Twenty Five Classes or Bust: Biology

My second stop was to Mr. Everdell's 9th grade Biology class.  Mr. Everdell occupies a spectacular classroom in which to teach Biology--there are windows on two walls that provide a 180-degree view of the natural splendor of the Gunston campus, and now that the leaves have fallen, you can see the river from his classroom.  On this particular day, there was a torrential downpour outside, with forty-five mph gusts of wind.  His classroom includes an aquarium, shelves and shelves of biology books, and nets and buckets for his Corsica River experiments.

The Aquarium

In the class I observed, Mr. Everdell was conducting a review of recently studied material, and he was using his projector and the online resources from the textbook to display an interactive jeopardy-type review game.  He broke the class into two (highly competitive) teams that battled over the categories of Cells, Membranes, Energizers, Product Production, and of course, Grab Bag.  The students engaged in an intense yet collaborative exercise to reinforce their understanding of terms and concepts.  At all times, Mr. Everdell was there to clarify questions and extend student understanding about cilia, flagella, cell walls, mitochondria, etc.