Techincally Reading

Weekends are awesome. They are way too short. Why is it that everyone else gets a long weekend for Veteran's Day next week, except for us. Ugh. (I now roll my eyes and suck my teeth like a 7th grader.)

I've got the November blahs. It's draggy this time of year. Daylight savings is awful (really, this article gives many science-y reasons why). We've finished off the stress of IAs and end of marking period, and now it's just blah. It's not bad, just plain. Work is becoming a habit.

I've decided to spice things up by planning a field trip. I was thinking about the Museum of Math in NYC, which looks pretty cool. We can't do anything outdoors (weather), and we can't do anything that costs much more than $10/student. Any ideas?

Today in class, we took our first look at a reading strategy that will solve the problem we had last IA, which was that students don't do a very good job reading very difficult technical science texts. The strategy goes like this:
1. Read through the article. Don't underline or highlight anything. It's okay if you have no idea what's going on. Jot down a one-sentence summary of the article.
2. Read through the first paragraph. Write a one-sentence summary.
3. Go back to the first paragraph. Underline any phrases that support or give evidence to your paragraph summary.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each paragraph.

It lets the students break the article down, and only holds them accountable for one small piece at a time. We used it to take apart an article on global warming and different greenhouse gases. Did you know that CO2 has a relatively weak greenhouse effect, compared to other gases like methane and CFC, but it the most significant contributor to climate change because it is so prevalent.

Not all students understood everything about the article, but I'm hoping the strategy will allow the students to self-scaffold. That is, if a student can not understand the last paragraph, they can at least work through the rest. If another student can only understand the first paragraph, they should at least be confident in that. This will allow lower students to be able to answer some questions correctly, rather that just giving up at the start. It shows students that if they don't understand something, they can start with what they know, and that that's okay, and they can build up from there.

I managed to test out of Relay tonight, although it took some negotiating (there were some grading disparities, I was very professional about it, and I will refrain from posting the thoroughly entertaining email thread until I have my certificate and/or degree from Relay). I will take tonight to do something very important - get a manicure. I get to make myself feel special, and even impress my middle schoolers.

I also did a very big thing today. I added Tim to my health insurance. It'll save us about $500 next year. This is real, a real relationship. It's not the ring or the lease that does it; it's the acknowledgement from Blue Cross/Blue Shield that makes it official.

I've earned myself an easy week this week - I hit my workout goals for two weeks in a row (plus a bonus swim), and have absolutely no pain (well, except the sore everything from weightlifting yesterday). I get a week of whatever-I-want training (except today - I want to go running, but should really take the rest). I've started a new audiobook (Ken Follett-Pillars of the Earth), and can't wait to drive and go running any anything else that lets me listen to more. Guess I'll wait until tomorrow!

Addendum: I had been worried about starting a new audiobook because it is a very long book (~26 hours, compared to the usual 10-15), and I only had 4 days left on my loan (it is a 2-week loan, but another book became available that I had to read, and you know how that goes). Fortunately, I just learned that I am allowed to renew a book once per borrowing! That means I have a whole other 2 weeks to read it! It's the things like this that make my day.