I Feel Like A Movie Star!

So this week was my last lesson of elementary science, and I got to say there is no way it could have gone any better! My lesson plans were thoroughly approved, the lesson went great, and I got to sign autographs. It was pretty funny, at the end of class I thought I was just going to walk out and that would be the end of it. Instead, all the students wanted my co-teacher and I to sign there science journals. Then, they gave us there autographs with little messages like "I Love Soils". It was really cute! The one thing I was not prepared for was when the students asked me to come back. I guess the kids loved the unit so much they wanted to keep going with it. I did end up telling them I couldn't, even though I really wanted to, and I got to say those pouty faces really do make an impression. I'm really going to miss them all, they were a great class. But who knows, maybe I'll see them again in fifth or six grade!

A Post From The Past

(If this post seems out of place, it's because it was originally the second half to a post that was up about a month ago.  This did not happen recently.)
After my disaster of a lesson, I knew the only thing I could do was to prepare for the next lesson. In total, I think I ended up spending around fifteen hours or more writing and re-writing my lesson plan. Its hard to tell exactly how much time was actually spent, but I do remember being on campus until 10:30 at night for three consecutive nights. Not to mention that this process was usually continued the next morning and afternoon. All this with at least five to six hours of sleep a night due to other classes' demands. However, in the end it was all worth it. The lesson went phenomenaly. As soon as I walked out the classroom door I knew that I had just taught the best lesson that I have ever taught. The students retained all the new information and vocabulary and were already making valid predicitons (in fact I already know that most of their predicitons will be correct) about the results we would see in our next lesson. I would say that if I learned anything from this experience it would be two things. One, that no matter how much you seem to be struggling if you keep on pushing you will probably do great. And two, even though it might seem uneccessary at first to break down every single minute thing that you do in your lesson planning (even down to exact movements and wording) it really ends up being the best thing you can do for yourself in the end. Hopefully, by sustaining this effort, the next lesson will go just as well, if not better. 

Engineering and Technology

During today's lesson debrief I learned how important it is to make Engineering and Technology connections often within one's science lessons. I had no idea that 25% of the fifth grade MCAS test will focus on what these connections teach students. However, as I look over the steps of the Engineering Design process, I see that I had actually used many of these steps within both today's and last week's lessons. In both lessons, my co-teacher and I had students attempt to model how they thought they should set up their experiment materials in order to test for specific data. During their efforts, the students were identifying the problem they must solve, developing possible solutions, selecting the best solutions, constructing their prototype models, communicating their solutions to others, and redesigning if needed. Although some groups did not design their models in the "correct way" (according to how the lesson plan would have done it), I still had them communicate to me why they designed their models how they did and what they thought it would do. I was impressed by how much detail they put into their planning and conceptions of how the model would function. After each group had constructed and explained their model, my co-teacher and I showed the class the way the lesson plan said to construct the model and explained how it worked. Then, I asked all the students to think about what their models would do in their current states and to make adjustments to them if needed. After this part, all the groups had constructed models that would work perfectly for testing the variables in the experiment. Overall I think seeing and discussing the ingenuity that the students have to offer has been the most fun for me all semester. I hope that I will be able to include another activity that will allow students to brainstorm and create modles to test for certain variables. 

Tech "no" logy

In this weeks science lesson we were instructed to try to incorporate some use of technology into our instruction. My co-teacher and I both found wonderful videos from Bill Nye and Brainpop.com that would serve as great materials for reviewing all the topics that have been covered in our class this semester. In our lesson plan we had detailed every step on how we would set up and implement our videos. Then we e-mailed the classrooms teacher about our plans because we had some questions about the extent of the classrooms technology capabilities. That's when we found out that the computers didn't really work, there was no wifi for the internet, and the computers did not have speakers that would be able to present to a group of students. After this we attempted to create an activity for the classroom projector. Then we remembered that the projector is an old fashioned Elmo, and had no hook ups to be able to support any type of powerpoint presentation. Of course we also have no idea where one would procure transparency slides to use on the projector. Plus how would we get any type of presentation information on the slides without just writing it out by hand (which we could just do on the white board or with a simple pre made poster). In the end we ended up having to do the lesson without the technology incorporation. It was a good lesson over all, but I really wanted to show some videos. Sometimes I guess things just can't be available to you.

From Awful To Awesome!

Sorry that I haven't been posting in a while. I must have missed somthing because I seem to be one blog behind. In fact, I wouldn't have even posted this update if the thought of checking my blog hadn't randomly hit me. Two weeks ago I taught my science class as per usual. However there were some very odd circumstances that occured prior to my lesson that I did not think would effect the outcome of my instructing. Guess I was wrong. The students had a week off of school due to power outages, had Halloween the night before my lesson, and had a substitute teacher who had just taught a science lesson before I showed up in the classroom. Together, the events lead to a complete disaster. I should have known somthing was going to happen when one of the better students in my class stated, "But we already had science today"! Of course this also had to be the week where I was being monitored for classroom management. Lets just say my feedback was less than desirable.

Soil: Lesson 2

Lesson Intro: My co-teacher and I had noticed that in our previous lesson the students seemed to only make observations using their sense of sight. To fix this problem so that the students would think to include all their senses when making observations (except taste of course), we devised a two step intro that would both demonstrate examples of observations using diffrent senses and then have the students attempt to use their diffrent senses to make observations. First, my co-teacher introduced a made up story that would apply the use of observations to a situation that could apply to the student's lives. The story involved my co-teacher finding an object in her garden that she was unfamiliar with. To find out what the object was, she had to use her senses to gather observations. After giving examples of the observations she made, my co-teacher showed the item which was an awkward looking butternut squash. Now that the students had a concrete example to follow, I began to ask them about observations that pertained to the substances we would be studying for the experiment. These observations were written down on charts. Needless to say, by then end of the experiment the students were making all kinds of observations using all their senses. Mission accomplished!

Framework Connections: I actually found that this experiment easily fit into the frameworks. Mainly they just asked for students to be able to do diffrent kinds of observations and make predictions (did this too, but it was assessed at the end of the lesson). They also wanted the studnets to be able to use equipment like hand lenses and stuff, which was a main part of observing the materials with the sense of sight.

Material Management: During the first lesson my co-teacher and I designated certain studnets to be material collectors in hopes of getting some of the studnets a bit more active. However, the other students proved to be way to enthusiastic about the lesson, so it was difficult for the collectors to do their jobs with the interference of the other students. This time around, my co-teacher and I set out all the materials on their grouped desks. I was initailly afraid that they would be too excited about the things on their desks and would begin tampering with the materials. However, with just a little instruction this way proved much more effective than the last. The materials were not touched until it was time to do so, and there was no chaos caused by students trying to manage their materials. Hooray!

Hey! There's crystals in my soil!

My first science lesson went better than even I had expected. I really had no clue going into the lesson about how enthusiastic the students would actually be when observing soil. However, I quickly found the answer to my question as soon as the lesson's experiment began. One of the first things I heard from the students was a yell that carried through the whole room when a student excitedly cried "Whoa! There's crystals in here"! Obviously there were no crystals in the dirt, but the shouts of glee from many of the students was proof that they were actively interested in what they were observing. I also found that the students were exceedingly willing to offer up their thoughts and answers to any of the questions posed by my co-teacher and myself. Although sometimes this can be a bad thing, such as students raising their hands in participation but not thinking of any answers or about the content at hand, the students I was teaching all offered answers that pertained to the content of the lesson.

One thing that I found that was difficult to get through the student's heads was the diffrent types of observations. Before the experiment, my co-teacher and I had demonstrated all the diffrent types of observation (all 5 senses) and how they would be used in the classroom. However, when it came time for the experiment the students may have used most of the appropriate senses to observe, but did not record their observations unless it involved sight. Even when prompted to think about the diffrent things they could write down, or even told that they should write a certain observation down, it seemed that the observations using the sense of sight would be the only ones that the students recorded. A great example of this is when one student explained to me that his dirt was wet to the touch. I told him that was a great observation and that he should record that on his data sheet. However, because it did not pertain to the sense of sight he never recorded his observation. This happened many times with many diffrent students. I think adding a permenant visual cue may aid the students in expanding the use of their senses. This visual cue would probably be a large piece of chart paper with all the diffrent types of observations one can make with their senses. Maybe at certain times I will interject during the experiment to the whole class and ask them if they are using all their senses and recording them, since it does not seems to work well at the individual level.

One thing that I will have to do to improve my end of the lesson is to leave a little more time for practicing the lesson plan with my co-teacher. Although the lesson went well, it would have gone even smoother if the two of us knew exactly who would present what and how much. We both did an equal amount of discussion with thel class, but on certain topics one or the other would have to interject during a discussion which could have causes a little confusion in the students. Luckily the students did not seem to be to thrown of by having two teachers presenting.

Can't wait for the next lesson, I think it will go even better this time!

Excited and Scared

The classroom I am going to be teaching seems like it is full of some really great students. They all seemed very excited about participating in their various classroom activities, and were attentive and responsive to all forms of instruction given by their teacher. This got me excited because it will make it much easier for me to connect with the students if they are already prone to being excited by classroom material. I am also excited that this will be my first time teaching a full group of students, as well as an actual full length lesson. I would say most of my nervousness came from the unknown aspects of the classroom. What would the students be like? Would I be able to present material in a way that actually helps the students? However, there are many things that are helping me to take the right path. Frameworks will provide me with a guideline for teaching materials, and my first visit to the classroom showed me that the students are awesome. So in these regards I would have to say I am more excited than afraid. However, even though I am not afraid, I am definetly anxious. There are no real details that can explain my anxiousness, other than it is to be expected because this will be a "first time" type of event and anything you do for the first time is a bit stressful.

Lesson Plans, They're Important!

A lesson plan in science is very important due to the nature of experimentation that will ussually be incorporated into the class. Experiments often have multiple outcomes or unforseen events. Jumping into this type of a lesson without a guide can lead to disaster.Using a lesson plan, a teacher is able to develop a sort of step by step guide that attempts to prevent the failure of a lesson. When applied to experiments in the class room, a lesson plan can be both a reminder on where you want your experiment to lead the students, and an outline for you to make sure that you are addressing all the problems that you wish to confront the students with. It is both a goal setter and a self check tool all rolled up into one. For instance, you would probably never willingly jump into an experiment unprepared. But how can prove that you are ready to administer the experiment? There are so many variables to take into account. Do you have all the materials you need, how about knowledge of the experiment's inner workings or various outcomes? What happens if your lesson ends up suffering from time constraints, unforseen events, or mischievous students? Completing a lesson plan before hand will allow you a better look at time management and even the more important details of the day if you end up having to cut some activities short. On the other hand, some other questions may pertain to you and how effectively you ahve done your job. Was the lesson understood successfully by the students? Did you end up accomplishing the goals of the lesson or experiment? Was the lesson appropriate and useful or was it just meaningless garbage? Or more importantly, do you understand what you just had your class do? Lesson plans provide a clear outline to make sure that your lesson conforms to the frameworks, and therefore is judged to be full of sufficent and effective material. They also make sure to outline the goals you have set for your students and the lesson, as well as provide an a tool to assess your lesson with.

The most important things to consider when writing a lesson plan for an elementary science lesson are the questions, "Is the lesson appropriate for the age group", "Is the lesson going to teach needed material", "What are the goals of the lesson", "Can the lesson and its concepts be easily understood by the class", "What resources will be needed to carry out the lesson", "What interuptions might come up that will negatively impact the lesson and how do I get around them", "Are any of the aspects of the lesson or experiment dangerous to the class and its members", "How will I carry out the lesson (from beginning to end)", "How do I know if the lesson was successful", "How do I know if I was successful"? This may seem to be a lot of questions to ask yourself. However, a lesson plan's format will ask most of these questions in one form or another. The point of the plan is to help make sure that you have addressed any possible problem that can be forseen in your lesson, and if a problem that is unforseen arises you will have sufficient material and planning to confront it.     

Online Science Teaching Source: Periodic Elements

I found a great source for showing all kinds of information about the periodic table and the elements. The site is called "The Periodic Table of Videos", and the url is: http://www.periodicvideos.com/index.htm. Basically, the site is a compilation of videos, and each video pertains to a certain element. Once you get to the main page, just click on any element you want to know more about and you will be shown a video on it. Most of the more common elements that would be introduced in a school curiculum (such as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, etc.) all have parts of the clips dedicated to live experiments as well as interviews that provide factual information about the given element. As an added bonus, the main narrator has some really cool and wacked out hair! (Einstein, eat your heart out!). The only down side I see so far, is that some of the more uncommon elements (such as Uut, Uuq, and Uup) do not have video documentation containing live experiments (probably because these elements only last for a split second inside a lab), so they can get a little dry. However, they still do have narrations that give factual information about them. The publisher of this website is the University of Nottingham.  

(Told you he had some wacked out hair!)

I mainly wanted to reference this source for the periodic table, but there are secondary resources in their "extra videos" tab. This contains videos on a vast amount of things from frog poison to the lunar landing, and even a video on exploding cake (it's their chemists' way of dividing their B-day cake without using knives).

I originally found this site off of a site called "Mashable Social Media", which has an article entitled "10 Free Online Resources For Science Teachers". The Url is:   http://mashable.com/2010/12/16/science-teacher-resources/. So, if your having trouble finding a science teaching source there are nine more on the site.

Don't worry, It's all in the name of SCIENCE!

When it comes to my education in the field of science, i have to say it is by far one of the more memorable routes in schooling that i have ever walked down. Almost every project or hands on assignment i have had since elementary school science fairs can be easily recalled. I beilieve my first major science project was in fourth grade. Sure i had science activities before this, such as melting snow in kindergarden, but my project in fourth grade was the first major assignment i recieved that required me to set up and construct somthing that came from my own interests. The other major aspect about this project was that it would be my first time entering somthing into the school science fair. For me, this meant that no matter what i chose to come up with, it had to be impressive and it had to blow away all the other projects in my class. So, in the end, (with the aid of my father) i ended up doing my project on airplane propellers and how they are able to pull airplanes through the sky. In the end, i ended up with an amazing model airplane built from scratch and topped with a fully functioning propeller. With this model, I included the standard three sided display complete with illustrations of the mechanics and physics of proppeller driven flight. The project turned out to be everything i wanted it to be. The other children were very excited about my working airplane, and it felt great to be on top. However, when i look back on this project now, i can easily say that i never understood a single word that came out of any of the illustrations or concepts that i had done my project on. At the time, all that mattered was that i had a really awesome airplane to play with after school, and no other child in the world would have one that was just like mine. For a couple more years I did some other interesting projects such as building a flashlight or wiring a paper house so that every room had a working light in it. In fifth grade we started to use microscopes and examined microscopic worms that lived in vinegar, as well as some other life forms. However, it was not until sixth grade that one of my most favorite experiments occured...dissection! So far my science classes have had me disect owl pellets, worms, and frogs, but in sixth grade i got to disect a squid! This was a fantastic time. I learned so much about what could possibly be in diffrent species. For instance, i am still amazed that there is an organ in the squid (which has somthing to do with the expelling of their ink) that is completely translucent and feels exactly like the plastic that would be used for making pens. Until then, i believed that the only hard/solid matter in a body would be somthing like bone. I also learned that not every animal has blood like humans do, and that if you open a squids head the fluid that comes out is purple. To me, the lesson was comparable to doing an autopsy on an alien lifeform. After this event, there was a lull in the level of excitement the various science projects peaked in me. Many of them were fun, and they were definetly a lot of them, but nothing really of equal excitment happened again until I was in high school. When it did come back, through my sophmore chemistry teacher, it came back in full force. She taught us about various chemical reactions and bonds by throwing diffrent materials onto bunsen burners and into beakers of acid. Honestly, who dosn't like to see what happens when somthing is lit on fire? I can vividly remember the time when she was showing us the flammability of hydrogen by putting a lit match into an upsidedown testtube with some hydrogen in it. Let's just say we were never able to use that testtube again...(BOOM). For me science has always been about being hands on. However, it also has another important factor. All the experiments I enjoyed most, pushed the limits of what was ordinary. As a child, it feels pretty great to think that you're playing in the big leagues. Whether its disecting new creatures or burning various substances, a student of science feels like he/she is on the cutting edge when compared with the mundane experiments carried out in everyday life. So go do somthing wacky and creative like blowing up testtubes...just remember to record your observations!