Week 29 at Manor New Tech had several milestones: the announcements of our Teacher of the Year, Rookie Teacher of the Year, and our new Principal. And as usual, our students did many awesome things while learning in the course of their many projects.
In Ms. Davis and Ms. Schimel’s Physics/Principles of Engineering class, students are building ballistics devices that they have drawn and modeled in Autodesk Inventor. Next week, they will gather and analyze data on their ballistic devices so they can predict how to fire their devices to hit targets.
In Mr. Ray’s Science Research and Design class, students are working on a wide array of science projects that include the fields of astronomy, molecular biology, nanotechnology, environmental sciences, psychology, education, kinesthesiolopgy, geology, etc. One group is studying the greenhouse effect by measuring changes in temperature and cardio dioxide levels in two step-ups: a control and a setup with biological waste.
In Mr. Fishman’s electronics class, students are finalizing their challenge projects that are sharpening their skills prior to their collaboration with Mrs. Garner’s art classes next week. They have been practicing designing and building circuits that take in specific inputs (sounds, touch, light, etc) and produce specific outputs (displays/LEDs turn on, etc). In addition to building the circuits, the students created and analyzed circuit diagrams for their circuits.
In Mr. Foster’s and Mr. Beckett’s Physics & Engineering class, students are learning about parallel and series circuits. They investigated circuits through labs and simulations and they analyzed the relationships of these two circuit types. In the pictures below, the students were using their lab results to hold a discussion about the differences between series and parallel circuits.
In Mrs. Garner’s Art 2 class, students are creating pop-up books. They are using different techniques to create 3-D depth in a 2-D medium. They held round table discussions to present their works in progress and to gather ideas from their peers about how to create specific 3-D effects and represent specific ideas.
In Mr. Rodriguez’s class, I observed students doing an art jam. They drew pictures for set times inspired by background music. Then they rotated the images around the drawing circle and continued to draw images that connected to the previous students’ drawings. After several rotations, they wrote stories inspired by the images on their canvases.
In Mr. Chamber’s and Mrs. Fain-Jackson’s World History and ELA2 class, students are preparing to create graphic novels about the impacts of imperialism and their connections to World War I. In the rubric workshops shown below, students gathered notes on their need-to-knows and they examined and discussed model products from previous years.
In Ms. Tillson’s and Ms. Thompson’s US History and ELA 3 class, the students are making proposals that explore the impact of a modern topic (1970’s and beyond) that involves an exchange, an encounter, and/or an exploration. To explore the impacts of modern issues, the teachers facilitated a stand up (I agree) / sit down (I disagree) discussion involving current issues. After taking a stand (or a sit), students explained their points of view.
On Friday, students in Mr. Adeboyejo’s Biology class took a “hands-on” tour of their bodies’ homeostasis mechanisms. They exposed their bodies to various stimuli (cold, exercise, etc.) and observed what their bodies did to react to the stimuli and move their bodies back towards equilibrium conditions.
On Friday, students in Mr. Rodriguez’s 5th period art class got to host a surprise visitor, Tony Ezam, the owner of TJ’s Jewelry. Some of the students had created logos for his store. He talked to them at length about the work ethic and other factors needed to build an outstanding business/ brand from scratch. He also answered student questions about possible employment and the future of TJ’s Jewelry.
Last, but certainly not least, our staff selected our Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Fain-Jackson, and our Rookie Teacher of the Year, Ms. Castanon. Also on Wednesday, the Manor ISD School Board voted unanimously to make our academic dean, Mr. Garcia, our new principal. Congratulations to these staff members for all their hard work and dedication!
