Kate's Eye View

This is how I spend my time. Making DNA models out of pasta! I'm going to have my classes do this next week during our DNA unit. I came across this activity on the internet and I think it has the potential to be good in a high school class. Particularly, I like how it shows the three parts of DNA, a phosphate (ziti), a sugar (pinwheel), and a base (pipe cleaner). The different colors are the four different bases (A, T, C, G). This model is weak in the area about teaching why A goes with T and C goes with G. So, I am addressing that on a different day where they will analyze the percentages of A, T, C, and G in different organisms DNA. It is also weak in how it models the bonds. The bases are really boded by hydrogen bonds which are actually more like a magentic attraction rather than a sturdy, covalent bond. However, my students have not had chemistry yet so this detail would be lost on them.... Hopefully it goes well. I am doing this with them next Friday.

This weekend I decided it was finally time to refinish my car's headlights. They looked terrible! Not that I am so concerned with the appearance of my car but I think they were so bad it was probably to the point the headlights weren't as bright as they should be. Here are the before pics: After 1 hour of sanding and polishing this is the outcome. The driver's side came out much better than the passenger's side. :-( Not perfect, but at least they are better than before. Also, something else random. The other day Tucson water was doing something in the street and this is how the water looked coming out of my tap: Yuck. I am pretty sure it was dirt. In other news, I finally had a chance to finish a book I have been reading by Margaret Atwood called The Blind Assassin . It was very good. Mostly about women and stages of life and how decisions we all make can change the course of things for yourself and the people around you forever. This book was so good I passed i...

This is the Before (from last month): This is the After: I had a chance to work on the little bit of yard around my door today because yesterday was the end of the 1st quarter and today was grading day. Yay! Half-way done!!!! I got all of the grades entered yesterday so I didn't have to go in today. From here on out I am doing all four biology classes and unit planning, within the constraints of what my mentor teacher wants of course though. Jeremy is coming on Thursday!! I'm so excited to see him. This period, between his last visit and this visit, is the longest we have ever been apart! Looking forward to next weekend.... :-)

Student teaching is going OK. I have been teaching 4th and 6th periods since my last posting. I have a good relationship with both of those classes but 1st and 3rd are another story. I lead all four classes on Monday and it went well with all but 3rd period. They pretty much look at me like “Why are you telling what to do? You’re not my teacher”. I think that class is going to be a struggle. Thursday, I think there was some damage done to my working relationship with the 6th period class. They are, for the most part, really good students and they get their stuff done. However, there is a group of students who are very outgoing and very loud--all of the time. And I know for a fact that they distract other students in the class. So, Wednesday we moved out about half of the tables from the room and rearranged students so that they can sit around the edges of the room and at tables in the middle of the room. It gives us much more room to move around the room. So, when we made the ...

Friday was my first day teaching the class by myself. I was really expecting to get quite nervous but I didn't and everything went fairly well! From here on out 4th and 6th periods are mine and I will be adding 3rd and 1st a little later. 4th period went well in its own ways. I didn't have any management issues and the students seemed excited about the change. I started the class with a think-pair-share activity. They are not used to this sort of thing so I gave them a lot of time, but I think I gave the too much because I discovered that they weren't going very deep with the questions I presented to them. If I continue doing this they will get better. So 6th period I didn't give them as much time on this portion of the class. 4th period I ran all of the way to the bell and they didn't have much of a chance to do the worksheet or book questions, whereas 6th period had about 10 minuets to work on them, but because it was 6th period on a Friday they weren...

After Jeremy's visit this weekend (more on that later) it occurred to me that Jeremy and I know where to eat in Tucson! For anyone who is living in or visiting Tucson here is a pretty good list of tried-and-true restaurants! Enjoy! Mexican: Guadalajara Grill Molinito’s St. Mary’s Restaurant La Salsa Chipotle Italian: Macaroni Grill Olive Garden Ethiopian: Zemam’s Indian: Sher-E-Punjab Chinese: Guilin Chinese Buffet: China Star Thai: Villa Thai Sushi: Sushi Hama Gourmet: Pastiche Jonathan’s Cork Feast Pizza: Magpie’s Rosati’s Zachary’s Mama’s 1702 Breakfast: Blue Willow Millie’s Pancake Haus IHOP The Good Egg Coffee Shop: Le Buzz Coffee Pointe Ike’s Coffee and Tea Dessert: Melting Pot Oregano’s

Today I thought instead of summarizing my student teaching experience I would share about the two main projects that took up most of my time this summer while I was in Littleton before I came back to Tucson. The first one started because I wanted to make sure to have something to occupy my time while on the cruise we took with Jeremy's mom and brothers at the beginning of June. I have always liked to cross-stitch and so I went to Michael's and picked one out that I thought I could frame and hang on the wall when I was done. I picked on called "Tucsan View" and it sort of falls in line with the Italian theme I have going on in the kitchen. I think when I am done this will go in the dining room though. I actually didn't get many chances to work on while on the cruise but I did work on it over the summer and have been picking up when I find the time here in Tucson. Today I took the first pictures of where I am at with this. It might be hard to tell because it th...