Avsnitt

  • After 6 years, I am taking a break from podcasting. I am calling it a summer vacation for now, but we will see if the break is actually a bit longer. Before I go, I am going to leave you with a clips episode from some of my favorite conversations during the early years of the podcast. This episode could have easily been 60 hours long, but I hope you enjoy these 2 hours to keep you company during summer break.
    Clips are from:
    Episode 1: Brian Dempsey
    Episode 7: David Knuffke
    Episode 13: Paul Strode
    Episode 14: Chi Klein
    Episode 15: Lee Ferguson
    Episode 16: Paul Andersen
    Episode 17: Bob Kuhn
    Episode 18: Ryan Reardon
    Episode 21: Chris Baker
    Episode 23: Chris Monsour
    Episode 25: Mark Peterson
    Episode 29: Valerie May
    Episode 30: Jon Darkow
    Episode 36: Jen Pfannerstill
    Episode 38: Ryan Lacson
    Episode 46: Brittany Franckowiak
    Episode 61: Tanea Hibler
    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • We made it?! I don’t know if it was that we had our expectations too high or that the pandemic has broken us all, but the 2021-2022 school year was rough. With that in mind, we are going to hunt for the silver linings to the storm cloud that was this past school year.

    Show Notes:
    We start this show with the goofy question: What is one of your favorite things to do by yourself on a completely free, unscheduled day?
    Joining us from Texas, Lee Ferguson: catching up on TV, shopping
    Joining us from Wisconsin is Sedate Kohler: Walk my dog to Starbucks and listen to music (maybe sing out loud to the world as I do it)
    Joining us from Ohio is Tanea Hibler: Walk my dog, dance in my living room, roller skate, maybe record a podcast. LOL!!
    Aaron: Take myself out to lunch with a book.

    Questions Discussed in this episode:
    - What was one of your best interactions with students from the school year?
    - What is one thing you learned or got better at during the past 2 years of teaching?
    - What are you most looking forward to about Summer 2022?

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

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  • One of the topics that teachers have been discussing a lot this year has been how issues with student behavior feel worse this past school year compared to the past. Today we discuss this topic and reflect on how we may reframe this issue next year.

    Show Questions:
    We start this question with the goofy question. What is a dumb rule that you have had to follow at some time during your life?

    Joining us from Ohio is Tanea Hibler: Honestly, most rules are pretty dumb, but we have them becuase humans are just dumb sometimes. Like in Arizona you don’t have to wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle, but you aren’t allowed to drive between the lanes like you can in California. That’s just dumb to me. And the rules vary so much from school to school and place to place that many rules start to feel arbitrary. One school had a rule where kids had to come into the lunch room and sit down and be quiet before they were allowed to get in line to get lunch. They couldn’t eat outside, or kick back and relax during lunch time. So weird to “police” the kids during their one major break of the day.
    Joining us from Texas, Lee Ferguson: (If you don’t say your school’s dress code Jeans Policy…) Ha! But yes, the dress code regarding “professional dress” is probably the stupidest thing ever. Context though--I work in a pretty conservative district in Texas and most districts here have similar employee dress codes. As far as I know, I taught an entire year (nearly 2) in jeans, and it didn’t affect how my students learned or performed. Hell, the year I wore jeans every single day my kids did the best they ever have on the AP exam, so…yeeeaaah, I’m gonna wear jeans when I feel like it. :)
    Joining us from Wisconsin is Sedate Kohler: I ride horses and am really involved in a youth equestrian program. We are similar to scouting and have a similar organizational structure, and a lot of spirit. We wear pins, which is unique to our org. When we compete, we wear our pins, it’s required. For a very long time, we were not allowed to wear our pins when we jumped our horses, because of the “risk of impalement”.
    Aaron: Some of the rules around coaching and dismissals were strange. I would need to collect notes if parents wanted to take kids home from away games. So families would write notes, then I would see them as they left. It was weird. I recently found an old coaching folder with a tone of old notes.
    Do you feel there have been more student behavior issues in your school/classroom this year compared to previous years? Are students just rebelling against rules trying to “control” behavior, or are there larger issues at play?

    How are the discussions about behavior being discussed? Are schools taking into account the pandemic? Are there discussions about restorative justice? Changing policies?

    Do you think this is a temporary shift due to the pandemic or do larger changes need to take place? Are there things we could do in our classrooms to improve classroom culture to reduce behavioral issues?

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • As I have been reimagining my curriculum over the past few years, the idea of using a scientific phenomenon to hook kids into our work has been both exciting and challenging. Today, I discuss the concept of phenomena with Tanea, Mark and Jess. We definitely had a lot of fun, so we hope you enjoy the conversation.

    Show Notes:
    We start this question with the goofy question: What is an area of science that you find cool, but don’t really understand the underlying mechanism of (possibly nobody knows)
    Joining us from Minnesota, Mark Peterson: I ran across the idea of telescoping generations a few years ago at an NSTA conference. Aphids, reproducing asexually, have the next generation, fully formed inside them, and within that next generation is another daughter ready to form…and so on. Nature is just weird sometimes.
    Joining us from Missouri is Jessica Popescu: I just learned from the book Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake that fungi mycelium transfer nutrients between plants, poisons, hormones and maybe even genetic material!
    Joining us from Ohio is Tanea Hibler: I suspect that us humans don’t understand a lot of things, so this is a hard question for me. I’ll ponder a bit
    Aaron: Why do we sleep? Why do we dream? What are the biological functions?

    Questions Discussed on this show:
    How do you define a scientific phenomenon? Do you use these in your curriculum?

    Do you think that phenomena have to be something that is part of the students lives before introduction?

    What is one of your favorite phenomena to engage students (I know this might be tough)?

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • As we head into state assessment season (people who don’t spend their lives in schools call this spring), I thought it would be fun to talk about different forms of assessment and what this looks like in our classrooms.

    Show Notes:
    - We start this question with the goofy question. When was the last time you had to sit down to take a test?

    Joining us from Ohio is Tanea Hibler:I don’t remember. Oh, it was when I took the GRE about 1-2 years ago. I was totally freaked out and super nervous and actually did better on the English and writing then I did on the math. I almost walked out of the testing center in the middle of the test as well. I think my scores might have been why I got waitlisted for the Vanderbilt PhD program : ( But I have moved on now, and I’m happy that things worked out the way they did. I could tell you about what happened when I had to take the SAT’s too, there was so much instability and drama going on in my life and the SAT just was a huge source of stress for me. I HATE TESTS.

    Joining us from Minnesota, Mark Peterson: I'm going to turn the clock back to 1985 when I had to take the driver’s exam in Minneapolis, MN because I had moved from Iowa City, IA after grad school for my first HS job.

    Joining us from Missouri is Jessica Popescu: I think it was my PRAXIS when I was becoming certified to teach in 2013? It’s been a while!

    Aaron: Mine was way back in 2006 when I took my subject area test for my National Board Certification.

    Questions We Discuss:
    - Do you differentiate between formative and summative assessments in your class? Do your students know the difference?
    - What does the concept of an “Authentic Assessment” mean to you?
    - Do your students talk about Assessment/Test Anxiety? How do we help students manage this anxiety?

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • On this episode we discuss the sometimes challenging issues dealing with late work, retakes and revisions, particularly considering the grading practices through the lens of grading equity.

    Show Notes:
    We start this question with the goofy question. How do you personally feel when you need to get to an event by a certain time? Are you an early person, a late person, or does it vary?
    Joining us from Illinois is Amy Kelly: I want to be an early person, and if I am on my own, I will generally be a little early because being late really stresses me out. When it involves my kids, I would say I am exactly on time or late though.
    Joining us from Ohio is Jon Darkow: I like to be on time, but damn, something always comes up.
    Joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson: I am usually a little early for most things because I’m afraid of being late.
    Aaron: I am very comfortable being on time, but as I age, I tend to be early for most things…I this may be a result of my wife’s desire to not be late.

    Questions Discussed in this episode:
    Setting the baseline, does your school have any grading policies in place about Late Work, Retakes, and Revisions?

    Considering your own grading policies, how do you handle late work? Are revisions and retakes designed into your curriculum?

    Are there any barriers to you offering more revision and redemption opportunities to your students?

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • On this episode we discuss two grading practices that are used in many classroom but are certainly possible issues when it comes to grade equity.

    Show Notes:
    We start this question with the goofy question. Have you been caught up in the 2022 Wordle wave? Any other puzzle games popular with your family, friends or students?
    Joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson: No but I have played Sweardle 🤣🤣
    Joining us from Illinois is Amy Kelly: I have to be honest, I hadn’t heard of Wordle until about a week ago. As far as puzzle games…and I am not sure if this counts, but I love my Rubik’s cube!
    Joining us from Ohio is Jon Darkow: http://worldle.teuteuf.fr
    Aaron: I have been playing Heardle (name that tune style game) and my wife plays Semantle (Guess the right word base on contextual similarity)

    Questions We Discuss:
    - Setting the baseline, does your school have any grading policies in place about zeros or group grades?
    - Considering the policies, do you ever record or want to record zeros or group grades in your gradebook? How do you feel about these grading practices?
    - Are there any other grading policies or practices that you struggle with in terms of fairness to students?

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • As a group of lifelong learners, we are in a community of teachers who are often getting additional degrees and certificates, some are for career advancement, while others are just for growth and learning. With that in mind, we are discussing the pros and cons of teachers pursuing additional degrees.

    Show Notes:
    We kick off our episode with a goofy question: Were you a good student in high school, good at “doing school,” both or neither?
    - Joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson: Both. My grades in high school were good, but I was also good at playing the game of school because I was a rule follower. College was a whole other ballgame.
    - Joining us from Colorado is Hannah Hathaway: I think I was a fairly traditional good student. There were some times where I “played the game” of school, but mostly I liked my classes and liked doing work because I enjoyed learning. That’s probably why I was a student for so long, lol.
    - Joining us from Missouri is Kelly Kluthe: More good at playing school than actually being a good student, but I was also a strict rule-follower and enjoyed school a lot. I just didn’t have any good study or metacognition skills.
    - Aaron: More good at school than a good student in high school.
    Questions Discussed:
    What would motivate you to apply for a graduate program at this point in your career? Or if you have done so, why did you apply?

    What are some of the barriers that make attending a graduate program challenging? (Should I say that time is a given?)

    What are some of the options out there for working teachers looking to attend programs?

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • Today, as we return to the topic of professional development to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of pandemic PD and what PD may look like in the future.

    We kick off our episode with a goofy question: If you could attend a PD workshop run by any person (scientist, author, teacher, etc) whose workshop would you want to attend?
    - Joining us from Missouri is Kelly Kluthe: Maybe because yesterday was Darwin Day, but I’m going with the obvious Charles Darwin pick.
    - Joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson: I’ll go with Rudolf Virchow, because I have to know, is that story about you giving that politician dude a worm-infested sausage and daring him to eat it true? Also, I think it would be cool to learn from Sean Carroll.
    - Joining us from Colorado is Hannah Hathaway: Just because I want to meet and chat with this person, I’ll go with Ira Flatow.
    - Aaron: Terry Gross from Fresh Air or Rosalind Franklin,

    Questions We Discuss:
    - What have you missed most about face-to-face PD over the past 2 years?
    - Have you had any really good PD through remote platforms over the past 2 years?
    - Do you have any PD plans in the coming months? Do you think you will have face-to-face PD anytime soon?

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • Today, we return to a topic that comes up every few months, the concept of teaching an interdisciplinary class.

    Show Notes:
    We kick off our episode with a question: what was your favorite non-science subject(s) in school when you were a kid?
    Joining us from Missouri is Kelly Kluthe: Art and orchestra! I loved drawing and playing the violin. I was a quiet kid in school but was able to express myself through art and music.
    Joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson: Music theory was one of my favorite classes. I also really loved Government class.
    Aaron: Probably History. I had several amazing high school history teachers.
    Questions Discussed:
    - How siloed are the subjects in your school? Do teachers with different disciplinary expertise get to collaborate?
    - Are there any interdisciplinary classes or projects that you know about that are currently being taught in your school? If not, do you know other schools where they are taking place?
    - What would be your dream interdisciplinary class or project to run?

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • Today, we discuss the presence and influence of other adults in our classroom.

    Show Notes:
    We kick off our episode with the question: What is something New and Exciting happening in your professional life in 2022?
    Joining us from Texas is Lee Ferguson: I am starting classes for administrator certification on January 18.
    Joining us from Missouri is Kelly Kluthe: I made a major change and moved from high school to elementary!
    Aaron: I am going to have a Student Teacher!

    Questions We Discuss:
    Oftentimes, teaching can look and feel like you are isolated as an adult in a room working with young people. This has its advantages and its disadvantages, but it is also not really true. Other adults have a significant influence on how we do our work. Let's start with a basic question, are there other adults that ever walk into your classroom while you are teaching? Why are they there?

    Who are the adults that are never in your room, that have an influence on the teaching and learning in your classroom?

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • Today we kick off 2022 by discussing how we go about revising aspects of our curriculum.

    Show Notes:
    We kick off our episode with a goofy question: Do you typically make a New Year’s Resolution or goal for the upcoming year? If so, what is your resolution for 2022?

    How much pre-planning goes into your teaching? Do you have structured unit plans for the whole year? Do you plan unit to unit? Week-to-week? Day-to-day?
    Amy: Our biology team determined our objectives for each unit, and we agreed on what we will access and how many points the assessments are worth. At the beginning of the unit, I set up a very basic schedule with the required summatives, and each day, I go in and plan the day by day formatives or make adjustments to the timing for summatives. Due to the pandemic, I feel that my planning takes up most of my time because I am always building my lesson plans with student ideas, and additional practice activities based on how my students perform on the work from the previous class.
    Hannah: I am a whole year planner, but I also tend to do a lot of revision. My year-long plans are more of a basic roadmap- what content/activities to do and when, when to have assessments, etc. Then I go in and do more fine details usually the day (or this year...often the morning) before.
    Aaron: As a department, we have a planned schedule and then set a class calendar as unit-to-unit. I have been trying to not be too dogmatic about these plans and build in some time for check-ins and revisions.

    How do you get feedback that some aspect of your curriculum is not working? Is it from student formative work? Summative work? Discussion with colleagues? Discussion with supervisors?
    Hannah: Student work is the most valuable feedback for me. This could be from conversations, or from their performance on assessments. I also check in with myself and my planning partner- if we aren’t feeling good about the curriculum, the students probably aren’t either!
    Amy: I really believe that student work and feedback is the strongest indicator that the curriculum is not successful. I want the kids to be curious and naturally ask questions. I want them to find a connection to something they experienced that they are willing to share with others. I collect data using surveys and from formative assessments and summative assessments to gauge how well the curriculum I designed is helping students meet the goals.
    Aaron: Historically, I have been most informed by discussion with colleagues and summative assessments, but I am working to use more formative feedback to inform our work.

    What is the part of your curriculum you would like to redesign the most?
    Amy: I would really like to have more wet labs and more inquiry. I feel that I am still the person in the room in charge of everything and the person who talks the most about science, and I would like to see the students directing more of the learning.
    Hannah: I could talk about this for a long time…. In AP Bio I wish CB would split the course into a 1 and 2 sequence (similar to physics and calc). Especially as an AP bio as first bio school...the balance between flying through content vs making time for student inquiry, labs, etc is something I really struggle with.
    Aaron: As I mentioned before, I really want to have student’s work to drive instruction. I have been doing more driving question boards, formative check-ins, and other student feedback opportunities into my classes. I have been tinkering with my practice a lot in this area throughout the year.

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • To say goodbye to 2021, I am joined by the hosts of the 2 Pint PLC to wrap up the year!

    Show Notes:
    We Introduced ourselves with the goofy question: What is one thing you learned this year from educational research about beer?
    Laurence Woodruff: Dragons milk stout is giving me heartburn
    Michael Ralph: wheat beers are not a monolith.
    Aaron: Non-alcoholc craft beer is a thing

    Today we say goodbye to 2021. While not quite as terrible as 2020, it was certainly a challenging year. With that said, we have all had some wins this year. What is one good thing you will take from the past 12 months?
    Michael: the affordances of digital/mixed presence are real.
    Laurence: I have experienced a lot of new things in education that have affirmed a lot of my prior choices and priorities. I really don’t want to be an AP biology teacher. I really do want to be an AVID teacher. I really Do want to keep up with my mental health Mondays. I love being in a classroom with students.
    Aaron: Improving student voice in my classroom using student generated questions

    Aaron makes the rest of the panelists play a 2021 themed game!
    We would love feedback! DM or Tweet @lifeoftheschool and share what you learned in 2021.
    You should listen to 2PintPLC and you should contact them on their website twopintplc.com if you have ideas of articles they should check out or feedback

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life Of The School on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @lifeoftheschool

  • Today, as we find ourselves deep into the holiday season, we reflect back on the past few years and ask whether or not the grades have the same emphasis as they did a few years ago.

    Show Notes:
    We kick off our episode with a goofy question: What movie/tv show/or music signifies to you that it is holiday season?
    Joining us from Illinois is Amy Kelly: “All I want for Christmas is you” Mariah Carey
    Joining us from Colorado is Hannah Hathaway: Muppet Christmas Carol
    Aaron: John Denver & Muppets Christmas album.

    Did your school and/or your state do anything different in terms of grades, grade expectations, end of course exams during the 2020-2021 school year compared to past years?
    Hannah: Our final exams were all open note last year (as most students were online), and they were condensed to cover only the most crucial standards. We also implemented more grading policies intended to show students grace (e.g. no zeros, accept late work, etc)
    Amy: We did not give finals last year, and recently opted to cancel finals for this year. Our State offered flexibility regarding whether to administer the ISA last spring or this fall.
    Aaron: Interestingly, our school had eliminated midyears and finals before the 2019-2020 school year, which was a bit contentious at the time, but hasn’t been discussed since. We had no state exams (MCAS) in 2020, but they came back in 2021. So we didn’t really have much of a change from last year.

    Did any of those policies from last year carry over to this year (or did policies revert back to September 2019)?
    Amy: I think we did attempt to return to the way things were before the pandemic but I feel many of us found the kids weren’t quite ready. When we gave quizzes in biology that prior to the pandemic would have taken 20-30 minutes at most, and found they were taking 45-60 minutes or more, we realized we had to hold back on administering large tests and focus on end of goal quizzes.
    Hannah: we are continuing to make progress on grading policies, but the emphasis on depth over breadth does not seem like it will continue.
    Aaron: School wide, we returned to our 2019-2020 school calendar and testing policies, but teachers have been up to ourselves to set grading policies. I have also found like Amy, stdents need to be taught some skills they didn’t develop over the past 2 years.

    Did you change any of your own grading policies or grading expectations over the past few years?
    Amy: I would say I have become a lot more flexible in general. 5 years ago, I did have late work penalties, and I do not penalize students for turning in late work during the unit even if it is substantially late. I also allow students to correct their work, so the corrections are accurate and I offer them a different version of the assessment to retake to try to show me they learned the material. I realize that not everyone is ready for the assessment at the time I offer it.
    Hannah: Yes, I feel like I have come a long way on my grading journey, and still have a ways to go. I would eventually love to implement something along the lines of ungrading, but am anxious about being the only teacher to do so, and how it would work within gradebook requirements at my school.
    Aaron: The pandemic helped codify my journey to integrate resubmission, revision, and no points off for late work into my class policies.

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • Show Notes: On our panel shows, we start with a goofy question, and as we are releasing this just before thanksgiving, what’s a Thanksgiving side dish that you have that may not be on everyones table?
    - Kelly Kluthe: gooey butter cake
    - Sedate Kohler: cheesy potatoes #Wisconsin
    - Lee Ferguson: The most decadent scalloped potatoes ever.
    - Aaron Mathieu: Mashed turnips and carrots.

    Let’s talk about school culture. How big is the science department in your school? Are you expected to collaborate?
    - Sedate: 7 people. 4 of us teach Biology, 3 teach Chemistry. Those two teams collaborate frequently, to varying degrees. Most of us also teach courses that we call “singletons”, and don’t have any others who teach the same course.
    - Lee: There are 30 of us on campus, with another 10 at the STEAM center across town, but they are their own entity. As a department there isn’t collaboration among all of us since that really takes place in teams.
    - Kelly: There are 3 of us: Me (biology), a chem/physical science, and a part-time environmental science/genetics & eugenics teacher. We collaborate with general science skills and with vertical alignment.
    - Aaron: We are ~20 with 8 Biology Teachers. We have a strong collaborative culture.

    Do you have any colleagues that you collaborate with to plan, develop, reflect with? Are these teachers in your building or from professional communities/PLCs? How long have you been working together?
    - Lee: I have my team, which I am forever grateful for. In our current iteration we have worked together for the past year. There is one teammate that I have worked with for 5 years now. I also have an extensive network of colleagues that I’ve built over the past 18 years that I can collaborate with, and often do.
    - Kelly: I definitely work with the other science teachers in my building to plan vertical alignment. Learn general teaching techniques.. Outside of my building, I collaborate a lot with people in KABT and UKanTeach grads. We’ve been working together since undergrad. Twitter/Facebook.
    - Sedate: I have two people who I’ve been working closely with since 2019 Fall.
    - Aaron: I tightly collaborate with 1 teacher who is new to our building for honors, but help coordinate our whole honors team and I collaborate with 1 teacher for AP. He is my work husband and we’ve been working together for 21 years.

    Collaboration involves a lot of things that can be challenging in the time crunch of the school year: Building trust, letting others take the lead, sharing resources, and being vulnerable. Does your school do anything to make collaboration easier? If not, what could it do?
    - Kelly: We have one dedicated hour of PLC each week, but I wish it were more. We also have schedules that allow us to observe each other. I’m observed each week and I often have the chance to sit in on other classes.
    - Sedate: This year we have a new school schedule which has made collaboration (theoretically) a lot easier - Monday - Wednesday we have a “department prep” in addition to a personal prep hour. We are on a hybrid block schedule, so M-W are 47 minutes and Th-F are 90 minutes / class. Th-F our preps are both our own.
    - Lee: The only thing that my school really does to make this a little easier is require that we have PLC twice a week for 30 minutes each time. We don’t get much time on district PD days to collaborate--it’s almost an afterthought. :(
    - Aaron: We have (new this year) early release days each month for collaborative time. It would be good if that time was not taken up with district initiatives.

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • Show Notes:
    - On our panel shows, we start with a goofy question, and as we are recording this just before halloween, did you dress up for halloween this year? If not, do you remember the last time you did?
    Lee Ferguson: I did not...but I think the last time I did dress up for Halloween, I dressed as a hockey puck. Somewhere in my house there is photographic evidence of this!
    Kelly Kluthe: My students always say I remind them of Ms. Frizzle, so I think I’ll lean into that this year and bust out my best biology dress.
    Sedate Kohler: The last time I did dress up at school for Halloween I was “outer space” and had galaxy print leggings and hot glue gunned glow in the dark stars to a dress :)
    Aaron Mathieu: This year, I am embracing my beard and will dress as Alan from the Hangover.

    - Let’s start with some baseline, what are you teaching this year? What are the populations of students you have in each class?
    Kelly: 2 sections of Health (9th & 10th), 3 sections of 10th Bio, 1 section of Dual-Enrollment Bio (11th & 12th)
    Sedate: 4 sections of Biology (Freshmen, plus a few sophomores and juniors), 2 sections of AP Biology (Juniors & Seniors)
    Lee: 4 sections of AP Bio (sophomores, juniors, and seniors), 1 section of IB Bio HL1 (all juniors)
    Aaron: I teach 2 sections of honors biology (grades 9 & 10 mixed) and 2 sections of AP Biology (Juniors & Seniors).

    - Do you have to meet any specific state or national standards with this group? Do you have autonomy to set your schedule & pacing?
    Sedate: Loosely Wisconsin State Science Standards for Biology, and the CED for AP Biology
    Lee: No state standards, but there’s the CED to contend with in my AP course, and the IB curriculum for my IB course. This group of students will sit their exam next spring, and it’ll be the first group of kids I’ve taught in 3 years that will have taken an IB exam since my last group to take an exam was in 2019--exams were cancelled in 2020, and our school opted not to give exams in 2021 because we didn’t feel it could be done safely.
    Kelly: We align to the NGSS but have a lot of autonomy about pacing and what it looks like. My department has been using the OpenSciEd and iHub storylines for Physical Science, Biology, and Chemistry. I basically modify the AP Bio curriculum for my Dual-Enrollment course.
    Aaron: We have an MCAS test for our first year honors students that is in June based on some NGSS like standards and the AP is based on AP CED. We have general unit flow that the biology teachers developed for our honors curriculum, but have a lot of autonomy on schedule, but we do have common unit assessments. For AP, the AP teachers cooperatively plan our units.

    - Do you need to coordinate with any other teachers in any or all of your classes?
    Lee: Absolutely--I am one of a team of 3 AP teachers, so we plan and design assessments together. All three of us teach IB as well but each of us teaches a different level so we don’t so much plan together as we do support one another.
    Kelly: I’m the only life science teacher at my school, so no, no requirements. I have to look to my professional organizations for collaboration. NABT and KABT help me tremendously.
    Sedate: This year I am one of 4 Biology teachers. 3 of us are pretty collaborative.
    Aaron: I am 1 of 5 Honors teachers and 1 of 2 AP teachers. We are expected to collaborate and we do… I could do a whole show on this dynamic.

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • For this episode, I am reposting episode #1, but be before that audio, I chat with my colleague and first guest Brian Dempsey to reflect on how the last 5+ years of podcasting has shaped our teaching practice.

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • Show Questions:
    - How did you become a science teacher? What did you do before teaching?
    - I am curious about how you became a co-teacher of a biology course. How did that begin and how has it changed while you have been doing this?
    - I know that you typically teach a forensics science course, even though you are not teaching it this year. What is that course like? How is it different from your biology course? Do you hope to teach this course or a different elective in the future?
    - In the upcoming years, what are you looking forward to in the classroom?
    - When you are not teaching, what do you like to do?
    - Any questions you have for me?

    Pick of the Week:
    Amy: Institute of Human Anatomy: The institute of Human Anatomy utilizes human cadavers as instruments for anatomical education. They have a YouTube channel and share anatomy videos on TikTok.
    Aaron: Teaching Climate Change Essentials: a nine-week teacher professional development program designed to engage and equip elementary, middle, and high schools teachers with the tools needed to successfully incorporate climate change into their classrooms


    Credits:
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • On this episode, we will be discussing the concept of Universal Design for Learning.

    Show Notes:
    - To kick off the episode, we will start with our goofy question: You will only be able to watch episodes of 1 TV show for the next year, what show do you pick?
    - Have you had any discussions of UDL at your school or as part of your own personal development? Where are you on your journey?
    - UDL is often organized into three principles: Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression? Focussing on Enagement, are there ways you provide students multiple options for engagement with material in your classroom? What’s an example?
    - Reviewing the UDL Guidelines for Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression, are there any areas where you think you would like to improve the design of your class?

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool

  • On this episode, I am joined by one new panelist and one old friend to discuss IEPs, 504s and other accommodations in the classroom.

    Show Questions:
    To kick off the episode, we will start with our goofy question: You are in a rock group, what is your role in the group?
    Joining us from Illinois, is new panelist Amy Kelly: Lead Singer
    Joining us from Minnesota, Mark Peterson: Rhythm Guitar
    Aaron would be a roadie or the sound engineer.

    Additional Questions:
    How is the start of the school year going in your neck of the woods?
    How do you get informed about what accommodations your students need? What sorts of accommodations are you most often providing?
    Do you feel that there is a stigma from students about accessing accommodations in your school? Is this expressed by students? By parents?

    Credits:
    Please subscribe to Life of the school on your podcast player of choice!
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LOTS
    Music by: https://exmagicians.bandcamp.com/
    Show Notes at Lifeoftheschool.org
    You can follow on twitter @MrMathieuTweets or @lifeoftheschool