Reflect on your thinking, your learning, and your work this week. What were you most proud of?
This week, I have been really gearing my mind towards planting seeds and creating an environment in which they can grow-- watering them, making sure they don't stay too wet, making sure they get enough sunlight, etc. This is because in class lately, we have been working on our ecocolumns and science fair projects. My group's science fair project consists of growing plants and testing which species is most resilient against acid rain. This week, I was most proud of how our plants are growing! I am so glad our project is off to a good start.
Where did you encounter struggle this week, and what did you do to deal with the struggle?
I encountered struggle when I found that some of my lettuce in my ecocolumn is dying. It was growing and thriving so well, and then all of a sudden started turning yellow and dying. I realized that I was absolutely drowning it by giving it too much water, and it could never dry out because I did not make the holes in the top of the lid big enough, in hopes that it would keep the crickets from jumping out. I dealt with this struggle by skipping watering it for a day, and putting the lid on it sideways in order to let it dry out some, since the crickets aren't in there yet.
What about your thinking, your learning, and/or your work brought you the most satisfaction this week? Why?
This week, I got the most satisfaction out of my discussion board post on the 5 Elements of Effective Science Instruction by Center on Instruction. For this assignment, I made an infographic, connecting these 5 elements to my future classroom, and including a short description of each element. Here it is so y'all can view it!
I really enjoyed reading about these 5 elements of effective science instruction, and I am excited to hear back from my C.E. on the interview questions that I made for her regarding how she implements these five elements in her classroom.
What action steps do you want to complete over the next week? Why?
Over the next week, I will analyze and reflect on the interview that I conducted with my C.E. regarding these 5 elements of effective science instruction, and I will make connections between this information and my future classroom. I want to do this because I want to learn all that I possibly can from my C.E. before I take over the classroom for student teaching in January, and before I have my very own classroom next school year!
How did you contribute to the overall class this week? What can you do next week to help your colleagues more?
I contributed to the overall class this week by replying to my peers' discussion boards, contributing to my groups' science fair project, and tweeting using our class hashtag #SCED330. Next week I can help my colleagues more by participating even more in the science fair project as our plants will probably be big and strong enough to start testing the acid rain on them!
What outside learning/research did you complete? How will you use this information in the future, either in this class or in your future classroom?
For my outside learning research for blog 2, I dove more into research-based strategies for teaching science. I found a slide deck that is super long (98 slides), but very informative. I will link it below for y'all. One of my biggest takeaways is that one of the slides said "Learners grow through the same predictable stages but at different rates." This is so true! I am seeing this in my placement. I have some children in my class that could pass for a first grader, and some that could easily pass for a fourth grader. I thought this slide was a good reminder that children learn and grow at different rates.
Source: https://www.slideshare.net/majumalon/science-teaching-approaches-and-strategies
Majumalon Follow. (2015, October 28). Science Teaching Approaches and Strategies. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from https://www.slideshare.net/majumalon/science-teaching-approaches-and-strategies
You must include the screenshots of the 3 most influential tweets you read / contributed during this week with a 3-5 sentence description of each.
Tweet 1:
I thought this tweet was cool because this teacher's class grew radishes in their ecocolumns, and were able to track their growth over the course of 9 weeks! I connected this to our ecocolumns, and how Rachel brought Parrot Feathers in for us to grow in the aquariums of our ecocolumns. Hopefully ours will last for a while and these students in this teacher's class won't put us to shame! Haha!
Tweet 2:
I really liked this tweet. It does not particularly relate to science, but it absolutely can be applied to science. This math teacher stated that he stopped asking if students had any questions, and started asking them what questions they have. Think about how this could transform our classrooms if we applied this in all subject areas, but especially when we teach science!
Tweet 3:
Okay, y'all forreal go check this out when you have time. It will be worth it. I found this tweet where this person made a weather tool that gives you updates on the weather in real time! If you click on his website, the weather currents and patterns swirl on your screen. It is amazing!
I'll make it easy for you, here's the link! https://t.co/ZjeBfuyLEB
What specific current event related to science did you learn about this week? How were you able to connect a component of science methods to your learning?
Speaking of weather, my current event for blog 2 is on hurricane Florence that just hit our east coast and got us out of class a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully, the hurricane was not as severe as they thought that it would be here, but it was very bad in Wilmington and New Bern, and other places on our coast. We should all be praying for those affected by hurricane Florence recently! I was able to connect this to science methods because we took a whole class period and talked about hurricanes, what they really are, and how they get started. I actually learned that it all starts over the Sahara Desert.
Bacon, J. (2018, September 24). Hurricane Florence hit 10 days ago, and still hundreds of roads remain closed, thousands evacuated. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/09/24/florence-10-days-later-rescues-and-evacuations-continue/1408965002/
What did you learn about the NCTCS this week? How does this relate to your future science instruction?
This week, I am unpacking NCTCS 2c and 2d for EDUC 435. These standards are about treating students as individuals, and adapting teaching to benefit students with special needs. This can relate to what I have learned in science this week. When I hear the phrase "Teachers need to modify their teaching to benefit students with special needs," I do not automatically think about adapting my teaching for students who have a disability of some sort. When I think of someone having a "special need," I just think about them needing something that is specific to the way that they learn, and it can be anything. One of Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences is the Naturalistic Learner. These students learn best when reading about animals or nature, when sitting or walking outside, or while learning about the outside world. Our students learn differently, and we must treat them as individuals (Standard 2c) and cater their learning (and special) needs. We must remember that some students just need to get some fresh air and get back to nature.
Cherry, K. (2018, February 24). Which Type of Intelligence Do You Have? Retrieved September 26, 2018, from https://www.verywellmind.com/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-2795161
Megan,
ReplyDeleteI love the research you included about teaching science! I think that science was always a bit of a fearful subject in my education experience. However, I think that allowing students to learn and grow at their own pace and recognize failure as learning opportunities opens the door for such deep learning!
I also love the weather tool you included! I have always been intrigued by interactive Earth tools such as Google Earth! This is such a cool way to encourage student inquiry!
You have made great connections in this blog with your current learning. The 5E infographic that you created is a great resource that you can carry over into your future classroom! I too have had some issues with my eco column. Some of my plants are lifeless and falling over, meaning they are easily pulling out of the ground when I measure them. I believe I have packed the dirt too much and need to loosen it up a bit. I am happy to hear that your group had a successful start with the science fair project and I hope it continues to go well and provides a great deal of learning. You shared some great tweets and research this week. I especially like the tweet from the edutopia article about asking a different question in the classroom, what questions do you have? This question is open-ended and does not allow for students to say yes or no, but to actually formulate ideas and questions about the information at hand. The weather tool was really neat, I tried to interact by zooming in or clicking on certain areas, but I was unable to, maybe I am using it wrong? Either way it is really neat! Also, I appreciate how you noted to pray for the people who were affected by hurricane Florence, as it caused a lot of havoc to the coast of NC. Great blog post!
ReplyDeleteMegan,
ReplyDeleteSpot-on with your blog! I really appreciate the connections you have been making! ...also, thanks for the infographic! Keep on making those deep connections!