penn

Ever a student

While I did get my teaching license a year and a half ago, I left with two classes to go to my MAT (Masters of Arts in Teaching). I'd really like to get that done at some point. This fall, I decided there was no time like the present!

I also coached the volleyball team in September and October, so I had a really busy start to the school year. My life is slowly settling down now that volleyball is done, but this grad class keeps me on my toes.My work is interesting, but it takes a lot of time. Thankfully, I can manage it, but some weeks get quite busy.

This class is studying research design. I thought I knew a lot about this, given my background in science and research. Little did I know! There is so much variability possible in educational research. You can go quantitative (numbers based) or qualitative (by doing interviews). You can do correlation studies, experimental studies with control and experiment groups, or even just observation studies. So many possibilities!

I really wish I had a class like this in my ecology MS. It would have been nice to step through various experimental designs, how they've been used, and how to plan your own. This seemed like something my professor just expected me to know, and I realize now that I was lacking.

On the bright side, I know more than many students in my class. I value being able to be a resource and hone my own knowledge through explaining to others. There are a few social scientists in the class, so they help me understand the non-experimental, more qualitative work.

One thing is for sure: I really value getting to continue my learning. I always mean to do work on my own, but I am much more focused with a class. My subjects may change, but I will always love being a student.

Heathers and more

Last night, I watched the movie Heathers with a friend. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, but a dark comedy was not it. Heathers is a super dark comedy about the popular girls in school and what happens when a popular girl and her new boyfriend decide to get even. There is more violence than I expected.

Of course, this movie about school violence got me wondering about other incidences of school violence. The boyfriend in the movie wore a long black trench-like coat, just like the two students at Columbine. We couldn't remember when Columbine happened, so we checked out the wikipedia page (1999, for the record). When I was at that page, there was some information on other deadly incidences in schools.

Imagine my shock to learn about the Bath School Disaster. In 1927, a bomber at a school killed 38 school kids and a handful of adults (teachers and rescue workers). He was apparently upset by taxes levied for the school that "caused" his farm to go into foreclosure. It is interesting to hear that taxes, foreclosures, and the like are absolutely nothing new. This man did quite a bit of planning over a number of months, including smuggling explosives into the school slowly over time. There is further intrigue in this story on the long wikipedia article (linked above) if you're interested in further reading.

As someone going into the teaching business, this whole business of bullying and school violence has been on my mind a lot recently. So has school funding. I have been doing some good classroom management reading. In one piece, the author cited a statistic that 50% of kids report having been bullied at least once or twice in a 6 month period. This is significantly higher than the incidences of overt misbehavior in a classroom. While bullying wasn't the issue in the Bath School Disaster, it was in Heathers and may have been in Columbine and other school shootings. And the Bath School Disaster still involved taxes and disagreements similar to what we're seeing today in our political discourse. In all of this (bullying, taxes, schools), my main plea is for civility and understanding. I intend to be the kind of teacher that encourages conversation and does not allow boorish behavior. In my eyes, all of us standing up for reason, conversation, understanding, and patience is the only way to forge ahead and make a stronger future in all senses.

Teacher dress

Something I wore to teach many times in the last few weeks of subbing. I usually wear it with leggings and much nicer shoes, but the day when we took the pic was too hot to have anything on my legs.

This is nothing I would ever have thought to purchase, but I absolutely love it. It was a Christmas gift from my mom, and it is comfortable yet still quite appropriate. I usually wear a brown zip-up sweater so I can adjust to different classroom temperatures.

Note: there is a lace applique on one side of the shirt. I think that's my favorite part, after the high comfort. I'm enjoying being a little dressier for a change.

Phantom Homework Pains

Well, friends, that was a much longer absence than intended. There have been so many things I wanted to share recently but not enough energy. I finished up my last final yesterday morning, and then I finalized my students' grades and turned those all in. I am happy to report that I do not have to return to school until next fall! Grades aren't all back yet, but I know that I did get a well-earned A in microbiology and my education classes. I'm still waiting on physics and genetics.

Last night and this morning, however, I'm feeling this strange nagging feeling that usually indicates I've forgotten something. Is there a paper I didn't turn in? Some reading reflection left undone? Oh, no, it must be a physics problem set! But, no, there is nothing left. And even if there was something I didn't do, that doesn't matter anymore.

It's a strange feeling, being done with class. Grad school at Michigan wasn't like this; I could always be doing more even if classes were done. I suppose, in some senses, that I probably should be doing some education reading over the summer. But I don't have to do any schoolwork, so that makes a difference. Furthermore, I have elected not to work this summer. Matt and I are taking a road trip out west for the month of July. We'll spend the rest of the summer puttering around Minnesota, decluttering around the house, and enjoying the great outdoors.

I'm excited to share with all of you! Now that school is done, I promise I will be back much more. I would make excuses for my absences, but I know the best apology is a change in behavior in the future. Consider this my first step forward. One foot, then the other; one foot, then the other.

At school

A little bit of what I do during the week here . . .

I spend 4 hours a week or more in micro lab, staining bacterial samples and then examining them under the microscope. This is just a small sample of the pretty, pretty colors.

round bacteria (cocci)

rod bacteria (bacillus)

And a streak plate to isolate the bacteria

I sort fruit flies. This first pic has a mutant versus a wild type fly.

And I sort males from females (female on the left):

I'm also breeding some plants with my lab partners to look at how the parental genes and appearance affect the offspring.

I also teach, spend a lot of time in lecture, and go to physics lab (tho no pictures of that. I need to bring my camera to physics lab, because there are nifty things we do there). And, finally, I spend a lot of time in my office. At least we have nice windows. And how do you like that snow?

Microscope Laugh

It's a wonder this thing even worked on any magnification level . . .

Yes, this is a real picture from our lab here. No, I do not have any idea how a pair of dice made it into a microscope. We use dice in one lab, and I'm guessing a student decided to be mischievous.

The power of small things

I'm an advocate of little things adding up to big things when enough people care. In the realm of public education, this plays out through the work of an excellent charity, Donors Choose. I've supported their works for a few years now. In a nutshell, teachers write up requests for various supplies or materials, the site posts them, and we get to choose what is funded. It's one of my favorite forms of voting with my dollars. I've supported many programs, most of which are environmental or scientific in focus. But it is a book request that has brought me to tears.

A few months ago, I donated to a request to purchase a set of classic books for a school library. I have read many of the books, and it is so tragic that a school can't even afford to replace books that are an integral part of literary history. I didn't donate a lot, but I think I must have been the last donor who completed the project because I received a great packet of thank yous in the mail today (donors who donate over $100 OR finish a project get packets). The letters from these students were heartfelt and thoughtful. My favorite came from a gal named Shannon:

Dear Leah,

My name is Shannon. One of my favorite things to do is read. I know that must be heard to believe because you don't hear that from many teenagers. One of my favorite books to read is classics. One of the classic books I saw in the school library was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

My mom and I saw the movie with Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon. I fell in love with the story line and when I found out that it was a book, I had to get it. I went to the library in my school and got it.

I wanted to write this note to say thank you for donating these wonderful classic books like Little Women. I hope my school library will be able to get more. Thank you!

Shannon

This was one of MY favorite books as a child. In fact, I have a really old copy of this book that sat next to my alarm clock for years (when you get an urge to read Little Women, you've just got to have it right there).

I love this site because it allows anyone to help out a classroom anywhere. You can pick to just support high poverty, high needs classrooms, and you can pick a school right in your backyard. You can pick projects you love or fund desperately sad needs (the last project I funded was asking for whiteboard markers).

I believe so much in this project that I'd like to ask the help of my readers. First of all, please pass along the word. Even if you can't donate, I hope you can re-blog my project page to get these deserving projects funded. Second, if you're able to donate, I'd truly appreciate it. Here's my giving page!.

As a thank you, if you donate to a project before 2011, let me know. I will send you a photograph I have taken! You can let me know color/theme/etc or choose a specific photo from my flickr page. I have photos from all around the world and lots of cool nature ones. Just let me know what you're interested in and where to mail it, and I will be happy to get out a photo to you. You can contact me at lapenn (at) gmail (dot com).

Thanks for your support!

I am a master

of the unintentional pun. My latest transgression, in a facebook status update:

I learned about floods in geology. Water is lots of fun :-) can I run off and be a hydrobiologist?

It took my cousin to point out: "Oh I thought that was just a play on words. Floods and runoff. But I guess you are serious."

And here I was talking about actually going back to school to study hydrobiology. I know, I know, I am already in school to study education and get my teaching license. But I am sorely tempted to move to Colorado and study water and biology.

There are too many fun things to do in life.

Edmund Fitzgerald Day

In the middle of geology lecture, our professor stopped and said, "okay, everyone, why is today special? Why is it important?" We all scrambled for ideas. Veteran's Day isn't until tomorrow, and there's no other holiday around this time. It must be something somewhat geologically related, because why mention it in class otherwise? Finally, someone pulled out an iphone and found out: today is Edmund Fitzgerald Day. Thirty-five years ago today, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior during a November squall.

As I'm a big fan of Gordon Lightfoot, and as Lake Superior is one of my favorite places, I can't believe I didn't put it all together. I just listened to the song a few days ago! Wait, you haven't heard the song? Oh, you must!

There we go! Good, isn't it? I'm a fan. Great Lakes Brewing Company also makes an Edmund Fitzgerald Porter that I hear is delicious (apparently lots of people think so.

They're still not sure what sunk the Edmund Fitzgerald. Lots of ideas but no solid answer. There's still a small exhibit on the Edmund Fitzgerald in the maritime museum in Duluth (a great city, to be sure). Nice to have a few mysteries even in this day and age of major discovery, isn't it?

Research is for sissies.

Some days, the above scenario is super tempting. Suffice to say that school keeps me busy. I'm getting a little burned out, honestly, and it's not quite halfway through the semester. We just finished week 7 of 15. It's 9 pm, and I'm still at school. And the Twins lost, again, tonight. Sigh.

On the bright side, tomorrow is Friday! Also, in my education classes, instead of taking two classes all semester we take each one for half a semester. Next week is the last week of our first class. I'm sad for it to be done, but I am also looking forward to a tiny bit of a breather from homework for one weekend. Maybe. I'm hoping we don't get a big stack of reading next week. I could use a break. At least the weather is supposed to be really nice tomorrow and Saturday.