Week 9 Reflection

This week's reflection is going to be a brief one for now. I continue with my action research this week by finishing up the unit on fiber analysis. This has definitely been the best "crime investigation" yet where the students had to determine the identity of an unknown. I think it's because this time they had several different tests that they could perform on their fiber and they got to choose what materials and tests to use. They got really excited about discovering pieces of the solution. They were also disappointed if they didn't get the answer right away and it seemed to motivate them even more to do appropriate testing on their unknown. The more we learn and experiment, the better they are becoming at thinking critically and not just looking for the obvious answer. I hope that through my research results I will be able to show an improvement in these skills over the semester.
In anatomy this week we learned about the axial skeleton. Overall I feel like it was a successful week because I was able to point to the bones of the skeleton and most of the students could name all of the ones that we have discussed. For the test on this part of the chapter I am planning on giving them pictures of the skeleton and/or labeled parts on models that they must write the name of. This will be different from a lot of exams that they have taken before but I hope that it will serve as the best way to test their knowledge of the skeleton. After this we will move on to discuss muscles, which is another long, very detailed chapter. Halloween is at the end of this week, so I am trying to think about a "skeleton" activity that we can do! Should be fun!
I am also working this week to finish writing a grant proposal for a DNA electrophoresis lab that we can do with AP Biology as well as forensics. It is taking a little longer than I expected but I am glad to be getting this experience with grant writing now. As a science teacher, funding will always be an issue if I am going to provide my students with meaningful lab experiences. Hopefully writing this grant will be good practice for me.
Overall, it is going to be an extremely busy week and I just hope that I can keep up with everything that seems to be happening at once. Being a student and a teacher is becoming a little overwhelming right now so I am just hoping to stay on top of things and do my best!