Welcome!

I decided to take the leap and start blogging.  Many factors triggered my openness and willingness to share my reflections on teaching, science, and learning.  Most recently, the post, “Seven Reasons Teachers should Blog” by Steve Wheeler made me realize just how much good can come from this daily (or weekly) record of thoughts.  I then started to read and follow several other teachers’ blogs (see my list of blogs I follow).  It is amazing how much I have learned and been inspired from my personal learning network.  For my first post, I’ll introduce a little about myself and what I hope to share/accomplish with this blog. 

You may already “know” me from Twitter or YouTube as “EaglesBiology”.  This is my third year teaching Science at a 700-student (and growing!) Catholic High School in Ohio.  I currently teach Advanced Placement (AP) Biology, Honors Biology, and Project Lead The Way’s Principles of Biomedical Sciences.  I also am the assistant coach for our girls’ varsity tennis team.  My undergrad was in Microbiology and I was convinced I would get my PhD in Cancer and Cell Biology.  But a few months into the graduate program I decided to change my path and felt truly called to teaching.  I have never made a better decision in my life (except for marrying my husband, of course).  There is hardly a day when I wake up and I am not truly looking forward to my day with my students.  Saying that I have passion and love for my “job” is an understatement.  This is not a job to me, but my way of life and my way of shaping the lives of young adults. 

My first two years of teaching featured the standard science fare of notes, in-class activity or lab, and giving nightly homework over the notes from that day.  Let’s be honest, I did well to just survive my first year, but I also learned a lot about what worked with students (but mostly about what did NOT work with students).  Last year, I was ready to tackle everything, but was also shocked to become co-chair of our department due to an unexpected departure of a teacher the day before school started.  I was excited to teach all Biology (instead of Biology and Chemistry) last year and put my heart and soul into teaching my students everything they needed to know.  But my methods again were old-school; I would engage them with notes and labs and keep them busy with homework and worksheets.  At the end of last year, I wrote a very candid reflection of how I felt the year went and decided that my whole way of thinking about my classes and students needed a serious overhaul over the summer.  The days of feeling as if I were a hamster on a wheel with nothing to show for my work were over.

This is when I discovered the idea of “flipping” my classroom through my AP Biology listserv.  I decided at the end of May that my classroom would look entirely different by the first day of school in August.  I spent my summer learning about the flipped classroom and about constructivist theory.  I was determined that I would no longer TEACH my students the material and have them be only passive learners.  Instead, my students would discover the material with one another and I would be their mentor and guide through their learning journey.

I hope to share my ups and downs with my flipped classrooms as well as comment in general on science, education, technology, learning, teaching, and putting the focus back on our students.