Our Time to Shine!

   This week was finally my group's turn to teach! We were all so nervous and spent numerous hours rehearsing our lessons, but it was all worth it because both lessons went pretty well; the worst part was that we ran out of time both days! The first day, we did direct instruction and after every couple of slides, we dedicated a slide to review what was on the last couple of slides to check for understanding. We created stoplights for the students to use while answering questions to say whether they agree or disagree, which everyone seemed to love. There were some students who didn't take the materials seriously, but they were effective for the most part. We broke up the two different topics by doing a guided practice activity where the students created foliated and non-foloiated rocks using clay and sequins. The students had fun with it and they were good about putting it away for the rest of the lesson, which was such a relief! We had to rush through the second part of the lesson and the guided practice for the rock cycle, so the students were all a little confused. If we would've had a couple of extra minutes to explain the cycle better, then I think the activity would've gone much smoother. We also didn't have much time left to explain the independent practice to them, but it was six simple questions about what we learned and they had their note sheets, so they were able to figure it out.

   Our inquiry lesson was cut even shorter because the students came in late, but they also had to leave early, which we didn't find out until we only had 10 minutes left. Other than our time constraints, everything went relatively smoothly. The students loved being able to go through the rock cycle using crayons. I stayed in the front of the room for a majority of the inquiry lesson because that's where we had the crayon maker plugged in. One or two students came up at a time to see that the crayon maker was melting the pieces of crayon that I put in. I asked every student that came up to me to tell me which process was happening on top (melting) and what happens when you pour the liquid into the mold (cooling), then they told me what type of rock was forming and they sat back down. The students all thought that the crayon maker was really cool and wanted their own. We ended up running out of time of course, so not every student was able to do the metamorphic stage. We also had a whole closure planned out, but we didn't have enough time to do it. I wish we would've brought more sharpeners for the students, so they could've gone through the sedimentary rock part quicker and we weren't have been so pressed for time.

   Overall, both days went relatively well and we're all so glad that we made it through the week and can finally relax, especially since we all had midterms this week too!

Learning About Rocks

   Group 2 taught their lessons this week and they did a direct instruction lesson the first day, then an inquiry lesson the second day. During the direct lesson, they used individual whiteboards for the students to write their answers down to some questions. Their PowerPoint was a little difficult to read some days because of the format of their text, but they had students read definitions off of the board. I think that if students were going to be asked to read the definitions, then they should've been written in a clearer way. Information should always be displayed easily, but especially when students are asked to read it. Other than that, the lesson went smoothly for the most part. At one point, they filled out a chart about the differences between igneous and sedimentary rocks where the teachers displayed the answers in a tiny font and just had the students copy the information. It might've been better to put up one thing, then have them list the rest on their own then share what else you had in case they missed anything. I liked the idea of having the students put the post-it on the door as they were leaving.

   The teachers started the inquiry lesson with a word cloud, which they also printed out in order for the students to be able to have a better view of it. For the activity, the students were each given play-doh and got to create their own rock (either igneous or sedimentary). Once everyone created the rock, the teachers gave each kid a popsicle stick with a number on it and they had to go to that number rock and guess which type of rock the person created. After that, the students went back to their seats and the teachers pulled out the popsicle sticks again one at a time and the students had to stand up and say which type of rock they made, then the person who guessed for that rock checked whether they were right or wrong. I loved this activity; it seemed like so much fun. The use of the popsicle sticks was an amazing idea and it worked out so well. I wish there was a way to incorporate it into my group's lesson because I thought it was such an efficient way to do the activity!

And So It Begins...

   Group 1 went this week and they chose an interesting approach for their lessons. Instead of doing a direct instruction lesson the first day and an inquiry lesson the second day, they chose to do an inquiry lesson the first day and a cooperative lesson the second day. Personally, I was very confused in the beginning because I was unaware that they weren't doing a direct lesson. The students obviously enjoyed both days because they had the opportunity to do fun activities throughout both days, but I think there should have been a direct lesson to teach the concepts first. In the beginning of the inquiry lesson, the teachers went over several vocabulary words quickly and then moved onto the activity. I think that the vocabulary should've been done slower or broken up a little bit more between the to lessons. Other than that, the first day the students were each given a mineral bag where they had to identify the different types of minerals that their bags contained, then they presented their findings and one fact about their mineral. It was a great idea for the lesson and the students definitely enjoyed the activity.
   For the cooperative lesson, the students were asked to create a poster for one of the minerals that were in their bag during the inquiry lesson. The teachers brought in cool little gems and decorations for the students to use, so the posters looked awesome! After each group completed their poster, everyone went around and voted for which poster they thought was the best one. It was set up to be like a mineral show, which one of the teachers actually said she's been to before. I think it was so cool to have a teacher share that she's personally been to one. The lesson was such a great idea and the kids had so much fun doing it. The teachers seemed much more comfortable the second day as well, so the lesson as a whole was a success.

Fish is Fish

   In class today, we did a lesson about a mystery bag. Dr. Smirnova held up a bag and made us make predictions and a hypothesis. After we had a couple of different predictions, everyone was given five seconds to squeeze the bag and try to figure out what was inside of it. We discovered that there must be some kind of squeaky toy in the bag because one item was soft and squeaked every time you squeezed it. We also thought that there might be a rattle inside because if you shook the bag, it sounded like the little beads inside of a rattle. The activity was very engaging and fun for us, so it must be even better with younger kids! We never found out what was actually in the bag, which was a bummer.
   One thing that we discussed in class that I hadn't heard before is that a hypothesis is a tentative explanation. I think that that's an interesting way to look at it and it makes sense. We also discussed how science is all about uncertainty and not exact answers. I found that concept to be weird because school always seems to demand exact answers from students, but uncertainty can be reduced by collaboration, which we also do a lot of in science classes.
   At the end of class, we watched a video of the reading of Fish is Fish. It's a children's book about a tadpole that grows to be a frog and explores the world, then goes back to the ocean to describe it to his fish friend who has a hard time picturing the things the frog describes because he has never seen them for himself. The overall idea of listening to that book was because it represents the misconceptions that students may have, especially if they're not exposed to the topics you're talking about in class. It's much easier to understand science when you can do an experiment about the topic and see what happens with your own eyes.

This is not the exact one we watched in class, but here is a reading of Fish is Fish:

All About Me

   For our second day of class, we each had to pick a different online tool to use from a list where we will all create a "Digital Me" project. The tool that I chose is called Glogster! I've used this tool before in my Social Studies Methods class and I found it really cool, but I have never created an individual project on it before, so I was excited to finally make one! I loved making my project; there are so many templates to choose from or you could even create your own from scratch. There's the option to add videos, pictures, text, graphics, and so much more! It was an excellent choice for this type of project because I was able to really find things that capture who I am through all of their different tools.
   Next class we will be presenting our "Digital Me" projects, so I really hope that everyone likes my glogster and it encourages them to use this technology in their lessons or in their future classrooms. I think it'll be interesting to learn a little bit about my classmates, while being introduced to a plethora of new technologies that I could potentially use in my future classroom!

Here is my "Digital Me" project!

My "Scientific Me" Journey

   The first time that I remember learning about science was when I was in second grade. My teacher had a poster for the life cycle of a butterfly up on the back wall in our classroom. We all gathered around her and the poster on a little rug while she explained the process of how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. After we learned about the life cycle, we were each given our own caterpillars to take care of and watch turn into butterflies, which everyone enjoyed. I've always liked science for the most part; experiments are very engaging for students and I learn better when I can actually see what I'm learning about. Science seems like the easiest subject to find ways to engage students

   I don't remember much from my elementary school years about any subject. The only other thing I can remember at the moment is putting together paper skeletons and cells in fifth grade. I've always liked projects and hands-on experiences. During middle school and high school, we were able to do actual labs, which were fun sometimes, but I remember having to do a lot of labs that involved touching gross things that I didn't enjoy. One time in fourth or fifth grade, my teacher had us dissect an owl pellet and in seventh grade we dissected a variety of animals. Those were the types of labs that I really didn't like, but they're the ones that I still remember. In college I took a science class that was almost all outdoors and I liked it much more than I expected to! Most days we were out exploring the woods or the river, instead of sitting in a classroom looking at a powerpoint. There were definitely days when we did that too, but we spent at least half of our classes outside looking at real animals and trees, as opposed to pictures. I thought that was a great class that I'll actually remember way in the future! Here's a picture of where I took my science class in college:

   As I've learned from my own experiences and looking back on how my teachers explained things to me, I know that it's crucial to engage students and provide them with real-life situations. Technology is great and allows us to do so many things within our classroom, but I think it's important to either bring in real objects that pertain to the lesson or even explore right outside of the school. Students have to apply knowledge and see how it can actually connect to their lives in order for them to grasp the information while enjoying the process. I think that I've always been successful in science, but I've been more successful in topics or classes where teachers allowed us to use actual objects and do experiments, instead of just lecturing us. When I think of science, I think of experiments, questions, and hands-on activities. If the students aren't out of their seats and working with real materials that relate to the topic, then the lesson is not being taught effectively or engaging the students. 

   I think that the activity we did in class today would be a great way to introduce students to science. We were each told to draw a picture of what we think of when we hear the word scientist. The activity opens our eyes to all of the stereotypes of what it looks like to be a scientist. It's important to explain to students that anyone can become a scientist; it's not just people who look like the pictures they drew. After the activity, we walked around and looked at what our classmates drew and it was interesting to see how similar most of them were. This activity is also a good way to see if students have any prior knowledge about science. I drew a female, but, to be honest, when we were first given the task I was going to draw a male with crazy hair. I figured most people would draw that, so I tried to do something a little bit different.

Here is the picture that I drew.