Sunday, March 1, 2009
Amanda Conrad- Strategy Journal 1
My first day at Huntington Middle was a bit surprising because the "science" classroom was nothing of the sort. They have no lab equipment, no sinks, no tables, and a tiny white board. I must say that I was a little disappointed but Mrs. Bright, the teacher, told me that because of some kind of consolidation with another school they ripped out all of the science rooms and now there isn't one science room in the whole building. I think that is absolutely unacceptable. I'm with the eighth grade students and from what I have observed they are a pretty decent group, I think I will like working with them. I found it interesting that the students were working on their note taking skills on my first day there. After our semi heated and wonderful class discussion on the four corners of note taking, interestingly enough, the students were all given a very brief guided outline of what they were supposed to be focusing on in their notes. I asked the teacher about it and she told me that brief guided notes are the best way that she has found to get the students to pay close attention to the lecture.
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2 comments:
Isn't it crazy how little they have at Huntington Middle School. They computers they have are ancient and the rooms are the size of a closet. I can't believe that they don't have any lab equipment at all. What's even more interesting is that the consolidation isn't supposed to occur until the middle of the next school year, so all these students are not getting the full extent of the education that they could possibly get because they don't have the materials they need. It's really sad!
I had a long-term substitute position in Kanawha county. I taught 6th grade science from a "regular" classroom. When I needed to do a science experiment, I used the old home-economics room that was not in use. It is difficult to teach appropriatelly when you don't have the neccessary materials and facilities. In this case, we made the best of the situation. The home ec room wasn't exactly set up for a science lab, but it worked well... I had to borrow equipment from another science teacher and it required extra prearation, but students learn so much from science experiments.
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