Book Review

"New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens"

(1) Your points of disruption--places in the book that cause you to feel uncomfortable or angry or curious.

• One point that I had a hard time understanding was the teachers losing their wits at the students and getting angry. It made me uncomfortable because I know that my students will test me, and I will want to have patience. However I wonder if I will have enough patience and tact to teach them effectively, even when I feel like we’re running out of time or I feel like they just aren't getting something? The goal is for them to know everything they need to in order to be successful, and I can see how the teachers get frustrated when these students they care about are making the same mistakes. I just hope I never blow up while teaching.
• What I didn’t realize was how cultures could cause points of contention in families, like with the Yemeni girl whose family didn’t support her getting a college education as much as American families would.Thinking about the other kids' stories, I wondered a lot about the good and the bad parts of cultures. American culture isn't the best one, that is for certain. However, I think people forget that because of the hegemonic system we have going on in America where we're supposed to be #1 in EVERYTHING. It's hard even for me to think that people can be successful, even in America, if they have a different kind of culture.
• I was shocked at how busy some kids are. It's not even with extra curriculars. They're at work or they spend hours in family courts and other administration offices for paperwork and settling issues that come with being an immigrant, documented or not. That is time they waste worrying about being deported and being trapped in small rooms with hard benches and harsh fluorescent lighting instead of at home worrying about homework. It almost seems like institutional racism, since these issues can cause some kids to go as far as dropping out because they are so far behind from missing class, or being sent back to their "homeland" where they may not finish an education. 
• Another cultural disruption I had was how they pointed out that bringing kids from underprivileged places to visit and live in American homes, just to send them back to their own country, is actually really mean. If we are to introduce people to a life of privilege, we try to force them to go back to their old way of life and not expect them to try to stay. Mohamed’s story touched me. It was a story of how he became an undocumented citizen, and I felt for him. instead of trying to show people america, how hard is it to better their lives where they are?

(2) Descriptions of the stories from the book clarify or provide examples of the ideas we have been discussing in class.

• This book opened my eyes to the vast amount of diversity there is in immigrant students. When I think of immigrants, I usually only think of Hispanic kids and their culture differences, but this book showed me how diverse cultures from Yemen and Sierra Leone and Haiti and others can come together and how those students have to deal with trying to fit into the American culture.This probably won't be the same in a school I teach at. I wonder if International Schools in other countries have the same demographics, since I would like to work at an International School.
• I noticed for the first time just how much language is a cultural capital, especially in America. These kids were smart, but learning English and fitting into American culture while trying to hang onto their own seemed to be the two biggest challenges the students faced. Good English in itself has so many cultural gains associated with it. If you speak fluently and without an accent, people would not question if you're an illegal immigrant or not. However, being an immigrant has it's perks, even in American culture. Sometimes these immigrant children can win people over with their strange backgrounds, but in the book it pointed out that the point of the stories become a comparison of who's story is sadder, and not a comparison of how strong these student's are. 
• While some kids get privileges because of their backgrounds, like the four-year scholarships a few kids got, there are still too many kids who are disadvantaged because of their background and only being able to get low-income jobs. I don’t know how people could even survive in places like New york, where everything is so expensive. This is one issue that points out how meritocracy doesn't work.
• What i did like was how the teachers worked really hard to make those projects the students did mean something to the students. They were really good at inclusive pedagogy. They couldn't be completely culturally relevant, since there were so many different cultures. However, the teachers found ways to incorporate important skills, like writing in English, into the lessons by finding things that everyone could relate to, or finding ways for them to explore a subject they liked. The kids did research projects, each student picking a topic they were legitimately interested in. I thought it was funny how the teachers could tell if a student couldn’t think of a topic. Apparently, the students would chose to study the Bermuda Triangle.

(3) How the stories from the book will influence your thinking about your future work as a teacher.

• What was most heartbreaking but a good grounder was how some kids' stories didn’t turn out like the fairytale American dream stories. I have issues with stories that don't have happy endings, but this was good to remind me that the system is not perfect. Some kids will go straight to work at minimum wage jobs. Some will have children before they graduate and drop out. Some will go to college. Some won't even graduate high school. It made me realize that meritocracy is severely flawed, and while I will hate it and I won’t give up on those kids ever, some people will just have harder lives than others. Things won’t work out and I can’t get too torn up by the unsuccessful stories. This will be hard because in my own American dream, if I work hard enough and the student works hard enough, then they can make it. That’s the ideal, even if it’s not always reality. I'm glad this book kept the reader's reality in check, since it will fuel us to be better and try to improve the system, or even reinvent it. 
• I felt that the biggest issue for the teachers was the time. There never seemed to be enough time to prepare the students for the big world that they were supposed to function in. There are criteria that every student should know by the time they graduate, but I'm beginning to wonder if there is too much information to cover over four years, especially with immigrant children. What I feel like will be key for me as a teacher will be to remember that the skills take priority over the subject. They don’t necessarily need to memorize the skeletal system, but they do need to know how to use a computer to research a subject. The biggest challenge will be incorporating important skill building into learning subject matter.

(Re)Imagined Classroom

If I have windows in my classroom, I'll get shades for it. Thick enough they can't see outside but hopefully light enough to let a little natural light in. That way, kids who may get distracted by things happening outside will be able to focus a little more.

I still think having computers with internet access is something I really want in my classes so all my students will have an opportunity to do research. If not in my own class, then I'd want a lab somewhere in the school that we could go to if the kids needed the internet for any projects.

I feel like the ratio between teaching and conversing and doing activities will be more of a 1:1:2 ratio. I understand now that there are skills I will need to explicitly teach the kids because they need it. Group talking and doing activities will be to help assess understanding of the materials.

Rather than just straight lecture, I will still try to encourage questions of all kinds. I have a policy that I think worked fairly well in my lab that I taught. There are no such thing as HONEST stupid questions. There are such things as "smart-alec" stupid questions. What I noticed is that once I encouraged questions, and had more time where students constructively explored the subject they were learning, they would ask me questions while I was walking around and monitoring them. It was less stressful for those who may think they have "embarrassing" questions and wouldn't want to ask them out loud and in front of everyone. So the key was stressing the importance of questions, and making myself available to be asked questions in a non-stressful situation.

I still want to do field trips, but I also want to make sure that everyone can come who is interested. I also have to be aware of what they are doing in other classes and make sure I don't hinder the students or their teachers being able to do a lesson.

If I have a lot of specimens around the room, I'll have to make sure all of them are durable enough to be handled and have assigned times when people can or can't touch them. I still want to have a lot of things relevant to the lesson but also make sure that those specimens are relevant to the student's own lives and culture. Also in my room I would want to put either a pink upside-down triangle or a pride flag somewhere in the room so students know that my room is a safe room for LGBTQ kids.

I still think the ideal would be near the ocean, forest, and some sort of college. But really, there is always something to explore in the surrounding area. I would want to find projects with locals that have to do with biology, possibly having the students nominate people who they think would be interesting. If students don't know people, I could ask them to think of a subject we learned about that they enjoyed and I could find people.

I honestly don't know what kind of students I'll get. I'm sure I'll see every kind of student come through my classroom, so I really just want to judge it by each situation than try to imagine the kinds of students I expect to see. I want to see equal amounts of young men and women and encourage girls to join our class if I find that boys start to dominate my class.

I still want a seating chart that gets switched up every now and again. I'll let students have anonymous input in who they want to sit by, but mostly to see if anyone is getting excluded or possibly bullied.

I'm thinking of changing up the rules I originally had. I want them to be clear and posted in the room (if students need it in a different language, I'll give them a handout of the rules in their language after class). I honestly don't know what the specific rules would be, but I would try to make them as clear as possible. There will be a three strikes policy. The first time they violate the rule, I'll tell them what they did wrong and the better choice they should make. The second time the violate it, I'll have them call their parents after class or if their parents don't answer, they'll leave a message. Third time, we'll have a meeting with their principle and their parents.

I still would want daily low stakes quizzes over the material we learn in class. Possibly doing it as a warmup/review before class instead of at the end of class. I still like the idea of reviewing commonly missed questions and creating study guides for students based on questions they missed. I want to try really hard to have projects done more in class than out of class. I want assessments to be done more through projects that the students can choose, like doing a movie or doing a written report or something else. I still want to do a science fair but I would want to make time in class to work on it.

Personal Artifacts

The way I determined artifacts was first by determining what groups I identified with. From there, I determined some cultural aspects of each group. Here is my list of identifying groups:

Biologist/Marine life enthusiast
Married
Scuba Diver
Female
Oregonian
Student
Lab TA
American
Mormon
Miller (Surname)
Maxwell (Married name)
Upper middle class
Boater/Wakeoboarder
Rural area kid
Guard Girl (Colorguard)
Nerd

Here are a few personal artifacts that go along with some of the groups:

In the rural area I grew up in, it was uncommon to drive anywhere and not pass at least one cow pasture. This picture also represents what Oregonians mean when they love green. There isn't a brown spot to be found amongst the trees in the background. 

Being part of the married mormon culture, it is almost always assumed that you were married in an LDS temple. We were, in fact, married in the Portland temple. As part of the mormon oregonian group, I know the Portland temple is the prettiest temple of them all. 

In most western cultures, wearing a ring on your left hand signifies either engagement or marriage. 

As a Lab TA (Teacher's Assistant), part of my job and part of the culture is to know the Lab safety rules. We are required to wear gloves, closed toed shoes, and long pants. 

If you're a boating family, you wave to everyone. This advertisement shows that while in other cultures you'll get adverse reactions, you'll get a wave back if you're boating.

As a student, you always carry a backpack. If you're not wearing a backpack, you're either the teacher or you're unprepared.

Part of my Miller family culture is taking halloween pumpkin carving very seriously. We've never done the regular jack-o-lanturn face. As we've gotten older, our punpkins get more creative. 

Another Miller culture aspect is this rule that when you go to the beach, you make a sand castle/sculputre. It's not a trip to the coast if there are no sand sculptures involved. Also, everyone there is expected to help. If you're not doing anything, someone will give you a job. 

American's celebrate 4th of July as part of our culture. It would be considered un-American if you didn't find a way to celebrate the day. 

Fireworks are an expected norm for 4th of july. If you're lighting off fireworks this day, Americans should know why. 

As an Oregonian, having green around the house is a must. Everyone has at least one plant, whether they have a green thumb or they've just killed their 10th cactus. 

As a biologist and a marine enthusist, it is not uncommon for me to be touching wildlife, especially if it is one of my favorite animals. 

Another part of Oregonian culture is that tap water is always awesome. This becomes a problem for when we travel to places like Utah and are dissapointed in their low quality tap water. 

I share in the culture of celebrating birthdays. Within both the Miller and Maxwell family culture, it is typical for the birthday person to choose their favorite treat, even if it's not cake, and have candles stuck in the treat. We then sing the happy birthday song for the birthday person, and have them blow out the candles and make a wish. I didn't realize how cherished this tradition was until I spent my 21st birthday in Mexico, and cried when my host family surprised me with a cake, candles, and sang the Happy Birthday song in English. 

Community Experience

This class definitely puts me in a lot of awkward situations. For this community assignment, I ended up attending a narcotics anonymous meeting. It was awkward, but very enlightening. In the very beginning, you could tell that the two other girls from the class and I were different from everyone else, so no one sat next to us. I wondered if any of them felt like we shouldn't be there or if they thought we were judging them, or if I was just being overly self-concious and they didn't really care. I hoped it was the later. It's situations like these where you can almost feel prejudice in the air. You try to be open minded and things like that, but you still feel it, either because you feel self-concious, or because your uncounciously making judgements about people. I made a snap judgment that ended up being completely wrong. There was a lady who looked like she could be my grandmother, and a guy who came with her. She looked a little more put together than some of the other people in the room, so I thought she was maybe there to support the younger guy she came with, maybe a relative of sorts. She spoke up in the meeting and I found out that my snap judgment was completely wrong. She was there for herself and had quite a mouth on her. I realized that I've been in Utah way too long if I've forgotten that normal people in the real world swear on a regular basis. This culture of BYU is nice, and I enjoy being able to have inteligent conversations with people, but I had mistakenly assumed that people who swear can't have inteligent conversations. This is completely untrue. I sat in a room full of people who refered to themselves as addicts and swore, but they had some of the most meaningful, deep, and heartfelt comments that I've heard in a long time. They were real, they were inteligent, and my prejiduce almost made it so I couldn't see that. I'm glad I was able to identify the problem in my thinking and fix it before I dismissed the group as having nothing to teach me. 

While listening to the stories of these people, there were hints from many that they were not the first in their family to start using. I thought about how this effected them and their lives. They inherited a culture just like everyone else, but that culture did nothing to privelege them. Instead, it hindered them. However, they were able to find people like them and create a culture within their own broken culture. There was a guy celebrating 40 years of being clean. He attributed his success to sticking with the NA program and coming to the meetings and being involved in the group. This showed me how influencial a place of belonging could be. 

I wondered how much more effective these addicts recoveries could be if they had more places of belonging, if they gained more cultural capitol outside of the using world. This makes me want to create a classroom where kids succeed no matter what they struggle with outside of my room. Once they step in, I want them to know that they belong in my room and they will be successful in my class. Maybe then they can know that they can be successful wherever they go. I just want my students to know that they are loved and they belong. 

Being the "Other"

For my "being the other" experience I decided to go to the Crabtree Building Projects Lab. It's a lab for mechanical engineers that provides equipment to help with any projects. My husband was building a trigger mechanism in the lab, so I came in to help him. I know he was a inside friend, but I thought the opportunity would be a good one since the engineering feilds are not well populated by women and I would still be an ousider even with him there. My guess is that there is a social hegemony going on there, despite "efforts" to encourage women to join the engineering majors. 

How did you feel about being the other? 
I was nervous. So nervous, I questioned everything I did. I was even unsure if I knew how to get there, which resulted in me getting lost in the building for a second. When I did finally make it to the lab, I was really reluctant to go in. I saw my husband and felt a bit better, but the feeling that everyone was staring at me still lingered. It was all in my head, but what's in your head can scare you too. 

How did you cope with otherness?
Looking back on the experience, I should have talked to the people working in there, but in the moment, I wanted to be invisible. I was so self-concious, I forgot to get any cultural artifacts. I was just taking everything in and trying not to be noticed. I was just relieved when it was over. Overall, I didn't cope as well as I could have. I don't cope well with new experiences, especially if I'm isolated. I get nervous and sick to my stomach. People say I need to get over that, and for somethings I will have to suck it up and do hard things so I can move forward in life, but I often wonder if the world just thinks introverts aren't happy in life and the only way to be successful is to be an extrovert.

What are the implications for the students in your classroom who are experiencing school as a "foreign place?" 
While in there, my husband taught me how to use one of the machines to cut a piece of metal. I realized that having someone there who I thought wouldn't judge me if I failed was critical to my success. I was willing to try because someone thought that I could do it and was willing to teach me. Asking for that kind of help from someone I didn't know would have been terrifying. I was too chicken to do it. For students in my class, I can't wait for them to ask me for help. I have to create the relationship that says "I will not judge you, just love you" and set up the classroom as a safe environment for people to ask questions and not feel bad is also key. I will probably have to go to them and personally ask how I can help them in the beginning, but once the relationship is founded, it will hopefully be easier for my students to ask me or their classmates for help. 

There were a few groups of people doing a project for a class. I noticed that among about 20 people, only two of us were female and one of them was me. It was what I expected. That's how the culture of engineering is portrayed. It seemed a shame to me, because metal working would be a cool skill to have. What is stopping me? Lots of sad excuses: like I'm too old to learn it, or I'd have to learn some kind of math that I wouldn't want to do. The real problem is that I don't feel like I belong in the culture, so I don't think I could learn. That's the real skill I want to have. I want to do things I want to do and ignore the fear of not fitting in the culture. That's the skill I need to teach my students. I have to ask them "What would you do if you thought you couldn't fail?" and encourage them to do those things. It would also help to make my classroom a sort of practice area where they can try new things without feeling like they are being judged. 

Social Snapshot: Women

She's not a disney princess because she pointed out that beauty isn't the reason the guy should marry the girl. 

Most movies about fairy tales will make the princess the "fairest of them all" and that beauty is for the delight of their prince. Most women want to be a princess and live happily ever after, but only the beautiful ones get to do that.



Even heroines have to be the sexy type. You can't even defeat bad guys without full on makeup and a tight leather suit.

A popular trend now is to post faceless photos.

We love our pinterest and clothes, but faces and personalities might ruin our ideal outfit.

 

The ever present battle between what men want us to be and feeling bad for wanting to be anything other than that.

The main shot here is the body. Our bodies and how they look are what is most important to our health.


We can't be trusted with credit cards. We, again, value our looks more than anything.


It's almost impossible to understand what we think, so go with the easiest thing to do and just look at us.

What is being portrayed?
What most of the artifacts depict is that looks are all that are important for women. It is almost to the point where we can't do anything but care about that. To be a woman in America you have to care about your looks or you won't get anywhere in life. You have to be a certain size jeans, have impeccable hair, and be flawless in everything, in order to succeed. Also, women are seen by men as overly confusing and difficult to work with, which can be ok as long as you're drop dead gorgeous.

What are the consequences for children?
In our society, girls are expected to read and know these fairy tales of a beautiful princess who has a happily ever after. They want that happily ever after, so they have to become that princess in order to get it. Also, boys who are interested in their looks are thought to be "girly" or a "sissy" and are often made fun of. These kids will grow up thinking that the things that go along with looking good (shopping, becoming models, taking a long time to get ready, etc) are exclusively a large part of women's lives. Girls worry about how they look so much that they may lose self-confidence when they aren't the models in the magazines or in the movies.

Why is it important for teachers and others to understand the counter argument?
Understanding the counter argument is important because it gives women the power to show that there isn't a single story. It gives us power to say, being a woman will not stop me from being what I want to be, whether that be a scientist, a mother, an artist, or a CEO. There have been moevements to eradicate things like photoshopping in order to make the portrayal of women better, but I think those movements are missing the point. We end up with things like the unphotoshopped, plus sized model, swimsuit edition, sports illustrated magazine. What we really need to do is start telling the stories of different women and give girls role models. Those stories need to reach the general public, not just the women who are educated. It's a problem that when asked what great female role model in science, politics, or history they'd like to meet, people don't have an answer or can only think of a few women. It's not that there are only a few, they just aren't heard about. We need to talk about those role models so girls will stop worrying about their looks and worrying about how to become the best they can be. As teachers we need to encourage girls to think beyond their looks and start lifting each other up to do great things. Because we can do great things.

Imagined Classroom

http://wtamu.edu/webres/Image/Site%20Pictures/Academics/Sybil%20B.%20
Harrington%20College%20of%20Fine%20Arts%20and%20Humanities/bit/FAC130.jpg
Tables to easily maneuver around, concrete floors for easy cleanup if accidents in labs happen, and windows because I like the light, make this an ideal classroom.
Also, internet access for research and activities is a plus. 

http://www.blogseitb.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2013/04/Kids-Talking.jpeg
Students will get to be heard a lot in the classroom. If they talk more than I do, it was a successful day. 

Lecture is not the go to form of teaching. I'd much rather be doing things and having students explore the concepts they are to learn. 

Tide-pooling field trips and marine research projects would be done in my imagined classroom as often as possible and when relevant to lessons. I may even get to teach my own marine biology course.

http://www.soulcare.org/images/NCZoo-new-aviary-for-Otis-3.jpg
Specimens that students are able to interact with during appropriate lessons will be all around. 

In my imagined classroom, there would be at least one wall with lots of windows to let light in. There would be all sorts of fascinating specimens that students could handle when appropriate. We will use what we can find for experiments pertinent to the lesson. Hopefully there will be access to the internet for instructional videos and examples of any experiments we can't perform ourselves. Close by to the school would be the ocean, forestry, and possibly a nearby science museum or college campus, where field trips would enhance certain lessons.

Typical students would be adolescents around the age of 13-14. I can see myself teaching in a rural coastal town, some smalltown, USA or any other country. There may be some "hick" students if it is an american small town and ranging anywhere from poor to upper-middle class backgrounds. There would be surfers, swimmers, maybe some students really into the school track team, and some interested in the musical theater performance that I help the school put on. There may be some students with crushes on each other. Maybe they will be assigned lab partners and get married later in life. If the lesson required some lecture, they would be seated in a seating chart that was switched up every so often. They would be at least alert if not engaged in the lesson because they wouldn't know who would get called on next to answer my next question. If the activity had groups they would be moving about, collaborating with their group as well as with other groups, teaching each other and learning together. There may be students who don't want to be a part of the class. They may do everything in their power to not try. They will be hard. But I won't mind. They will be my students and I will try to help them see the fun in learning.

Classroom rules will be spelled out in the beginning of the semester. My number one rule will be to respect the students and respect the teacher. Students will then come up with rules together that are more specific, as well as consequences if any of the rules are violated. I will help and adjust any rules or consequences as I see fit, giving the students a reason for any changes I make to their suggestions. There will have to be safety regulations for any labs we do, and I will have those listed and placed on a wall where everyone can see them. Disciplining will consist of one reminder of the rule they are breaking and if it continues, enforcement of the consequence for that rule. If it continues after that, the student will stay after class and call their parent to tell them what they did. If the behavior continues after that, I'm guessing I will have to involve someone like the principle.
There will be regular homework assignments to help students prepare for activities we do in class. These would happen maybe once or twice a week. The homework would be geared towards mastery of concepts, so they would be able to turn it in as many times as they need to get it right, until they take the test for the material the homework covers. 

A typical lesson would start out with me greeting the students in an excited manor and going over what we will be doing in the lesson that day, a reminder of any upcoming assignments, and any announcements. There would be a quick engaging activity to remind the students about what we talked about last lesson and get their heads in the scientific mindset. Questions could be asked during this activity if there are any concepts they still don't understand. Next, I would introduce the topic of the day with either a short presentation, a lab, or another activity, depending on what we needed to learn that day and what would best teach the concept. Student participation would be heavily required in everything we did. I would be constantly asking the students questions to make sure they understand the material.
In any lesson though, I'd like to do the least amount of lecturing as possible and have the students be learning, discussing, and teaching each other, with me as a "guide on the side" to clarify concepts, challenge them, and maybe even inspire a little.

One specific lesson, we'd learn about predator and prey relationships. The main thing they would take away from the lesson would be how prey and predators have characteristics that help them survive. This would tie into how living things adapt to survive and add to their understanding of how evolution works. Why do students need to know this? Because then they understand a little better of our relationships with animals.

In my predator-prey lesson, I would first show some pictures of predators and prey and ask the students to notice and write down characteristics they see in the picture. From those pictures and the characteristics they see, I'd have them write down what kind animal this is (predator or prey). They'd then have 10 seconds to talk to their neighbor about their answer. I'd be walking around the classroom, in between desks or tables, raising the students level of awareness. Then I'd ask the class as a whole to tell me what they picked (predator or prey). After a few examples, if we had access to a computer lab or they had their own access to the internet, or even if I just had a bunch of identification books, I'd have the students get into small groups and quickly research an organism and be prepared to present that organism. We'd then have a competition between the groups and discuss who's organism would survive the longest, based on the characteristics presented. So, I as a teacher would be mostly giving directions and bringing the students together when needed. I'd be prompting questions when needed but I'd ideally be free to walk around, help students when they get stuck, and direct discussions where they hash out their learning themselves. I'd sit down in the back of the class among the students when other students were presenting their organism.

We would most likely have to do a unit on classification. An activity to go with that would be to have the students classifying with toys. Students would be split into small groups and given 10 or so toys. They would give the toys a scientific name from a list that I give them. Then, they would sort the toys into groups, creating a chart of how the groups split up. This would give them a feel for how scientists classified organisms before genetic mapping, while keeping them engaged.
Another activity would be learning about density. There would be three tests where students make observations and predictions and say why they make those predictions before we do the test. First would be dropping different rocks in a tank filled with water. After doing the experiment the students would write down the results and discuss why they thought it happened with their neighbors. Then, I'd have three volunteers drop different cans of soda in the water. The students would again write down the results and discuss them. Last, I would find a video on the two different bowling balls where one floats and one doesn't. After the students write down the results, we'd discuss all three experiments as a class. This activity shows the students how things that look the same can still be different because of their mass. We'd then give a name to that, calling it density, so then they would have an activity to tie to the new word.
Another activity that we would do is making a cell using the students' bodies. Students would get into groups that were assigned an organelle. They would then find out, using the internet or a textbook, what that organelle does. We would then either make room in the classroom or find an open area within the school to call our cell. The groups would then make a formation with their bodies that represents their assigned organelle in the cell. Then we'd go around and explain the organelles and correct any out of place organelles. This activity gets kids up and moving and thinking of the cell as a 3-D object and thinking abstractly, instead of just looking at a picture and learning the terms.

The first step would be to ask questions during the lesson. Then, there would be daily, simple, low stakes quizzes over the material they learned in class that day. I would tell them the questions they missed and they would write them down as part of their personal study guide. If I notice that most students miss the same question, we will review that topic again with a different approach. Once a week homework assignments or mini projects will be given as well. Projects can't be turned in later like the mastery homework. There will be larger tests that are more points and cover a unit of material. This will be when the mastery homework can't be turned in anymore. A general study guide will be given and students will quiz each other while reviewing for the big tests, using their personal study guides as well as mine if they need it. There will also be a science fair project they work on throughout the year, to test their abilities to think critically and logically.