#Teaching Tip #2. Reading Assignments

This is the second of a series of 10 posts. 

All 10 posts ran on consecutive weeks. 

As of Labor Day, 2018, all ten of these #Teaching Tip posts are searchable on my blog.

If you're not a teacher and you're reading this,
let a teacher know they are available.

I've been in enough in-service/professional-development sessions to guarantee that the information in this series is better than most of the information you’ll get while sitting through all your teacher workshops this coming school year.

You might be asking yourself,

What gives this guy the nerve to offer ideas about teaching AND commentary on professional development to anyone?

That's a legitimate question.

I invite you to follow this link and check my credentials.

https://www.crdowning.com/engage-in-thinking

In the last Almanac, I described types of homework assignments as shown below.

Assignments are not created equal. In every discipline there are [should be!] assignments designed

• for students to learn.
• for students to know what they don’t know.
• to assess student learning.

Reading assignments are the focus of this blog. They were going to be one part of the blog, but, as I was writing, I made an executive decision. 

This blog is all about reading assignments.

Reading assignments are for students to learn. 

For that reason, that is the primary goal is to focus attention on what you want students to take away from the reading. I'll describe the benefits what I call Focus Questions on reading assignments.

Too many teachers offer this verbal direction for reading assignments, “Take notes.”

There are some fine strategies that provide direction in the note-taking process—Cornell Notes is one, Power Notes is another. 

However, when the direction is simply, “Take notes as you read,” students are put in the position of determining the value of individual pieces among a vast quantity of information bites. That direction puts the student in charge of her or his learning. It also assigns the role of expert to the student.

Putting a student in the position of an expert on content before learning occurs in your class is a scenario for disaster.

Some students are good at discriminating between essential, of some value, and non-essential examples used to clarify content in text.

Most students write down far too much text material as “notes.” They’ve learned that if they write enough words they get a good grade on the assignment when they turn it in.

Too many words make it difficult to locate important information in those notes. Because students are not content experts, it's common to find that critical information is missing from their notes, Ultimately, many students decide that reading notes are unimportant even though their “homework” grade was good.

Focus questions direct students to specific information the teacher considers important.

Below is an example. I used this with 9th-grade students at Monte Vista High in San Diego, California and Great Oak High in Temecula, California. 

The last #TipsforTeachers blog discussed focus questions as homework. The example is an in-class version of focus questions. The process is similar; the grading is the same. I am the author of the questions in both cases. 

You are the content expert in your classes.
You know what you emphasize in your lessons.
You should be the author of your focus questions. 

In this example, I’m also the author of the content piece.

Pretend you're one of my 5,500 students. Follow these directions as they're written. If you complete those two "pretends," you’ll get a real feel for the process. 

I’m putting you on the honor system 😇 for following the directions.  My initials are CRD. 😉

Example Begins HERE

Before you start reading, answer the following three Pre-Read Questions. Raise your hand when you have answered all three questions. After your teacher initials or stamps that your answers to P1, P2, and P3 are complete, you may continue. While it’s preferred that you give your best answer, you may use the answer “I don’t know” for one of the Pre-Read Questions.

Use SENBP for all your answers. Answer in complete sentences.

SENBP is an acronym for “Smooth-Edged NoteBook Paper. I refuse to accept papers torn from spiral-bound notebooks. They have paper “zits” that stick to other papers, making it impossible to stack papers in a tidy bundle. Apparently, I’m not the only teacher with an aversion to zit-edges. I found the following photo online. You can see where it’s been taped to the wall as a negative exemplar.

If a spiral-bound notebook is the only source that students have for the lined paper, they cut the zits off with scissors before turning the paper in.

They learn quickly to do the cutting over a trashcan so I don’t find zits on my floor!

Pre-Read Questions

Answer these before you do anything else. 

P1. What happens to an atom if you change the number of protons it contains?

P2. What happens to an atom if the number of electrons is not the same as the number of protons?

P3. What’s in the “cloud” around the nucleus of an atom? Why is it there?

Directions

1.    Read through the following questions.

2.    Read the content assigned.

3.    Do not stop to answer the questions, keep reading to the end of the assignment.

4.    After you’re finished reading

a.    Answer as many Focused Reading Questions as you can without looking back at the assigned reading.

b.    If you didn’t know all the answers, find the answers you need by referring back to the assigned reading.

5.    Check your answers with the answer key.

6.  Following this set of directions will give you a better feel for the concept than just reading "about it."

Focused Reading Questions

1.  a) What happens to an atom if you change the number of protons it contains? [Sound like a familiar question?] b) In one sentence, compare this answer to your P1 answer.
2.  How do you determine the atomic mass of an element?
3.  What makes a neutron different from a proton?
4.  What changes in atoms of the same element with different atomic masses?
5.  Define isotope.
6.  Copy this on your answer sheet:. What does each part of this represent?
7.  What’s “special” about certain isotopes?
8.   If someone told you that the Carbon-12 Method of dating artifacts showed that an ax handle was 50,000 years old, would you believe them? Why or why not?

Text material: Basic Chemical Concepts

Take a piece of an element and begin dividing it into smaller and smaller pieces. You will eventually get to the place where if you divide the amount of substance you have left, it will no longer be that element. The smallest piece of an element which cannot be divided is the atom.

Atoms are made up of three basic components:  protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons  (P) are sub-atomic particles that have a positive electrical charge. They have an atomic weight of approximately 1 atomic mass unit (AMU). Protons are located in the nucleus of an atom. The atomic number of an element is equal to the number of protons it has in its nucleus.

Every element has its own atomic number. Every element also has its own atomic symbol. For the most part, the atomic symbol is the capitalized first letter of each element's name. For example, Carbon = C, Hydrogen = H, etc. Some elements use two letters from their name as their atomic symbol (e.g. Chlorine = Cl, Magnesium = Mg). However, unless you know your Latin, some atomic symbols make no sense because their symbols are taken from their Latin names (e.g. Sodium =  Na, Potassium = K). The important thing to remember about atomic numbers and atomic symbols is that if you change the number of protons in an atom, you change the element to a different element.

Neutrons (N) are sub-atomic particles which have no electrical charge—they are neutral. Their atomic mass is approximately equal to the proton (~ 1 AMU). Neutrons are located in the nucleus of the atom in which they are found. Neutrons provide mass without adding any electrical charge to an atom.

The total mass of an element is equal to the number of protons plus the number of neutrons. If you know the atomic mass of an element and the atomic number of the element, you can calculate the number of neutrons in that element.

SORRY, THE NEXT SECTION IS A SCREENSHOT. BLOGGER WON'T TAKE super or subscrip items.

THE ANSWERS AND CONCLUDING COMMENTS ARE BELOW.

You'll get the most out of this experience if you try to answer the FOCUS QUESTIONS before you check the answers.

This beautiful photograph by Victoria Pennick (Frozen Glass Photgraphy), one of my Monte Vista High students. It's job is to discourage you for looking at the answers until you've tried to answer them yourself! 

Answers to Focus Questions

1.    a) you change the element   b) compare to P1

2.    P + N

3.    neutrons have no charge

4.    number of neutrons

5.    Two atoms of the same element with different atomic masses

6.   12 = mass, 6 = atomic number, C = atomic symbol

7.    radioactivity

8.    No. C-14 dating only good to 25,000 years

How’d you do?

Here are other ways to use focused reading questions.

Pair students. Have them read the assignment and work together on the answers. They must come to a consensus on each answer. If there is a disagreement, the student who disagrees with the answer is allowed to include her/his answer and a note explaining why she/he disagrees.

Assign Even-numbered Questions and Odd-numbered Questions to alternating students. Make this a form of Think-Pair-Share activity. Do not allow the students to copy each other’s answers. Make the sharing time one of discussion between partners with answers written from the discussion, not off the paper of their partner.

As a Quiz. After the questions have been answered, you make the quiz a 

• for Learning experience. Ask the questions as an oral quiz. Students answer with whiteboards or quiz remotes, etc.
• of Learning experience by giving a traditional oral or written quiz using selected focused reading questions. Use some different questions each class period.

As regular reading questions. I never liked using the questions in textbooks or the ancillary materials. Too often, they are produced by professional question writers who are not trained in the content area of the book. Students learn early in their school career that if you look for the same words in the text that are in most question stems, you can copy that sentence and have the answer.

I am not opposed to regular reading questions if you make up your own questions.

Enough for today.

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Email me: EIT.DrD@gmail.com with questions/ comments.
Or, if you'd like more information or samples of anything described in this series, send an email there!

#Teaching Tip #3. explores homework.

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#amwriting #Grammar 1. Glimpses into Commas and More (but NOT more commas!)

Most writers have grammar issues. The issues chosen for this blog series are some that I experience in my writing.  The issue with each issue in the series ranges from significant to bothersome in my writing.

I teach a technical writing class to nurses in the BS-Nursing program at Point Loma Nazarene University. Early versions of the course focused on rules of English grammar. I've shifted the focus to the importance of editing. If you search my past blogs, you'll find LOTS of instruction, information, and insistence on the importance of editing.

The above paragraph does not mean good grammar is not important in your writing. The four blogs in this series present information that I’ve gleaned, remembered or learned about grammar while in the role of a writing teacher. I know that teaching this class helped my writing. I’m running this series--and following it was a series on adverb use/abuse--with high hopes that both series will help your writing, too.

If you don’t experience any of these issues in your writing, I hope you realize how fortunate you are!

Glimpse #1: Assure. Ensure. Insure.

Of these three –ures, I have the least problem with assure. That could be because 

Assure: To promise or say with confidence. 

I relate to that.

Oftentimes, my grammar checker let’s me know that I’ve used the wrong member of the remaining pair. For the record

Ensure: To do what’s necessary to make something happen.

Insure: To provide insurance… like for your car.  Remember the word insurance.

Ultimately

• Ensure is doing something.
• Insure is providing something.
• Assure is more about saying than doing.

Try these yourself. Which is the correct of the three terms in parentheses?

1.     I (assure/ensure/insure) you that my testimony about what happened last night is accurate.
2.     Alex plans to (assure/ensure/insure) his new car when he leaves work after his shift.
3.     Melinda saved money from every paycheck to (assure/ensure/insure) that she would have the deposit for a new apartment by August.

Glimpse #2: Commas After Introductory Elements

A comma usually follows an introductory word, expression, phrase, or clause.

…

Some writers omit the comma if the introductory element is short and does not seem to require a pause after it.

At the racetrack Henry lost nearly his entire paycheck.

[In my opinion, better than omitting a comma in this sentence is to revise its structure completely to: 

Henry lost his entire paycheck at the racetrack. 

I realize that might not fit the storyline as well, but it’s a much better read.]

However you will seldom be wrong if you use a comma after an introductory element. If the introductory element is followed by inverted word order, with the verb preceding the subject, do not use a comma unless misreading might occur.

Yellow highlights are quoted from The St. Martin’s Handbook (7^th Ed.) by Andrea A. Lunsford. Pp 708-709. Blue highlights are my commentary.

Below is a photo of a bulleted list of common comma uses. From The St. Martin’s Handbook (7^th Ed.) by Andrea A. Lunsford. P 710.

Even though the first paragraph labels these as "common errors in college writing," I suspect many/most authors of any age struggle with some/many of these.

#Grammar. Glimpses into Parts of Speech Part 1 – Nouns, Pronouns, and Verbs

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#Teaching Tip 1. #Homework.

This is the first of a series of 10 posts. 

All 10 posts ran on consecutive weeks. 

As of Labor Day, 2018, all ten of these #Teaching Tip posts are searchable on my blog.

If you're not a teacher and you're reading this,
let a teacher know they are available.

I've been in enough in-service/professional-development sessions to guarantee that the information in this series is better than most of the information you’ll get while sitting through all your teacher workshops this coming school year.

You might be asking yourself,

What gives this guy the nerve to offer ideas about teaching AND commentary on professional development to anyone?

That's a legitimate question.

I invite you to follow this link and check my credentials.

https://www.crdowning.com/engage-in-thinking

When I started teaching in 1973 parts of grading were the same as they are to this day. One of those constants is:

If students complete an assignment, someone has to grade it. 
I told my student teachers, 

“If you want to know who that is, just look in a mirror.”

The first seven blog posts in this series concentrate on the grading of assignments and tests. 

The series closes with two posts on determining student grades for report cards.

The first thing a new teacher learns is that five periods of 30+ kids or six hours of 20-30+ kids generate a LOT of papers to grade. Soon after that revelation, you realize that, if you grade every answer on every paper, there are not enough hours in a day to

        ·      Teach

      ·      Grade

      ·      Record grades
      ·      Eat
      ·      Sleep

      ·      Socialize

      ·      Exercise and other recreational activities
      ·      Take care of your spiritual needs
                    pretty much continue to function as a human being.

This epiphany comes most often as you sit at a desk. Stacks of papers that could easily be mistaken for a model of the Himalayan Mountains looms before you. Panic strikes.

Far too many new teachers try and try to fit the 30 hours of time-sucking activities into their allotted 24 hours. First-year teachers are the second most likely group to quit during or soon after the school year begins. Amazingly, a majority of rookie teachers make it into year two.

Second-year teachers are the most likely to quit the profession. That’s because they find out that what they hoped would happen—all that grading is accomplished by magical powers after year one—doesn’t happen. The “give assignments/grade assignments” cycle continues unabated.

If you can't figure out which was 1973 and which was 2012, I suggest an ophthalmologist appointment.

It’s been 45 years since my first day in Room 1004 at Monte Vista High School. Here’s what I know now.

Assignments are not created equal. In every discipline there are [should be!] assignments designed      
       1.     for students to learn.  
       2.     for students to know what they don’t know.
       3.     to assess student learning.

Homework most commonly falls under design #1. I soon learned that I never knew who did the homework a student turned in. In my heart, I believed each student worked diligently until (s)he completed an assignment. In my mind, I knew that was not the case for every student... think "helpful" parents.

As I moved through my career, grading of homework became a time of communal learning. It was common for homework to be a “trade and grade” activity. The scenario went something like this.

1. Homework was due in the Homework Tray when students walked through the door.

Room 507 at Great Oak High School.
In the far left of this photo, you might be able to make a sign with arrows pointing down to a plastic tray. Sorry for the poor quality of this photo. I didn't check the focus until I'd cleared the room when I retired.

2. I collected homework papers from the tray and brought them to my teaching station.

3. I checked papers for completeness, usually affixing a pig stamp indicating the degree of completeness.

“Put all writing utensils away,” I said.

“Take a grading pen/pencil from the box on your desk.” Students chose their favorite color. These were the only writing utensils allowed at the desks during a trade and grade of a self-grade session.

I walked down the center aisle of my room and dropped papers on each row, saying, “Pass these down.” 

Further directions included “take your own paper,” or “make sure you have the paper from a student that’s not in your row.”

Once all the papers were disseminated, I went through the answers. Students were my eyes and hands as they marked answers as right/wrong, added/subtracted text to an answer, and/or mad other annotations as directed.

Papers were returned to their owners before I collected them and recorded the grades.

Depending on the class, this grading process could be pretty sophisticated. I often used Powerpoint slides as visuals. Below is an example.

Global Science/Pre-AP Biology

Botany Focus Questions

Students are given these directions. I used these at all levels of my high school courses and use them now in the university courses I teach.

How to do focus question assignments

A.   Read glossary at the end of the chapter before reading.

B.    Read any Focus Questions for the assigned pages in that chapter BEFORE reading those pages.

C.    Read the assigned pages. Do not stop reading to write down definitions or answers!

D.   After you have FINISHED reading the assigned pages, write down what you remember. If you don’t know/remember something, go back and find the information, and then answer, add to, or correct your answers.

This is part of the PowerPoint I went through. The slide background is the pond I had in my backyard. The backgrounds varied with the content of the reading assignments.

Four Focus Questions with Answers.

I explained the point distribution for each question.

Slide 1: the points are self-explanatory.

Slide 2: Definition is one point. Type of plant is one point.

Slide 3: Definition is one point. Each division is worth one point for the first three divisions. To get the final point, there must be a total of five divisions described accurately.

Slide 4: This is the most subjective of the samples. Here, the key point is deciduous leaves fall “all at once” and evergreen leaves don’t. One point for each of those.

After that, all I had to do is answer clarification questions.

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Email me: EIT.DrD@gmail.com with questions/ comments.
Or, if you'd like more information or samples of anything described in this series, send an email there!

#Teaching Tip #2 has more examples of the “trade/grade” or “self-grade” process as well as more hints on homework.

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Making Connections. Investigating Invertebrates. Mollusks and Echinoderms

From 1990-1996 I worked on with the "100 Schools Project." It was California's implementation of the National Science Foundations grant to integrate science content in a new breed of courses. Monte Vista High School was a leader in curriculum development. I was the editor and primary author of a four textbook series. Titled "Making Connections...", it was published from 1996-2001 by the Grossmont Union High School District. The series is now out of print. 

More often than not over the coming months, I'll be reviving this labor of love. I hope you enjoy learning about science in the way I think makes the most sense. Minor editing has been done to the original text. Additions are in highlighted in this color. My titles for the section of the chapter are this color. Most of the diagrams were retrieved in full color from the Internet since the original books were two-colors only. Content in this series is from Volume 4: Making Connections - Integrating the Science of Energy.

Invertebrate organisms have something supporting their bodies besides bones or bony material. They range in complexity from simple multicellular organisms, like sponges, to animals with complex structures and functions, the crustaceans and arthropods.

Many scientists accept a classification system with five kingdoms.

•          Kingdom Monera consists of bacteria and blue-green algae (also known as photosynthetic bacteria).

•          Kingdom Protista includes algae and single-celled organisms (protozoa).

•          Kingdom Fungi includes only the fungi.

•          Kingdom Plantae consists of multicellular land and water plants.

•          Kingdom Animalia is made up of all animals, both with and without vertebrae. Every living thing is classified in one of these kingdoms.

Purple boxes highlight the content of this blog post.

Week #3

Covered by a Shell

Phylum Mollusca, containing snails, clams, and octopuses, etc., is the next invertebrate phylum. Mollusks are characterized by soft bodies frequently covered by a hard shell. All mollusks have three major body areas:  a head, a "foot," and a visceral hump. The head is where the nervous system is centralized. The foot is a muscular organ associated with locomotion in the animal. The visceral hump contains the intestines and other vital organs.

 Mollusks are divided into three major classes. 

• Class Gastropoda, the stomach-footed mollusks, are named because they appear to crawl around on their stomach. Because these animals have only one shell, they are also known as univalves. Clams, scallops, and oysters belong to 
• Class Pelecypoda, the hatchet-footed mollusks. The muscular foot of Pelecypods can be extended into the sand. When the foot contracts and pulls the animal forward, it looks a little like a hatchet. Pelecypods are also known as bivalves because they have two shells hinged together. 
• Class Cephalopoda, the head-footed mollusks, are the third major class of mollusks. Squid and octopuses are cephalopods. Tentacles seem to split right out of the head of these animals. Cephalopods have no external shells.

In terms of sophistication of design and function, mollusks are the most advanced invertebrates we've discussed to this point. Each class of mollusks has specialized feeding structures. Gastropods have a rasp-like structure called the radula. As Gastropods crawl over surfaces, the radula scrapes away food material which is ingested by the animal. Holes in the center of leaves are evidence of the work of the Gastropods' radula. 

Cephalopods also have a radula. However, the food they eat is captured by the tentacles. The food is brought to a beak where chunks are bitten off. The radula, which lies inside the beak, then grinds the food. 

Pelecypods do not use radulae or tentacles in feeding. The gills of these animals are covered with a sticky mucus. Tiny particles of food are drawn in with the water that brings oxygen to the gills. Food sticks to the mucus. The mucus is pushed into the digestive tract where the food is digested. This method of feeding is called filter-feeding or mucus-feeding.

All Mollusks breathe with gills, even those which are not filter-feeders. Those mollusks which live on land have a moist depression, the mantle cavity, in which the gills are located. Land mollusks cannot live where it is too dry because their gills need moisture in order to function.

Hydraulic-Powered Animals

There is one major invertebrate phylum which is exclusively marine, found only in the ocean. These animals belong to the phylum Echinodermata. Echinoderms have a spiny skin. Small spines, spikes, or nodules stick out of the surface of the animal's body giving them a rough or spiny appearance. Sea stars, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and sand dollars are the primary examples of members of this phylum.

  

The echinoderms are designed around a central axis. Their body radiates outward, usually in a plan based on the number "5."  It is easy to see the basic echinoderm body plan in the sea star with its central disk and five radiating arms.

Echinoderms move by using a unique body system. While most animals have muscles which move them around, the echinoderms system is hydraulic in nature. The water vascular system is composed of tubes and sacks which are filled with water. Contracting one of the sacks, called ampulla, forces water down into one type of tube, a tube foot. The tube foot extends because of the water being forced into it. A tiny suction cup on the end of the tube foot attaches to whatever it contacts. Contracting of the tube foot forces the water back into the ampulla and pulls the animal in the direction of that tube foot.

  

A sea star or sea urchin can have as many as several hundred tube feet. The direction of movement of an echinoderm is random. The animal goes wherever the majority of its tube feet take it. Of course, sea stars can sense food. When they do, they begin to move, although slowly, in the direction of the food source.

A sea star uses its water vascular system for feeding as well as for moving around. A sea star will grab a bivalve mollusk. Some of the tube feet begin to contract and pull on the shell of the bivalve. While those feet are contracting, other tube feet are relaxing. During this contract/relax rotation, some tube feet pull, while others rest. (Click the link for a quick video of this process.)

The muscle holding the two sides of the bivalve shell together has no chance to rest. The pull against the mollusk's shells is continuous. Eventually, the mollusk muscle gets tired, and the two shells spread open just a small amount.

In a totally gross maneuver, the sea star inverts its stomach—the stomach is pushed outside the sea star body—inside the mollusk shells. Digestive fluid is secreted from the stomach lining. The mollusk is digested inside its own shell. The "mollusk juice" is absorbed by the sea star stomach. This process explains why you sometimes find empty bivalve shell still attached together by the muscle at one end.

Next Making Connections: Investigating Invertebrates. Arthropods –Introduction

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