I think the title of this post is accurate about the postings in the room. In APES, the students engaged in a jigsaw, which seemed to be really beneficial. Science texts are tough, and decoding only one section seemed to be the best possible solution. The made these rather awesome posters with cool cartoons on them and presented to the class. A couple students, I would say, shone. A newer student who has to do a good deal of make up work, is rather impressive. She was able to bring the class up to date on important jargon on her section with wit, humor and obvious understanding of the concepts. I feel that wit shows understanding. A good, clever joke is based in the understanding of audience and what you're talking about, so it's great that she can do this. Also makes for a pleasant break in monotony. Next, they answered some personal response questions, which might have actually been less stressful than presenting, but students still complained vehemently to, it seemed, working at all. It's interesting that, from my perspective of AP classes, their workload is fairly light. I suppose to them, this is rigorous and maybe they don't quite see the point yet. I'm not trying to impugn their past experiences, I'm just thinking that for many of the students, this is their first experience with an AP science, so it may be a hard adjustment for them.
Onto our meat and potatoes. I had the pleasure of observing another observer today. It was neat to see how my boys reacted to another man in the room, and how they spoke to him as compared to how they spoke to me. They gave him a whole lot less attitude than me, but that's to be expected I feel. Also, when they give me attitude, I gauge how appropriate it is and let them know their current appropriateness level. As I said before, sometimes I love a little wit. Sometimes, It's not okay, and they need to know that. We started a lesson on the triple beam balance, which will be my observation for tomorrow. It's my first formal one, and to say I'm nervous is a bit of an understatement. I just don't quite know what to do in terms of reflecting and all that jazz. It's a little stressful for me. However, small victory, I made my first worksheet and did my first group presentation. So glad that's over. I think the next step for this class is going over American and International units. It's going to take some repetition and review. One student will repeat English words to himself after he hears them the first time. I made sure to tell him today his practicing is paying off. I love to see them working hard. Makes me inspired to work even harder for myself.
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