Making changes to this blog

Why did I change everything?

     If you followed my blog before you know that it used to be Science in the Middle but due to a huge change in my educator career I have decided to make some changes to my blog as well. 

     The first change I am obviously making is to the title of my blog. My blog will now be titled "Gifted Guzman" just like my YouTube channel and my Twitter account. I decided to make this change because I am working towards creating a brand that people can trust, an image of someone

who knows what they are talking about and who can offer exceptional educational advice to teachers, parents and students. This is not just about an image to me though, it is about how I see myself and what I have seen over the course of my career. I know how much I love being an educator, I know how important this profession is to me, I know how much work I put in to being amazing at what I do and I know what I have to offer to other educators, so now I want to truly share all that I know.

     Now on to a little about me and the changes I've made in my career. If you have been following me you know that during the first two years of my teaching career I worked in a charter school where I taught 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade science then after lunch I re-taught the 8th graders the 7th grade Texas state math standards they would need in order to be

successful in 8th grade math and then I also taught art to the 5th-8th grade girls. There was minimal curriculum, no resources (I spent $2,500.00 the first year on resources and I made $32,000.00 a year and had 3 boys of my own.) and I was not allowed to have a mentor the first year because the school had failed so many state standards they were in trouble. By my second year teaching the whole middle school staff was fired except me and I was put in charge. It was daunting and trial by fire but it was the most valuable experience because I rose to the occasions and learned so much. Next I moved to a large district in my city and I taught 7th grade science to all types of students from general education to special education, from students who spoke English as a second language to those who were labeled gifted and talented. I was also the journalism sponsor so I worked with students on the yearbook and online newspaper. I got a grant for the campus so we created a schoolyard habitat, a garden and a recycling program and held an environmental fair. I
worked at that campus for four years. Last school year I accepted a position as the gifted and talented specialist at a new campus in my district. I taught my own 6th grade English Language Arts classes, (this was my first time teaching ELA) I team taught with all of the other gifted and talented teachers, (in science, social studies, ELA and math 6th - 8th grade) I organized the students year long projects and I was a new teacher mentor. I am also continuing to work on my Master's degree in curriculum and instruction (I have 2 classes left).

     As you can see I have thrown myself into being an educator and I have made the most of every experience I have been given. My goal now is to share those experiences and my insight with other educators. I will begin slowly as I finish college but I hope to post more often once I am finished. I will have new experiences during the next school year as I teach 7th grade ELA this coming year and 6th grade science. I am sure I will have numerous ideas to share.

In the meantime you can also watch my YouTube videos where I talk about educator ideas as well.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTXeCjvts-EfAsnh15pc4HA

Until next time, I'm Gifted Guzman.

Another way to take notes

Another way to take notes

         First, very quickly let me just say WOW it has been forever since I have written a blog post. I always mean to write posts and I take photos but then I get busy. College and teaching are taking up 99% of my time, but you aren't reading this to hear about my busy life but rather another way to take notes with your students, so lets get into that discussion.

         If you are like me you have your students keep a science notebook where much of their classwork is kept. One of the things we normally have in our science notebook are notes for each section. When I began my career we did the whole "fill in the blank" notes while the teacher goes over a power point and the students follow along. Several teachers still use this method today and I think there are some uses for this method that I may discuss in another post but for now I want to talk about another way to take notes. 

         One of the ways I like to take notes with my students is through drawings. Many students are visual learners so by drawing their notes they are cementing the information into their minds because we are talking about the information together as they are drawing and writing in the information. Now some students aren't a fan of drawing so when you first begin to teach them how to take drawing notes you have to remind them that this is not art class, and the drawings are to help give them a visual that they understand. Be sure that you as the teacher also have this in mind because some students may want to add things to their drawing or draw something slightly different from what you have. As long as they are drawing something that relates to the topic do not stop them, do not force them to draw exactly what you have because then their memory from that drawing will be one of anger or frustration and not a memory of the topic.

         I have two methods for drawing notes. My first method is a draw-along. In the draw-along method the teacher puts a blank sheet of paper under the ELMO and the students follow along with the teacher drawing and writing what the teacher does. This is by no means a one way street though, the teacher must interact with the students by using questioning. By using questioning the teacher is getting the students to think about the topic and they are able to see what the student's prior knowledge is. For the example to the right I wrote the first transformation radiant ----> chemical and then I asked students what radiant energy is and how we might draw it and then I asked the same questions for chemical energy. I found that there were numerous misconceptions about chemical energy so we wrote the formula and talked about glucose. Then in the next section I only wrote chemical and asked to see what we might draw to expand on what we had just been talking about. I draw bunnies well enough that they are recognizable so I drew a bunny but several students drew other animals and then we went from there. On the third example I asked them to draw a different organism because I didn't want them to associate the concept with only one organism. We continued from there and completed out notes. Then once we have completed our noted I have some questions for the students to answer and they glue these into their science notebooks for later use.

 This is another set of notes we did together where I led the students and they drew along. I will say that this can be tiring for you the teacher because you are drawing every class period but you don't do these every day so it's not that difficult.

          The second way I do drawing notes is normally with processes that have steps so there is a set way things occur and the students can follow those steps and create drawings about each set. For this type of notes I have the students read in their textbooks or from an article about the process and then I have them create visual notes about that process. One step that helps the students is to fold the paper with them ahead of time so they know how many steps they should have and how many drawings they need. For this activity I also have a pre-drawn version that I have created that either a) I share with my students who need a little extra assistance or b) we go over as a class to see how their drawings compare to mine and we can discuss what they may need to add or how they viewed it slightly differently than I did but they still conveyed the correct message. Even with these visual notes I do also always have the students add some writing especially as we talk and I find various misconceptions I will have students add in small written notes or additions to their drawing that help enhance their understanding.

  We also make sure to add in vocabulary words. For example, for succession we make sure to have words like lichen and climax community. This method can take the students two days to complete because the teacher has to allow them to read over the material and determine what the steps are in the process and then they have to decide what to draw and in what order. During the process the teacher should be walking around the room guiding students, giving small suggestions when needed and making sure the students are understanding the concept. Once the students have had the opportunity to draw and wrestle with the concept themselves then the teacher should have a group discussion about the concept and the drawing. For this portion I normally put my notes example under the ELMO and then I give the students time to discuss what they had on their notes, and I give them time to make any adjustments. This is also the time when we discuss unit vocabulary and I ensure they have that in their drawing notes and they have an understanding of the vocabulary.

This is a lot of information to take in and a very long blog post after not writing anything for months so I hope this is helpful and not overwhelming. Be sure to contact me if you have any questions about this concept.

Teach on!!

 

Educator of the Year but woe is me

Educator of the Year but woe is me

by Colleen Guzman

          I am proud to announce that I have been named the Educator of the Year for my campus Pat Neff Middle School. This is my 6th year teaching and my fourth at this campus. Two years ago I became the Yearbook sponsor because I love going to the student's events and I figured since I was going to be there anyway I might as well take students with me to take pictures and create a yearbook. This year I wrote a grant with my very good friend and colleague Sarah. We won almost $6,000.00 to use to create a recycling program at school and a schoolyard habitat. We also started a club where students learn about environmental issues and sustainability. We created a whole environmental sustainability faire with speakers and tables full of presenters and we even helped our club students create speeches and we had them address the families from the stage. I also received a grant for $700.00 to get specialty microscopes which I will be sharing with my colleagues. I work diligently to get to know my students and to teach them not only what the state says they need to know but topics that will make them better members of society. I genuinely care about my students and my peers. I try to mentor my peers and be available for them, and several of them call me "work mom" because they come to me for advice and love on tough days. I am proud of all of these things and yet I still feel like I am not good enough.

          My husband asked me the other day, "when will enough be enough?" I don't have an answer for that. Each time I have an accomplishment there is always a reason why that accomplishment isn't good enough. Educator of the Year is a prime example. Why can't I be proud of that accomplishment? Well, first of all I know that my friends nominated me for the award so in my mind they just did that because I am a good friend and "work mom" and not because I am a good teacher. I mean they think I am a good teacher but in reality they have never been in my classroom so how can they know. The next reason is because they rallied for me this year, they talked to people and told them why they should vote for me. Many of my colleagues have told me that they think I deserve the award but rather than focus on all of those wonderful people my brain is hyper-focused on the people who don't like me and don't think I deserve it. I am terrible about tearing myself down. I can find any reason to make any accomplishment seem less than impressive. The final straw was not winning for the whole district, so in my mind that just proves that if a bunch of people who don't know me get together they will not think I am so great and they won't vote for me. I'm telling you I can twist anything to equal thoughts that I am not so great.

          All of those negative thoughts aside I am still able to be proud of myself occasionally when I push all the negative thoughts to the side. However, I'm not done yet with the negativity. You would think that I had already said enough but no there is more. Since this was a big accomplishment there was a ceremony and I invited my whole family to come so there are photos of the occasion. I have always had body issues, it is normal in many women and a lot of mine stems from being a large girl growing up so I got all the fun nicknames like King Kong, The Amazon, the Girila-la, Colleen Cake (because I was so fat I must only eat cake all the time). Through all of this clattering around in my head I try to be kind to myself and see myself as beautiful even though it is quite difficult. For this occasion I went to Ross and found a lovely, long black dress to accentuate my height, all black so I felt thin. I was on cloud nine that night, I felt like I was the bell of the ball, looking so beautiful and statuesque but then the pictures came out. That was when the truth hit me, I am still fat and I am still a giant. I am not pretty at all and everyone who was telling me I was just loves me as a person and can't see the forest for the trees. I want to crawl under the covers and hide the hideousness in my house forever but I don't because I have students to teach, so I swallow it all down and get up and keep on keepin' on.

          I guess you are wondering why I am telling you all of these things. I just wanted to share all the things that are going on inside of me, to show people that they are not alone in their self doubt. I want people to know that they are good enough even though they might not feel like it. I want other people to be able to feel pride in what they have accomplished and to see themselves and think "I am beautiful", "I am good enough" and they are all those things even when their brain tries to tell them they aren't. I am a good teacher, heck I am a great teacher and colleague, peer, friend, "work mom", mentor, wife, daughter, mother, and all number of things. I am good enough and so are you. Get up every day and do your personal best and be the best you that you can possibly be and at the end of the day when all the self doubt and negativity come your way you can tell it to go away because you have done the very best you can and it is good enough and you will be okay and you will keep going to do more great things.

Think like an "ologist" (GT technique)

Think like an "ologist" (GT technique)

by Colleen Guzman

          Aside from teaching Pre-AP science and general education science I have also been provided with 1 section of GT (gifted and talented) science. Many people, including many of the students, believe that GT students are just smarter Pre-AP students but that is not actually the case. GT students are capable of Pre-AP work but they are also so much more, especially when it comes to their thought processes. GT students have a different depth of thought and a broader scope of thought and as their teacher it is my responsibility to increase that scope and have them expand those GT

muscles. In order to expand those muscles the students have to use various tools to get there. One of the tools we've been provided with at my district is the tool of having the students think like an "ologist".This is a wonderful way to engage the students because they have to take the current topic and look at it from different perspectives. There are numerous ways to use this tool and we are not given a single way to do it so I came up with one possible way to do this.

         

The first step is to explain to the students what an "ology" is and provide them with a list of some known "ologies". We have a document that has a whole list of them so I took the time to look through them and locate the ones that I thought would fit the best with the topic we were studying, which happened to be cells. Sometimes if you give GT students too many options it overwhelms them and they spend so much time trying to make choices they don't manage their time well enough to make it through the actual assignment, so I limit their choices but I also do give them the choice to pick something not on my list should they want to go that route. Generally when we try a new technique the students will use what is on my list and as we practice they become more adventurous. Also as` I have the students practice this train of thought I will move away from "ologies" that go with the topic and I will have them stretch their minds to find difficult connections between the concept and the "ologist".

          Once the students have chosen the "ologist" and considered the cell from that perspective then I have them create a wanted poster or brochure where the "ologist" is asking for the cell to come help them with their branch of knowledge. We studied plant and animal cells so the students had to specify which cell the "ologist" wanted to come help them out. I also decided to let the students use the Chromebooks in order to research the "ologies" and to create their final product. I was impressed with some of the results because some of the students said they wanted both cell types. For example, one student wanted plant cells to study for herbology and animal cells so they could see how the herbs affected the animal cells. Overall I thought this was a great way to get the students to expand their thinking and I will be continuing to use this technique of thinking to expand the way students view things.

Doing What You Love

Doing What You Love

by Colleen Guzman

               It is no secret that humans are complex creatures, often filled with mystery and definitely multi-faceted. I am no exception to that rule. I am practically an onion considering all of my layers. I am a teacher, currently a college student, I create tabletop games with my spouse, I am on a weekly YouTube show with my spouse, I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, best friend, and so on and so on. One additional layer I have is my love for the sport of football. I love the strength, agility, athleticism, brute force, tackles and physicality of the sport. I have loved the sport of football since I was a young girl. In junior high I  tried to start a petition so I could play football for the team in the small Texas town where I attended junior high. I was denied and laughed at but I went and watched practices and helped clean up equipment and watched games on television and in person when I could. I lived football as much as I could. As I got older I began to give up my dreams of playing football and I simply enjoyed the sport. Fast forward through a lot of interesting life choices and now I am a 36 year old woman getting ready to be a teacher. I actually looked to see if a woman could be a boys football coach (it seems in theory you can but in all practicality not so much). So I went with science and I have been doing that ever since. Then six years into my career I get the most amazing experience of my life and it is all thanks to a coach who wants to build school community.

               When the email came in I had to read it numerous times just to make sure I had read it properly. The head football coach had sent an email letting teachers know that he was going to let us be guest coaches for one of the home games for either the 7th grade team or 8th grade team or for both teams. We would get to stand on the sidelines with the team, encourage them and talk to them and help the coaches, we could even come to practices if we wanted to learn about what they were doing. Was he kidding? Was this a dream? I just couldn't believe what I was reading but I was certainly glad to jump on board with this idea, so I signed up for an 8th grade game and a 7th grade game. 

                I had no idea what to expect from the experience. I was truly hoping to get to learn something about coaching and to increase my relationship with the students. I got so much more than I expected. The coaches were so welcoming to me, they included me in the practices and even let me work with small groups of boys, they saw my value and made me feel that value. It was so special to be a part of the team, to grow that relationship with my peers and my current and former students. None of them could know how much this meant to me because they never had to try to fight just to get to play a game. I grew up in an era where women were not allowed in football but these boys have had girls on their team and they've never lived in a time when girls were not allowed to play. They didn't see me as less of a valuable coach because I was a woman, they thought it was incredible that I knew so much and I could help them with their stance and I could root for them and encourage them and understand the plays. I was on cloud nine and enjoying every minute of it. The experience was topped off when the head coach let me speak to the boys at the end of the game. (There are tears in my eyes now just remembering the experience.) Me, little me, I am not a coach I have no official experience as a coach I am just an amateur football fan but the coach wanted me to talk to the boys after their game, give them the big inspirational speech that would carry them into their evenings and into their game the following week. I felt so privileged and I tried to ensure that I was tough on the boys the way a male coach would be but that I was also encouraging and told them how special and wonderful they were and how much the experience meant to me. The coaches patted me on the back and thanked me and the kids seemed thrilled so I think I did okay.

             The overall experience was wonderful and I would do it again and again and again if I could. The biggest lesson I learned from this is that it is never too late to do what you love and to spread the joy of that love to the people around you. I never would have had the opportunity if the coach had not taken the chance on having teachers helping on the sidelines. My students would never know that women used to be unable to play football if I hadn't shared my experience with them. I may never have made the connections to my peers that I made through this experience. There was just too many wonderful things that came from this experience for me to list them all, so just know that if you truly love something you should keep at it and you should share it with as many people as you can so they too can experience that joy and love.

Best Pencil Sharpener Ever

Best Pencil Sharpener Ever

by Colleen Guzman

          One of my friends told me that they had heard that Classroom Friendly Supplies was giving away sharpeners to bloggers to review, so I checked out the link, submitted a request and I was chosen to receive a free sharpener to use in my classroom and review. I even got to choose the color, so I chose the new purple sharpener because it looks really snazzy. Since I received the email indicating that I would receive a sharpener I have had nothing but an excellent experience,

          First of all I received the sharpener very quickly and without incident, and when I opened the box I was impressed to see that the sharpener was as amazing looking in person as it was on the internet. I had to try the sharpener as soon as I took it out of the box. In fact my husband tried it and my sons tried it and I sharpened another two pencils after they had their turn. We had so much fun and we were extremely impressed with the ease of use and sharpness of the pencil once it was complete. I thought it seemed great but I was skeptical about how it would survive use in my classroom. 

         

          I have had the sharpener in my classroom Since October and I am thrilled to say that the sharpener is still working wonderfully. My students love the sharpener and they ask for it every time they need to sharpener their pencil and in fact they prefer it to the electric sharpener. I thought it might lose it's luster and fun after a few weeks but it is still their favorite means of sharpening their pencils. In order to ensure that the sharpener lasts I do monitor the sharpener and keep it by my desk so I can make sure that the students are using it carefully so it will last. We did have one incident where we thought the sharpener was broken but when we looked it up on the website it indicated that there was probably lead stuck in the blades and it gave instructions on how to fix it, so we followed the directions and it was working again in no time. Since then it has been working fine and it is still providing us with extremely sharp pencils. 

           I do have a few issues with the sharpener that I haven't really looked into so the company may have resolutions for them that I am not aware of. I am still uncertain how to anchor the sharpener to the desk or too a table so it is not moving around when we are trying to use it. I also wish there was an arrow on the sharpener, near the handle to show the students which way to turn the handle because they always get confused about which way to turn the handle and then they think the sharpener is broken so I have to intervene. Aside from those two simple things, everything else has been great. I am very happy with my sharpener and I have recommended it to all of my teacher friends. With Christmas coming up these would make an excellent gift for any teacher you know and at $17.99 they are a great value. 

          

Silent Teacher Day

Silent Teacher Day

          There are times when I still have to give notes or go over vocabulary with my students, especially when the concept is very new to my students. When I have to give them facts to use I work diligently to capture their attention so they are really focusing on what they are doing and they aren't just going through the motions because I have asked them to. I have been wracking my brain lately trying to come up with something new and different, something I haven't done before and something that the students of today would understand. So I'm thinking and thinking and it dawns on me that the students of today have all seen those videos where the person sits in front of the camera and they simply flip the cards one by one while the audience reads them. I pondered and pondered wondering how I could use this same technique because I know my students are already familiar with it and trained to read and follow along. I came up with the following class exercise:

1) I print student copies of fill in the blank notes that students normally fill in as they follow along with me through a power point.

2) I print out the power point and tape the slides up around the room. I do not tape them up in order because that would be too easy. I do group a couple of slides that are relevant to one another, especially if they are in a paragraph together.

3) I write 12 questions about the notes that vary in DOK level. I tape the questions up around the room by the part of the notes that helps the students answer the questions.

4) I create some Google slides that will become my directions that the students will read as I silently flip through them. 

5) I write my objectives and "To Do" list on the white board.

When the students enter the room they already know that they are supposed to work on their warm-up so they work on it and we go over the answer together and then I stand in front of the room and I hold up my slides, flipping through them slowly as the class reads them, follows along and answer the questions asked on the slides. The students are shocked they cannot believe that I am not going to talk to them, that they are going to be responsible for their own learning and that they are going to get to work together to make it happen but once the initial shock wear off they are excited class has become like a game.

Here are the directions that I gave:

          When we had 10 minutes left of class I had everyone return to their seats and glue their notes into their science notebooks. We make a flap at the top and glue it so the notes can be flipped up to reveal with answers to the questions underneath. We then talk about how the activity went, the purpose of an activity like that and how they felt about doing the activity. Overall they all liked it, a few of them felt freaked out by the activity because they are no used to the teacher letting them be responsible for basically running the class together but they felt with some practice it would get better. We went over the notes and question answers the following day as well as questions that they had about word meanings or concepts.

          Overall I was very proud of this lesson. One of our administrators came in and observed, she really enjoyed it and said she thought one thing I could add next time was a slide asking if anyone had any questions. She liked the way I used facial expressions and allowed the students to help one another to answer the questions they asked without my prompting. She also liked the way I walked up to the students who did not appear to be paying attention and I held the papers out for them so they could read them and ensure they knew what was going on. 

I think I will definitely try "Silent Teacher Day" again. Let me know what you think in the comment section below.