Teaching Biology at Mountain View High School: Technology Integration
As the chime sounds for students to come to their 90-minute Biology I class, Lyuda Shemyakina stands at the door welcoming each student. A “hello,” “good morning,” an exchange of pleasantries or information about homework, quickly passes between teacher and student. It is the morning of September 28, 2016.
These 9th graders enter a large room half of which contains lab tables in the rear and half of which has student desks facing the front whiteboards and teacher’s desk. The front whiteboard is filled with weekly homework instructions for students, the day’s agenda, the lesson’s objective, and upcoming events.
At the beginning of this period every day are the Mountain View High School* video announcements produced and directed by students. The two anchors of the five minute program say that the day is “World Day” (the teacher says that she is wearing her T-shirt from Barcelona). Anchors describe upcoming events, meetings that day, and announcements from various students. As I scan the room, 26 students’ eyes look to the screen. In other schools, announcements come into each room via a loudspeaker and students chat, surf their laptop and tablet screens, or stare into space. Not here.
After the announcements end, Shemyakina turns to the “bell ringer,” an ice-breaker or launching activity, for the hour-and-a-half lesson. On the screen is a slide:
Look back at your model on p. 18**. What were you not sure about? What were you pretty confident about? What questions do you have?
DON’T HAVE A MODEL? DRAW IT NOW
Example: I am not sure I drew the chromosome correctly because ….
In an earlier lesson, students had been asked to draw a model showing how DNA, Teaching Biology at Mountain View High School: Technology Integration | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: