Walden School of Liberal Arts in Provo, Utah
The past month has been crazy busy as I’ve prepared for my new teaching job at Walden School of Liberal Arts in Provo, Utah. I had intended on writing at least six blog posts in August and interviewing at least one person, but didn’t do any of it; instead, I’ve been writing curricula, lesson plans, preparing my classroom, and going on a four-day backpacking trip with my students to the high Uintah Mountains, up past Mirror Lake to Naturalist Basin. My legs are still recovering. Now this week has begun our first week of classes: I am teaching two sections of Honors Chemistry and one section of Astronomy on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays and one section of Computer Technology and one of Multimedia on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’ll probably also pick up a Video Production class afterschool as well on those days. So far we are three days into the school year and things are going well.
My chemistry and multimedia students will be helping with the Elements Unearthed project in much the same way as my Media Design students did at MATC, except I am now at a school that actually believes in expeditionary learning (field trips) and project-based learning (PBL). Plus having dedicated chemistry students will help improve the accuracy and relevance of the student videos. Here’s what they are going to do:
My classroom at Walden School
During the first term, each student will select a topic from one of four categories: elements, materials, energy processes, or the history of chemistry. They will conduct background research and develop an extensive set of notes with references, which they will condense into some form of print media, such as a poster, newsletter, brochure, etc. which they will convert to .pdf format. They will act as guest hosts of this blog, each one taking a turn to write a post entry about their topic and attaching their .pdf file to it for all to see.
During second term, they will come up with some sort of demonstration that relates in some way to their chosen topic, and practice it in class, then on a Friday in November we’ll take the whole class downstairs to the elementary classrooms (Walden School is a K-12 Montessori school) and present their demonstrations to the students, as well as handing out a simple worksheet or activity the students can take home. The chemistry students will also present their demonstrations to each other just before winter break and receive feedback.
My classroom again
During third term, the chemistry students will add a Powerpoint or Keynote presentation or a video to their topic, which will be presented to their peers and added to this blog site. They will also present again to a different elementary class.
During fourth term, they will present their demonstration, Powerpoint, video, etc. to the public and their parents at a Back-to-School Science Night at the end of April or start of May. We’ll videotape the proceedings and add the videos to this blog as well.
This may seem like a huge project (and it is) but I’ve done all of this before when I’ve taught chemistry at Juab High School in Nephi (except for the media elements – that comes from MATC). Those students who wish can utilize the footage and photos I’ve already gotten for the Elements Unearthed project to do their element or material reports. They can also compete in the Chemical Heritage Foundation’s “It’s Elemental” video competition. My multimedia students will help on the longer videos I’m creating for this blog, YouTube, and iTunes (we’ll set up the iTunes account in our Computer Tech. course).
So you see, I have landed in an ideal situation for classes that I love to teach coupled with a great group of students and an environment that works perfectly for this project. I’m very excited to see what will come out of it. At the very least, this blog should be quite a lively place.
The Elements Unearthed 