P3- Practice standards-based assessment.

P3.- Practice standards-based assessment. Teacher-candidates use standards-based assessment that is systematically analyzed using multiple formative, summative and self-assessment strategies to monitor and improve instruction. For each unit taught, teachers should monitor student understanding throughout the whole unit. Some of the monitoring will come in the form of quizzes or tests, other monitoring may be informal during class or through self-assessment assignments for students to complete. I have included two documents showing how the units I write incorporate various methods of assessment to improve student learning. Document 1 (bacteria unit overview) shows the progression of the bacteria unit as it occurred in class. Document 2 (assessments) shows the various methods of assessment I used throughout the unit to monitor student learning. The assessments include summative, formative and self-assessment strategies to gauge student understanding from day one until the unit quiz. While writing the unit and compiling the assessments, I noticed how natural assessing students in various ways occurs during instruction. What does not come as natural is creating alternative summative assessments that allow students at various levels to succeed in class. In future units, I would like to prepare multiple forms of summative assessment to ensure students who learn in different ways are able to be assessed appropriately. I would also like to include more opportunities for students to self-assess their progress as self-assessment is a key skill for success in academia and life.

Bacteria unit overview                                                         Assessments

H2- Honor student access to content material.

H2.- Honor student access to content material. Teacher-candidates use multiple instructional strategies, including the principles of second language acquisition, to address student academic language ability levels and cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Students learn in a variety of different ways. To reach each member of the classroom community, variation in instructional strategies and the care for all language acquisition (whether second langauge acquisition or academic language acquisition) is vital to successful student learning. In chemistry, we gave students a sheet of polyatomic ions (attached) and told them that eventually they will need to know these by heart. In the meantime, students used the sheet of polyatomic ions while learning to write ionic formulas. This resource gives all students an opportunity to learn in their own way before mastering the polyatomic ions. Giving the resource to students a month prior to the mastery quizes where students will get points for memorizing the ions, students have the chance to learn the ions in a way that is convenient for them.   For some students, the visual aspect of a list will help introduce the academic language necessary for chemistry. For other students, working with the polyatomic ions on a regular basis will help them memorize the formulas. In addition, some students will require point-based motivation to memorize the formulas. Upcoming "mastery quizes"  will give students the point-based motivation necessary for them to learn the formulas and names of polyatomic ions. From this experience, I have seen firsthand how important it is to think ahead while planning. As a new teacher I often get bogged down in what needs to be prepared for tomorrow. I have to consciously think about the big picture and what my students will need to thoroughly understand not only one particular unit, but the course content overall. To enhance the instruction of polyatomic ions further, it may be beneficial to present the ions in various ways to the class as a whole. Adding some sort of direct instruction may help reach some students that have yet to be reached from the other methods of teaching polyatomic ions.

olyatomicIons2

H3- Honor the classroom/school community as a milieu for learning.

H3.- Honor the classroom/school community as a milieu for learning. Teacher-candidates implement calssroom/school centered instruction, including sheltered instruction that is connected to communities within the classrom and the school, and includes knowledge and skills for working with others. For students to really learn, the classroom must be a place where students are encouraged to work together. When students work together grappling with a difficult concept, a classroom community is formed. The job of the teacher is to foster that community in a healthy way. During the unit I taught on cells, I had students present their cell analogy projects to the class. They were allowed to work in groups, but each person had to be part of the presentation. While presenting, I made notes about both the presenters and the audience. I was likely the most excited audience member. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the creative ways my students talked about cells. The next day, I came to class with individualized comments for each student. They were celebratory in nature, but a few of them did have suggestions for increasing their success at presentations. by offering students compliments on their work as presentors, my goal was to enhance the learning environment and encourage students to share in their learning together. Typically there are papers strewn everywhere when my biology students leave for the day, however no comments were left in the room, indicating that the comments were important to the students. I learned through this experience that students appreciate praise for the learning they do in class. They respond to a learning community when the community is accepting of various opinions. Student learning will increase due to the positive nature of the classroom, alongside the high-level thinking that occurs. In the future, I could have students write comments to each other as a way to show that students have the power to make a difference on their peers and their learning environment as well.

Fifth Period Cell Analogy Evals- no names

Status Update

Today I am transitioning out of full-time teaching during my internship and returning to an observer of the classes I have been heavily immersed in for the past 12 weeks. I am struggling with the realization that I am no longer sharing the teacher/student bond that the day-in, day-out rigors of classroom life forges between teachers and students.

However, I am anxious to return to observing my mentor teachers. I feel that I will notice different aspects of their teaching personas now that I have been in their shoes on a regular basis.

Anyways, I thought a status update might be nice in the midst of all the updating I have been doing here on the blog. Stay tuned for more reflective posts!

 

Happy Monday!

Chemistry Course Rationale

The attached document is the course rationale for the Chemistry course I have been participating in during my internship.

Course Rationale_Chemistry

Biology Course Rationale

The attached document outlines the Biology class I have been participating in during my internship.

Biology Course Rationale

E2- Exemplify collaboration within the school.

E2.- Exemplify collaboration within the school. Teacher-candidates participate collaboratively and professionally in school activities using appropriate and respectful verbal and written communication. Teaching can often be a solitary task.  However, collaboration among teachers can give insight into new and innovative ideas as well as create a space to share in the joys and sorrows of teaching.  At my placement school, there are days where students only attend half-day to allow teachers to participate in professional development. This may look like training sessions on various topics or collaborating with other teachers. I have attached a sheet of notes I took during a department meeting where the focus was on what students should be introduced to during Freshman year that will be helpful in advanced Science classes.  From this meeting,  I saw  several themes that can be taught through every year of high school science. From this conversation, it became clear that collaboration as a department can only lead to students maintaining consistency throughout high school science. I learned through meeting with other teachers that state standards are vague enough for teachers to be creative, but too vague to easily go from year to year and prevent repeating information. However, repeating information is not necessarily a problem for high school age students. Hence, the collaboration within a department can alleviate some of the ambiguity. Students may benefit from some repetition, but collaborating with other teachers in an effort to minimize repeating information can only serve students better in broadening their breadth of of knowledge about science. In the future, I plan on giving a beginning of the year pre-test covering various topics in science to gauge where students are at. Doing so would give me as a teacher a better idea of what information students are coming into class with to help determine where the class is going to go throughout the year.

[caption id="attachment_417" align="alignleft" width="225"] Notes from Science department meeting[/caption]

In addition, I think it would be interesting to administer a similar test to students every year to see how they progress through four years of high school science and see how much repeat, etc. there is.

P2- Practice differentiated instruction.

P2.- Practice differentiated instruction. Teacher-candidates apply principles of differentiated instruction, including theories of language acquisition, stages of language, and academic language development, in the integration of subject matter across the content areas of reading, mathematical, scientific and aesthetic reasoning. As students come into science, they are at all different stages of growth and knowledge of scientific workings. In order to reach each student individually, a certain amount of tailoring must be done for each student in order to give students their best shot at acquiring the academic language necessary to survive in the academic world. To demonstrate differentiation, I have included two versions of a conclusion I asked students to complete during the bacteria unit of Biology. One was offered to the majority of students and the alternative version was offered to students that needed additional guidance and alternative expectations for the assignment. By offering two versions of the same assignment, I was able to appropriately assess more students than if I gave only one version of the assessment. While going through the submitted work offered by students from the standard and alternative assessments, I noticed how helpful simplifying the expectations was for the students of the alternative assessment. I would not have received as high quality of work if I hadn't done so, because these students were able to show me what they really knew by completing the alternative assessment. Student learning  would have suffered if every student had the same expectations in this situation. In the future,  I hope to make an effort to create alternative assignments for each major assessment (such as tests or lab reports) to offer students I feel need streamlined expectations to show me what they really know. Bacteria Lab Analysis Questions

microbe modified lab rubric

E3- Exemplify an understanding of professional responsibilities and policies.

E3.- Exemplify an understanding of professional responsibilities and policies.  teacher-candidates demonstrate knowledge of professional, legal, and ethical responsibilities and policies. Teaching science goes beyond lecturing. In a science classroom there are many factors to consider including laboratory procedures and safety precautions that are to be taken. To keep students safe and out of harms way, there are multiple responsibilities and policies one must adhere to. A major part of being a science teacher is maintaining a self-sufficient and well-run lab. There are many policies, both outlined by the science community and the educational system. Attached are several handbooks I use and spreadsheets I have created for my future classroom to make sure I am following all of the necessary guidelines and procedures to keep myself and my students safe. My mentor teacher is the chemical hygiene officer for my placement school which means he is up to date on all the inner workings of the safety procedures necessary for a school. He has taught me to be organized, thorough and efficient when dealing with safety procedures. The spreadsheets and handbooks are a way to keep myself focused on what is important to monitor. My responsibility as a science teacher, particularly in chemistry is to be aware of potential dangers and to take the appropriate precautions. This includes but is not limited to stockroom materials, emergency eyewash and shower maintenance and fire and gas safety procedures. I have learned to be organized and thorough when dealing with science classroom upkeep and how to work various procedural situatons into my dialy routine. Students will benefit in both personal and academic ways by participating in a chemically safe environment. Students will learn how to properly use equipment and the necessary procedures to keep themselves and others safe during emergencies, skills any person should have. In addition  to the eyewash and safety shower spreadsheets I have provided, I will compile a spreadsheet outlining all of the chemicals in the stockroom to keep up to date, once I am running my own high school lab.

EYEWASH STATION

Safety Shower

NIOSH2007107

P4- Practice the integration of appropriate technology within instruction.

P4. Practice the integration of appropriate technology within instruction. Teacher-candidates use technology that is effectively integrated to crete technologically proficient learners. Technology is an ever-changing aspect of modern life, included education. Technology can be used to entice and excite students, but in order for the use of technology in the classroom to be effective, students should be taught how to effectively use the technology that will be in their academic lives. To introduce bacteria, I showed two YouTube clips. One was about 2 minutes long and the other about 5 minutes. I showed both clips twice instructing students to watch and listen the first time through and then as we watched it again to answer the questions I wrote to go along with the clips.  I have included both the clips and the lesson plan I used for the day they were shown. By showing these clips I was able to accomplish several different tasks.  The clips bring up many interesting facts about bacteria, including antibiotic resistance and a short piece on evolution and natural selection, acting as a hook for the upcoming unit. In addition, I showed students how to use youtube clips effectively by watching them twice so they hear the information and then pick up the important ideas the second time through. From this lesson I learned that videos are a great tool to use when starting a unit. Once the unit begins, various concepts come up that can be referred back to the youtube clip so students have a reference point. Students  were not only introduced to bacteria in a way that they will remember, but they were also given an underlying lesson in learning from video clips. In the future, I want to make sure that I use video clips sparingly enough that they are thought of as a "treat" but often enough to enhance various lessons.

introtobacteria_LP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjR6L38yReE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcXdfofLoj0

Energy of Matter Unit

The first unit I taught in Chemistry was probably one of the hardest content areas of chemistry to teach. The entire unit is completely abstract. I am so thankful my mentor teacher is as prepeared as he is and literally handed me the material every day to work with. I was able to write several of the warm-ups, but only some. My personality definiely shined through in places as well, just ask the students about my bad energy equation jokes. I enjoyed teaching this unit becuase it is coherent and student progress is really easy to follow. One day they are complaining this makes no sense at all and the next they are writing electron configurations like pros. In the future, I would make sure that I spend more time gauging the algebra skills of my students. Maybe going slower through the light and energy equations to make sure students have a solid understanding of how to manipulate the equations to do what you want them to. I felt rushed through this portion of the unit, understandably becuase I needed to take the time to go through it myself and refresh my own understanding. There were also many instances of questions asked that I couldn't give an answer to, my chemistry skills are not graduate level.

O1- Offer an organized curriculum aligned to standards and outcomes.

O1- Offer an organized curriculum aligned to standards and outcomes. Teacher Candidates align instruction to the learning standards and outcomes so all students know the learning targets and their progress towards meeting them. One way to differentiate a classroom is to cater to different learning styles. Some students are visual and require learning goals posted on the walls. Other students may need the overall goal of the unit in front of them before they are able to delve into the details. O1 attempts to cater to multiple learning needs. By showing students what the learning standards are and helping them track their own progress, differentiation happens naturally in the classroom.  In chemistry, students are given a handout titled "learning goals" at the beginning of each unit (attached at the bottom). The front of the sheet includes the key ideas for the unit as well as space for students to check off the concepts as they learn them. On the back of the sheet there is space for students to ask questions and list what they are struggling with to turn in two days before the test. From student feedback we are able to compile questions to help students solidify any concepts they may not be fully confident in right before the test. This handout not only alerts students to learning standards and outcomes, but allows students to keep progress of their own learning and then identify their weak spots in their learning. As a teacher, I value these handouts just as much to gauge student learning as the unit progresses. While using this handout, I find that I am more in tune to the unit content myself at the end of the unit I find that I am more aware of how my students are comprehending the material. Students clearly benefit from learning goals presented in this way as they take time to reflect on their learning progress in preparation for the test. In addition to providing each student with a learning goals handout, I would like to incorporate a reflective time as a class to analyze various aspects of the unit and how far we have come as a whole. This could include analyzing pretests prior to the unit test or getting in groups and going over learning specific learning goals.

learning goals