Week 10 at Manor New Tech was very full and beautiful.  One sign that this week was going to be especially beautiful was this incredible morning sky.

Another visible and audible sign was the choir class practicing outside on a gorgeous day.  It was a great surprise to enter the courtyard and hear Requiem resounding throughout.

 The UTeach teachers spent two more days with our students.  In Mrs. Schimel’s junior Physics class, the students applied the laws of refraction and reflection to build a secure laser security system.

In Mr. Foster’s freshman Physics class, they applied optics relationships to create pinhole camera images.  Their images didn’t always look like their real objects, but they still looked pretty cool.

On Tuesday, juniors taking Physics participated in the Annual Applied Materials Solar Car Race.  Dell Valley, Manor High, and Manor New Tech competed at the race.   I was really impressed by the positivity of the students throughout the race.  They managed to get all the cars working, they helped each other show up to race starts on time, they cheered each other on, and overall had a great time.  One group created a Batmobile solar car that won Runner Up for the Craftsmanship Award.  Two cars made it all the way to the Semifinals of the speed trials.  It was cool to see Mr. Garcia and Ms. Ramos from MHS out and about with their students on this beautiful day.

I also appreciated the extra safety barrier surrounding the race course.  Thanks to this new safety precaution, no one got hurt this year by tripping over the nearly invisible race course.

Mrs. Schimel also rearranged her tables with Mrs. Acevedo’s help to make herself more accessible to her students.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but picture something that looks like Tetris blocks that are spaced apart, but would fit together if they were pushed close together.  The students also selected the best of their work to create a thermodynamics word wall.  I love how the word wall was student-made and I love how the words were accurately defined and illustrated.

Starting on Wednesday and finishing on Thursday, I facilitated PLCs on Grading Smarter, not Harder inspired by the book by the same title by Myron Dueck.   We read about and discussed grading strategies developed by Myron Dueck and strategies developed at MNTHS. It was interesting to hear how different aims and assumptions shaped what different teachers were willing to try/accept while thinking about changing their grading systems.  I’m intrigued to see the results of those willing to experiment.

I observed part of a project launch in the junior Humanities class.  By the time I arrived, they were gathering knows and need-to-knows.  It was interesting how students used classroom visuals to help them brainstorm things that occurred during the Roaring 20’s.

On Thursday morning, I watched a freshman poetry slam during first period.  Many students revealed things about themselves that were really personal.  I’m glad they felt safe enough to be vulnerable during their presentations.

I observed another freshman class, Physics.  I liked how they were using different representations to explore how light refracts.  In one method, they were drawing the movement of photons as they pass through different media.  In another method, they will observe the bending of light through jello (Jelloptics).

In the 12th grade Anatomy & Physiology class, the students are using analogies to create amusement parks that represent organ systems.  They will represent the digestive system and one other organ system.

In the Robotics class, the students did a hands-on warmup that involved using calipers and a TAP chart to sort screws.  Observing the students work through this problem, I really appreciated the positive chemistry that’s developing in the team.  They seemed really engaged and collaborated well on what seemed like a really banal task.

In the same class, Mr. Beckett led an interesting workshop on pneumatic components.  I liked how he used questioning strategies to help students make sense of the contents of his slides.  He used Nearpod to walk students through his presentation.

On Friday, the day before Halloween, many juniors came to school dressed as Simms characters.  HA!

During a tornado warning on Friday, we had to take shelter in the hallway.  Many seniors took advantage of this unexpected free time to catch up on homework.

In Art 1, students are using Adobe software and sketches to create cityscapes.  One student was working on a drawing that reminded me of an Escher drawing (bottom right).  When I shared that with her, she admitted that she didn’t know who he was.  Fortunately, I had my Escher coffee table book at work so I was able to show her the images.  She liked how he used tessellations in his work.

In Mrs. Garner’s Art class, students are creating interactive art installations.  The 3D iPhone lets the audience practice the opposite of Cyberbullying.  Students can write a message on a slip of paper attached to the Google doc icon box and deposit it into the hole in the Mail icon box.  They will display the positive messages.  The hands piece is gradually growing with the addition of hand prints each day.  On Monday I need to remember to go to the Art room during 1st period to add my prints.

Last but not least, the Biology class launched a Zombie project this week just in time for Halloween.  Students will study DNA mutations and create a documentary that explains how DNA mutations create the symptoms of zombie-ism.  They have created DNA chains and will later add mutations to these chains.  Today (Friday) I observed a Nearpod Workshop on DNA mutations.  I like how Mr. Adeboyejo used the Nearpod visuals to led discussions and used Nearpod quizzes to check how well students’ were grasping the new content.