Help me with biology.

MissSarah786

Does anyone know what differentiation means in terms of life sciences? Are they are referring to stem cells? Because that's all I've found so far.

MissSarah786

In embryology, the process by which cells become increasingly different and specialized, giving rise to more complex structures that have particular functions in the adult organism. For instance, embryonic cells may develop into nerve, muscle, or bone cells. This is what I found. Anyone want to help me expand on this?

bel138

You could go into the difference and similarities between stem cells and progenator cells.

ggmae

I have no idea, sorry. I would have been more helpful if the question was about history. Boo.I found this, but I'm not sure if it's accurate [url]<a href="http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0007991.html" rel='nofollow'>http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0007991.html</a>[[/url]

Night_Sprite

In the womb cells start out uniform then they specialize.  Does that help?

ggmae

Haha, I found the same thing you did. Is this for subbing?

MissSarah786

Yes, it for subbing. And it's middle schoolers - yuck! I'm gonna have to wear heels to make sure I'm taller than the kids. Goodness knows I'll look as old as some of them. I just want to have so idea what I'm talking about. Wikipedia has a good explanation. I'm hoping the teacher just wants them to watch a video.

ggmae

Ah, middle schoolers. Fun! Good luck.

MissSarah786

Considering my last sub job was 1st graders, I don't think I'm going to enjoy the 13/14 year old age range. They're so moody.

tlv204

Dude you know what you're going to be teaching? Or are you just brushing up on everything? Either way way to go I guess! I subbed on Monday and didn't even have a roster until 15 minutes into a French class. Yeah, I don't speak French. But yeah I think it's that when an embryo first forms, all of the cells are exactly the same.  As it grows, different cells perform different functions, and therefore turn into skin cells, or red blood cells, or brain tissue, etc.

tlv204

Oh and yes middle schoolers suck.  They are the bane of every teacher's existence. I'm firmly of the belief that no one teaches middle school on purpose, they just get a starter job there until a position opens up in elementary or secondary that they actually want.

MissSarah786

TLV, I am told the teacher and the school, so with middle school, I always check the subject. This teacher luckily has a web page syllabus, so I saw that he had planned "What is differentiation?" for tomorrow. I thought, WTF is that? And so I started looking.

ggmae

In college, I originally declared my major as pre-teaching and was encouraged to consider teaching middle school because it's apparently the least desirable group to teach. I don't think MS kids are all that bad - we were like that once, annoying and confused. Or at least most of us were.

tlv204

Aah gotcha.  I've only subbed one day so far this year and they called me that morning.  Luckily the lesson was about how to read a history text book, so I could at least wing it appropriately.

amandasw

yup, that's basically what differentiation refers to.  Stem cells are completely undifferentiated.  Cell signaling causes them to differentiate and develop into specific kinds of tissue.

MissSarah786

TLV, On Monday I got a call at 7:56 to be at the school by 7:45... I ran out the door and from the time of the phone call to arriving at the school was about 15 minutes. I didn't get to eat breakfast. The teacher was at the school, but she felt sick and wanted to go home.

tlv204

I hate that. I feel like I never get breakfast. The longer I subbed last year the less often I got those late last minute calls, so hopefully they won't do that too often.  But even if they call me right at 6 I feel a little bit rushed. I like when they request me weeks in advance

mwhitson14

I am one of those crazies who choose middle school on purpose. I love the kids and the ability to focus on one subject, not 5 or 6. I like to be able to make a really awesome lesson every day, which is harder to do when I need to teach 6 different lessons, at least for me.

MissSarah786

I was thinking of declining the 7th/8th grade job because I'm like 75% positive I'd get a call tomorrow morning for a elementary position, but I like to know where I'm going and I wanted to secure the job, so I took it. When I started subbing full time, I thought I'd get calls like 3-4 days a week, but it really only Mondays and Fridays right now. I'm gonna get a second job in the evenings on Tues-Thurs, maybe a Saturday too.

tlv204

I actually want to teach high school for the opposite reason.  I get bored if I have to teach the same thing all day.  During my internship I taught all English classes, but it was 5 different classes. Speech, composition, english 2, american lit, and british lit.

MissSarah786

True Whit. Tim teaches HS and he has far less planning than I did for elementary. He only had to plan 4 lessons and because of the A day, B day schedule, those 4 lessons lasted him 2 days. I would have had to plan at the least 8 lessons for 2 days.

mwhitson14

Tlv, I can understand that. Good thing everyone is different and we all like different things.

MissIntentional

i HATED biology in college. i also hated middle school. that being said, good luck tomorrow!

katiewhompus

The teachers at my school are freaking out because the freshmen had an orientation today, and kids officially roll in Tuesday. My boss and I are like "yay it'll be peaceful on Tuesday" lol. While the teachers are busy teaching we can actually get some computers fixed and up and running.

MissSarah786

First days are always hectic, especially in K and 1st because first time parents don't know when school starts, so they show up at random times during the first week and register kids.

tlv204

I just hate the beginning of the school year because I have no work yet   By Thanksgiving last year though i was subbing 5 days a week, so hopefully it will pick up soon.   And yeah I forgot about the block scheduling.  We didn't have that at my internship school, so that required a lot of planning, but the district where I sub does have that in the high schools, so it mostly depends on the school as to what the schedule is.  However, since I'm not actually planning anymore it doesn't make much of a difference :)Sarah, what kind of part time work do you want to look for? I've been thinking about that too just to earn some more money, but like I said I was pretty busy  after a few months last year, so I'm nervous about spreading myself too thin. 

MissSarah786

TLV, I was thinking of just getting a job at somewhere like Starbucks, Borders, or a grocery store or something. A job that I could leave in 8-10 weeks and not feel bad about it. I interviewed for a long term sub position with an awesome district with tons of money. Parents donate $360 for each of their students as recommended by this district, the parents are making 200k+ every year. I have the third part of the interview soon. So I'm hoping that works out.

tinkerbell.katie81

"Oh and yes middle schoolers suck. They are the bane of every teacher's existence. I'm firmly of the belief that no one teaches middle school on purpose, they just get a starter job there until a position opens up in elementary or secondary that they actually want."I take serious offense to this! I PICKED middle school, not because I couldn't get a job elsewhere (with my Harvard degree, I had several job offers at BOTH the middle and high school level) but because I wanted to make a difference in the kids' lives. I love my job and find both the students and teachers to be the most interesting and entertaining individuals to work with. The quirkiness of middle schoolers is part of their charm. Yes, they can be difficult at times, but the stigma that they carry irks me. I hate working with little kids and the isolation of being a high school teacher would drive me insane. As a middle school teacher, I get to work in a team environment where all of our students have the same teachers. We collaborate, do interdisciplinary activities, and get to know the ins and outs of each of our kids. It really is a unique (and wonderful) working environment. I agree that it isn't everyone's cup of tea, but to say it is a "starter job" is an insult to every teacher that has dedicated their entire careers to the education of middle school students.OK, I'll get off my soap box now. I'm sorry for the rant, but I get sick of the "oohh, I'm sorry" reaction that I get every time I say I teach 8th grade.

tlv204

Ooh good luck! I would love a long term position. In my district if you sub more than 45 days for the same teacher (super long term, but still) it's almost twice the pay.

tlv204

I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to offend anyone.  My only experience with middle schoolers is subbing, and if you did that you might understand my position too.  Until today, I honestly had not met a teacher who actively wanted to teach middle school. And don't get me wrong, I would love any kind of full time teaching job right now, it's just not what I would prefer if I had the choice.

MissSarah786

Yeah tinkerbell, I could see the "oh, sorry" response to the middle school gig. I get the same thing from HS teachers when I tell them I taught 2nd grade, and I don't know how my husband handles his high schoolers, they scare me. Each age level comes with it's difficulties. In middle school you probably don't have an issue of little boys purposely peeing on the walls in the bathroom, you probably don't deal with "owies", and thumb sucking is not an issue. But I don't have to deal with Bf/GF issues or gossip like you do.