but you aren’t allowed to drive between the lanes like you can in California. That’s just dumb to me. And the rules vary so much from school to school and place to place that many rules start to feel arbitrary. One school had a rule where kids had to come into the lunch room and sit down and be quiet before they were allowed to get in line to get lunch. They couldn’t eat outside, or kick back and relax during lunch

As I have been reimagining my curriculum over the past few years, the idea of using a scientific phenomenon to hook kids into our work has been both exciting and challenging. Today, I discuss the concept of phenomena with Tanea, Mark and Jess. We definitely had a lot of fun, so we hope you enjoy the conversation. Show Notes: We start this question with the goofy question: What is an area of science that you find cool, but don’t really understand the underlying mechanism of (possibly nobody knows) Joining us from Minnesota, Mark Peterson: I ran across the idea of telescoping generations a few years ago at an NSTA conference. Aphids, reproducing asexually, have the next generation, fully formed inside them, and within that next generation is another daughter ready to form…and so on. Nature is just weird sometimes. Joining us from Missouri is Jessica Popescu: I just learned from the book Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake that fungi mycelium transfer nutrients between plants, poisons, hormones and maybe even g

As we head into state assessment season (people who don’t spend their lives in schools call this spring), I thought it would be fun to talk about different forms of assessment and what this looks like in our classrooms. Show Notes: - We start this question with the goofy question. When was the last time you had to sit down to take a test? Joining us from Ohio is Tanea Hibler:I don’t remember. Oh, it was when I took the GRE about 1-2 years ago. I was totally freaked out and super nervous and actually did better on the English and writing then I did on the math. I almost walked out of the testing center in the middle of the test as well. I think my scores might have been why I got waitlisted for the Vanderbilt PhD program : ( But I have moved on now, and I’m happy that things worked out the way they did. I could tell you about what happened when I had to take the SAT’s too, there was so much instability and drama going on in my life and the SAT just was a huge source of stress for me. I HATE TESTS. Join

On this episode we discuss the sometimes challenging issues dealing with late work, retakes and revisions, particularly considering the grading practices through the lens of grading equity. Show Notes: We start this question with the goofy question. How do you personally feel when you need to get to an event by a certain time? Are you an early person, a late person, or does it vary? Joining us from Illinois is Amy Kelly: I want to be an early person, and if I am on my own, I will generally be a little early because being late really stresses me out. When it involves my kids, I would say I am exactly on time or late though. Joining us from Ohio is Jon Darkow: I like to be on time, but damn, something always comes up. Joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson: I am usually a little early for most things because I’m afraid of being late. Aaron: I am very comfortable being on time, but as I age, I tend to be early for most things…I this may be a result of my wife’s desire to not be late. Questions Discussed in

On this episode we discuss two grading practices that are used in many classroom but are certainly possible issues when it comes to grade equity. Show Notes: We start this question with the goofy question. Have you been caught up in the 2022 Wordle wave? Any other puzzle games popular with your family, friends or students? Joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson: No but I have played Sweardle

As a group of lifelong learners, we are in a community of teachers who are often getting additional degrees and certificates, some are for career advancement, while others are just for growth and learning. With that in mind, we are discussing the pros and cons of teachers pursuing additional degrees. Show Notes: We kick off our episode with a goofy question: Were you a good student in high school, good at “doing school,” both or neither? - Joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson: Both. My grades in high school were good, but I was also good at playing the game of school because I was a rule follower. College was a whole other ballgame. - Joining us from Colorado is Hannah Hathaway: I think I was a fairly traditional good student. There were some times where I “played the game” of school, but mostly I liked my classes and liked doing work because I enjoyed learning. That’s probably why I was a student for so long, lol. - Joining us from Missouri is Kelly Kluthe: More good at playing school than actually being a

Today, as we return to the topic of professional development to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of pandemic PD and what PD may look like in the future. We kick off our episode with a goofy question: If you could attend a PD workshop run by any person (scientist, author, teacher, etc) whose workshop would you want to attend? - Joining us from Missouri is Kelly Kluthe: Maybe because yesterday was Darwin Day, but I’m going with the obvious Charles Darwin pick. - Joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson: I’ll go with Rudolf Virchow, because I have to know, is that story about you giving that politician dude a worm-infested sausage and daring him to eat it true? Also, I think it would be cool to learn from Sean Carroll. - Joining us from Colorado is Hannah Hathaway: Just because I want to meet and chat with this person, I’ll go with Ira Flatow. - Aaron: Terry Gross from Fresh Air or Rosalind Franklin, Questions We Discuss: - What have you missed most about face-to-face PD over the past 2 years? - Have you h

Today, we return to a topic that comes up every few months, the concept of teaching an interdisciplinary class. Show Notes: We kick off our episode with a question: what was your favorite non-science subject(s) in school when you were a kid? Joining us from Missouri is Kelly Kluthe: Art and orchestra! I loved drawing and playing the violin. I was a quiet kid in school but was able to express myself through art and music. Joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson: Music theory was one of my favorite classes. I also really loved Government class. Aaron: Probably History. I had several amazing high school history teachers. Questions Discussed: - How siloed are the subjects in your school? Do teachers with different disciplinary expertise get to collaborate? - Are there any interdisciplinary classes or projects that you know about that are currently being taught in your school? If not, do you know other schools where they are taking place? - What would be your dream interdisciplinary class or project to run? Cre

Today, we discuss the presence and influence of other adults in our classroom. Show Notes: We kick off our episode with the question: What is something New and Exciting happening in your professional life in 2022? Joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson: I am starting classes for administrator certification on January 18. Joining us from Missouri is Kelly Kluthe: I made a major change and moved from high school to elementary! Aaron: I am going to have a Student Teacher! Questions We Discuss: Oftentimes, teaching can look and feel like you are isolated as an adult in a room working with young people. This has its advantages and its disadvantages, but it is also not really true. Other adults have a significant influence on how we do our work. Let's start with a basic question, are there other adults that ever walk into your classroom while you are teaching? Why are they there? Who are the adults that are never in your room, that have an influence on the teaching and learning in your classroom? Credits: Ple

Today we kick off 2022 by discussing how we go about revising aspects of our curriculum. Show Notes: We kick off our episode with a goofy question: Do you typically make a New Year’s Resolution or goal for the upcoming year? If so, what is your resolution for 2022? How much pre-planning goes into your teaching? Do you have structured unit plans for the whole year? Do you plan unit to unit? Week-to-week? Day-to-day? Amy: Our biology team determined our objectives for each unit, and we agreed on what we will access and how many points the assessments are worth. At the beginning of the unit, I set up a very basic schedule with the required summatives, and each day, I go in and plan the day by day formatives or make adjustments to the timing for summatives. Due to the pandemic, I feel that my planning takes up most of my time because I am always building my lesson plans with student ideas, and additional practice activities based on how my students perform on the work from the previous class. Hannah: I am a w

To say goodbye to 2021, I am joined by the hosts of the 2 Pint PLC to wrap up the year! Show Notes: We Introduced ourselves with the goofy question: What is one thing you learned this year from educational research about beer? Laurence Woodruff: Dragons milk stout is giving me heartburn Michael Ralph: wheat beers are not a monolith. Aaron: Non-alcoholc craft beer is a thing Today we say goodbye to 2021. While not quite as terrible as 2020, it was certainly a challenging year. With that said, we have all had some wins this year. What is one good thing you will take from the past 12 months? Michael: the affordances of digital/mixed presence are real. Laurence: I have experienced a lot of new things in education that have affirmed a lot of my prior choices and priorities. I really don’t want to be an AP biology teacher. I really do want to be an AVID teacher. I really Do want to keep up with my mental health Mondays. I love being in a classroom with students. Aaron: Improving student voice in my classroom us

Today, as we find ourselves deep into the holiday season, we reflect back on the past few years and ask whether or not the grades have the same emphasis as they did a few years ago. Show Notes: We kick off our episode with a goofy question: What movie/tv show/or music signifies to you that it is holiday season? Joining us from Illinois is Amy Kelly: “All I want for Christmas is you” Mariah Carey Joining us from Colorado is Hannah Hathaway: Muppet Christmas Carol Aaron: John Denver & Muppets Christmas album. Did your school and/or your state do anything different in terms of grades, grade expectations, end of course exams during the 2020-2021 school year compared to past years? Hannah: Our final exams were all open note last year (as most students were online), and they were condensed to cover only the most crucial standards. We also implemented more grading policies intended to show students grace (e.g. no zeros, accept late work, etc) Amy: We did not give finals last year, and recently opted to cancel fin

Show Notes: On our panel shows, we start with a goofy question, and as we are releasing this just before thanksgiving, what’s a Thanksgiving side dish that you have that may not be on everyones table? - Kelly Kluthe: gooey butter cake - Sedate Kohler: cheesy potatoes #Wisconsin - Lee Ferguson: The most decadent scalloped potatoes ever. - Aaron Mathieu: Mashed turnips and carrots. Let’s talk about school culture. How big is the science department in your school? Are you expected to collaborate? - Sedate: 7 people. 4 of us teach Biology, 3 teach Chemistry. Those two teams collaborate frequently, to varying degrees. Most of us also teach courses that we call “singletons”, and don’t have any others who teach the same course. - Lee: There are 30 of us on campus, with another 10 at the STEAM center across town, but they are their own entity. As a department there isn’t collaboration among all of us since that really takes place in teams. - Kelly: There are 3 of us: Me (biology), a chem/physical science, and a pa

Show Notes: - On our panel shows, we start with a goofy question, and as we are recording this just before halloween, did you dress up for halloween this year? If not, do you remember the last time you did? Lee Ferguson: I did not...but I think the last time I did dress up for Halloween, I dressed as a hockey puck. Somewhere in my house there is photographic evidence of this! Kelly Kluthe: My students always say I remind them of Ms. Frizzle, so I think I’ll lean into that this year and bust out my best biology dress. Sedate Kohler: The last time I did dress up at school for Halloween I was “outer space” and had galaxy print leggings and hot glue gunned glow in the dark stars to a dress :) Aaron Mathieu: This year, I am embracing my beard and will dress as Alan from the Hangover. - Let’s start with some baseline, what are you teaching this year? What are the populations of students you have in each class? Kelly: 2 sections of Health (9th & 10th), 3 sections of 10th Bio, 1 section of Dual-Enrollment Bio (11t

For this episode, I am reposting episode #1, but be before that audio, I chat with my colleague and first guest Brian Dempsey to reflect on how the last 5+ years of podcasting has shaped our teaching practice. Credits: Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/ Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

Show Questions: - How did you become a science teacher? What did you do before teaching? - I am curious about how you became a co-teacher of a biology course. How did that begin and how has it changed while you have been doing this? - I know that you typically teach a forensics science course, even though you are not teaching it this year. What is that course like? How is it different from your biology course? Do you hope to teach this course or a different elective in the future? - In the upcoming years, what are you looking forward to in the classroom? - When you are not teaching, what do you like to do? - Any questions you have for me? Pick of the Week: Amy: Institute of Human Anatomy: The institute of Human Anatomy utilizes human cadavers as instruments for anatomical education. They have a YouTube channel and share anatomy videos on TikTok. Aaron: Teaching Climate Change Essentials: a nine-week teacher professional development program designed to engage and equip elementary, middle, and high schools t

On this episode, we will be discussing the concept of Universal Design for Learning. Show Notes: - To kick off the episode, we will start with our goofy question: You will only be able to watch episodes of 1 TV show for the next year, what show do you pick? - Have you had any discussions of UDL at your school or as part of your own personal development? Where are you on your journey? - UDL is often organized into three principles: Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression? Focussing on Enagement, are there ways you provide students multiple options for engagement with material in your classroom? What’s an example? - Reviewing the UDL Guidelines for Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression, are there any areas where you think you would like to improve the design of your class? Credits: Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/ Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org You can fol

On this episode, I am joined by one new panelist and one old friend to discuss IEPs, 504s and other accommodations in the classroom. Show Questions: To kick off the episode, we will start with our goofy question: You are in a rock group, what is your role in the group? Joining us from Illinois, is new panelist Amy Kelly: Lead Singer Joining us from Minnesota, Mark Peterson: Rhythm Guitar Aaron would be a roadie or the sound engineer. Additional Questions: How is the start of the school year going in your neck of the woods? How do you get informed about what accommodations your students need? What sorts of accommodations are you most often providing? Do you feel that there is a stigma from students about accessing accommodations in your school? Is this expressed by students? By parents? Credits: Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/ Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org You can follow on twi