SCED 330 // Blog 4

November 29, 2018

I absolutely cannot believe that this is the last blog I will be writing before Student Teaching! Time has absolutely flown by, and I am so excited!

Reflection...

     I am most proud of how hard I have worked this month-- and really this whole semester. I completed my Science Methods clinical experience commentaries over Thanksgiving Break, which took dedication. This month we also were able to learn some formative assessment strategies that we can use in the classroom, and I found that to be very insightful. This month, I encountered struggle most with my unit. I was having a hard time comong up with ways that my students could use metacognition. However, I am overcoming this struggle and getting it done! This month, my Task 3 clinical experience commentary brought me the most satisfaction because I worked really hard on it, and I feel confident in it. Over the next week/month, I will get prepared for student teaching! I will be going into my placement during final exam week. I will not be going in after that until January 2nd, because I need time to decompress and get ready for Student Teaching. If I don't give myself a break, it will be a disservice to the children because I won't be able to 100% give everything I've got for student teaching. I want to do my absolute best for these kids and the semester I've been waiting for! I contributed to the overall class this month by trying my best in all these last group projects we finished up.

Outside learning/research...

     This month, I decided to do my outside research on Paige Keeley's book that we talked about in class, known as Science Formative Assessment Strategies. I would like to highlight two that I think would be good to incorporate in my future classroom.

1. Paige Keeley’s formative assessment strategy #10, known as Data Match. In this formative assessment strategy, students use and demonstrate discourse and metacognition by using evidence from data to see which statements are true and accurate.
2. Formative assessment strategy in which students analyze their own, and their peers’, explanations. 
3. APA citation: Keeley, P. (2008). Science formative assessment: 75 practical strategies for linking assessment, instruction, and learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Top Tweets...

I chose this tweet because we talked all about the 7 Habits in class this week. This was a new concept to me, so I looked it up. I was amazed to see what the 7 Habits are and how educators are currently encorporating these into their classrooms!

I feel just a little famous now that I got a reply from a Twitter account that has so many followers, telling me that they would "love to hear more" about my tweet! I replied back to them saying that we had been discussing Paige Keeley's book regarding formative assessments in science.

I wanted to share this tweet with y'all, because I thought it looked like a great resource. It is a tweet by the Next Generation Science Standards' Twitter. I think that it is important that we will be licensed in 6th grade, and we need to stay up to date on things in the 6th grade world so that we are ready if we get placed in that grade level!

Current Event...

     This month, I came across an article that I found to be very interesting! This article states that there has been a breakthrough in DNA technology. This new DNA technology has allowed us to make amazing sketches of suspects from samples obtained on crime scenes. The article states that this technology can help officials find how who committed crimes recently, or years ago. I think that it is amazing what science and research can do! I cannot wait to get into the classroom and have my students do all kinds of science learning experiences.
APA citation: Sterman, J., & Brauer, A. (2018, November 29). DNA technology can create unbelievable suspect sketches from crime scene samples. Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://wlos.com/news/nation-world/dna-technology-can-create-unbelievable-suspect-sketches-from-crime-scene-samples

NCTCS...
   
     This month, I think that Science Methods brought a whole new meaning to Standard 3, "Teachers know the content they teach." While completing all of these last few assignments, commentaries, etc., I have really realized why it is so important to learn all that we can as future teachers. If we are going to teach these children, we are going to have to know what to teach them, and how to teach them. By completing these projects in Science Methods, I feel more prepared to take on teaching science to my student teaching students, and my future students!