Microscope Hair Lab, SLOs, and Stress!

It has been such a busy year so far. I can't believe our first six week grading period ends this Friday already!

Teaching has been challenging lately. I am having a harder time keeping up with all of the grading that comes with having way more students than years' past. I'm also having a hard time keeping up with the demand of planning new courses. I'm managing, but always feel so tired and overworked. Yesterday I did school work for 8 hours and barely scratched the surface. I feel like my administrators are clueless as to how long it takes to plan a quality course from scratch. I also am frustrated with no budget besides a few lab fees.

To add to the stress, I am on a lot of committees at school and have been 'meetinged to death' lately.

Oh, enough of my whine session, onto some happier shares....

My forensics class did their next lab all about hair evidence. The really seemed to like it, especially getting to burn their hair and look at it under a microscope. The lab dragged a little longer than it needed to though so next year I may shorten it a tad bit. Here are some photos from the lab...

I try to stay organized. Here is my room set up showing some of the material stations and work stations.

Students lighting a strand of hair on fire.

Burnt hair under the microscope.

Casting made of the hair cuticle scale pattern using clear nail polish.

Human hair.

Deer Hair.

I've uploaded both of my Forensics Labs to my TeachersPayTeachers store if this looks like something you want to try with your students.

Tomorrow I attend SLO training for the first time. I really hate having to jump through hoops for politicians who don't think we do our jobs. My students take two standardized tests already- the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) and the ACT End of Course Exam. I find it silly they want to give teachers more work, and students another round of assessments. Hopefully the PD with be good, but from feedback from colleagues who already went, it may be more stress than it is help. Guess I will find out soon enough! Have a great week!

First crime scene lab in Forensics

Wow, it is the 4th week of school already. Time flies!

My biology classes had their first test yesterday and did very well. My forensics class is already on Chapter 2 and today we started our first crime scene lab- documenting a crime scene. I set up various evidence in a classroom down the hall (it isn't being used this year since we cut our Industrial Tech program when our levies failed last year). The kids seemed really into the lab, and seemed to like the ID tags I made them (see my last post). I bought lanyards to hang them on and they turned out great!

I stayed after school yesterday and set up the crime scene. It took me a while to think up a scenario then plot it all out. My larger forensics class has 22 students so I needed to have enough evidence for all students to have something to observe at the same time. I gave them each a Detective kit with a compass (to indicate north on their sketch), a ruler to photograph with evidence, a measuring tape to measure from evidence to two fixed points in room, forceps to collect evidence, and a magnify glass to look at trace evidence. Today they made observations, did their rough sketch, and started to measure and log all evidence. Tomorrow they are going to finish up all of that and collect evidence (hair from the scene, and a control hair sample from our victim- we will use this in our next chapter all about hair as evidence). They will also need to discuss with their partner and try to reconstruct the scene and determine what happened. I left a lot of little clues as to the suspects' name, appearance, clothing, etc. so we will see who picks up on it all. I left a few pieces of evidence students overlooked today, so we'll see if they find it tomorrow. If not, it will be a lesson to search better next time. :)

Overall, the lab is already a success. Students are engaged and learning while having fun! Lots of teachers were stopping by too, so I know word was spreading. Here are some pics... I tried to avoid kids' faces so I could post here for my teacher friends to see :)

Lastly, my classroom pet clam is doing well. Here is a good view of his siphons on top. He also moves around his tank way more than I expected, every day I find him in a new location!

Well time for me to go relax a little before I grade papers. It was 95 degrees in Ohio today and my classroom was equally hot. I'm exhausted. I know it is only Tuesday but I already feel ready for the weekend!

Have a great week!!

Forensic Science Fun

My Forensic Science students seem to be enjoying the class so far. It makes me really happy to see them so interested and engaged. I have had no behavior problems so far, and some of these kids were not my best students last year. It really shows that they do act out when they are bored or not interested in the content; but can behave when they want.

This week we are doing our first crime scene lab. My principal is letting me use half of one of our unused rooms to set it up. Friday I roped it off with Crime Scene Tape, and Monday I plan to stay after to stage the crime. I bought an inflatable victim, fake blood, etc. with grant money and tonight I went to a Halloween store and bought a few more props. Because they haven't learned any techniques yet (fingerprinting, handwriting analysis, blood typing, etc. all come later) this lab is just about sketching the crime, collecting evidence, and other basic concepts. I hope students will enjoy it!

I already have typed a Crime Scene Security log for students to sign in, and tonight I made them all FBI style ID cards. I always love little details to make things more fun, I just hope my students don't think it is corny! Here is what they look like:

Tomorrow I need to type a warrant, the lab directions, and pre-lab questions. It is going to be a busy day of school work! I also have to grade my Biology labs from last week, and type some more docs for Forensic Science, including a test and review worksheet! Too bad there aren't more hours in a day!

Anyways, I posted a few more docs on TeachersPayTeachers. Here is the next PowerPoint in my Forensics series. I am so happy other teachers have been downloading them and leaving positive feedback!

Well, I hope you had a great weekend! It is late and I have lots of work to do tomorrow so I better head to bed. Sweet dreams!

Heading into Week 3

Of course after being in school for only two weeks, and on a holiday weekend, my body decided to catch a cold! I'm dreading going to work tomorrow feeling so ill, but I have my first lab planned and I am not about to leave that up to a substitute teacher!

I had a pretty good weekend though, before I got sick. I had lunch with a friend who used to teach at my school but got RIFed last year and is teaching at a new school this year. It was nice to catch up with her, and hear how much she is enjoying her new school!

I also went camping with my family, although that got cut short by a huge rainstorm and my feeling sick. I ended up coming home one day early. While camping though, I did manage to catch a live clam and decided to bring it back to take to school as another class pet. We usually dissect clams, so this year it will be nice to have a live one to observe too!

I've been super busy this year so far, planning new lessons, having meetings for our Bully Prevention Team, and posting more items on TPT. If you haven't been to my TPT store lately, check it out. I put up new PowerPoint Presentations and files for both Bio and Forensics. Here are a few preview pics:

Well, Monday morning is quickly approaching so I better get some rest. Hope you have a great week at school!