One thing

Today I spent about 2 hours talking to my client. I had to make her narrow down what she really wants. She is like the rest of us, wants about 12 days worth of content and activities, shoved into about 5 days. Of course that won't happen. After looking at her objectives for the unit, I asked her what is the one thing you want your student to know about respiration. She stated, "I want them to know about the flow of energy." Flow, flow, I know. Why don't you have your students develop a concept map (flow chart) using Inspiration software. It is pretty intuitive and students will be motivated to use it. I showed her some examples of of flow charts or concept maps from inspiration and she thought it would be a good idea to have her students develop one after she has taught the content. She also thought it would be a great way to bring all the concepts she has taught together and would be useful for studying. I told her the mobile computer cart does not have Inspiration software so she would have to sign her classes for the computer lab. I suggested she make a list/rubric of what she wants the students to place (link) on the flow cart. I will also suggest that she makes one for herself. I will work with her on this.

My client usually starts every unit with vocabulary. The students copy the definition out of the book. Research has found that this strategy does not work well. I suggested that she continues what she has been doing but try adding two sections to her current structure: one for students to write the definition in their own words and two for students to draw a picture that represents the definition. She said she would give it a shot. She is resistant to too much change at this stage in the game.

She is working on making a PowerPoint(PPT) presentation for her notes to show to the class on her overhead projector. She has had notes on PPT before but needs to modify them. She usually shows videos on CD that are long. I suggested that she find some smaller video clips and we could embed them within her PPT. She was very excited. She like the idea and said she was willing to learn how to do this. GREAT!

We also discussed using the Personal Response System(PRS) to quiz the students on important concepts either as a review throughout or at the end of the unit. I think the PRS is a great asset that can be used everyday. I told her I would show her how to develop a few questions that she could use throughout. It can even be embedded within the PPT if she wanted.

All in all, I finally feel like I am getting somewhere. I think my client is willing to try new things. I feel like she needs my help to bring it all together for her and tell her that we cannot do everything. There is just too little time