Welcome to the 4th quarter!

Well, I am preparing for my second day of teaching in room C-06. I am very pleased with the students I have in my brand new classes, and I have a feeling that we will all enjoy ourselves. I am still working on updating some things on the site, so check back again soon!

- Miss Ivanna

Class happenings and germs

On Friday an example had to be set. During our Virus Factory Challenge, there was a class that could not quiet down, no matter how many warnings I gave. After a while, this class clearly showed to me that they were not capable of controlling themselves and would not take responsibility to help me find the individuals who were responsible. Thus, I could not allow the students to get their points for the quiz, as I did not know who was cheating. I have absolutely no tolerance for cheating and will continue to take strict measures against it. Any further consequences for cheating should not come as surprise. It is in your interest to report any cheating to me in order to narrow the blame to the individuals at fault rather than the classroom protecting them and suffering injustice in the shadow of the culprit's disregard for taking responsibility for his/her own work, or a lack there of. Please, respect yourselves and respect others, this is what it all comes down to.

On Monday, the grades thus far will be entered into your progress reports. Any questions or concerns about them have to be dealt with outside of the class time -- not during an ongoing lesson. All your grades up until Tuesday still stand. Since then, you had three graded assignments. The printouts of your progress will be posted on the wall in class, so you can compare everything you have and contact me about any discrepancies.

On Tuesday we are starting to work on our section about bacteria. If anyone is still not surprised by their abundance in our lives, it would probably be interesting to know that a recent study has suggested that the vast majority of snowflakes form around airborne bacteria. You can find a news article describing this here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-bacteria1mar01,1,541887.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Happy learning!

-Miss Ivanna

Sterling Heights High School is wonderful!

Hello, my fellow bio fans!

Today, February 26th, was my first day of teaching biology at SHHS, and it already seems great! My students have been wonderful to me, and I cannot wait to teach them all the exciting things that are about to come.

We had a few great class discussions about viruses and bacteria, where I heard a lot of fantastic ideas, rich backgrounds, and very impressive thinkers. My students are going to make this class what they want it to be, and thus far it sure looks like we are all ready for some excitement.

Here are links to a few virus-related news stories that I found within the past 10 minutes:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080226-9999-1m26cruise.html

Bird flu news:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jOPA43tG5fdYyUaAg2IpM0Kr_OSQD8V1VHU01
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=85&art_id=nw20080226105457967C648204

Fish virus:
http://www.newrichmond-news.com/articles/index.cfm?id=86182&section=Outdoors&property_id=19

Failed flu vaccine:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23342141/

Virus in Japan:
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02HEA260208

Nasal smallpox vaccine from U of M works in animal trials:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/nasal-vaccine-for-smallpox-confers-high-levels-of-immunity-without,293181.shtml

Tomato virus threatens agriculture:
http://westernfarmpress.com/vegetables/tomato-virus-0225/

Article on exercising while sick with a virus:
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,2259967,00.html

Virus spreads in Michigan children:
http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=7864326

Please, feel free to find any other good news articles on viruses that we can share with the classes. We can also start looking ahead at bacteria!

More fun to come tomorrow, and for the rest of the week. Take care!

- Miss Ivanna

Say that again?

I always knew that this semester would be difficult. I did not know how little time I would get for sleep or any other part of my life. The best part about this? My learning is directly proportional to the time I devote to teaching. I love it, I can't wait to do this for a living.

My students finally got the site address as I was having trouble pacing myself during a PowerPoint presentation in 3rd block Environmental Sciences. Sorry, guys (you know who you are). Now that the secret is out, perhaps I should try and make it more interactive. I'm still working on getting permission to post our accomplishments here, which I think would be most beneficial and exciting. I could even get some real-life scientists to give us feedback! We'll see how it goes. Cross your fingers.

~Miss Ivanna

My own!

Hello again!

I have already been in the classrooms (yes, two rooms) for two weeks. It is an absolute honor to be working with Mrs. Tieman and Mrs. Greenough in biology and environmental sciences, and the students have been wonderful to me!

This upcoming week I will actually start teaching my own lessons. I have been organizing things and trying to figure out how to teach some concepts in the best ways and within specific time constraints, and I'm hoping that things will work out. I am pretty flexible, however, and I am ready to make any necessary changes as we go on.

Wish me luck.

~Miss Ivanna~