UNEDITED Student Responses "The most important thing Mr. Gensic taught me..."

At the end of each year I use Google forms to have students answer a number of survey questions to help me grow as a teacher.  This is a great way to gather meaningful student feedback quickly and have it recorded without losing it.  In the student survey, one stem I provide is... 

"The most important thing Mr. Gensic taught me was..."

I feel this is a great piece of reflective professional development because it helps me see what students are taking away from the class.  I do NO COACHING of how to answer this question.  I don't say, "Please think more broadly, not content."  I leave it to the student to communicate their response.

Here is the spreadsheet of students' answers to that question along with what my brain thinks as I am reading the responses.  I did no editing of student responses to maintain integrity of the post. 

The most important thing Mr. Gensic taught me was...	I'm thinking...
N/A	ok
How to grow popcorn seeds.	ok
Biology	For sure
That Justin Bieber ripped of Fievel when he sang "Never say Never", and that almost everything can be tied back to natural selection.	Nice, I play "Never Say Never" from Fievel in my head many days while teaching.
everything	ok
Cell parts	ok
That Justin Bieber ripped of Fievel when he sang "Never say Never", and that almost everything can be tied back to natural selection.	Thank you google forms for double submitting this student's survey
The most important thing Mr. Gensic taught me was to look carefully at problems to make sure that I don't skip over anything and to develop a better understanding of the situation.	Fantastic
The facts about evolution	facts=evidence, ok
The process of protein production.	ok
the postitives and negatives of meat industry.	ok
Genetics and evolution	ok
He taught me everything we needed to cover for the ECA	ok
How to state an argument and support it.	good
How DNA & RNA works.	ok
THAT IMMA GENIUS!	you are, anonymous student
Natural Selection	good
His passion for biology was really infectious. I learned more about different ways to study and how various issues relate to biology.	good
genetics/evolution	ok
biology	that's the title of the course, good
Research from many sources is very important	fantastic, please hold others accountable for this, except your wife, she only needs one source
evolution	ok
Not all Bio teachers are horrible	funny
The nitrogen cycle and how everything connects to natural selection	good
To be interested in the topic you are learning about.	good
Learning about the positives and negatives of a meat tax.	good
The most important thing he taught me to think outside the box, and to question more things in a good way.	outside the box!!! me too!!!
Genetics and evolution.	ok
genetics	ok
Do the study guides. They are very important to your understanding.	yes! do the study guides.
Evolution	ok
nothing i knew everything from last year	sorry, I messed up here, I need to dig deeper
Genes	ok
everything to help me pass my ECA	ok
genetics	ok
Put down an answer even if you don't know it.	ok, always try
gene	ok
everything.	better than nothing
a lot about science vocab	ok, words are important
Do your best	always
How to swish 3s	I didn't shoot any baskets in front of you, except in the trash. However, I would always hold the follow through. Yes, hold the follow through.
about important topics such as the meat tax and how to think deeper	good
Everything	ok
Everything.	ok
About cells	ok
Teachign how to think more about things.	"how to think" that makes me feel good inside
Teaching me to think deeper into things.	fantastic
about cells	ok
Species must be able to adapt	or go extinct, I prefer adapt.
genes	ok
I don't know	ugh.
that heredity does not ultimately determine who you will be.	I hope you feel empowered.
proteins are the basis of traits.	ok
Information about the four macromolecules	soo important ;)
How to support a role even if you don't agree with it	Lawyers?
How genetics can impact your whole life.	good
The biology isn't as boring as people think.	There are people that think biology isn't important?
Biology can be enjoyable	"can be"
Biology	name of course, probably could have said this the first day of class
Cell Cycles	cycles? Why the "s" at the end?
To stay focus and on task and work hard and you will be rewarded in the end	Is this student just telling me what I want to hear?
It was in the beginning with the cell parts	Why do you think that was so important? grade focused?
I learned a lot more about evolution from Mr.Gensic ( Sorry couldn't think of anything specific).	Thanks for the honesty.
learning can be interesting	"can be"
Pass eca	ok
...more about the basis of life and macro and micro molecules.	ok
I don't remember	ok, not ok
About Biology and other topics.	ok, other topics?
mitochondria creates energy	What is it, the sun?
About homeostasis	good
everything about cells	ok
I learned that that there is a theory that everything on earth has a common ancestor, and that genes don't control everything.	good
what homeostasis is	good
All the things he taught us about the meat tax	ok
the mitochondiria is the powerhouse of the cell	ok, I hope that helps you later in life somehow.
most of the stuff about the meat tax	ok
If you want something, you need to work to achieve it	once again, is this what I wanted to hear or an actual answer?
the ecology information	ok
biodiversity matters.	good, I just planted different plants around my house for that reason.
science :)	Science?
spreadsheets	good, outside of the box thinker.
the evolution of the planet.	I taught about this?
I think everything about biology.	ok
the value of bioloogy and its relevance to the real world.	fantastic
In biology winners must reproduce!	but not now, teenager.
To think outside the box	cool, I think.
Not sure.	me either
The most important thing Mr. Gensic taught me was everything. I found it all very helpful and intriguing.	I am glad you were able to discriminate
everything	ok
think outside the box	Am I a weird teacher?
Genes affect who you are	good
Genetics and the ecosystem	ok
The most important thing Mr. Gensic taught me about would have to be either nanotechnology, or the food industries corruptness.	ok
There are many controversial topics in biology	very true, this is one reason I like teaching it.
Positions on the meat tax	ok
evolution	ok
He taught me how to more accurately record data from an experiment.	awesome
How everything connected to the real world.	fantastic
How to work with people in group projects better.	Are you an honors student who already knows how to work in groups?
how to appreciate science and how it actually applies to the real world.	fantastic
evolution	ok
How the Cells in our body work and do anything for us.	good
How close humans are to other species and organisms (chimps)	good
gentics	ok, "genetics"
Have fun with the material being taught and get involved.	Have fun, I would have to agree.
Modern day issues have more than two arguments or perspectives, and it is important to listen to each side.	Awesome.
When reading the book The Genius In All Of Us, we can change our genes so that we be the person that we want to be and that genes can be changed.	good
Genetics	ok
It is more important to learn than to worry about your grade	I agree
Cell cycle	ok
A lot about biology	ok
Parts of a cell and how cells are made.	ok
photosynthesis.	ok
How biology isn't all about the body	good point.
how humans became humans from the very first cell in the world and how cells are structured.	good
i dont know	sorry
Studying is important	I think so.
Keep trying	Absolutely
Everything	ok
How important it is to know things about our enviorment and the things around us that we don't think about and evaluation..	Good, I wonder what you mean by evaluation.
The meat tax unit	ok
Always pay attention and don't be on your phone the whole class.	Please, don't be on your phone the whole class
Cell function and how Cells are made	ok
Good study habits	good
stay fired up dont quit	Stay fired up. I still have middle school cheerleader cheers from playing basketball that I cheer to myself at different times. "Be aggressive, B-E aggressive"
Evolution	good
Evolution	good
evolution	good
Pay attention	good
Genetics/evolution	good
how cells multiply	good
differences in meiosis and mitosis	Very important
what the body does and how things happen inside of us.	good
Genetics	good
How poeple are different.	great
Biology	ok
meiosis and mitios	ok
bio is hard.	interesting, relative to the other responses.
Genetic unit overall.	ok
To be a man	Hmmm???
that ball=lyfe	I am not sure what this means...
(:	:)
The different opinions other roles have about biology and life.	great
I learned about mitosis	ok
More about science and about Mitosis and Meosis	ok
...............things?	things?
?	?
sex cells and healthiness	healthiness?
Always study	never sleep, just study.
Study	study

I hope this was a humorous educational post.  Here is a link to the complete form.

Lake Michigan Adventure!

I am lucky...lucky to live in an area with ample fresh water. I get to spend a week this summer on the Lake Guardian Ship as a teacher-researcher from July 12th to the 18th. I am one of 15 educators throughout the Great Lakes chosen to be a part of this program.  It is called the Lake Michigan Shipboard Science Workshop.  We will be researching microplastics, nutrient cycling and mussels while departing and returning from Milwaukee, WI.

I am a little nervous about that much time on a boat, but this is a boyhood dream.

Vacationing on Lake Michigan every summer as a kid, this opportunity is beyond anything I could have imagined as possible.  I've been on boats, but not out on Lake Michigan.

Connections with curriculum and students' lives will be plentiful, relevant, engaging and add other buzzwords here.  I will certainly develop lessons/activities and potential PBL or Socio-Scientific Inquiry style instruction that connects to my experience and student's experience.  For now, I have reading to do and celebration on being selected into this program.

I will be sure to generate materials that help in developing blended learning and overall improved instructions.

Misconception Comics, Skits, Crafting Dialogue

There are a lot of misunderstood situations in biology.  Based on misconception research, I generated a set of True/False questions that lead even the best students to get multiple questions wrong.  After completing this, students are given the correct answers and must complete a comic strip that shows two people discussing the evidence that show why the statement is either true or false.  Some of the questions are debatable.

Here is the set of questions.  Email me at john.gensic@gmail.com for a set of answers.  

Write T for True, F for False.   Name: ________________ Your Question: _______________

1.) ______ The energy for plants is something that can be spread around a plant and taken up by the roots

2.) ______ Populations will increase indefinitely because the resources are unlimited.

3.) ______ Cells are within the human body, but do not make up the body.

4.) ______  Plants cannot sexually reproduce.

5.) ______  Asexual reproduction is restricted to microorganisms only (bacteria).

6.) ______  Sexual reproduction always involves mating.

7.) ______ Hermaphrodites usually reproduce by having sex with themselves.

8.) ______ Boys get their traits from their dad and girls get theirs from mom.

9.) ______  Inherited traits are blended, but the male parent's characteristics are stronger in expression or always dominant.

10.) ______ Harmful genes are recessive.

11.) ______ Hermaphroditism is the same as asexual reproduction.

12.) ______  There are no fossils that are part reptile part bird.

13.) ______ Evolution has never been observed.

14.) ______  Ecological communities and ecosystems change little over time.

15.) ______ Dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time.

16.) ______ The main source of oxygen in the world is trees.

17.) ______  Protein is the genetic material passed from parent to child.

18.) ______  During sex, the child is passed from the  dad to the mom.

19.) ______ You really can’t do anything about genes you inherit.  They determine your destiny.

20.) ______ Hair is made of protein cells.

21.) ______ Hair is protein made by cells.

22.) ______ Plant get most of their mass from the ground they grow in.

23.) ______ Fingernails are protein made by cells.

24.) ______ Mushrooms are a type of plant.

25.) ______ Bacteria only serve negative purposes.

26.) ______ Bacteria are still evolving.

27.) ______ Bacteria are done evolving, they have already done endosymbiosis to become eukaryotic.

28.) ______ All living things have DNA.

29.) ______ Fossil Fuels will form rapidly, so we will never run out of them.

30.) ______ Life on earth is made of mostly carbon to carbon bonds.

31.) ______ Lipids are made of cells.

32.) ______ Life on earth is made mostly of hydrogen to hydrogen bonds.

33.) ______ When a cheetah eats a water bison, the cheetah gets all of the energy from the bison.

34.) ______ Most plants take in most of their water through their leaves.

35.) ______ Most plants take in most of their water through their roots.

36.) ______ If a parking lot is abandoned, it will stay a parking lot for the next 1,000 years.

37.) ______ Humans don’t go through Natural Selection because of hospitals.

38.) ______ The cell membrane in animal cells is the same as the cell wall in plant cells.

39.) ______ Organisms can make a decision to adapt to their environment.  

40.) ______ Humans are the end of evolution.

41.) ______ Evolution is continuing to happen into the future.

42.) ______ The mitochondria makes sugar

43.) ______ DNA is made of cells

44.) ______ A eukaryotic cell is multicellular.

45.) ______ Plants and chimps do not have a common ancestor

Misconception Scoring Comic/Skits:    Names: ______________________________________________

____ 2 pts. One person starts out with the misconception (incorrect idea)

____ 2 pts. The other person is correct.

____ 8 pts. The correct person must provide evidence (through a situation, observation, location, conversation) for the correct position.

_____ 2 pts. The person who was incorrect in the beginning must re-explain the situation that shows that they understand the correct situation.  This person cannot simply state, “Oh, now I understand.”  They should say something like…  “Now I  understand because __________(insert evidence here)”

_____ 2 pts. Must have a rough draft of the comic/skit before making final product.

Total: _______________/16 pts.

Should antibiotics be used on healthy animals to promote growth?

As a way for students to connect food chains, efficiency, evolution, and cells to their lives we spent a couple of periods looking at the question..."Should antibiotics be used on healthy animals to promote growth?"

To help students understand the issue better I used SSI net tools (education.indiana.edu/ssinet) to organize resources on both sides of the issue.   This generated a website at tinyurl.com/nsbacteria, where students were to read and generate pro's and con's in relation to the issue.

Students read, discussed, and made a final personal vote as to whether or not to continue using antibiotics in healthy livestock.  Late in a unit exploring the production of livestock, many students wrote to either Representative Jackie Walorski or Senator Joe Donnelly regarding the issue.  Here are the responses from these legislators...

JACKIE WALORSKI 2nd District of Indiana http://walorski.house.gov 419 Cannon Office Building (202) 225-3915 May 7, 2015   Miss xxxxx xxxxxxxxxx Mishawaka, IN 46545   Dear Miss xxxxxxx:   Thank you for contacting me in regards to the administration of antibiotics on healthy livestock. I appreciate you taking the time to inform me of your thoughts on this important issue.   As you may know, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved three types of antibiotics for use on livestock: (1) treatment of disease, usually with high doses for a short period of time; (2) growth enhancement, achieved through low doses over an extended period of time; and (3) prevention or control of disease by administering moderate doses during times when livestock may be more susceptible to infections. Although each of these various uses serves a role in the farming process, care must be practiced in order to prevent the negative side effects associated with the overuse of antibiotics on livestock.   In the 114th Congress, H.R. 1552 was introduced by Representative Louise Slaughter on March 23, 2015. The bill is designed to preserve the effectiveness of medically important antimicrobials by limiting their use on farm animals. H.R.1552 would make it unlawful to administer an antibiotic to an animal unless that animal was sick and treatment was necessary to prevent the spread of disease. The bill also limits the use of antibiotics for animals to the fewest number of animals possible to prevent disease.   H.R.1552 has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee where it awaits consideration. While I am not a member of this committee, rest assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind should this bill reach the House floor for a vote.   Please know there is no greater honor than serving the hardworking Hoosiers of Northern Indiana. If you would like updates on the actions I have taken in Congress, please visit my website atwww.walorski.house.gov to sign-up for my e-newsletter. Thank you again for contacting me.   Sincerely, Jackie Walorski Member of Congress Indiana Second District JW/cc Please do not reply to this email, as this box is unattended. Instead, please use the contact form on my website if you have any further comments.

	May 6, 2015 Dear Mr. XXXXX, Thank you for taking the time to contact me in support of reducing antibiotic use in livestock production. Like you, I believe that American consumers should have complete confidence in food products approved for market. As you may know, antibiotics have long been used both in human and veterinary medicine to treat illnesses and prevent disease with significant benefits for both human and animal health. Veterinary medicines, much like human medicines, are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As certain bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics, however, some have expressed concern that the use of antibiotics in animals could be harmful to human health. In response, the FDA has recommended non-binding principles for veterinarian medicine that include limiting medically important anti-microbial drugs to uses that are necessary for animal health and include veterinary oversight or consultation.  Some argue that FDA's actions are not enough. As a result, S. 621, the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act, was introduced on March 2, 2015. If enacted into law, this legislation would prohibit the use of human antibiotics in the feed and water of healthy farm animals if use would endanger human health. This bill is pending before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Should it come before the Senate for a vote during the 114th Congress, I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind. It is a privilege to represent you and all Hoosiers in the U.S. Senate. Your continued correspondence is welcome and helps me to better represent our state. I encourage you to write, call, or email if my office can ever be of assistance. You can also check out my Facebook page and follow me on Twitter by visiting my website.

Lessons learned/improve for next time: 
-Go to Tractor Supply and buy some feed with antibiotics to show kids what the stuff is.
-Have a farmer come in/interview one locally
-Kids think the issue is with the food.  It is, but mainly the livestock workers who can contract resistant infections.
-Give it more time.
-Teach about how antibiotics work prior to the making the evaluation decision (I assumed students knew what antibiotics were)

Reasons to be excited:
-Current science issue relates directly to IN standards, leads to AP standards
-Kids have strong opinions on each side (cheaper meat vs. disease risks)
-Ties ecology, cells, and evolution into an engaging series of lessons
-LITERACY, writing, reading, speaking, listening, DOING.

Relating Helicopter (Maple) Seed Production to Biology Concepts

My front yard maple tree is making helicopter seeds, tons of them.  However, not all helicopter seeds are turning out as one might expect.  I gave pairs of students plastic bags filled with 100-200 seeds that looked liked those below...

 Once they had the bags, I asked students to talk about "Things they notice" and "Questions they have" about the bag full of seeds.  I wanted them to notice the really small helicopters in addition to the regular helicopters.

Some groups noticed this, most groups focused on the flight abilities, greenness, moisture levels and how the helicopters are different from those they usually see flying around.  This was a good opportunity for students to remind themselves of water content in cells and how I picked these off of the tree before they dried out and flew much better.

Many other groups focused on the colors and how they were mostly green in a portion and red/brown on the wing.  Many believe the green being closer to the stem is based on still getting nutrients and are "still alive".

Besides these interesting observations, my goal was for students to be able to connect the failure of many of the seeds to develop properly is a reminder that plants go through natural selection, have mutations, and have cells that work similar to animals.  After the initial discussion I draw students attention to the malformed helicopter seeds (see the seed on the left in this image.)

 I then have students tally the successful and not successful seeds as a way of determining the success rate of the tree to produce seeds.  The first image would be 4 successful and 2 unsuccessful (far left and far right), for a 66.67% success rate.  Here is a technology integration where I am beginning to introduce students to spreadsheets to calculate large group success rate and failure rates.

During this activity, I draw students attention to the lack of fertilization during most human cycles.  I also describe to students the percentage of human miscarriages.  Students brainstorm potential reasons why the success rate is not 100%.
Common responses from students...
-Mutation
-Deadly recessive genes combining
-Lack of nutrients

I would have liked them to make more connections to meiosis and use more terminology but they didn't.  I need more vocabulary scaffolds next time.

This activity helps work on the following...
I think students are more likely to view plants as evolving and going through natural selection.
Pollination as sexual reproduction (students struggle with the idea that plants sexually reproduce).
Application of percentage outside of math class and sports.

In closing, 1 in 5 humans are disabled.  Maybe I shouldn't have title the failures as such.  We tend to hide this.  Here is an interesting reaction to Disney based on their lack of disabled princesses.

Should've started with this...

I am piloting a "Are popcorn kernels alive?" lab where students practice setting up science apparatus, data tables, and making observations and inferences.

I should've started the year with this because students are observing osmosis, mitosis and differentiation in a shared constructivist activity.

A corn seed started growing for one group.  I asked "Do you think the corn seed is alive?"
She responded "Yes"
Because it is toward the end of the year I ask, "What process is the corn doing to make you think it is alive?"
She says "Photosynthesis"
I say, "Does it look green? Do you think there are chloroplasts in the growth you see?"
She says, "Oh no."
I say "What you do think is forming the new cells?"
She says, "Oh, mitosis?"
I say "Maybe"

I wish they would have made these observations at the beginning of the year to have a more concrete development experience to discuss cellular processes from.  
I could attempt to get students to make connections between this activity and the following vocabulary/concepts (starch having energy stored, differentiation, osmosis, mitosis, gene activation, and natural selection as not all popcorn will germinate)

I am blessed to have these resources to teach with.

Things I have to do because of what I saw at the NSTA 2015 Conference

Here is my list of ideas and things to get done because of what I saw at the National Science Teachers Association conference...(In the form of a daily list)

3/13/15

NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) Conference is a blast.  I am very thankful and swimming in to do’s. I have heard somewhere that if you don’t use PD in 3 days you lose it.  Therefore each evening I want to record want I need to get done in the next week.  

I need to…

1. Make new chromosome models that match my twitter post.
2. Make a model for
3. Print out skull images for students to judge which is a human and then use a Page Keely
4. Make energy transfer model of chairs and yarn with clothes pins that have a flame that drops the energy into heat at each transfer.
5. Set up an astrobiology matching game,
6. Make a poster of modeling question prompts.
7. Make a poster ADI (from my book I already have)
8. Print off the double blind student group writing assessment
9. Revisit and plan in more Argument driven inquiry activities in biology.(after eca, Dust bowl)
10. Download NGSS tracking system doug damery

Order the following…

1. Dream: Mini skulls (http://www.skullsunlimited.com/record_variant.php?id=7122) $500
2. Dream: Photobioreactor (http://www.solardyne.com/algrkitphraa1.html)
3. Colored straws
4. Push pins (clear)
5. Q-tips
6. Chenille straws colored (worms). For genes in chromosome model.
7. Foam board
8. Tube socks (sock chromosome)
9. Thick rubber bands
10. Metal brads (phospholipids)

3/14/2015

First I went to a predict observe explain session to grab a handout and then later looked up the book. Then I stopped by an argumentation session and need to learn about coach and scribe strategy.

I went to a flipped classroom session and tweeted useful information.

I went to a vocabulary session (taboo, plickers, riddles), other stuff from Kat.

To do...

1.) coach and scribe system papers from Jai David-valentine

2.) print the mom and dad chromosome activity from future face lab email.

3.) look into officemix free, knowmia, showme app,educreations,

4.) write up riddles for easy medium and hard biology vocabulary

Easy:cell, cell membrane,

Hard:metabolism, natural selection,

5.) 7 little words brief clue with number of letters to answer

6.) make taboo Google slides to share with kat at least 15.

7.) make big ideas riddle doc to share

8.) share performance tasks from smarter balance when wash u lady shares and

9.) prep photosynthesis Barbie activity

10.) figure out plickers

11.) get vocab presentation from Kat.

12.) make a knowmia eca prep flip activity

Order the following

1.) Predict observe explain book

2.) check to see if we have iki- Lugols starch and tz solution simple sugar test solution

3.) simple sugar test https://www.flinnsci.com/store/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=21546 triphenyl tetrazolium chloride

3/15/2015

I went to an argumentation session with Deena Gould reaching all students.

Now first week of school is now her seed investigation.

To do...

1.) add three slides at the end of presentations to match with the three parts of ngss-for future presentations.

2.) print out onion slides from Deena Gould NSTA, laminate