Posts
Friday, January 30, 2009
Daily Recap: Friday 1/30
Investigating Technologies:
Continued working on interval one of our second rotation. I feel like there was some progress made in the groups. I'm in the process of getting the portfolios graded from the first rotation.
Anatomy and Physiology:
We spent some time discussing blood types. In class we began constructing a graphic organizer that listed the antigens and antibodies for each blood type, as well as what types each can give to or receive from. My hope is that students will try to finish before class on Monday so that we can go over it.
The first PMS activity of the quarter was due today. Very few students turned one in.
Biology:
Friday catch-up day. The second SIN activity was due today. Most students turned one in. Our genetics test is scheduled for a week from today. We will spend most of next week getting ready for it.
Neil deGrasse Tyson on The Daily Show
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Federal Economic Stimulus
The bill passed the House yesterday on a vote of 244-188.
Daily Recap, Thursday 1/29
Investigating Technologies:
A few more groups finished up their first rotation. Everyone else continued working on the second rotation which was opened up yesterday. The rocketry group might be waiting awhile before they launch.
Anatomy and Physiology:
We finished the blood notes. There's a link to them in yesterday's post. Lab report 32, which is listed on your Physio-Phocus bulletin as assigned for today, is not longer an assignment. I've decided to just cross it off the list. Hopefully that will free up some time.
Don't forget that your first PMS activity is due tomorrow.
Biology:
Thursday is lab day! We started a new lab activity dealing with the use of karyotypes to diagnose genetic conditions. Cutting and pasting...oh what fun!
I'm having some issues accessing this website from school. If this continues, then I'm going to probably not be able to post everyday. Hopefully there's an easy fix to the situation.
Senate Bill Ammended
The Kansas Senate on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a compromise budget measure that makes smaller cuts in education and social services than what Republican leaders had wanted.The 25-15 vote would reduce public school funding by approximately three-quarters of one percent, human services by 1.5 percent and higher education and the rest of state government by about 4.5 percent.
The good news here, for schools at least, is that K-12 public education may not be cut by nearly as much as was first discussed.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Daily Recap: Wednesday 1/28
Investigating Technologies:
Today was the first day of our new rotation. Several groups finished presented their final products from the first rotation and turned in their portfolios. Several groups still need to do this. I recommend doing it sooner rather than later to avoid falling too far behind on the new rotation. The aerospace rocketry suite is in a holding pattern while they wait for good weather to launch.
Anatomy and Physiology:
Yesterday's nervous system tests were returned and briefly discussed. We talked a little bit about this blog and how I intend to use it for my classes, then we began our unit on the cardiovascular system by taking our first set of notes over blood. This is covered in chapter 14 in the textbook.
Biology:
We discussed the assigned reading from yesterday, which was textbook section 11.2. The topic of this section is complex patterns of inheritance and includes incomplete dominance, co-dominance, multiple alleles, polygenic, and sex-linked traits. Keep in mind that the second SIN of the quarter is due on Friday.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Threatened Cuts to School Funding
The governor's budget addressed the anticipated $180 million shortfall by reducing funding to local governments and higher education, delaying the phase out of the corporate franchise tax, initiating a state hiring freeze, and making cuts to specific social services. While this budget plan doesn't cut funding for K-12 education, it does prevent public schools from collecting about $165 million in money that had been previously allocated for them.
The bill that will be on the senate floor tomorrow provides for a $300 million budget cut by reducing state spending by 3.4% across the board. If enacted, this plan would strip Kansas schools of about $110 million for this fiscal year. And since since the cut is "across the board", it would not only affect the "base" amount given to schools, but would also affect special education and at-risk funding, along with programs that are important for smaller, poorer districts that serve greater numbers of "at risk" students. The result of this is that these cuts would have a much greater impact on smaller districts than on the larger, wealthier districts that make up the suburbs of Kansas City and Wichita.
Our district would loose over $250,000 under the republican plan. This would be financially devastating for our schools. You can use this link from KNEA to look up and contact your legislators and let them know that you agree there are better ways to balance the budget then to cripple public schools.
Daily Recap: Tuesday 1/27
This was the last day on the current rotation for both classes. We will start the second rotation of this Suite tomorrow. So why didn't a single group get finished...?
Anatomy and Physiology:
Both classes took the nervous system exam. The raw average was 58% (yikes!), but z-scored to a 75% average. Since work is due on exam day, a lot of zeros showed up in the gradebook.
Biology:
Tuesday is our weekly scheduled reading day. We read section 11.2 from our biology textbooks and completed "contextual redefinition" worksheet to help learn the key vocabulary terms. Everyone should have gotten a copy of the new bio-bulletin by now. Our test is scheduled for a week from Friday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
