I have taken on several projects- the CSI Felix mystery with my sixth grade group, writing checkpoint quizzes for our fifth grade teachers, Survivor Science club, planning several science field trips this year, preparations for Space Night, a Gideon CSI project (writing this one for my church), a new Bible study, and several planning meetings. Oh, and I have two young kids at home who claim a few of those hours! I have plenty on my plate.
I also have lesson plans that cycle with a new group of students every 7-12 weeks. All I really need to do with those is cut&paste and replay. This is a time saver that allows me to take on the "extras" and to support my fellow science teachers the best I can.
Today, I had a water cycle lesson planned that I had taught many times over. The plans were submitted. The copies were ready. The model was set up. The students were ready to begin.
So, what do I do? I try a new strategy- change the activity, approach the discussion differently, and came up with a whole new lesson. The challenge was to connect the water cycle to other areas of science- weathering & erosion, river systems, temperature relating to solid, liquid, and gas, affects on light, and the list went on!
Then I stayed after school- not preparing tomorrow's lab or catching up on grading- but putting together a new bulletin board display. I didn't even have a spare area to put it up. I had to first take down a perfectly good display.
Why? I'm not too sure. At the time it seemed to be the most important thing to do, although there were many other things that one could argue were far more important. All I can say is I managed to build this momentum with the students all day, and I wanted to share with everyone the great connections they made. It's a validation to the students for a job well done. Maybe it's also a way to keep me from getting too comfortable with the routine.
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