Oh how far I have come!

Well, 15 weeks have come and gone. It feels like just yesterday it was move in day and classes were beginning. I remember feeling anxious on the first day of my science methods class. After working through the entire semester with Dr. Smirnova and the rest of my peers I can finally say that I am more confident in myself as a teacher than I ever have been before. This class has taught me many wonderful new ways of teaching my students including the use of technology. Before I started this class I had never really used technology in the classroom before. Learning about all of the different devices and tools that are available for teachers to use was extremely beneficial. I have learned so much over the course of this semester about teaching young students about science!

I have also never taught in front of a whole class before so this was another new experience for me. At first I was extremely nervous about it, but after many nights of preparation and many weeks of dedication I have to say it was a very rewarding and fun experience. The 6th grade class at Sacred Heart Elementary School has offered me memories that I will never forget. Those students helped me become a better teacher. My peers also helped me become a better teacher through giving me positive feedback and things to work on to improve my teaching. After this experience I can say for sure that teaching will be my career. I hope to inspire each of my students and to spend every day working with young learners to better their education. 

My favorite topic that we covered was space science. I find this topic the most interesting. For this topic we created glogsters on different articles found on Newsela and shared them with the class. We also created wordclouds and timelines based on these articles. I find it extremely interesting to learn about space and all of the planets. I look forward to teaching this topic to my students one day!

edTPA was also a new experience for me. This was challenging, but after working on it for many hours and doing research I have completed it to the best of my ability. This has helped prepare me for when I submit my real edTPA exam to the state. This was great because it helped prepare me and gave me practice in advance. My favorite task to complete was task 2 because this included videos. During this task I was able to reflect and watch myself while giving a lesson. I was able to pick up on things that need improvement, as well as positive things that I did! 

I was also able to experience many different types of instruction. Inquiry instruction is definitely my favorite style because I have not had much experience with it before. Helping students turn into scientists and make new discoveries was my favorite part. For my inquiry lesson each of my students became a scientist for the day and was able to explore rocks by following the scientific method! 

During the semester I was also able to experience different forms of feedback. I was able to give and receive feedback from my peers. Here are examples of my feedback to my peers!

Overall, this class has offered me numerous opportunities to improve as a teacher and become the best I can be! I am very sad that this class has come to an end, but I look forward to having Dr. Smirnova again next semester during Social Studies Methods for Childhood Education. I will be able to learn even more about social studies! I am very proud of how far I have come this semester and I am looking forward to continuing my journey of becoming a teacher!

Efolios... Take a look at what I have accomplished!

Have you ever made an efolio before?

My answer to that is... NO! Now, after my semester in science and technology methods, I can say YES, I have successfully created my own efolio that contains all of my work from the semester, including my unit plan, edTPA, projects, and many other pieces of work. This experience was very challenging for me. I have never used google sites before, so learning about this site took a lot of time. I had to learn on my own how to edit each page, insert pictures and videos, and embed my documents into the page. 

Creating this efolio took many hours and complete time management. Efolios are not just simple sites to keep all of your work together. This efolio keeps all of my work together in specific spots with many colors, pictures, animations, and videos. I did not begin creating my portfolio until a few weeks ago. At that point I had many assignments completed, so I was able to upload them to the google site. Other pieces of my work still needed to be completed, so I was not able to upload them yet. In order to get all of this done, I sat done and made myself a plan in my notebook on when I was going to work on my assignments and when I was going to upload them to my efolio. I have always done a good job at managing my time. I find that if I make myself a plan it will not be as hard for me to complete all of my work. If i save everything until the last minutes I become stressed and flustered, so in order to avid this, I set myself a schedule and work to achieve my goals. 

Overall, creating this efolio helped me continue my time management skills, as well as, work with a new form of technology. I enjoyed using google sites and I believe it is a great tool to use in the classroom. I struggles to figure out how to use it at first, but after practice and dedication I was able to figure it out and reach my goals! 

Jigsaw time!

For the past two classes we have been working on a jigsaw project on the 6 different kingdoms. Each group was assigned 5/6 members and each student took on a kingdom. We each filled out a chart with our information for the topic. My kingdom was archeabacteria. I researched the definition, cell type, cell wall, nutrition, and other characteristics of this monera. 

Once we each filled out all of our information we split up into subcategories where we talked specifically about each of our topics, so I met with all the students who had the topic archeabacteria and eubacteria because they are both monera. After we got together and discussed our topics we created presentations using google slides on our topic. We included images and videos, as well as text to provide the information necessary to help our students understand the material. After creating the presentation we split up who was going to say what during the presentation. We made sure that everyone had an equal part to discuss. While the other kingdoms presented to the class we posted in the forum 3 positives and 1 wish as feedback for our peers. Feedback is a great way of learning how to improve your skills.

I have never participated in a jigsaw project before, so this experience was new to me! I had a great time while doing this and I believe it is a great way for students to collaborate with their peers to find information on a specific topic. I look forward to using this in my class one day!

Skype-a-thon!

There's no place like home!

Today in class we participated in international skype week with an 8th grade class from Kansa!  We participated in a game called "mystery skype" in which each of our classes would ask questions in order to determine where we were in the world. The students in the 8th grade class used maps to cross out places after they asked us questions to determine where we were. I thought this was a great idea! This was our first time participating in the skype-a-thon, but this class has had many adventures using skype. One of the girls in the class shared with us that in 6th grade her class worked with a class from Greece and a class from Africa to create water filters because those places do not have clean water. These classes used skype to connect and talk about their creations. Hearing this story was very inspiring and sounded like such a fun adventure and memory for students to have!

The teacher from the class in Kansas shared many wise words with our class. She told us that when we are creating lessons we should create something that will leave a legacy. She explained that by creating a lesson with using skype students will never forget that. Just like the story that the student told us, she will never forget that she helped two other classes from around the world and was able to skype while doing it! She also explained how her principle used to ask her why she participated in international skype week when it has nothing to do with science or history or any other subject. Her response was that it actually does! Just in the activity that we did today where the students had to figure out where we were in the world, her students used cooperative thinking, problem solving, and discussion. There are so many different ways to learn! The teacher also told us that you can skype with many different people including authors, for free!!! Later in the day, the class was going to be skyping with a turtle specialist and she was going to tell them all about turtles and their habitats. 

After each class figured out where each other were from, the teacher let us see how she would close her lesson. The teacher asked her students what they learned, what they observed, what they liked, and what they could improve on. This reminded me of how we close out our lessons! It was so fun to interact with another class from a different state and see how that teacher runs her classroom! I look forward to incorporating skype into my lesson plans one day!

I'll trade you a trade book!

Trade-books are a great tool to use in the classroom. Trade books can be used for almost all subject areas, but can be very helpful in a science classroom. These books may introduce the topic to the class or relate certain facts from the topic. Students may want to read a trade book to learn more about the topic that is being taught. A discussion can even be generated from reading a trade book. 

A mini library of tradebooks may be useful for an older age to research a topic. The teacher may introduce a topic to the students aligned with the standards and the students can use the mini library to research the topic further. Literature and English lessons can be integrated into the lesson as well because the students may use their research and tradebooks to write about it. Students can make a fact book or a whole project based off of it.

In class, we created a tradebook project. I chose a tradebook that related to the unit plan I taught at Sacred Heart Elementary School. I taught two lessons on igneous and sedimentary rocks. However, I was required to make a full unit plan with 2 full MSMC lesson plans and 3 mini-lesson plans. From the tradebook I picked, I created a mini-lesson. My tradebook was called A Rock Is Lively by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long. When I went to the library to find my tradebook, I also found many tradebooks that could have been used for this lesson. It would be a great idea to bring several tradebooks into the classroom when focusing on this lesson and unit for the students to read and get a better understanding of what they are learning about. With so many pictures and many fun facts it can help intrigue the students in learning and engage them even more into the lesson.

I chose this book because it related directly with the main part of my lesson plans. I even used this book to pre-asses my students knowledge by showing them the pictures in the book and asking them what they already knew about rocks! This informational book introduces a wide array of facts about rocks. It showcases beautiful illustrations of different kinds of rocks. 

The theme and subjects of this book are: rocks, soil, and minerals. Science teachers can connect this tradebook to the next generation science standard listed below. This book covers a wide range of different kinds of rocks. It showcases how they are made, where they are made, and what different rocks exsists. Many students have different misconceptions about rocks. For example, some students believe that all rocks are the same and that it is hard to tell how they are made. This tradebook can help get rid of these misconceptions because it explains that there are many different kinds of rocks and they are all made in a unique way. Another common misconception that students have is that rocks and minerals are the same. This book will help get rid of this misconception by explainging the difference between a rock and a mineral. Each student will have a better understanding about different kinds of rocks and minerals after reading or listening to this book! This book would be great for introducing an inquiry lesson about the three different types of rocks: igenous, sedimentary, and metamorphic to a class!

ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems

Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). These systems interact in multiple ways to affect Earth’s surface materials and processes. The ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms, shapes landforms, and influences climate. Winds and clouds in the atmosphere interact with the landforms to determine patterns of weather. (5-ESS2-1)

Overall, the book is a great resource of information for students to learn from. I created two projects based on my tradebook. I created a book talk and a book trailer. Here is the link to my book talk!

My book trailer was the second project I made for the tradebook. With this book trailer I used a hook to grasp my audiences attention and persuade them to go and read the book! I used a website called animoto to create my book trailer. This was a great website because it was simple to use and allowed me to include music, pictures and text. I have worked with animoto once before and have always had a great experience with it. I would highly recommend it to others. My book trailer included brief facts about rocks and wonderful pictures and music to go along with it.  Here is the link to my book trailer. A book trailer or story board is a great way to interest students in the classroom into learning a bit about a book and to pull them in to want to read it. I will definitely be using book trailers in my future classroom! I hope you enjoy it!

Let's Talk About The Science Fair!

How Important Is The Science Fair?

Science fairs are an extremely important part of every student's journey through science. Science fairs help students get involved with hands on activities to make new discoveries as scientists. This gives students the opportunity to expand their ideas and create an experiment that interests them. After reading many articles, I have learned so many positive things about why science fairs are actually so important for young scientists!

When I was in middle school I participated in a science fair through my school. I worked with a partner and we conducted an experiment that asked the question: "How does different colored lights effect plant growth?" This was a great experience for me because I was able to collaborate with a partner to create something we were both interested in! While participating in this science fair I wasn't too sure why it was so important, but I knew I was having fun! After reading a few articles, I now understand why science fairs are so important!

In the article Science Fairs: Teaching Students To Think Like Scientists, the author stressed how important it is for students to develop new ideas through science fairs, rather then thinking science is a step by step process in the classroom. Many students think science is about rote memorization, but it is not, it is about an active and live process of discovering science! Students have misconceptions that science is conducted in a cookbook sequence, but Kenyon, a former marine science researcher who teaches 6th grade, is determined to get rid of these misconceptions and help students understand that science is an active and hands on learning process. This article helped me realize how important it is to guide students towards ideas that allow them to become part of the scientific process. A great way to help students create a project that they are interested in is to have them keep a journal of ideas that they have. Each student can "own" the topic they choose and this helps them to be engaged in the science fair project. Science fairs require a lot of commitment, but the results are extremely rewarding to all of the students. 

In the article The Value of a Science Fair Project, I learned about even more benefits of participating in the science fair. Science fairs involve so much more than just science. Not only do students take part in the research and data collection of a science fair project, but they also usually write a paper on their results, which includes reading, writing, and grammar. Students will learn even more skills than just new science skills. Students may use the computer and internet to gather research, which will give students new skills with the use of technology. A science fair also requires students to use time management and planing skills. Science fair projects do not just happen over night, students must create a thorough plan to carry out. Students may also work on their communication skills, because at the science fair students will learn to share with an audience what they have created and discovered. This was my biggest challenge to overcome when I participated in the science fair. I was terrified to speak in front of other people and share my ideas, but after I did it I felt great! I was proud of myself for sharing my ideas and overcoming my fear! 

Clearly, we can see how many benefits a science fair has for young learners. I believe that the biggest benefit is that a science fair gets students out of the classroom and allows them to use their own ideas to conduct an experiment. It allows students to leave behind the books and participate in hands on activities to enhance their learning!

References

Mascarelli, A. L. (2011, October 5). Science fairs: Teaching students to think like scientists.       Retrieved November 27, 2016, from https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/science-fairs-teaching-students-think-scientists 

The Value of a Science Fair Project. (2016). Retrieved November 27, 2016, from http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/scifair_value.shtml 

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Science In The News

We created a Science In The News project this month. At home each student had to research at least 10 articles/videos about science in the news. I decided to use the website Newsela.com in order to find my research articles. I knew that for the week we would be focusing on Space Science, so my articles that I found revolved around Space Articles. Newsela is a great website because it is easy to use and provides many great resources for various different topics in current events. I created a glogster to display the articles that I found and the links to each. I chose each of these articles because I wanted to cover a range of topics related to astronomy and current events. In class we are learning about space science, so doing this project was a great way to learn how to help our students learn about current science events happening in the news! The glogster includes a fun space design and clipart that pertains to the topic. Here is the link to my glogster.

Each article was very interesting to learn about. I love reading about current events because they are changes and advancements that are occurring in our everyday lives and they can greatly affect our present and future! An important aspect of learning about space and the new discoveries is through research of current articles and also through watching the news. I created a glogster to display the links of the various articles I read about astronomical changes in space science. My articles discuss the different planets, different astronomers, and different events that have occurred recently. I think it would be great for students to look through articles in class and discover more information and current events through Newsela. Each student could create a glogster, just like we did!

The next class we were engaged in an inquiry lesson by Dr. Smirnova. On eclass was a Class powerpoint that included the different planets and some galaxies. Each student had to access the powerpoint and pick a planet to research. I picked Earth as my planet! Here is the link to the classes slideshow! It was interesting to learn so many details and facts about the planet we live on, Earth! I did not know that only 14% of species on Earth have been discovered and identified. My powerpoint slides included brief, but important facts about Earth. Below are pictures of my slides! 

After completing our slides in the powerpoint, we had to work in groups to create a type of wordart. The various websites we used to do this were: Worlde, Tagul, Tagcrowd, ABCya, wordart and Tagxedo. My group decided to use Tagul to create a word cloud including a list of important words from all of our articles combined. This was a great tool to use becuase it allowed us to insert all of our words and design them into any shape with any colors we wanted. A word cloud is a great to tool to use for pre-assessing students knowledge. You can ask your students if they recognize any of the words or identify any of them.

After creating out word cloud we moved onto creating a timeline of specific events complied from the articles that we chose as a group. To create this timeline we used timetoast. This was another great tool that was simple and easy to use! We were able to insert different events with pictures and captions. In this timeline we included events such as: Kepler observing a supernova, Galileo observing the moon, and a more recent event, which was a group of university students found a cluster in space so unique that it has no name. Here is the link to the timeline that we created as a group! I hope you enjoy it!

Overall, I enjoyed this project and really wish that we had more time to complete it. I feel that most groups felt their wasn't enough time, but if there was we could have created much more visibly interesting presentations and projects. However, I think that we all did a great job. This project was good because it allowed us to experiment with even more technological tools that can be used in the classroom to engage students in learning. In addition, it gave us students a chance to experience an inquiry lesson ourselves. I liked learning about current events and I definitely think that they should be incorporated into a classroom environment because they are events that are happening right now in the world we live in and they can interest many students in reading and learning about science (or any subject). Overall, I enjoyed learning about the advancements that are being made in space science currently and in making these projects and working with my classmates!