Life Of The School Podcast: The Podcast For Biology Teachers

In this episode, Lee and I have an informal chat about the end of summer and the start of the school year on the two very different planets we live on (Massachusetts and Texas). We will do our best to avoid political landmines… let’s see how this goes. Show Notes: How do you feel getting the school year started? Lee: Cautiously excited. I’m ready to meet kids, do some science with them, and help them love learning. I’m ready to try ungrading with my IB class. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious about starting school in an environment where masks cannot be mandated per governor’s orders. I also can’t distance my kids as we are being made to seat kids in groups of 4–my district drank the Kagan strategies koolaid over the summer, and we are expected to use the training we got. Aaron: Feels like a bit of a black box What are some of your “getting to know you” activities that you use with students? Lee: I’m having kids create a Flipgrid to teach me how to pronounce their names, and we are doing an activit

On this episode I chat with the authors of the book After The Mask: A Guide to Caring for Students and Schools. This recently published book discusses the pediatric mental health crisis that schools were grappling with before 2020, has been exacerbated by the COVID19 pandemic, and proposes strategies educators will want to implement in their classrooms. Show Notes: Author Introductions: Dr. Chris Jensen, Jessica Sorcher, and Rachael Sorcher. You can purchase the book on Amazon The Book Website is afterthemask2020.com You can follow the book and authors on instagram 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

Today we discuss how we remove or reduce grades from our classrooms. Joining me for this conversation is Lee Ferguson from Texas and Johanna Brown from Washington State. Show Notes: - Johanna gave a shout out to Katy Dornbos as one of the teachers who helped out on her journey to being a gradeless teacher. - Johanna put together this google doc with a collection of ungrading resources. - We discussed the book Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead) Edited by Susan D. Blum. We also discussed the following resources: - The Teachers Going Gradeless website - Starr Sackstein’s Blog Starr Sackstein’s book “Hacking Assessment” - “Point-Less: An English Teacher's Guide to More Meaningful Grading” by Sarah M. Zerwin - Lee also recommended “Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms” by Joe Feldman Announcements: Our first August episode will be with the authors of After The Mask: A Guide to Caring for Students and Schools by

Today we check back in with a past guest, Katie Ryan from Episode 85. When we last talked with Katie in December of 2019 as she was completing her student teaching in Colorado. Since our conversation, Karie became a Knowles Teaching Fellow and began her teaching career at Gresham Middle School in Knoxville, TN. Show Notes: We discussed Katie’s : Move from Colorado to Tennessee How year 1 went in her own classroom Her experience as a Knowles Fellow over the past year Year 2-goals Plans for non-teaching off time fun a week on the Salmon river. Katie also asked me: After I get over the shock of first year, what should I focus on? When did you feel comfortable juggling all the demands of our job? Picks of the Episode: Katie: Kelptotherms By Radiolab Aaron: The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks by Amy Stewart 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 Introduced ourselves with the Question: What is one frivolous piece of media (book, tv, movie, music) you are looking forward to enjoying this summer? How is your professional life going to change in the upcoming school year(s)? Bold goal setting time: What is one aspect of your teaching you want to improve? What should the Life of the school podcast look like in the future? Should it continue? If so in what form? We would love feedback! DM or Tweet @lifeoftheschool and share your Thoughts? 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 @lifeoftheschool

We Introduced ourselves with the Goofy Question: If you could interview one famous person, living or dead, who would it be? Do you have any memories of what it was like to be a guest on the episode? Do you have a favorite memory or “A Ha!” moment from the past year? We play a trivia game: Name that LOTS episode! (apologies to the 50+ Guests not mentioned in this game, we don’t want a 3 hour episode). We would love feedback! DM or Tweet @lifeoftheschool and share your thoughts. 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 @lifeoftheschool

We Introduced ourselves with the Goofy: What's your current cellphone wallpaper/lockscreen? Tanea: Me at 16. Boy do I miss the 16 year old me (well the body, not the brain and confidence, etc.) Lee: It’s an old picture of the wall from our former teacher workroom. The girl who ran the copier there had decorated it with movie quotes from a bunch of different movies, and the photo I have is a quote from “Zombieland”--Woody Harrelson says “It’s time to nut up or shut up” Aaron: Wallpaper: My dog penny when she was a brand new puppy, Lockscreen: Skateboarders at sunset on the Venice Boardwalk. What is one thing you have lost from your teaching practice that you hope it is safe to do again next year? Lee: Group work of any and all kinds. I miss the chatter, the aha moments, the NOISE. Tanea: I really want to have kids sit in groups and be able to do more hands-on activities with kids (especially whiteboarding). I hope they will be free to walk around the room. Aaron: Gallery Walks and Jigsaws. What is one

We Introduced ourselves with the Question: What was the worst job you've ever had? Lee: probably telemarketer was my least favorite. It was my first job, and I was in high school. I had to try and sell these cheesy plaques to parents that congratulated their kid for graduating high school. I did at least learn to handle rejection so maybe it wasn’t the absolute worst. I’ve been pretty lucky to work in the places I’ve worked but I’m also pretty choosy about where I work too. Tanea: I wouldn’t like to say worst, because any job can be honorable and pay the bills, but the people you work with can definitely influence how you feel about a company. When I worked at Autozone and junkies were running out the store with batteries, and co-workers were robbing the store and be arrested in front of customers, and I was handling tons of cash and worrying about robberies, that was a low for me. That’s when I decided to go back to school to get my Masters degree. Aaron: Grocery Store Cashier/Bagger while in College.

We Introduced ourselves with the Goofy Question: What is one activity that you can get completely lost in and spend hours doing without realizing it? We then Discuss the following questions: - Is “engagement” something you actively consider when lesson planning? - How do you differentiate “busy work” from engagement? - Over the past few years, some educators have been arguing that we should be focussing on Empowerment rather than Engagement. Do you feel this is a semantic argument or does it resonate with you? We would love feedback! DM or Tweet @lifeoftheschool and share your Thoughts? 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 @lifeoftheschool

We Introduced ourselves with the Goofy Question: Do you have a favorite PD Icebreaker (or are all icebreakers evil...I think this is a perfectly reasonable stance) We also discuss the following questions: - How do you normally approach finding PD opportunities? - What is a typical summer like for you in terms of PD, Planning, and Personal time? - Summer 2020 was definitely an atypical PD summer, how are you approaching summer 2021? We would love feedback! DM or Tweet @lifeoftheschool and share your thoughts. 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 @lifeoftheschool

This episode is a presentation I made with Paul Strode at the 2020 NABT Conference. You can follow Paul on twitter @pkstrode. Some useful resources from this talk include: Kohn, A. (2012). The case against grades. The Education Digest, 77(5), 8. Strode, Paul K. (2020). My Classes are Pointless. Mr. Dr. Science Teacher blog, https://mrdrscienceteacher.wordpress.com/2017/08/28/my-classes-are-pointless/, accessed 7 October 2020. Zerwin, Sarah M. (2020). Pass/Fail or No Grades During Online Pandemic Teaching? A gift. Heinemann blog, https://blog.heinemann.com/pass/fail-or-no-grades-during-online-pandemic-teaching-a-gift, accessed 7 October 2020. Zerwin, Sarah M. (2020). Point-less: An English Teacher’s Guide to More Meaningful Grading. Heinemann, Portsmouth NH. We would love feedback! DM or Tweet @lifeoftheschool and share your Thoughts? Credits: - Please subscribe to Life Of The School on your podcast player of choice! - Patreon: www.patreon.com/LOTS - Music by: exmagicians.bandcamp.com/ - Show Notes at Lifeo

We Introduced ourselves with the Goofy Question: If you could live somewhere else in the world for a year, where would it be? Tanea - Shenzhen! That’s where I’m moving, but I considered Vietnam, Spain, and Rwanda too. Lee: absent the cold, I’d love to live in New York City for a year. There is something so invigorating about being in the city that I can’t really explain, and that I’d love to spend a year taking in more of. Ryan: If cost of living weren’t a consideration, I’d love to spend time in the Monterrey California area. I love the climate, the views, and the number of things you can do there. Aaron: I’d also go city as well. Either London or Paris (possibly Madrid). How many different levels of science courses exist in your school? Are students tracked? How firm is that tracking? Lee: on-level, Pre-AP (to be called Advanced, I think next year), AP, IB, dual credit, Foundations (for SpEd students) Ryan: We just have “regular” and “honors.” AP and dual-credit fall under “honors.” Tanea: Reg, Honor

We Introduced ourselves w/ the Question: Would you rather live where it only snows or the temperature never falls below 100 degrees? Ryan: where the temp never falls below 100. I have island genes and can’t stand the cold. Lee: definitely where the temp never falls below 100 since I break out into hives when I’m exposed to cold for any length of time. It super sucks. Also I’m used to 100+ temps, I live in Texas! Tanea: I’d prefer to live where temp never falls below 100. It would be like living in Thailand again. Aaron: Only Yankee in the group. I’ll deal with the snow. What are your primary ways that you communicate with students about assignments, expectations, and other important details? Lee: verbally, Canvas, announcements in Canvas, sometimes I use Skyward mass emails, also my daily schedule board (digital and analog) Tanea: Canvas, announcements, and email, and in class reminders Ryan: verbally, Canvas, emails, and the BAND app. For my community college students, I use Google Voice so that they c

We Introduced ourselves using this goofy Question: What is the best anagram of your name? https://wordsmith.org/anagram/ Aaron: A Humane Ratio or Tea Mania Hour Ryan: Can Snarl Yo… I guess that means I’m prone to anger Tanea: They all sucked - I’ll say Neaat with 2 a’s (how about Blithe Arena or Lair Beneath) Lee: Generous Elf, Refuge en Sol What is the state of EOCs in your State and in your classroom, what are your students expected to do and how freaked out are you right now? Lee: our 9th graders are still being expected to take their EOC’s--it is a graduation requirement in TX. There is a lot of resistance statewide to even having kids take STAAR (our state exams). Our AP/IB kids are also sitting for their exams--what this will look like on my campus, I have no idea since we give over 3500 exams. IB has altered their exam format and assessed curriculum for this year while AP has not. Ryan: As of right now, state EOCs will still be administered; however, we have been told they will not be used for

We Introduced ourselves with our goofy question: You have your own late night talk show, who would you want to be your band leader? Tanea: Nyaze - my musical buddy from college Ryan: Hands down, Tim Blais from A Capella Science. He is a musical genius. Lee: real talk, I’d want Ryan Reardon to be my bandleader. Aaron: Jazz Saxaphonist Grace Kelly Define end of course exams: Wikipedia says “The End of Course Test is an academic assessment conducted in many states by the State Board of Education.” I consider AP Exams, SAT Subject area tests to be EOC exams as well. Other Examples? What are the advantages of End-Of-Course Exams for your students? Ryan: It is a way to demonstrate mastery on an assessment common across multiple classrooms, so that student results can be compared Lee: At the AP and IB level, it is an opportunity to demonstrate mastery of the skills and knowledge gained from participating in the course all year long. They can demonstrate that they are potentially ready for university level work

We introduce ourselves by honoring and acknowledging the native lands where we are recording from. Aaron is broadcasting from the land of the Nipmuc Nation Ryan lives on lands shared by the Kickapoo and Osage tribes Tanea - Hohokam, Akimel O’odham (Upper Pima), O’odham Lee lives where oddly, no Native tribes occupied the land but where many of them passed through on their way to other places--members of the Caddo, Comanche, Wichita, and Kiowa tribes are known to have passed through this area. Many people from Native tribes were resettled here from the 1950s-1970s though. We discuss: - How do you feel about the 2020 work done on equity in your local school community? - Moment of vulnerability, what work do we each need to do in 2020? We would love feedback! DM or Tweet @lifeoftheschool and share your 2021 resolutions? 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 Lifeoft

- We Introduced ourselves (Aaron Introduces the show, then Tanea, Ryan, Lee) Order will be Aaron, Joining us from Arizona is Tanea Hibler, joining us from Missouri is Ryan Lacson, and joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson. - What is your go to winter holiday movie (or other media, tv show, song, etc)? Tanea: I just watched Jingle Jangle and it was great Ryan: A Charlie Brown Christmas & Home For Christmas by NSYNC Lee: The Christmas Story, the Whiffenpoofs rendition of “O Holy Night” (or the West Wing version if you prefer) Aaron: White Christmas & A Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack by the Vince Guaraldi Trio's - Today we say goodbye to 2020. It has easily been the worst year ever, but we have all had some wins this year. What is one good thing you will take from the past 12 months? Tanea: Kids do really want to learn and they have made me feel appreciated Ryan: Everyone involved with education is incredibly resilient. Teachers are working their behinds off and are making the best of a bad situation. Kid

Has your grading philosophy changed during a pandemic? Our Panel this week is Aaron Mathieu from Massachusetts, Joining us from Arizona is Tanea Hibler, Joining us from Missouri is Ryan Lacson, and joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson. Opening Question: What is your favorite type of pie? Is it different for different holidays? How have you adjusted your grading this year? Aaron: This year my grading philosophy is driven by the Churchill quote “Never let a good crisis go to waste” Revisions on almost everything. No late points taken off. Lee: we did away with weighted categories this year and the world has not ended! Kids are actually much more relaxed and feel less stressed since every assignment goes into the same grade bucket rather than having some assignments being weighted at higher percentages than others. Prior to the pandemic we allowed resubmissions with revisions on assignments anyway so that’s not a new thing for us. I’ve been modeling a lot of my grading practice now after Paul Strode, whose

Our Panel this week is Aaron Mathieu from Massachussets, Joining us from Arizona is Tanea Hibler, Joining us from Missouri is Ryan Lacson, and joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson. Opening Question: Does pineapple belong on pizza? We also discuss: - Has your grading philosophy changed during your career? - What’s your general grading philosophy (assuming we are not in a pandemic)? We would love feedback! DM or Tweet @lifeoftheschool and share what labs you are excited about/looking forward to in the coming year? How are you adjusting? 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 @lifeoftheschool

In this episode, I chatted with NABT Executive Director Jaclyn Reeves-Pepin and several teachers who will be presenting at the 2020 NABT Virtual Conference. My conversations are with Jon Darkow from Seneca East High School in Attica, Ohio, Paul Strode from Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado and Tanea Hibler from Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix, AZ. On Friday November 6 at 11:00am, Paul and Aaron are copresenting a 1 hour workshop entitled “My Classes are Pointless” On Friday November 6 at 2:30, Jon is copresenting a 1 hour workshop entitled “Teaching resilience and the biology of climate science using computer simulations” On Saturday November 7 at 1:00, Jon is also copresenting a 1 hour workshop entitled “Creating Computational Models of Dynamic Biological Systems” On Saturday November 7 at 2:30, Tanea is presenting a 1 hour workshop entitled “Is One Lesson Enough? Race in the Biology Classroom.” Credits: Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice! Patreon: https