Fall Break Time!

I cannot believe we are already in week 9 of class and heading into fall break. My how the time flies! The semester has definitely been picking up with workload.

We have finally finished our science fair project and I am proud of how well our group worked together. I was most satisfied with completing the project “science through my lens” Science through my lens really opened my mind about what science really is. Science is much more than lectures and textbooks, science is all around us, everywhere we go.  We as teachers need to use inquiry and phenomena in the classroom and be able to help students think for themselves and understand that science can be found everywhere. This relates to NCPTS 3, “Teachers know the content they teach” under “teachers make instruction relevant to students.” Students need to learn skills they can use in their daily lives outside of the classroom. By using these strategies in the classroom, students will be able to relate science to their everyday lives more easily.

I contributed to the class this week in our group projects. I contributed to both the water cycle project and the science fair group project. Next week I will continue to help in group projects and participate in class discussion.

Something I struggled with was parts of my unit. In order to overcome this struggle, I emailed Dr. Parker my unit and asked him for suggestions. I plan to continue working on my unit this next week as soon as I get feedback.

The outside research that I did this week was on a book called “All about Coding” by Angie Smibert. This would be a great book for 4-5^th graders to read. By the time that our students are out of school, their jobs will most likely include the skill of coding and using some type of technology. In this book not only are students able to read about it, but they are able to learn about how to code as well. It is a great way to include literature and science in the classroom. https://www.getepic.com/app/read/38809

My current event comes from an article written on October 19, 2017 on laws to protect athletes’ brains. Concussions are very common among athletes and are very dangerous. In research data from 2015 to 2016 shows that an estimated 2.7 million people got concussion from sports. There are now new laws that require education on symptoms and signs of concussions for athletes, coaches and parents. Athletes are not allowed to come back to a sport after a concussion until approved by a medical provider. This will hopefully reduce the amount of brain injuries there are in the future.

Cunningham, A. (2017, October 19). Laws to protect athletes' brains do reduce concussions - eventually. Retrieved October 19, 2017, from https://www.sciencenews.org/article/laws-protect-athletes-brains-do-reduce-concussions-eventually?tgt=nr

            I was in the group to create the chapter 5 hyperdoc. Our chapter was on assessment. We talked about the different ways and forms there are for assessment. It was the first time I have created a hyperdoc and inserted links and videos in slides and it was a really cool experience. Chapter 6 was on writing learning objectives. The link to classroom management strategies was very useful. Even though it was more for upper grades, elementary teachers can also get advice from the video. I also like how they included and pre and post test so they can see how much each student learned. Lastly chapter 7 was on questioning effectively. I really like the first video they shared about only having discussions that include questioning. As we have been talking about in class about inquiry and phenomena, questioning is key to success for students. As they made it clear in the hyperdoc, the questioning that occurs needs to be effective and include questions that cause the students to think deeper.  

My first tweet is from Tom Loud and it says that kids that feel appreciated will always do more than expected. In a classroom if we show kids they are loved and appreciated, they are more likely to preform better than if the teacher is always yelling at them and putting them down.

 My second tweet is from Alex Corbitt and it is an info-graph about the 7C's of an innovative Environment. The 7 C's are cultural sensitivity, community, curiosity, communication, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking. In order to have a positive learning environment in your classroom, these 7 C's are necessary to have. These 7 C's follow the inquiry based classroom that we have been discussing this semester in class.

 My last tweet is also from Alex Corbitt and he explains the 10 characteristic of inspiring spaces. He lists 10 different ways that you can use space to create learning in the classroom. My two favorite are to promote movement and to remove clutter. It is important for students to be up and active but it is also important to not have too much in your classroom that students get distracted from their learning.

Week 6 Complete!

This week we only had class on Thursday and we learned about Science Writing Heuristic (SWH). We started our parachute experiment today and were able to test all five of ours. During this process we were required to come up with beginning questions and ideas, write a hypothesis then make and test our parachutes. We had to test each parachute ten times and record how many seconds it took for the parachute to touch the ground from the deck, which is close to 2 meters above the ground. Next week we have to make claims with evidence, share claims, compare our experiment to other scientists and then complete a reflection. Every good scientist and every good teacher reflects on their work.  By comparing our experiment to other scientist we are practicing NCPTS 5 “teachers reflect on their practice” under “teachers link professional growth to their professional goals.”

            This week I struggled with writing the language functions, academic language, syntax and discourse. In order to overcome this struggle I used Google and looked up different examples of them so I was able to get a better understanding and use the appropriate terms for my unit. I was most proud that I was able to make a big dent in my unit plan this week.  I plan to continue working on my unit next week as well so I do not get behind. I was most satisfied doing our science experiment. We had to compare different objects as they were heated so we put a rock, a crayon, a piece of chocolate, and an ice cube on a pan and put it in the oven and tested it 3 different times. Our group had fun with this project and I am glad we were able to collect our data this week. However, our hypothesis was not correct so we will have to discuss and reflect on that this coming week. This week I contributed to our science group by collecting data and in class I did the typing in Google docs and recorded the times of the parachute. Next week I will continue helping with both of these experiments.
        This week the hyperdoc was on inquiry. They had a great video that explained what inquiry is and they included questions right after for students to answer that would keep them involved and engaged. I also really liked the swimming pool image they used for the different kinds of student inquiry.

            For my outside research this week I found a great science book that integrates literacy with science that I will be able to put in my resource kit. The book is called “Trapped on the Rock: Can science save your life?” By Gerry Bailey. Joe, an adventurous scientist, must apply his knowledge of science to survive in environments around the world.

Inc., E. C. (n.d.). Instantly access 25,000 high-quality books for kids. Retrieved September 28, 2017, from https://www.getepic.com/app/read/10500

            I read a very interesting article this week called “Telling children they’re smart could tempt them to cheat.” This article really surprised me and made me realize I have to watch how I talk to my students and they way that I word things. A study was done and it showed that when kids were told that they were smart they were more likely to cheat. When they are told they are smart they have more pressure on them to do well. This would be a great article for everyone to read.

Sanders, L. (2017, September 22). Telling children they're smart could tempt them to cheat. Retrieved September 28, 2017, from https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/growth-curve/telling-children-theyre-smart-could-tempt-them-cheat?tgt=nr

            My first tweet from this week is by Lee Ann Jung. It says if the score is in any way included in the final grade, it was not a formal assessment. Formal assessments should be occurring daily while teaching, but this is not a grade. We need to be careful when discerning between formal and summative assessments. 

My next tweet is from Tom Loud and it says that people will forget what you said and what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel. It is our job as teachers to make our students feel loved, wanted and special. Our students need to know that we believe in them. They will forget what we taught and what we did in class but they won't forget if we were kind to them and made them feel loved.

Lastly, my third tweet is also by Tom Loud and it says that our greatest message to our students will be spoken on how we react when we are frustrated, not by our lips. When we are frustrated our actions will show our true character. As teachers we need to stay calm and relaxed and not let our students see that we are frustrated or take it out on them.

Cl-Ev-R Way of Learning!

          This week was a week full of learning. On Tuesday we created the water cycle in a bag, which is definitely something I will be using in my future classroom. I have been amazed by all the different activities and experiences we have done so far this semester. I never did any hands on experiments when I was in school so these are all new ideas to me. If I can do hands on experiments that interests the students like those of the water cycle, I will be following NCPTS 3, “Teachers know the content they teach” under “Teachers know the content appropriate to their teaching specialty.”

            Today we learned about the word Cl-Ev-R, which stands for claim, evidence and reasoning. First you have to make a claim of what you think will happen then you have to provide evidence of why it happened and then you have to explain how it happened. This is similar to the scientific method and will increase the involvement and learning of students.

What I struggled with most this week was trying to figure out why the foam container with holes in it did not fill with water. It was hard to find the information online as well. Finally after searching a few websites we found that an object floats when the weight force on the object is balanced by the upward push of the water on the object. Since there was no weight on the foam and because of the buoyancy of the water, it was able to float.  I was most proud that I was able to remember the whole water cycle when creating our water cycle bags. It doesn’t sound like much of an accomplishment, but I have forgotten a lot of information that I learned when I was younger and the water cycle was one of the things that I didn’t struggle with. Creating the water cycle bags also brought me the most satisfaction because I would have never thought you could make a water cycle in a bag. I was really excited to do this experiment so I can only imagine how fun this would be for elementary school children.

For the next week my action steps are to continue working on my unit plan so I can stay ahead, start working on my text facilitation project so we can get ahead on that and to finish our science experiment for the week. This week I contributed to class discussion and I contributed to our science group project experiment. Next week I can continue to participate in class discussion and continue to help my group with the science project.

Chapter 3’s text facilitation group did a really good job with using creativity. The video they used to explain constructivism was very clear on how to help transform teaching to get the students involved. They had great visuals and videos linked in. I also liked how they included an infographic in their powerpoint.

For my outside research I found an awesome website called the “energizer.” This website is a great way to get involved with science and create your own science. There are different games, examples and instruction on how to make a flashlight, how to make a compass, a telegraph set and many more different hands on experiments. This is a great website for Cl-Ev-R to be used on. More information can be found on the website below.

 (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2017, from http://www.energizer.com/science-center/steady-hand-game?&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=ENE-HHB-16_NonBranded_Science%2BCenter&utm_term=science for kids&utm_content=sffV00nlC_dc%7Cpcrid%7C187099817989%7Cpkw%7Cscience for kids%7Cpmt%7Cb

          The latest news that I have researched is Hurricane Maria that is happening in the Caribbean. Today it was recorded as a category 3 storm with winds of 115 mph. Puerto Rico experienced deadly flooding on Wednesday and Trump has declared this hurricane as another major disaster.

Visuals, G. (n.d.). Where is Hurricane Maria heading? Mapping the storm's path. Retrieved September 21, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2017/sep/19/where-is-hurricane-maria-heading-mapping-the-path-of-destruction

 My first tweet this week is from Amy Fast. Amy makes a great point, so often teachers and schools try to measure how students are doing instead of asking them how they are doing. Just because a student is doing well with their work, doesn't mean they are doing well in life and if a student is doing bad with their school work, then chances are there is more going on in their lives that we as teachers should and need to care about.

 My second tweet is from Trevor MacKenzie and his tweet is exactly what we have been learning and practicing in class. Starting the lesson with a question that causes the students to use inquiry is so much more powerful than starting the lesson off with a textbook or assessment. By asking the students a question, it immediately starts the lesson off with them thinking and will help to get them involved. 

 Lastly, the tweet from Tom Loud is also very powerful. Going off of my first tweet, teachers need to care and believe in their students. We may be the only ones who do believe in them, and we may be the ones that help them change their future.