I'm currently two weeks into school, have 140ish students, and have already learned their names. I'm not here to brag... it took work. You might be thinking "Wow! She is so good with names!" but that can't be further from the truth. I am one of those people that if I meet you, shake your hand, and we introduce ourselves, I will likely have forgotten your name 2 minutes later. (Maybe because I'm not an active listener? We should ask my husband...) The point is learning names is not something that comes easy for me. It takes a lot of work. But it is important, so I make the extra effort. 

Have any of the following excuses crossed your brain?
"I'm just not good with names."
"I'm just not good with faces."
"But I have 150 names to learn!"
"I'll learn them eventually... I just wait for it to happen organically." 
"Many are too hard to pronounce."
If you are guilty of any of these, you aren't alone. But I promise you can learn them with a little extra effort and it makes a huge difference. 

Why learning names is so important
It is important for you to learn your students names as quickly as possible for multiple reasons:

• First, your name is your identity. Using "kiddo" or "hon" is not the same as calling a student by their name. Plus, calling a student "sweetie" may seem perfectly acceptable to you, but may offend a student. 
• Students will respect you more when they know you put in extra effort to learn their name quickly, AND pronounce it correctly. You are going to get students with names that are difficult to pronounce, but keep practicing. I always ask students to call me on it if I pronounce their name incorrectly. There is nothing worse than calling a student the wrong name for 2 months and finding out later you have been saying it wrong. 

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Tips to learn names quickly
I'm in my 11th year of teaching, and have found methods that help me learn student names relatively quick. I encourage you to skim the list and try a few that might work for you. 

1. Use a seating chart and name tents. On day 1, students come in with a seating chart. Seating charts not only help with classroom management, but also help me learn names. If you allow students to pick their own seats, they will shuffle seats on you and make it harder to put names with faces. I also have students make name tents on the first day and tell them they have to keep them visible the first week of school. 
2. Set a goal to learn their names by a certain date. I always have a goal to learn my students' names by the end of the first week. This doesn't always happen, but that's my goal. If you think it will take you 2 weeks or 3 weeks, make that your goal. Let the students know your goal, and offer some sort of reward if you don't meet it. For example, tell the class "If I don't know everyone's name by the end of the first week, then I'll bring in candy for the class." By telling the students your goal you are: a) holding yourself accountable, and b) giving yourself an incentive- If you learn their names, you save a few bucks. (Note: you don't have to do rewards that cost money. You could hand out no-homework passes or do a few minutes of free time at the end of class instead). 
3. Say their names as they enter class. I try my best to stand by the door as students enter class every day. On lab days when you are scrambling to get ready for the next class this can be difficult, but whenever possible I'm at the door. When students enter those first couple weeks I say "Good morning __(student name)__." If I don't remember their names, they always help me out.
4. Pass back papers yourself. If your students are like mine, you always have a handful of students eager to pass back papers, and generally I'm happy to get the help. But the first few weeks I always pass back papers myself. I'm not sure why, but this tip is probably the one that helps me the most. Putting written names (handwriting) with faces really helps me. Once I have mastered names, then the paper passing back goes to my antsy student helpers. 
5. Pictures. Our grade book and attendance program loads in student ID pictures. The first week during my prep hour and in the evening I really spend time staring at those photos. Generally the pictures are a year old (seniors have their junior pictures shown) so they don't always look exactly like their picture, but it still helps. 

I promise you if you learn your students' names quickly the beginning of the school year will go much smoother. They will perform better in your class. Lets stop the "if the teacher knows my name the first week that's a bad sign" narrative. I know you can do it! Do you have any other tips? Leave them in the comments! 

I just finished my 10th year of teaching and to say it wasn't my best is an understatement. I had a rough group of students this year, was feeling teacher burn-out, and was just getting negative. Throw in all the school shootings and changing political climate and it was hard to go to work some days. Now that school has been out for a week, I've had time to sit and reflect on what I can do to make year 11 better and get excited about teaching again.

I reflected on the teacher I was year 1 compared to the teacher I am now. There are a LOT of things that have evolved and improved- my classroom management, inquiry based teaching, getting students to write well... but there are some things that I need to work on. Year one I was SO EXCITED to teach science. (Photo is of my first year teaching in 2008). I cared less about the test scores and more about getting students to enjoy science. I put in a lot of work that year, but it felt really rewarding. Somehow along the way that excitement has waned. Don't get me wrong- I still love science and love seeing students' face light up during experiments... but I feel myself worrying more about test scores, getting bogged down by the work load,  and frustrated with education related issues that are out of my control.

So now that it is summer and I have time to decompress, reflect, and set goals, I realized I need to make teaching fun again. I need to focus my efforts on things that I have control over and worry less about things I have no control over (ie: our Secretary of Education or fixing the home lives of my students). Here is the list I came up with to help make year 11 stellar. I plan to post this list at my desk and check in quarterly. If you are reading this... feel free to check in on me and hold me accountable!

Becca's Goal List Of Teaching Goodness:
1. Go outside. Why do I feel the need to be stuck in my classroom all day? There are so many labs that can be done outside where students can enjoy the weather. Isn't exploring the world around us one of the ways to get students excited about science? Let's do it.

2. Be creative with labs. There were times this year that I felt too tired to set up a lab. It is THE WORST when you spend a lot of time and money on a lab and you hear students whining. Next year I want to focus on fun labs and activities that get students up, moving, and engaged.

3. Try a project or two. Managing group projects is a lot of work. But when we allow students to apply what they are learning to a real world context through a project, learning goes so much deeper. My goal is to not assign the type of project students ask their parents to do, but a project that gets them excited to show what they have learned. For example, following my ecology unit I plan to have students design a "zoo of the future." They can not only explain the content stuff (like biomes and symbiotic relationships) but also dive into the ethics of zoos and conservation. Wish me luck!

4. Bring in guest speakers. This is one that I'm already decent at but want to continue doing, so it is on my goal list. Students hear from me every day and the novelty of my voice quickly wears off. Bringing in content experts to the classroom is exciting for the students, brings in a wealth of knowledge you might not have, and also gives you a small break from teaching. There are so many people that are willing to come if you would just reach out and ask. Don't forget to check out sites like skypeascientist.com to have virtual guest speakers! Also- get your students to ask as well! If they have a family member that works in a cool career field, have them come in! Sometimes guest speakers will say no to me, but have a harder time saying no to the student.

5. Give up a class period to let students have a voice. Do we allow time to pause our curriculum and let our student's voices be heard? Or are you too worried about getting through all the standards before the final exam? This is my personal reminder to pause and let my students speak up. There are so many current events that apply to the classroom and affect our students. There is trauma going on in their lives. There are issues they are worried about, but don't have the forum to voice their feelings. As a high school teacher my students will be able to vote soon, and I want them to be able to talk about what is going on, be educated about real world topics, and form educated opinions. This can be much more meaningful and powerful to them than learning about mitosis.

6. Last but certainly not least, FOCUS ON THE GOOD. It can be easy to get bogged down by the work load, the mouthy student in 5th period, and the amount of meetings to sit through. But if you focus on the good things your students are doing and the impact you are making on their lives, it makes it all worthwhile. My goal is to make more parent phone calls for the GOOD things my students are doing instead of the bad. Attend a sporting event for a kid that needs a boost. Send a nice remind message to a class period that had an awesome day. When kids know you care and are noticing their efforts, they will move mountains for you.

If you are still reading this... thanks! This blog post was more for me and a little self-healing, but if it helped you in any way I'm glad. My ultimate goal is to not be that 30 year veteran teacher that is super grouchy and everyone is thinking "why doesn't she just retire already?" If you have any more tips to beat the burnout, please share them in the comments!

​One of the hardest parts of being a teacher is making sure you are providing instruction at the level of all your students in the classroom. In classes of 30+ students, it can seem daunting to modify for kids that still need help, while also increasing the rigor for kids that have already mastered the content. I think many teachers tend to be good at one end of the spectrum, but it is hard to be good at both. I’ve reached out and gotten tips from some fellow secondary teachers, and I hope you find them useful! 

How to help the students that "just don't get it"
These are your kids that tend to give up easily. They struggle, don't believe in themselves, and get frustrated easily. How can you keep these kids from quitting and start believing in themselves?

"Algebra 2 can be intimidating for my students so I have a word wall for them that shows math terms and concepts in context with lots of examples. I also give my students “cheat sheets” for the multi-step work we do, like graphing exponential functions or factoring quadratics. When one of my kids gets overwhelmed, I will also cut back on their amount of work. This is a special education accommodation that we use for kids with slower processing speeds and it also works well for kids who are having a tough time for any reason. My central goal is to have kids leave my class with the confidence they need to take on more math classes after high school so everything I do to support my students is done with this in mind."
-Shana from Scaffolded Science and Math

"The short answer - scaffold! That can look very different depending on the assignment and the students. Some examples would be providing a model, sentence starters, a template, or some labelled diagrams to help get started on an assignment or break down a difficult concept."
-Tara from Science In The City

How to challenge the students who already get it
These students pick up new concepts easily. Because of this, they tend to get bored and can often act up in class. Giving them more work or asking them to tutor their peers is typically not the solution. So how do you keep them engaged and busy without assigning extra work?

"Try out project based learning! With project based learning, you pose students with a question or problem to solve. There should be many methods to complete the project, so it is a great way for your high kids to dig deeper into the content. For example: suppose you are doing a unit on evolution. Instead of just teaching the students about Darwin and his voyage, have the students create a podcast interview. Students will need to do background research about his journey and his life, write an engaging script, and record it. The higher level students will be thrilled that they get to be creative and problem solve instead of just showing their learning on a test."
-Becca from Science Lessons That Rock

"I find that many high level learners are pretty motivated IF they are interested in something, and I find it's my job to really get them interested in it. I feel that high level learners respond well to a lot of thought-type scenario questions like "what if this happened, what do you think would happen next?" I feel that high level learners really have a thirst, a need for their brains to have something to work on. For example, if we are talking about karyotypes and independent assortment, I would pose the question "Are you related equally to all of your grandparents?" (The answer is actually no, you aren't.) Lower level learners may not be able to grasp this, but higher level learners will be intrigued, and many of them will google it or read more about it and ponder about it in and after class. Higher level learners often want to connect with you on an intellectual level. (I find that sometimes lower level learners are more motivated by connection on the emotional/you-as-a-person level, but that is a big generalization). With higher level learners, you could give them the question and the end result/answer, and ask them to scaffold! Ask them to show you or prove the why on how to reach a particular answer."
-Bethany from Science with Mrs. Lau

Have any additional tips to share? Leave them in the comments!
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Have you been this teacher before? You think you had a great lesson, students understood the material, and then you go to grade the assignment and it's clear they didn't get it?

Part of the problem may be you... (sorry, it's true). I have come to realize over the years that many students need help and simply won't ask for it. They are either too embarrassed to draw any attention to themselves or sometimes too lazy to get up and talk to you. I have made two changes and it greatly increased the number of kids who asked for help. If you are a veteran teacher these two things are likely second nature for you, but for newer teachers these are conscious decisions you need to make:

1. Make yourself more accessible to the students.
If you finish a lesson and hang out near the front of the classroom or your desk, very few students are going to come up and ask you for help. You need to walk around the classroom frequently. Once you get close students are more likely to call you over.
One way you can check in on how you are doing is by measuring your steps each day. I wear a fitbit so I can see how many steps I'm taking. Don't have a fitbit? If you are an I-phone user your phone is automatically measuring your steps in your health app (this only works if your phone is in your pocket, not locked up in your desk). If I'm only hitting around 4000 - 5000 steps for the day, I know I didn't walk around my classroom enough. My goal is to reach around 8000 steps by the end of the school day. (This can vary depending on the size of your classroom and if you have lunch duty, etc.) 

2.   Change the way you ask students if they need help.
Try to not make asking for help optional. You can do this by changing the way you ask your students who needs help. If you stand at the front of the room and say "does anyone have questions?" then most likely you will hear crickets.
Instead, try walking around the room and asking "Who can I help next?" and don't stop until you get some takers. When you make it sound like you are ready and expecting someone to speak up, they usually will. Changing a few words might sound like no big deal, but I promise it works. If nobody is still speaking up, hover around the students you know are probably struggling based on your previous formative assessments and give them some help even if they don't ask. It may seem annoying to them at first, but I'm more annoying when they have a failing grade and nag them to come get tutoring after the fact. 

These two tips may seem overly simple but I promise they work. Try it! Any other tips of the trade? Leave them in the comments! 

Your first year teaching is going to be one of the hardest years of your career. I frequently went home near tears thinking "I just can't do this. It is too hard." But I promise you, it gets easier! I'm in my 10th year teaching and I spend a lot less time planning and preparing than I used to. I write a lot fewer referrals than I used to. Overall everything just gets easier. Looking back, here is a list of 10 things I wish I could have told my first-year-teacher self:

1. Find a mentor teacher 
This is one thing I was superbly blessed with. My first job was at a middle school and there was only one other science teacher besides myself. He is nearing retirement, but I've been lucky to teach with him the past 10 years. He is incredibly knowledgeable about all things science and is always happy to explain things to me when I need some clarification before a lesson. Don't be afraid to admit you don't understand something! Because you can't teach it well unless you understand it well.
Mentor teachers can help with content knowledge, share ideas of what labs work and what labs don't work, give you classroom management tips, and be a shoulder to cry on when your spouse just doesn't get what you are going through (because if your spouse isn't a teacher, they won't get it). 

2. Don't re-create the wheel ​
There is a wealth of science lessons out on the internet for free. Take advantage! Scour the internet before a new unit and find everything you can. Look for facebook groups of middle school or high school science teachers. Read blog posts. Look for interactive websites that students can learn on. Check out Teachers pay Teachers. Don't spend your weekends making powerpoints and worksheets when someone else has already done the work for you. 

3. Always do the lab first 
There is nothing worse than spending hours prepping a lab, getting the kids excited, and by the end of the lab the data is awful and the lab was an utter failure. The easiest way to avoid this is by doing the lab yourself before you try it with students. As you do the lab, try and identify places students might get confused or make mistakes. Make sure to clarify those things and model the lab procedures to your students before beginning. 

4. Predict the pacing of the lesson
One of the hardest things for me my first few years was pacing. I didn't want my lessons to end early, and I didn't want to run out of time. One piece of advice my mentor teacher gave me during student teaching was this: Complete the worksheet or activity on your own and time yourself. Take that time and multiply it by 3 to predict about how long it will take the students to complete. Obviously this will vary, especially depending on how much practice students have already had on the topic. But it was a good starting point and I could plan an extension activity just in case we finished early. (Check out this blog post on what you can do if you are left with 5 minutes at the end of the class).

5. Don't panic over SDS
Maybe it was just my college experience, but my professors put the fear of God in us about SDS (MSDS when I was in school) forms. They told us horror stories about how we would lose our jobs if the fire marshall showed up and we didn't have all our forms in a binder ready to go. Now don't get me wrong- these forms are important. But I was so paranoid about having an SDS form for every chemical in my classroom, including hand sanitizer and whiteboard cleaner. 
Long story short: Keep the SDS forms for your chemical inventory, but don't panic over the little stuff like the vinegar you bought at the grocery store. When your chemical orders arrive, don't throw out the SDS forms. Put them in a binder and keep them in the chemical storage room. Many sites such as Flinn Scientific even have an online inventory resource where it will keep track of the chemicals you have on hand and the SDS forms for each chemical. Talk to your colleagues and find a method that works for everyone. 

6. Don't grade everything 
​Oh how I wish someone had told me this sooner! Grading can take over your life if you let it. So stop grading everything (but don't tell this to your students). Different teachers have different methods of grading and saving their sanity, so talk to your colleagues and pick what works for you. Here are a few ideas:

• If you are doing multiple assignments on the same topic, grade the last one. For example, if I'm teaching punnett squares and we are doing 2 or 3 practice assignments, don't put the first one in the gradebook. Students are just starting to learn the material, so it isn't fair to grade them on something that is so new. I use the first assignment as a formative assessment, and make a pile of the students I know will need extra help. 
• It's okay to spot check and give students credit for completion. A great example of this would be a writing prompt or exit ticket where you are just checking for understanding.
• Stop grading (and possibly even assigning) homework. The only time my students have homework is if they didn't finish the classwork. If you are assigning homework, it is highly likely students are copying each other. If you are a fan of homework, make sure what you are assigning is a valuable use of their time, not just busy work.

7. As a new teacher without management experience, use labs as incentives. 
Classroom management is something that can take years to master. And as soon as you think you have it down, you get a new group of students that rock your world (and not in a good way). One way I've found to keep students in line is to use lab experiments as incentives. If classes are well behaved for the week, they get to do a lab on Friday. If they have been off task, noisy, constantly tardy, or disrespectful then they do a book work assignment instead. Once they hear they will miss out on a fun lab experiment that other class periods got to complete, they will quickly toe the line. 

​8. Don't be afraid to admit when you mess up
We are human. We all mess up. Don't be afraid to admit it to your students. One year I was teaching surface area to volume ratio in my cells unit and totally screwed up the math. I knew I was teaching it wrong when I had a really bright student saying "Miss, I don't think this answer is making sense." So I went home, reviewed the lesson, figured out where I was going wrong, and came back the next day ready to re-teach. If you are too prideful to admit your mistakes it is only hurting the students. They will also respect you a lot more when you admit your mistakes and show that you are human too. 

9. Prep for the following day before you go home
Sometimes this one is hard to follow, but it is something I feel is important. I make sure I don't leave for the day unless I am ready to go for the following day. Yes, this includes Fridays too! Have your objective written on the board, copies ready to go, powerpoint or activity reviewed, and answer key ready. Your day will go so much smoother when you come in to an organized classroom instead of waiting in the copy machine line 5 minutes before the bell behind the teacher making 1000 copies. Just don't risk it. 

10. Take an occasional mental health day 
Making sub plans sucks. Often times it feels easier to just come in to work sick than have to get a sub plan ready. But your mental health is super important. If you are tired, worn out, sick, or have other things going on in your life that is affecting your teaching- take a day off. Find a high interest article for the students to read and take a breather. (You can find free articles on newsela.com or check out my free close reading article on botox in my TpT store).
Sometimes I even make the sub assignments extra credit because many students think when there is a sub they have a free day. It is a small bonus for the students that really did work on the assignment. Anyway- you can't be there for your students when you haven't taken care of yourself. Plan one day a quarter that is a day you can rest and recoup. 


Good luck in your new teaching career! Remember- it gets easier. Yes, you will work 70 hours per week that first year. But by year 3 you will have everything down and teach like a pro. And when students write you letters about the impact you made on their life all those hours will be worth it. If you have questions leave them in the comments!

One comment I frequently hear from biology teachers is "My students keep mixing up mitosis and meiosis." I had this problem for many years (the first 5 years of teaching to be exact). During my cells unit I would teach both mitosis and meiosis. I would begin by teaching them both separately, and then had worksheets and activities that compared the two. But when I would give the unit test, it was clear the students still confused the two. I needed to do something differently. 

After teaching middle school for 5 years, I switched to a high school near my house. When we got to the cells unit one of my colleagues suggested only teaching mitosis, and waiting to teach meiosis until we got to the genetics unit. Light bulbs kept going off in my head. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. 

So I tried it. At the end of my cells unit (after teaching organelles, membranes, and cellular energy) I would teach mitosis. When I would test them just on mitosis they would score well, because they didn't have both processes in their head to get confused. Then, after Christmas break when we got to genetics, I would teach meiosis. It made so much sense because:

• ​Teaching what gametes are is a great way to introduce genetics.
• Students will better understand Mendel's laws of segregation and independent assortment when you pair it with meiosis. 
• Teaching crossing over with genetics helps students understand alleles and why they look similar to their siblings, but not identical. 
• Students will better understand chromosomal mutations (such as Downs syndrome) when you pair it with meiosis. 

By the time I quizzed the students on meiosis they were experts on cell division. If your school gives you some freedom with the order of your curriculum, try teaching it this way! You won't regret it.  

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BONUS! If you want a fun way to make sure students understand the differences between mitosis and meiosis, try this FREE bingo game in my TpT store! Bingo is a great way to review scientific vocabulary. In this game you will call out the definitions and students will cover up the words on their bingo cards. You can download this product free in my TpT store HERE. Enjoy!

This blog post is all about why I think Cornell notes are beneficial for students, and tips on how to make them easier for teachers. If you don't want to read my background story on how I came to love them and you just want the nitty-gritty, skip to the bottom of the post :) 
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My first year teaching was at an AVID demonstration school. If you are familiar with the AVID program, they require students to use Cornell notes during class. I was fresh out of college and had never heard of them before.  I was really excited to use interactive notebooks and to be honest I wasn't thrilled with having a set note-taking format I had to use. It felt like I spent the first month of school telling students what to write on the left side of their notes, and what to write on the right side. Getting them to write summaries was like pulling teeth. BUT, after a couple of months things got easier, and students got better at knowing what to write. Eventually students enjoyed having structure instead of messy note pages. I tried my best to make sure my powerpoint slides had clear questions and bolded vocabulary so students knew exactly what to write and what was important. I initially tried to get students to write the summary for homework, but I soon realized they just weren't going to do it. Enter plan B. Instead I would go back the next day and have them review their notes and write the summary for bellwork. It was a great way to refresh their memories on what they learned the previous day. Then I would call on 2 or 3 students to read their summaries out loud, which increased the stakes for writing in complete sentences and explaining things in their own words, not just regurgitating vocabulary words and definitions. Often times students would even call each other out, and say things like "You forgot to answer the essential question!" By the end of the school year my little 6th graders were champs at taking notes. 

Fast forward 10 years and I now teach a class of seniors who are taking college biology through duel enrollment. One of the entrance requirements to this duel enrollment course is for students to have been in AVID all 4 years of high school. It has been amazing to see them take notes without asking, and not just during standard lectures. We have had multiple guest speakers visit our classroom, and students automatically set up a notes page, write down notes and questions they have throughout the presentation, and summarize what the speaker taught them. All without groaning. THAT, my teacher friends, is amazing to see.

So in summary, here are a few things to take away...
Why Cornell notes are good for students:

• Cornell notes give students structure. Organization is key to success!
• Cornell notes allow for student summary and reflection. These are also great ways to formatively assess what they learned and identify misconceptions from the lesson.
• I've heard arguments that when students get to college, they won't take written notes anymore, and will just use their laptops. I have 2 counter arguments: First, typing is not a skill that most schools teach anymore (unfortunately). My students are excellent at texting, but horrible at typing. I've even seen kids type essays on their cell phone, because it is faster for them than typing on a standard keyboard. So when these students get to college, they might find hand writing notes to be more efficient than typing. Second, I feel that written notes are much better for visual learners than typed notes. When I write notes by hand and add diagrams, during tests I can visually see where the answer to the question is on my notes page. Typed notes aren't nearly as effective in that manner.  

Tips on how to make them easier to use:

• Have a ton of copies of Cornell notes pages ready to go. It will save a bunch of time when students don't have to set up their own. You wouldn't think drawing a few lines would take much time, but your OCD kids will whip out their rulers and take 5 minutes. 
• During lectures, give students questions at the top of your slides. Don't make them guess what they are learning about. 
• Highlight or bold important vocabulary or points for them. We all know that if students wrote down every.single.word on the slide, notes would take 3 hours. Emphasize to them what is important. 
• Give students opportunities to refer back to their notes throughout the unit. Notes should not just be one time use. (You can check out my blog post on why I let my students use notes on tests HERE). Make your students refer back to their notes for bellwork. Ask them to write their summaries. Have them go back and highlight vocabulary or add diagrams. Have them add questions about things they still don't understand. Ask them to link new concepts to prior learning that took place (this is huge in science!)

If you haven't tried Cornell notes before, I would urge you to try them for one school year. Don't just try it for a few weeks and give up, because it is a process that takes time. I know that once students get the hang of them, their ability to receive and retain new information will increase. I've seen it happen!  

But seriously, as engaging as I think my lessons are, studies have shown that students only retain 30-40% of information they see and hear. That leaves 60-70% of the information to be forgotten. I want my students to use their resources in order to become more familiar with that information they would normally just forget. Here are a few reasons why I let my students use notes on tests:

• I know I personally don't remember everything I learned, even after studying my notes. It's not fair for me to expect my students to do any better. 
• Once our students grow up and get jobs, they won't be expected to go through their career without using notes and resources. That's like asking a doctor to remember everything they learned in medical school, and not look things up as they make diagnoses. That's insane, right?! 
• Why do you have your students take notes if you don't have them use them? We would all love it if our students went home and reviewed them every night, but we know that won't happen for the majority of our kids. You need to give them opportunities to use their notes, and for me that includes tests. (If you want some more ideas on ways to get students to refer back to and interact with their notes, check out my Cornell note blog post HERE). 
• It keeps students organized. Do you have kids that take notes and the paper disappears into their backpacks never to be seen again? Do you have kids that are absent and don't bother to copy notes they missed? If students understand the value of notes and know they can use them on upcoming tests, they will keep them organized in their binders or notebooks.
• Students will take better notes if they know they can use them on tests. When I'm teaching I often get the question "Do I need to write this down?" Instead of answering yes or no, I usually answer "If you were taking a test, would you already know this information or would you need help from your notes?" Let them decide. 

If you're not convinced, try it out and see if your test scores increase. Sure, students will do better on level 1 questions, where they just have to find a definition in their notes. But I've found my test scores also increase on my level 2 and 3 questions, where students really have to think critically about information and can't find the answer straight from the notes. And for me, I would much rather have my students leave my classroom understanding big concepts opposed to memorizing facts. For example, I would rather have my students understand why some of my cells do mitosis and others do meiosis, opposed to memorizing every little step of the cellular division process. Lets create critical thinkers, and have your tests reflect that.

If you've been teaching for a while, chances are you have had some ELL (English language learner) students in your classroom. I've known many teachers that have panicked and asked me "how can I teach them science if they don't speak English?" I think many teachers tend to think they need to dumb down the content for these students. They aren’t dumb! Your job is to make the content accessible. It’s been my experience that ELL students are amazingly hard workers and are a blast to work with.  My friend Bethany Lau over at Science with Mrs. Lau and I have created a list of best-practice tips for working with ELL students. We also have some helpful resources to share with you!

Tip #1: Get them talking! A quiet classroom is not conducive to learning a new language. Many students are scared to speak out loud in English, especially in front of the entire class. To help build their confidence, try small group discussions first. To ensure that every student has spoken to his or her group, give each student something color-coded (I use colored Popsicle sticks from the dollar store). When a student speaks, they place their Popsicle stick in the center of the table. It is easy as a teacher to walk around and monitor who is speaking and who isn’t. Make it a requirement that each student has to speak at least twice during group discussions.

Tip #2: SLOW down when you are talking, and use nonverbal cues. This is much easier to do when you have all your ELL students together in one class, but when they are mixed with native English speakers we often don’t realize how fast we are talking. It is really difficult for ELL students to process when you are speaking a mile a minute. So take a deep breath, slow down, and use your hands and other nonverbal gestures. Don’t be afraid to act things out! Yes they will giggle, and yes they will love it.

Tip #3: Build vocabulary. When you teach new words, always make your students repeat the word out loud after you say it. And if they aren’t loud, make them do it again. If you have a word wall in your classroom, go down the list frequently and make your students say them with you. To help students remember the definitions, discuss prefixes and suffixes to help them decode meanings.
Find fun ways for students to practice those new words. Instead of doing vocabulary worksheets, do vocabulary games instead! Bingo is an awesome way to review vocabulary words before a test. Create a bingo card from a free online bingo-card maker such as http://osric.com/bingo-card-generator/. Type in the words you want your students to learn and print a class set. Instead of calling out the words, say the definition and the students need to cover up the correct word. If they get a bingo they need to say the words out loud in order to win a prize.

Tip #4: Utilize pictures. I used to try and translate parts of my power points into Spanish before the lesson thinking I was doing my students a favor. I quickly realized that:
a. Google translate is frequently wrong,
b. many of my students can speak fluent Spanish but can’t read it,
c. and even if they could read most of it, they didn’t know the content specific terms in  Spanish. Why would I want my students to learn the word “homeostasis” in Spanish AND English? Let’s just stick with English.
Instead of translating, stick with visual pictures. Pictures transcend all languages. Include them as much as possible in your lessons and power points. Make students draw pictures in their notes. Include pictures in all your articles you want students to read. A great pre-reading activity is to have students look at the pictures and captions in an article before they read the body paragraphs. Have them guess what the article is about based on the pictures and discuss with their neighbors (get those Popsicle sticks back out). If you have a word wall in your classroom, make sure it includes pictures too! The more they see a picture associated with a new word, the more likely they will remember what it means.  

Tip #5: Learn about their language and culture, and include it in your lessons when applicable. Students will have more buy-in to your lessons when they feel like their language and culture is valued. If you can connect their language to the content, chances are they will remember it better. For example, students use the term “liga” in Spanish to mean rubber band or hair elastic. When teaching “ligaments,” discuss how they are stretchy unlike tendons. Students won’t forget!

Tip #6: Use Manipulatives!   Sometimes students need help learning how to structure their writing into logical paragraphs (even native English speakers need this too!)  If you have sample paragraphs for them to learn from, you can print separate sentences out on separate lines, and cut them into strips.  Then you can mix the sentences up and have students order them in how they should logically appear in a sentence!  You can also do this for other parts of a lab report, like the procedure section or even the proper labels for a graph!
You could create your own writing structure manipulatives, or you can check out Bethany Lau’s Lab Report Writing Activity Bundle found here.  She has a set of activities with manipulative for each and every part of the lab report with a lot of examples for students to learn from.

Tip #7: Get them writing as much as possible. Data shows that when students take the state language proficiency tests, they struggle the most with writing. Find ways to get students writing on a daily basis. This could work in many different formats- just find one that works for you. Daily bellwork is a great place to start, as well as having students keep writing journals. What should you have them write about? Check out these writing prompts from Science Rocks’ store! These were designed to be used before new concepts are taught, and allows the teacher to assess prior knowledge and check for misconceptions. When students are first learning English, allow them to write in their native language and plug in English words that they know. Throughout the year as their language improves you will see their writing transform from fragmented to fluid sentences.
Another great writing strategy for ELL students are sentence frames. For students still learning how to write a complete sentence, give them half the sentence first and have them fill in the blanks. For example, a hypothesis on a lab report for an ELL student could look like this: “If I change ___________, then I think ___________ will happen, because __________.”

Tip #8: Model. And then model some more. As science teachers we tend to think of “modeling” as meaning “I’ll show them how to do a lab before it’s their turn.” Modeling applies to so much more than labs.
a. Model reading strategies. As you read through articles out loud, stop and discuss. What was the main idea? What did you highlight and why?
b. Model writing strategies. When you assign those writing prompts, work through one with them first. Show them what a quality answer would look like.
c. Model behaviors. Many students will enter your classroom from different backgrounds. Behaviors that may have been acceptable where they grew up may not be acceptable in your classroom. If you want them to give a verbal presentation with eye contact, show them what a good presentation looks like first.
d. Model word pronunciation. Sometimes if students are nervous to say things in English, I have them teach me how to say the phrase in their native language first. Once they have giggled at my horrible pronunciation, they aren’t so embarrassed to pronounce things in English.

Tip #9: Modify. Yes, one more thing to add to your to-do list. But it can honestly be as simple as cutting down the number of questions for them to complete, or adding pictures to an assessment. One of my favorite websites to find nonfiction science articles on is newsela.com. Not only is it free to use, but once you find an article you can change the lexile! That means all your students can be reading the same article but at a reading level that is accessible to them.

Tip #10: Use formative assessment frequently, and celebrate gains. It’s important to check in with ELL students often. Many of them will take notes, smile, and nod during class, but only understood 20% of what was discussed. Exit tickets and note summaries are great ways to check in and see where they need help and what they have mastered. Make your exit tickets specific. Don’t just say, “One thing I still need help with is…” but instead ask them to answer a specific question related to the lesson. This will help you group them by mastery and focus on the students that really need your help. Once they have mastered a new concept or learned new vocabulary, don’t forget to celebrate! Let them know you are proud of them, and they will work harder in the future. If students feel like their hard work is recognized and celebrated, they will continue to work hard!

We’d love to hear stories from you about what helps your ELL students!  Let us know in the comments! 
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