Farewell Tour

    Over the course of fifteen weeks, I have endured a number of incomparable experiences. Experiences that have provided me with a wealth of knowledge, tools, and resources that I can use to inform my future practices. From this semester alone, I believe I have grown as a science teacher, as an educator, and as a person overall. 

     This course was designed like no other course I have encountered. My professor followed the structure of a flipped learning approach. Flipped learning is a pedagogical approach that I was unfamiliar with. With this unfamiliarity, flooded an uncertainty as to how I was to succeed. My professor's focus on the learning process and drive to ensure that her students gained as much as possible from the experience really inspired me to reevaluate what education truly is. 

Being in the third to last class of my graduate career, I have never encountered a course that focused on showcasing what we learned and know in portfolios and reflecting on blogs. The only method I was most familiar with prior to this was the typical college course approach: read the assigned content and materials, write the papers, prepare for a presentation, write a final paper or take a final exam and receive a letter grade for each. This traditional approach that I have become accustomed to has inadvertently reinforced the ideology that a grade is more important than learning and the notion that the grade you receive is definitive of how much you know as a teacher candidate.

With that being said, this class still without a doubt has been one of the most challenging courses of my graduate career. My professor still held high expectations and with experiencing an unfamiliar teaching approach I was stressed as to how I was to proceed and excel. The choice as to what I wanted to reflect on, what my written words conveyed, and how I presented my understandings and competencies was never really up to me. 

I am grateful to have experienced this course and gleaned as much experience and knowledge from it as possible. From this class, I have gained an abundance of technological tools and resources that I can use in my future classroom. I have created and perfected an electronic portfolio that showcases all the work, projects, and experiences I have completed/ experienced over the last 15 weeks. I have written numerous blogs that I not only used to reflect on readings, experiences, and resources, but I have naturally created a platform that I can reference as a future teacher.  I have not only learned and experienced a flipped learning classroom and instructional approach, but I have also learned about an additional learning model known as inquiry or the 5-Es. I was provided the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues and create and implement inquiry lessons to a group of students. 

     Although the work and expectations of this course were challenging and unfamiliar, I think that my hard work has been worth every sleepless night.  I am so proud of the work and projects I have created. My professor allowed me to channel my creative and artistic side of me in order to showcase what I know and learned from this course.

     I have gained incomparable skills and experiences that have instilled a confidence in me that I can teach science. I have the capacity and the arsenal of tools and resources to help me design creative and engaging lessons and support students through the learning process. 

Resources for Future Teaching

Classroom Management:

Interactive Science Websites for the Classroom:

Below are three interesting science resources selected specifically for elementary teachers. These websites provide teachers with a wide variety of educational materials to help young kids enjoy science learning. These include lesson plans, video tutorials, animated explanations, presentations, graphic organizers, interactive games and many more.

Wonderville

Science Kids: 

Fun Science and Technology for Kids

Edheads

Mosa Mack

National Geographic Kids

Mystery Science

The Lawrence Hall of Science

Asking the Right Questions Can Change the Trajectory of Learning

WHY ASK QUESTIONS?

Questions serve a variety of purposes, including:

• To actively involve students in the lesson
• To increase motivation or interest
• To evaluate students’ preparation
• To check on the completion of work
• To develop critical thinking skills
• To review previous lessons
• To nurture insights
• To assess achievement or mastery of goals and objectives
• To stimulate independent learning

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ASKING BETTER QUESTIONS

Traditionally questions are classified according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. Bloom's Taxonomy is a hierarchy of increasingly complex intellectual skills arranged in six categories:

• Knowledge – recall data or information
• Comprehension – understand meaning
• Application – use a concept in a new situation
• Analysis – separate concepts into parts; distinguish between facts and inferences
• Synthesis – combine parts to form new meaning
• Evaluation – make judgments about the value of ideas or products

Lower cognitive questions (fact, closed, direct, recall, and knowledge questions) involve the recall of information. 

Higher cognitive questions (open-ended, interpretive, evaluative, inquiry, inferential, and synthesis questions) involve the mental manipulation of information to produce or support an answer.

* Teachers most often ask lower-order, convergent questions that rely on students’ factual recall of prior knowledge rather than asking higher-order, divergent questions that promote deep thinking, requiring students to analyze and evaluate concepts.*

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Well-crafted questions lead to new insights, generate discussion, and promote the comprehensive exploration of subject matter. Poorly constructed questions can stifle learning by creating confusion, intimidating students, and limiting creative thinking. 

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Other Factors to Consider: 
Wait time

Feedback: Redirecting, Probing, and Responding

Hacking Assesment: Teaching Without Grades

Teaching Without Grades?

I genuinely loved reading and researching about this topic. The article "Teaching Without Grades: a year of lessons from a no grades classroom" written by Dea Auray discusses this new shift in education. Teachers are starting a movement in which they are no longer using a traditional grading system, instead, they are emphasizing the learning process. Focusing strictly on the learning process rather than grades. 

On a personal note; I have always loved to learn/ I loved school. However, from a very young age, I quickly developed debilitating anxiety and stress. This push to a gradeless system instantly made me recall and reflect on a moment in my life that I will never forget. I don't recall the test I was stressing over but I can distinctly remember the feeling it caused. At one point, I was in my parent's bedroom sobbing because I was so anxious about taking a test. I was so upset that I couldn't catch my breath, my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest and it was entirely rooted in the need for me to perform well enough to receive the best grade. As I have grown older, I now recognize that moment in time as my first panic attack; I was distraught over an exam and a number grade. It is unsettling and traumatizing that I was defining myself by a grade I saw on my tests and exams. 

As I progressed through the education system, high school, college and now graduate school, I developed strategies and ways to help cope with this stress and anxiety that is associated with testing and grades. However, as I continue through the education system, learning to become a teacher, I can't help but understand and approve of this idea of a gradeless system. As a future teacher, I will encounter a variety of students and you cant simply quantify their strengths. Grades require more than intelligence. They are a result of a number of factors, and hard work and commitment are far more important than any surface-level evaluation. The only real limitation is how much time and effort you are willing to invest and most time the students in our classroom do not have much control over how much time they can invest outside of the classroom. Instead, through a gradeless system:

• We can seek to increase educational challenges while decreasing student stress and anxiety 
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• We can seek to change the orientation of school from only preparing students, for the indefinite future to also valuing learning and living in the present
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• We can seek to provide experiences designed around learning and GROWTH rather than giving assignments and testing for competencies
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• A gradeless system can end the tyranny of grades and replace them with self-assessment and reflection!

In an ideal society, this would be the best-case scenario, however, as much as I would love to implement a gradeless system I feel the need to acknowledge the fact that we live in a society that places a lot of weight on grades. Schools, institutions, and employers are heavily focused and dependent on quantitative data.  Individuals are still being identified and defined by numbers and letters. I know a number cannot define a person, we know a number cannot define a person, yet, we are required to prove our competencies and capabilities through grades. 

We live in a system that is dependent on traditional grading. For instance, this very graduate program requires students to receive a B or higher in order to stay in the program. Students and I too have been trained to care more about the grade than whatever it is we are getting graded on. Which is a huge downfall to the traditional grading system!

With that being said, it becomes difficult to understand and embrace a gradeless system when the stakes of receiving a certain grade are extremely high. And I completely agree with Auray that grading affects the learning process. The idea of being in a class that is committed to student learning instead of numbers is very inspiring and hopeful. I think a gradeless system will help provide students will the tools and capabilities to think critically and reflect, all skills that are necessary for today's 21st century.  But growing up and living in a system that is heavily dependent on numbers or letter grades makes it very difficult to assimilate into this type of system.

I like this quote from the article: "learning (is) difficult or impossible to measure and traditional grading systems hinder learning by putting the emphasis on symbols like letters, numbers, and percentages instead of meaningful feedback loops."

Gradeless would be best, but a universal system that follows that approach must be created before we can implement a system like that and expect every learner to thrive. The stress and stigma of receiving a specific grade to be successful needs to be removed before learners become comfortable with a gradeless system.

“If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Check out the Hashtag trending on Twitter: #TTOG

"Teachers Throwing Out Grades"

Join the Movement  on Facebook

This article reminded me of an article I read from the Teaching Tolerance magazine titled, "The Thinking is the Work," written by Cory Collins. Although the article's subject matter does not address assessment or grading, Collins does discuss Wilkerson and Mann's use of qualitative data over quantitative data to confront implicit bias and systematic racism in schools. These teachers focused on qualitative data which provided insights and stories that drove the narrative which ignited genuine equity within their schools. For more information on this article, check out my blog post here, which discusses Mann and Wilkerson's experience with spearheading an initiative that internally audited their school.

Shaping the Minds of Tomorrow

Shaping the Brains of Tomorrow

What developmental science teaches about the importance of investing early in children

by Ross A. Thompson

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The research article "Shaping the Brains of Tomorrow: what developmental science teaches about the importance of investing early in children," written by Ross Thompson, stresses the need for investing in early childhood interventions geared towards improving the odds of healthy development for children at risk. Continuing research shows that positive early childhood experiences are directly correlated to more effective learning capacities in the future; meaning that healthy brain development relies heavily on nurturing relationships. Subsequently,  negative experiences during early childhood can result in detrimental effects in developing brains that can lead to lifelong problems in learning, behavior, and health. 

According to the article, a considerable amount of research shows that many children who experience deprived or high-risk conditions will "lag intellectually from infancy and suffer deficiencies in various facets of healthy psychological development" (Thompson, 2004). 

Thompson discusses researchers are further investigating how relational problems, such as the challenges faced by an infant of a depressed mother, influence brain development.  Early childhood experiences, in fact, have far-reaching effects.

On the upside, there are in fact successful strategies and interventions, especially "programs that emphasize child-focused educational activities and parent-child interaction, and are governed by specific practices matched to clear goals, which can be implemented to combat the negative effects of these conditions. But accessibility and cost prove to be an extreme hurdle to receiving any services. According to Thompson, the most effective interventions are rarely simple, inexpensive, or easy to implement (2004). "Changing the developmental trajectory of a young child growing up in deprived circumstances requires determination, persistence, and patience" (Thompson, 2004). 

The main reason these interventions are not universally supported is simply COST. Policymakers are too focused on the cost-effectiveness of supporting policies that would encourage healthy early childhood development. However, Thompson reveals that several studies of "comprehensive early-intervention efforts have found that program costs are more than compensated by averted costs of educational remediation, juvenile or adult crime, and diminished job earnings" (Thompson, 2004). Meaning there is scientific research supporting the demand for investing in early childhood development, so why hasn't society made a push towards implementing these policies? The reason is they converge with the economics of public policy. Investment in early childhood development is a focus of concern that should prudent and important.  

Thompson explicitly states the public policies that are needed to support healthy early childhood development. They include"

• "child-care policies that ensure widespread access to affordable, high-quality child care;
• welfare-reform policies that enable parents to integrate work and family responsibilities constructively in children's interests;
• prenatal and postnatal health care that screens children for developmental difficulties before they become severe, guarantees adequate nutrition, provides early visual and auditory screening, and protects young children from debilitating diseases and hazardous exposure to environmental toxins" (Thomspon,2004)

Become aware of these policies, advocate for healthy early-childhood development and do research when electing public officials!! Advocate, and stress the importance of investing in early childhood development!!!

Thompson (2004). Shaping the Brains of Tomorow: What developmental science teaches about the importance of investing early in children. The American Prospect. (15)(11) 16-17

Working in the Field!

Working in the Field:

Implementing Direct Instruction and Inquiry Lessons

My group had the distinct honor of being the first group to present and deliver two lessons during fieldwork. Prior to the presentation, we had spent weeks preparing for this day. We prepped thorough, interactive and engaging lessons, incorporated a variety of activities, resources, and technologies and tried our best to create an interesting and engaging investigation. Our direct instruction and inquiry lesson focused on the five senses and we worked diligently at becoming experts on the topic. Click the image on the left to view our group's perfected presentation that we attempted to implement during fieldwork:

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During this fieldwork experience, we were working with elementary students ranging from second graders to fifth graders and were allotted an hour and a half to implement two lesson plans. Prior to implementation, we learned about an instructional approach known as the 5 - E model. This instructional approach provided us with the framework necessary to create an inquiry lesson.  Our overall intended goal was to provide students with an informative, enlightening direct instruction lesson that would help expose students to the knowledge and information on the five senses required in order to engage in the inquiry lesson. However, despite all the activities, ideas, techniques and strategies planned, my group was unable to execute the prepared lesson plans effectively. 

During the experience, our students came to the classroom late, we lost 20 unintentional minutes of instructional time. In the event of lost instructional time, my group and I should have adjusted the direct instruction to reflect how much time we had. By not taking the time constraint into account we were forced to rush through both lessons and failed to collect any insightful assessment data.  

The most discouraging part of the experience was that even though we understood and prepared two lesson plans that incorporate all the components of both direct instruction and inquiry, we did not effectively execute the most crucial elements such as diagnostic assessment, guided practice, checks for understanding,  and summative assessments. Important components that affected our ability to fully assess our students and deliver effective instruction. 

However, it was eyeopening to be able to implement a lesson to an entire group of students. Previous fieldwork experiences that were embedded in the course required you to work one on one with a student. That experience, although it allows you to implement a number of strategies that you learn, it did not provide me with the experience that I will endure as a future teacher. This program provided me with the opportunity to see how I collaborate with colleagues, work with a group of students and how I compose myself as a lead teacher. Definitely a learning experience I always remember. 

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What I Learned About Teaching Science
As a teacher, I am a facilitator of knowledge
Planning is crucial to success: 
"a plan provides a framework guide to the learning experience"
Time Management is key and essential
Be prepared
Repetition is fundamental 
"1,2,3 repeat after me"
Most importantly, effective/engaging lessons will assist with behavioral management

What I Learned About Students Learning Science
Students require engaging activities
Repetition is key to learning
Students respond to the energy you demonstrate 
Students learn when work is purposeful and meaningful

What I Learned About Myself Teaching Science, Teaching in General and Collaboration
In the classroom, the actual lesson may not unfold exactly as you planned
"Sometimes the best laid plans often go awry"
Mastery of science concepts will take time
Use resources and technologies to support and supplement instruction
Reaching every learner's needs can be a challenge
Information overload is a real
Not every student learns the same way

Teaching Different Types of Lessons
Direct Instruction is designed to be less interactive and more linear. 
The inquiry lesson plan helps establish a learning environment that requires students to enthusiastically reflect on their knowledge gained from direct instruction.
Inquiry lessons are designed to make students the source of the answers. 
Direct Instruction is quick and simple
Inquiry guides students through higher-order thinking skills
Inquiry (5-E model) provides a supportive framework for teachers

Overall I learned that I want to:

Inspire students to love learning

Teaching Children Science with the Help from DeRosa and Abruscato

Teaching Children Science with the Help from DeRosa and Abruscato

The framework of this course was based on the teachings found in the textbook, Teaching Children Science: a discovery approach written by Donald DeRosa and Joseph Abruscato. Over the course of 15 weeks, I have read the suggestions, insights, ideas, and research presented in this text front to back. This textbook has provided me with a wealth of knowledge on science teaching and learning strategies and techniques, as well as, insights and knowledge on major science concepts.  

DeRosa and Abruscato break the textbook into four major parts. Part one consists of chapters 1-9 which discuss and suggest strategies and techniques that should be used while teaching science. Part two, three and four focus more specifically on major science concepts like the life sciences, physical sciences, earth sciences, and space sciences. Parts two, three and four also provide an incredible source of ideas for lesson plans and unit plans for your classroom. 

The major concepts, theories, practices, and strategies that I found important and useful while reading the chapters have been recorded on an electronic portfolio. In addition to reading this textbook, this course helped me create an electronic portfolio that showcases me as a professional teacher candidate, my completed projects, and what I have learned throughout the course. On my eFolio, I have provided a section that is dedicated to presenting my findings from the textbook. I have learned a copious amount of information from this textbook. Using a variety of resources and technologies, I have showcased my knowledge in creative and engaging ways!

To learn more about what I discovered throughout the semester, check out my Electronic Portfolio. 

Personal Audit

Teaching Tolerance is a free resource that can be found digitally or in print! The educational magazine focuses on helping teachers and schools create civil and inclusive communities where children are active participants in a diverse democracy. This magazine approaches sensitive and critical social topics and provides you with insight into the topics, as well as ways to t incorporate the issue into your classroom. The magazine provides educators with FREE materials and resources to supplement their curriculum and inform their practices. Check out their website out for more information on this illuminating resource!

In the recently published Fall issue of Teaching Tolerance, I found the article "The Thinking is the Work," written by Cory Collins. This article discusses the model that two educators are using to confront implicit bias and systematic racism in schools. Implicit bias, according to the dictionary, refers to the tendency to process information based on unconscious associations, feelings, attitudes, reactions, stereotypes. As a teacher candidate, I have learned about the importance of not only creating an inclusive learning environment but creating a learning environment and culture that represents every learner in my classroom. I chose this article because it addresses an issue that comes with trying to represent and include diverse learners in your classroom. This article specifically stresses the importance of being self-aware of your implicit bias and explicitly identifying those biases in order to address them. "Even the best teachers are not immune from bias and that goal of equity requires looking beyond accolades and numbers. It requires looking within" (Collins, 2019) an insight that will inform my future practice. 

In the article, elementary educators, Wilkerson and Mann, began an initiative that led to a schoolwide goal for internal professional development: identifying one's own biases. The movement began an internal audit, starting with conversations. Participants named the disparities they saw and experienced, creating a community narrative that became the driving force of the initiative. This narrative allowed educators and professionals to "unpack the bias that's often associated with terms that our children are referred to, as in 'immigrant,' or 'first-generation' or 'black'" and stress the importance of understanding the contexts of history and systemic inequality, as well, as the importance of uplifting voices rather than telling a single story. Wilkerson shared her initial ignorance about the experiences of people seeking refuge from south of the U.S. border. She explains that she "had to seek out knowledge about those experiences to build understanding and become a more empathetic person."

“If I held a bias and didn’t know, and discover it, it doesn’t mean I’m a bad teacher. It’s about doing the work to uncover I’m holding that bias.” 

As a future educator, I am going to be immersed in classrooms with a diverse group of students. Students coming from a variety of cultures, backgrounds, and experiences I know nothing about. In order to serve every student, the issue discussed in this article must be acknowledged and addressed. Diversity in classrooms must be valued. Becoming culturally competent and not only discovering personal implicit bias but thinking about discussing biases will enable educators to be the most effective with students from cultures other than their own. 

This article reminded me of another article I read about cultural competence. Cultural competence was explained as the awareness of one's own cultural identity and views about differences, and the ability to learn and build on the varying cultural and community norms of students and their families. I have come to understand the importance of awareness and thinking of these differences that make each student unique and celebrating the variations that make our country a tapestry. This understanding will inform and expand my practices in the classroom.

 "If thinking is the work, rethinking is the outcome. Rethinking biases. Rethinking curriculum. Rethinking the stories educators tell and to whom they grant agency to shape their own stories. Rethinking how they reached those conclusions and what it means for their practice going forward."

Collins, C. (2019, Fall). The Thinking is the Work. Teaching Tolerance (63), 55-58.

Mastering the Challenge of Gaining Students' Attention

Gaining Students' Attention

Whether you are a novice or veteran teacher, strategies for grabbing students' attention are central to classroom management, which in turn is key to creating an effective learning environment. Without effective attention signals, learning time is lost, and student expectations can be vague or misunderstood. When effectively used, attention-grabbing signals have the power  

Check out the videos listed below, found on the Teaching Channel, for some additional ideas on effective and efficient attention-grabbing signals!

Get Their Attention Without Saying A Word: Amy Withers from The Amistad Dual Language School in New York City explains the power and purpose behind signaling the class for attention with silence by raising her hand. Any student who sees her hand up raises their hand as well. Amy finds one of the advantages of this approach is that it allows students a few seconds to finish their thought, sentence or the task on which they are working. This approach also demonstrates respectful class culture and interaction.

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Attention-Getting Signals: Mix It Up: Kindergarten teacher Mary Abdul-Wajid describes the different attention-getting signals that she uses in her class. When students need to freeze and put materials away, Mary sings a jingle and the students put their hands on their heads. If students need to practice self-control, the class will sign a song to remind students where their hands go. When Mary needs to get students' attention quickly, she rings a bell. Mary explains how using different signals helps to keep students engaged.

*I personally use this one while substitute teaching, and it works quite efficiently. It's usually a signal students are unfamiliar with so they get excited to stop what they are doing an put their hands on their heads. I also like the signal students by whispering "If you can hear me, put your finger on your nose." or any behavior which students who are not paying attention will quickly catch on that they're missing something because their classmates have their fingers on their noses * 

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Attention Getter: Say the Secret Word: NYC middle school teacher Olga Ramos decides to involve her students in establishing a simple class procedure. At the beginning of the school year, the students vote on their three favorite or 'secret' words. One of these words is used by Ms. Ramos as an attention-getting signal when she needs the students to focus their attention on her during instruction. Ms. Ramos explains that this strategy and involving students in this manner puts a more positive spin on classroom management.

*I personally like this one as well. Not only is it an effective way to gain students attention it builds relationships with your students and ensures that you students know exactly what you expect of them when you use this signal**

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Drumming Up Attention: Focusing on students' attention is paramount in the classroom. West Side Collaborative Middle School teacher Novella Baily, uses her music background and a drumbeat to get students' attention when they are working. The drum is loud enough for everyone to hear and eliminates the frustration sometimes felt when only a portion of students stop working and shift focus to the teacher's instructions or the next activity.

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Using a Number System to Streamline Class Routines: NYC teacher Olga Ramos explains her 'Number System' strategy while we see her students implement it. Ms. Ramos assigns students a number based on their place in the class alphabetically. Each student has their own number and that number is used for a variety of purposes such as selecting a student to participate in a task, deciding which student from a group or pair is responsible for getting needed materials such as a laptop, and for forming a line to leave the room.

**I have seen this used quite frequently in the school I work in. Students seem to respond positively to this routine. However, I don't think like the idea of assigning my students to a number...but who knows what might change as I evolve as a teacher*

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Here is a short poster listing a few teacher-student callbacks.

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In addition to these awesome videos found on the teaching channel, click the image below to check out this great resource which provides additional attention-grabbing signals that can be used in the classroom!!

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