Pandameter - A Device for Measuring Panda Bears

The vocabulary in science can be difficult. 

It’s an area where students tell me they have their greatest difficulties. Over the course of two years, grades 7 and 8, you will learn about 200 vocabulary words. Some of which you will probably never use outside a science classroom. 

I get it and I’m trying to help. 

One of the things science teachers are encouraged to do is to post the vocabulary words on the wall. I guess the thinking is, if they are in plain sight all the time, you will become accustomed to seeing them and feel more comfortable using them.

I do not think this is an effective way to teach vocabulary and I have evidence to support my opinion. 

When I started to hang up the weather unit vocab words, I was seriously doubting the value of the word wall. So, I devised a simple test. I created a science-sounding word and hung it up with all the other legit vocabulary words.

Pandameter.

That’s my evidence. It’s my made-up, science-sounding word. I figured if I hung up a word we never learned, that sounded a little intriguing, then someone would ask. 

Over the course of two months, with that word hanging near the center of my classroom…not one seventh grader asked about it. (Of course this may say something about the overall curiosity of this particular group of 7th graders, but that topic is for another blog post altogether)

The only person who ever did ask, was a sharp-eyed 8th grader, and none of the vocabulary words in the room had anything to do with what he was studying. 

So, that’s the end of the word wall for me. Instead, I will continue to put vocabulary words on my Do Now’s and provide other ways to help you learn and use these very special words. 

Wait, ’til next year….my favorite middle school vocab word is coming: syzygy

Writing for Fun and Profit

I love that the eighth grade is doing a unit on journalism. 

For about six years, my wife and I owned and operated a newspaper publishing company.  We had several publications. We did most of the writing ourselves but also had freelancers and columnists. It was a great experience and when we think back to those days, we are proud of our work.

I’ve also done a lot of freelance writing for newspapers and magazines. (See, I really have had a million jobs over the years.) I’ve been published in the Boston Globe, was a regular contributor to the Providence Journal and other newspapers. I’ve written for magazines like Air & Space Smithsonian, Aviation History, Block Island Magazine, Sea Classics and others.

I enjoy writing and love the research that goes into it. Writing allowed me to explore topics that interested me, meet some really interesting people, and have some really cool experiences.

One of my articles, a piece about the USS Albacore (An experimental submarine designed and operated by the US Navy in the 1950’s and 1960’s) was cited in a NASA book about the history of wind tunnels. It’s obscure, but it’s cool to be mentioned in a NASA publication. 

I wrote an article for the Boston Globe about the USS Massachusetts. The battleship Massachusetts fought in World War II and is now a museum ship in Fall River. I visited the ship and was given a top-to-bottom tour by the commander. The article focused on the efforts to get the state to pay for much-needed repairs. 

Later, when the money had been approved and the ship was being repaired, I wrote another article about the restoration efforts. It was the coolest thing to walk underneath a huge battleship that was out of the water. That story was published in Sea Classics magazine.

For me, the best part about being a freelance writer, was choosing the topics I wanted to research and write about. It was fun, interesting and, best of all, I got paid to do it.

If you want to know more, ask me about the book that was written about me and my work in researching a sunken Nazi U-boat that was discovered in a place it should not have been.

Are You Ready for Weather?

Starting on Monday, December 3rd the 7th grade will begin a 13-week study of Weather and Water and it’s just in time for some interesting weather. 

On Friday, December 21st, fall ends and winter begins. It’s some of the most severe and interesting weather of the whole year and it aligns with our weather unit really well. 

This coming week, I will be mounting a weather station on the roof near our classroom so we can use super-local data in our studies. The weather station will provide temperature, humidity, windspeed, wind direction and rainfall. 

We will be tracking all this data in our science notebooks. Later, we will analyze the data to support our understanding of seasons. 

Now, if we can avoid a ridiculous number of snow days this winter, we’ll be able to make great progress in this unit. I know a lot of student appreciate snow days, but last year we had so many, we were in school until the very end of June - ugh.

Be Prepared

The Bartlett Community Partnership School is not like most other schools. If you’re one of our many students who has been here since kindergarten, then you might not appreciate how different this school is from others.

First off, most schools were not designed by Architectural Mazes Limited, the Bartlett was.

I have advocated for giving new students a bag of bread crumbs so they can find their way back to the door at the end of the day. Seriously, is the front door really on the third floor?  And, how do you explain a “ramp level?”

Second; wear light clothing all year long. There are days when the heat just won’t quit. Between the heating system working with a vengeance, and many of the classrooms getting direct sun all day long, we could probably bake cupcakes in some of the classrooms. And, it’s totally unpredictable. Some days start off nice and comfortable only to turn into scorching hot Sahara-like conditions. You just never know.

Next; Wear heavy clothing on top of your light clothing. I know it’ll feel a little bulky, but it’s totally worth it. That unpredictable thing works both ways - sometimes it feels like you’re sitting inside a pizza oven, and sometimes it’s so cold you kind of expect a penguin to waddle up to you. You just never know, so you have to be prepared for anything. You can always take your hoodie off and stuff it in your locker, but you can’t run home to get it at 10am.

Also, if you plan to wash your hands, and with an average of 1.2 bathroom trips per student per hour, you should be washing your hands multiple times per day, be prepared for either scalding hot steam or ice cubes coming out of the tap. I am exaggerating, but the same folks who designed our random temperature heating system, must have also designed our random temperature plumbing system. You never know what you’re going to get. Some days we have nice, hot water, other days none…no hot water at all. You just never know, so you have to be prepared for anything. 

Finally, be ready for the unexpected. Like days when a water pipe breaks and we don’t have any water. Or the annual mouse infestation that begins as the weather cools. You just never know what’s going to happen next.

Plan ahead.

Be prepared.

Bring anything you could possibly need. 

Don’t be surprised when the unexpected happens, just go with it. 

New, Nearly Unlimited Source of Energy

Physicists are both thrilled and baffled by the report of a new subatomic particle discovery. If the results can be replicated, and some nagging technical problems overcome, this new particle may well end the world’s dependence on fossil fuels and provide a virtually unlimited source of energy for all humanity.

Perhaps the most interesting part is that this discovery does not come from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago nor the Large Hadron Collider in Europe, it comes from a middle school science project in Lowell, Massachusetts.

The new sub-atomic particle has been dubbed the “Drama-ton.”

The discovery was the result of a middle school science project that asked “Can the Energy Expended in Middle School Drama be Measured?” As it turned out, the answer was a resounding “yes.” 

It was found that middle school drama is such a powerful force, it may one day replace many traditional energy sources. If the drama-tons flowing from a single teenager can be collected, they can provide enough energy to power an entire school.

Researches isolated a middle schooler and told the subject that “people were talking smack” about her. At that point, researchers saw a spike in the production of drama-tons. 

In order to maximize power output, the test subject was provided a cell phone and that’s when things got a little out of control. Drama-ton production went through the roof - to the point where researchers had to throttle data speeds to avoid a complete meltdown of the subject.

“The best part,” said one of the principal researchers,”is that it didn’t even have to be true. The subject just had to believe people were talking behind her back for the drama-tons to flow.”

Researchers envision a day when drama-ton reactors will replace all fossil fuel sources. 

“Think about it; just one teenager can provide enough drama-tons to power an entire school. A virtually unlimited energy source. I can see a day where every neighborhood will be powered by teen angst and melodrama,” said one of the researchers.

In a related matter, General Electric has announced it is shuttering many of its’ power generation facilities and are opening a string of middle schools across the country.

“This is revolutionary! A clean, renewable energy source for all of us. We just need a handful of teenagers to power huge sections of the country. Amazing,” said a GE spokesperson.

Don’t Get Stuck on an Escalator

Remember that video I showed you way back in the beginning of the school year?  The one with two people who get stuck on an escalator? Remember? They need help to get off the broken escalator?

Here’s the clip if you need to see it again.

I showed that to you because it’s time to get off the escalator. It’s time you begin solving some of your own problems. It’s time for you to take action and not just sit at your desk helplessly. 

You can solve many of the problems you face. Maybe not the biggest ones, but you can solve the ones that come up the most frequently.

Every day I see students stuck on an escalator. Here are a few examples:

“I don’t have a pencil.” 
  In the science lab, I always have freshly sharpened pencils for you to borrow. Get up and go get one. (Please put it back at the end of class.)

“I didn’t get the hand-out.” 
  I bet if your raised your hand, your teacher, or the student passing them out, would be happy to give you one.

“I don’t have the homework” or “I lost my homework” or “I wasn’t here and missed the homework” or “You never gave me one.”
          In the science lab, I have a large bin labeled “Missing Something?” In that bin, you will find two weeks of hand-outs, homework and other papers we have used organized by grade and day. Go get what you need. You don’t even need to ask, just take the initiative to go get what you need.

“I don’t know what we’re doing.”
  Clearly, you have missed some instructions. Instead of sitting and doing nothing, raise your hand, ask the teacher. Take action to solve your problem.

Getting stuck on an escalator seems ridiculous but it’s a metaphor for problems you have the power to solve. You just need to try. Take action. Take the initiative and do something. 

Sitting and waiting like a helpless waif is not how to solve problems. We all have problems and most of the time, they don’t just go away. In fact, if you just sit helplessly and hope a problem goes away, it usually gets bigger. 

“I don’t have the worksheet,” becomes “I missed the work,”  and spirals into “I didn’t learn that,” which grows into “I bombed my quiz,” which leads to “I got a poor grade on my report card.” 

All this can be avoided by solving the easy problem instead of hoping it goes away.  Raise your hand, get the worksheet, solve the simple problem.

How do you get off a broken escalator?  You were shouting it at the screen as the video played….”Walk off!” 

Take initiative. 

You can solve many of your own problems. 

You have the power…use it. 

How to Do Rocket Science or Brain Surgery

I want to make sure we’re all on the same page regarding study guides.

We do a lot of work in our science notebooks. We have all the vocabulary, lab results, notes and other resources packed into that little composition notebook. 

Except under rare circumstances, I don’t allow you to take your science notebooks out of the classroom. (Let’s face it - many middle-schoolers are not great at hanging on to things and our science notebooks are extremely important.)

Because you can’t take your science notebook home, and that’s where all your notes are, I create study guides before any quiz or test. 

I usually give you one class to complete the study guide. 

This is where it’s critical that you use your time wisely. Forty-five minutes is plenty of time to complete a ten-question study guide, but I often see scholars who are chatting with friends, goofing around or doing other things instead of completing the study guide. This is not their best use of time.

Now, we come to the most important part of the whole study-guide process. You need to bring the study guide home and….(you won’t believe what’s next)….STUDY.

Completing the study guide and leaving it behind in class, or in your locker, or never taking it out of your homework folder at home is not very helpful. The whole point is to get ready for the assessment.

The final step is to turn-in the study guide before the assessment. This year, I’ve been adding up to ten points to the assessment score if the student completes and turns in the study guide. 

As it turns out, the students who scored the lowest on the most recent quiz, did not turn in a completed study guide. I believe there is a simple cause-and-effect thing going on here: 

Do the study guide + studying = a better quiz score. 

Don’t do the study guide + not studying = a poor quiz score.

Folks, this is not rocket science or brain surgery. Do your work. Study for assessments. Turn-in your completed work. If you can master these simple steps, perhaps one day you will be doing rocket science or brain surgery.