End of the First Quarter

We have reached the end of the first quarter. We’re 25% done with the 2022-23 school year. From my perspective it went by fast!

The second quarter is a little different - It’s more cut-up. We have two-and-a-half days off for Thanksgiving, a week off after Christmas and grades will close by the middle of January. I think this quarter will seem to go past even faster.

In my science class, during the first quarter, I did not penalize students who missed assignments. I essentially rewarded you for engaging in the work without punishing you for missing things. Engaging in the work is a pretty basic expectation and I think the 7th and 8th grades have done a good job with that. 

Now, the expectation is that you will engage in the work, and do a good job. I will be doing more grading on the quality of the work, not just did you try or not. So, if you miss a day of school or do not finish something in class, you will need to catch up. Take it home to finish or do it after school in the homework club. 

Zeros will kill your grade so you must do everything in your power to avoid them. 

Buckle up, the second quarter has started. It’s gonna go fast and you need to do your best on each assignment. 

Song of the Day

If you’re not in my homeroom, you may have wondered about the list of songs and artists written on the whiteboard behind Teddy Bonesevelt. We do this thing called “Song of the Day.” I select five songs that have something in common - a theme. I play one song per day and the kids in my homeroom guess what the theme is - what the songs or artists all have in common.

Some recent themes were: 

• Songs by artists known primarily by one name - Cher, Adele, Rhianna & Elvis,
• Songs by artists from Massachusetts - Aerosmith, James Taylor, etc.

I have a good time coming up with the themes and songs and, yes, they kinda reflect my taste in music. If you were to stick your head in Ms. Macinnis’ room, you would notice she plays music

during homeroom. It’s nice, soft, jazzy music. I assume that’s what she likes. In my room you are going to hear a hard driving beat and screaming guitars. I just love me some screaming guitars!

I am open to suggestions for a theme and only have few guidelines. 

• There must be five songs,
• It has to be school appropriate,
• There must be a theme - something that links all five of the songs together,
• It can’t be obvious - You have to keep people wondering until day four or five.

If you have a suggestion for a theme, even if you need help coming up with the actual songs, let me know. Let’s all have fun with the music!

The Teachers Who Helped Me...

I can think of three teachers who were most influential in my education. People say we are the sum of our experiences and I believe that to be true. These teachers added experiences in different ways that influenced the person I have become. 

Mrs. Haller

My third grade teacher. We called her Ol’ Snappy Fingers. She could snap her fingers like thunder. It was incredibly loud to my young ears and she could do both hands at the same time or in rhythm. Snapping her fingers was an attention signal that we all learned meant, “Give be your attention RIGHT NOW!”

It was in the third grade that I fell in love with science. I can clearly recall two experiments we did in her class - we floated a pin on water and we made floating pepper scoot to the outside of a bowl by touching the water with soap. Pretty simple science but, if I can remember it after 55 years, it must have made a pretty big impression on me. (I’d be happy to help any of you do these experiments if you would like.)

Mr Hone

My sixth grade teacher. There are several things about Mr Hone that helped me grow and develop. First, he spoke to the class and to us individually as people. I mean he did not talk to us like we were kids. He didn’t talk down to us. He treated us as human beings with equal value. Even in the sixth grade, I noticed and appreciated this. 

Second, he recognized my innate curiosity and supported it. He would let me read or visit the library when my work was done. He encouraged me to spend time with our set of encyclopedias (They were our equivalent of the internet, but all printed out and in book form. All 27 volumes were stored on a rolling cart in our room).

Third, he let me do extra projects even if I wasn’t in a group that was doing projects. One project was to build a model house using small lengths of wood and glue. I was not in that group, I was doing extra grammar work in Mrs. Clark’s room - ugh. But, he recognized how interested I was and showed me how to build the frame of a building and gave me the supplies I needed. I built a model garage about 12 inches square, just for fun. I was very proud of my work, even if I didn’t get a grade out of it. 

By the way, I previously blogged about the last time I ever saw Mr. Hone.

Ms. Archambault

When I first met her, she was the advisor to the Astronomy Club in my high school. When I was a senior, she was my chemistry teacher. At the time, I knew she did not want to teach chemistry. She was an earth science teacher but the administration forced her to teach a section of chemistry. She didn’t go a great job. It was NOT my favorite class; in fact, I hated it.  

But, here’s what she did do well. She supported me in the Astronomy Club. She encouraged me and my friends to follow our passions and to push the envelope. We took very public risks and even when they didn’t turn out great, we learned so much about life from just trying. She supported my love of science when it was the most fragile. I recently found her on Facebook and thanked her for that. 

You might not be able to see who is helping you grow in different ways right now, but as you mature and gain perspective, you will look back and there will be certain people who stand out. Remember them, and pay it forward by helping someone else, even if it just means doing your job. 

The NBA Player I Went to School With

I have met some pretty interesting people over the years. One was a 6’ 7” tall guy named Sly Williams.

Sly was a first-round pick by the New York Knicks. He played in the NBA for 7 seasons, finishing out with a short stint for the Boston Celtics. He’s the only person I have known who played in the NBA.

I knew him before all that, when we were both in college. Just to be clear - we were not buddies, we did not hang out. We played ping pong, said hello when we passed in the halls, and shared beer and pizza once or twice at dorm parties. I actually spent more time with his little brother who would often hang out at the dorm during basketball season. 

Sly had promised to attend Providence College (PC) and play men’s basketball but, surprisingly, showed up at the University of Rhode Island (URI) on the first day of school in the Fall of 1979 and registered for classes. Naturally, the folks at PC were quite upset and the folks at URI were overjoyed. 

By-the-way, Sly parked his brand new, brown Cadillac right behind the dorm directly in front of the ‘No Parking Fire Lane’ sign. Odd that he was never ticketed or towed. And, how did a kid from the New Haven projects with 11 brothers and sisters even get a new Cadillac anyway? Things that make you go, “hmmmmmmm.”

Let’s face it, Sly’s college career was all about preparing for the pros. He never went to class, he was often late to practice. His coach suspended him multiple times for breaking team rules, but, somehow, he was able to play in each and every game for three seasons. 

At the end of his last basketball season, his junior year, Sly left campus. The next time we saw him was when he was drafted in the first round, 21st overall, by the New York Knicks. Sly wore number 33 and the Knicks were awful. They would stay awful until the next player to wear number 33 arrived - Hall-of-Famer Patrick Ewing. 

Sly’s career was nothing special. After four lackluster years, the Knicks traded him to the Atlanta Hawks and they were pretty bad, too. Finally, he ended up with the Boston Celtics in the Fall of 1985. Sly was beset with personal, injury and heath issues. The Celtics cut him about a month into the season. 

Too bad for Sly. That team went on to win the 1986 NBA championship and is largely regarded as one of the greatest basketball teams ever assembled - featuring five future hall of fame players. They were so good, that the subs - players 6 through 10 - could have been a playoff team in their own right. Sly could have been part of that, but he missed out. 

After basketball, Sly’s life spiraled out of control and he was, eventually, incarcerated for a string of violent crimes. 

I poked around on the internet and found part of a short documentary that was done about him, but I could only find the first of three parts.

Sly sits on two of my personal lists of interesting people I have known - a surprisingly long list of folks I have met who have gone to prison and a much shorter list of people I have met who played professional athletics.

To be sure, Sly has lived an interesting life, and I knew him just a little bit way back when.

The Science Shirts

You have probably noticed that, most often, I am wearing a science-themed t-shirt. It’s kind of become a signature thing for me and it started with a gift from a fellow science teacher at the school I taught at before coming to the Bartlett. 

It’s the green one I still wear occasionally that says “I’m Awesome - It’s Science.” Sometimes, we’d wear our matching shirts on the same day.

As of this writing, I have over 50 different science/engineering shirts. I have certain shirts I only wear for certain days (Like the Christa McAuliffe shirt I only wear on NASA’s Day of Remembrance), and some shirts I wear a lot (Like the “Equality is Not Rocket Science” shirt or the one that has a rocket ship made out of stacked up books). 

Last year, when were were studying the ecosystem at Mono Lake in California, I was standing in the cafeteria and overheard the following exchange between students:

“What does his shirt say?”  

“Mono Lake.“

“Of course it does. I love that he does this.”

An 8th grader once asked, “Do you have, like, regular clothes? I mean non-science shirts, like button up shirts?” I assured her I have the complete wardrobe from button-up shirts to suits and sports coats, dress shirts and ties, polo shirts and non-science t-shirts. I’m not really sure she believed me. 

I do this because it’s fun and it gives me another thing to talk about. I have answered countless questions about what my shirt says or means and it’s a fun way to talk about science. 

When I’m standing in the hallway when you arrive, I am often asked, “What are you wearing?” And then, as I strike a pose so my shirt can be seen, its my own little red-carpet moment, but, of course, with a lot less paparazzi.

The Worst Books I Have Ever Read

As you know, I’m an avid reader. I routinely read or listen to 20 to 40 books a year. I share my reading with you by hanging mini-posters outside the classroom and when I finish, I write a mini-mini-review on the poster: 

“This was great!”  

“Excellent!” 

“This was okay.”  

“Boring!”

I’ve read so many great books and a few real clunkers, as well. There are a couple that stand out as the worst books I have ever read:

• Years ago, I used to write book reviews for Air & Space Smithsonian magazine. They would send me a box of books and ask me to pick out a couple to read and review. They actually paid me to do this! One book they sent me was about a World War II fighter pilot I happened to know a LOT about. I had read every single book ever published about him. I had spoken and corresponded with people who knew him. I had done extensive research about him. 

I opened the new book and read the first chapter and it seemed… familiar… like I’d read it before. I turned to my library of books on this pilot and, sure enough, the writer had stolen entire paragraphs from a prior book on the man. I alerted my editor at Air & Space. He thanked me and notified the publisher about the writer’s plagiarism. 

• Someone I know wrote a book several years ago and, of course, I was excited to read it. You know that feeling when you read the first half page of a book and you think, “Ohhhhh, this is gonna be good?” I love that feeling. I love when the writer hooks you and draws you in right from the first few words. When I read the first partial page of this book, I turned to the last page to find out how long this was going to be. The first page was awful and things never got any better for the next 200 pages. Ugh.

So, there you have it. The worst books I have ever read. But, contrast that with the, literally, hundreds of excellent books and that’s a pretty good ratio.  

Welcome to the 2022-2023 School Year - A return to Normalcy

Welcome to or welcome back to my blog. I write this for and to you, my students. 

This is my forum to write about my life as a teacher, a student and a person. Sometimes, I write to amuse. Sometimes, I write to inform. And, sometimes, I write to help my students put things into perspective.

Friday the 13th, 2020 was the last day we had school before the pandemic smacked us in our collective faces. Everything starting changing after that and things will never again be what they once were. But, after a very difficult few years, I’m hopeful we can have a fantastic, productive and fun year doing science tougher - a return to normalcy. 

By the way, that phrase “A return to normalcy,” is from a US president many years ago. (There’s a tiny gift for the first ten people to name the President and the year.)

I usually post to this blog on Sunday mornings - and no, not at 3:15 a.m. (the posting time is listed as Pacific Standard Time). I will post a link on google classroom, so you’ll get an email notification when there’s something new to read.

I hope you will find them interesting but you’ll all be the judge of that. Please read, share, comment, and disagree with my thoughts and feelings.

The Water Bottles - An Update

 There’s an old saying “One man’s trash is another man's treasure.” Well, I can update that to “One teacher’s recycling is another teacher’s project materials.”

In about an hour, one of my colleagues from a school where I used to teach will arrive to pick up 8 large garbage bags full of (mostly) empty water bottles. I have not counted them, but I estimate there must be three to four hundred bottles in those bags. 

When I sent her the picture of them piled up at my entryway, she texted back “Heavens! How long did it take to collect all those?” 

I replied “In our middle school, this is about a week and a half’s worth of water bottles.”

She was stunned. In her school, each student has his or her own refillable water bottle.

That’s a better way to do things then wasting gallons and gallons of expensive bottled water.  ‘Nuff said.

So, what are they doing with these hundreds of bottles? They will be used for a 7th grade science project. Each student will set up two identical terrariums where they will plant grass seed. One of the terrariums will be the control and they will change one variable in the other bottle and see what happens. 

Since the twin terrariums will be identical controlled environments, they will be able to observe and measure the effect of changing one thing. 

This seems like a great idea for a project and it’s now something I have tucked back into my mind for potential future use. 

The Water Bottles - Ugh

 OMG those water bottles!

They are everywhere; on the floor, on desks, sitting on windowsills, under the tables, and in the lockers - so many water bottles in the lockers. It seems if there is a flat surface, there’s a water bottle on it. 

I am sooooooo tired of cleaning up, mostly full, water bottles in my classroom. I can’t take it any more. 

If there were a professional league for throwing water bottles across a classroom and landing them in the sink, I’d be an MVP. I am the Steph Curry of three-point shots with water bottles. 

Last week, as I tossed the bottles into the sink, I intentionally didn’t empty them or put them in the recycling bins. I just let them pile up. I filled the sink and then some!

I can not imagine how much our little school has spent on cases of water, but I’m sure it’s enough to buy a considerable number of new books.

Nobody wants sluggish, dehydrated students or students who drink so much water they’re in the restroom half the time. But, there has to be some middle ground. 

How about about dumping them out in the sink when you’re done and tossing the empties in a recycling bin?

How about carrying a reusable bottle and filling it up from time to time?

How about taking your water bottles with you?

How about finishing what you take?

Thoughts on Grading

 I think some students are surprised that I don’t grade every single piece of paper they turn in. I think sometimes they are disappointed when they have worked hard on something and I don’t grade it. I think they feel they have wasted their time and energy. 

Not true!

Sometimes the work is practice or review. Some assignments are for me to see how you are doing learning a new topic or set of vocabulary words, etc. I look over the work, get a sense of how people are doing, of who’s “getting it,” who’s having trouble and who’s flaking off instead of working. (There’s a term for these kinds of assignments - formative assessments.)

These insights are addressed in the following lessons. Sometimes I need to review content, sometimes I need to speak one-on-one to someone about their work habits, and sometimes I need to reteach a topic all over again. None of these are a waste of your time and energy, they help us all move forward together. 

The work I grade is usually after you’ve had time to read and digest something, or have had time to practice a new skill, or to close out a section in our curriculum. (These are called summative assessments.)

Learning is a process. When you learn something new - like how to play the ukulele, write new code or identify the roles of certain organisms in an ecosystem, you’re probably not very good at the start. Do you really want me to grade that work? No, you want a chance to practice, to deepen your understanding, and to improve before I start entering grades in my grade book.

If I don’t grade a particular assignment, its not because I am trying to waste your time. It’s just part of the process. 

Choosing Summer School

Six Flags or Lowell High School?

Hampton Beach or ELA & math classes?

Sleeping late or catching the bus to school?

Doing your work now or doing it in a hot, smelly classroom in July?

Attending summer school is a choice. 

Granted, at the end of the year, if you have not done your work, Mr. Holtz will send you to summer school whether you like it or not. But it will have been your choice.

If you are not an active participant in school - not listening, not doing the work, not trying - you are choosing to go to summer school. It is completely in your control.

School is set up to help students get to the next level. We have systems to figure out who’s not understanding and how to best support them. We have people - Mrs. Rake, Mrs Motolla, Mrs. Lord and more - to help and encourage you. We have systems of assessment, reteaching, review and revision to help you reach your potential and level up.

What we don’t have is a way to get people to choose to participate in their own education. We have no way to instill drive and motivation inside your head and heart. You need to do that part. And, even if you don’t really feel it, fake it ’til you make it. In other words, just do your work and learn to enjoy the satisfaction the comes from accomplishment.

We’ve just started the 4th quarter - it’s near the end of the year. This is your last chance to show Mr. Holtz that you CAN and WILL become a full participant in your learning. 

It’s the bottom of the ninth, the two-minute warning, the end of the game when you’ve gotta make your free throws. Now is the time to choose Six Flags, Hampton Beach and sleeping late over going to school and not having a summer vacation. 

It’s really all up to you. 

Choose wisely.

The Code Hidden in Room 22

There is a coded message in my classroom - hidden in plain sight. 

Yup, there has been a code in my classroom since we returned from winter break in January and no one has seen it in the months that it’s been there.

It’s literally right in FRONT OF YOUR FACE!

This is actually the second time I have done this, but the first in this room and the first time in this school. It’s not my original idea. I borrowed it from Tom Yawkey, former owner of the Red Sox and the fabled left field wall - the green monster, if you will. 

That’s as much of a hint as I’m going to give you.

I have actually mentioned the code in class at least twice, just to see what would happen. Each time, I saw a few heads swivel around and scan the room, but no one has found it yet. 

Can you find it and, if you do, can you crack it?

The Worst School Day Ever

1969 was a memorable year for many reasons: a new president was inaugurated (Nixon), humans first walked on the moon, the NY Mets won the World Series (worst to first in one year), and I had to attend school on a Saturday.

Saturday school, ugh. 

Can you imagine?

The combination of snow days, holidays and an, extra (leap) day meant the last day of school would be on a Monday, so the teachers union worked out a deal with the administration to end the year on a Friday instead. The teachers agreed to work one Saturday in the spring of my 4th grade year.  

Obviously, the lunchroom people, custodians, bus drivers, crossing guards, and administrators all had to be on the same page. Not ending on a Monday must have been really, really important to everyone.

On the appointed day, instead of watching cartoons, including the new Batman/Superman Hour, catching frogs, climbing trees, or riding bikes with my friends, we waited for the bus to take us to school.

Once there, they divided the kids into two groups: the “good kids” and the “bad kids.” I suspect it might have been about who was doing their work and who wasn’t, but I’m not really sure. I remember pleading my case to be placed in the “good kids” group but it was to no avail. Apparently, I was a "bad kid."

The “good kids” basically played outside most of the day, except when they went to the cafeteria to watch a movie. My group stayed in one classroom and did work all day long. When we got to go outside it was for a normal recess, not the super-long outdoor time the other kids got. We did not get to watch a movie. 

It wasn’t fair. I could see and hear my friends running around outside while I was doing work. They played kickball, red light/green light, freeze tag, red rover and everything. They were having a blast. For me, it was like torture.

Do I sound bitter?

Yes?  

Yes, I am. After all these years, I’m still a little mad about going to school on a Saturday. It was the worst school day ever. 

The Book Wall

 As you probably know, I enjoy reading. I read all kinds of books, both fiction and non-fiction. Naturally, I read a lot about science, but if you look over the books I’ve posted near the door of room 22, you’ll see a wide range of topics - science, music, memoir, history and historic fiction.

I’ve been on a little bit of a reading roll lately.  The posted books are the ones I’ve read or listened to since Christmas. It helps to read really good books - they go faster and you really, really want to turn to the next page and keep going. Believe me, I’ve slogged through my share of books that were not very good and each page was an accomplishment. 

Even if I find a book is not very good, I’ll often finish it anyway - for two reasons: It may turn out to be worth my time and energy anyway, and, because I don’t like to give up (but I do sometimes).

I think I started reading a lot in middle school. I remember spending a lot of time in the library. I have a really distinct memory of walking home from school reading Reach for the Sky: The Legless Ace of World War 2 by Paul Brickhill. I was so captivated by it, it’s a wonder I didn’t wander into traffic. (It’s also on that very short list of books I have read more than once.)

I promise you can find something to read, or listen to if you hunt a little. There have been about 150,000,000 books published, soooo I’m pretty sure you can find something on literally any topic you might enjoy. 

Pick up a book - it can take you to the other side of the universe, far into the future, back into the past, introduce you to amazing people, and take you to magical places right here and now.