LaToya’s blog

During my undergrad I traveled to California to study the San Andreas Fault. I was sorting through my old flash jump and found some cool pictures to share.

In my instructional strategies class we are discussing assessments and one article that really stood out to me was Rick Wormeli (2008) Show What You Know.

Wormeli discusses the idea of teachers identifying and grade individual objectives for each standard or outcome and instead of a student getting one grade on a unit test that assesses a variety of different proficiencies. The teacher gives the students collection of grades, one for each proficiency (objective). I really like this idea because it enables the teachers see what areas students are struggling in and give a more accurate description of the students’ proficiency.  From my experience I have noticed that grade book do not show an accurate depiction of student learning and does not allow teachers to see areas in need of improvement. In order to help promote student success teacher need to know exactly what objectives are not being met and address those objectives.

I really liked this idea of having a grade book full of objectives and how well each objective was met, so I wanted to share this will everyone in case it is something you might want to incorporate into your future classroom.

My CT created a lesson/lab to teach glaciers using local pictures. I thought this was a great idea. He found pictures of features around New York state from his personal travels and using Google Earth. The students really got onto the activities especially when they recognized a particular feature/location. Often times students do not realize how relevant Earth Science is and this activity showed students first hand how they can use skills they learn in Earth Science to study their local surrounding.

Interesting facts about NYS Glaciers;

• Irondequoit Bay use to be the outlet of the Genesee River until the last ice age caused a change in the path of the Genesee
• The Finger Lakes were carved out by glaciers
• The last ice age peaked around 21,000 years ago during which glaciers covered almost the entire state. Around 19,000 years ago, the climate warmed, and the glacier began to retreat, disappearing entirely from New York around 11,000 years ago.
• The most obvious evidence of glaciers in NYS are the gravel deposits at the south ends of the Finger Lakes called moraines and streamlined elongated hills of glacial sediment called drumlins. These moraines are visible south of Ithaca and drumlins are visible northeast of Ithaca.

As I was reflecting on my current student teaching placement I wanted to make a list of strategies I want to incorporate into my class:

1. The use of lab notebooks. At my current placement my CT has the students complete all there labs in their lab note book. I really like this method but there are somethings I would change when incorporating this into my own classroom. I would requiring the notebooks to be very organized and for everyone to have a composition notebook for labs and a pocket folder/binder to store papers. When notebooks aren’t organized they seem to place more work on the teacher when grading and on the students when using them as a study aid.
2. Another strategy I really enjoyed at my current placement is the use of a post-it bridge. My CT posts a question at the beginning of each class and the students write there response on post-it notes. He anonymously collects the post-it and then reads them to the class asking the students to assess which answers are correct. I would like to incorporate the use of a post-it bridge but not every day. The bridge was very useful and powerful but I think there are other methods that can be useful and switching things up is a useful tool for getting students engaged. I also really like the idea of having students place their bridge answers around the room and co-constructing a classroom display of knowledge.  instead of simpling reading the post-it notes then disposing of them.
3. Another strategy would be posting the essential question on the front board of the classroom. I really liked this because it was nice to be able to point to the board and tell the students what they will be learning, so that they know what to expect. Also at the end of the day one could check for understanding by simply asking the students if they can answer the essential question and know how the thoughts change throughout the unit.

Hello,

Since I was not able to get peer review on my innovative unit introduction because of my weird situation I am posting my introduction and if anyone wants to leave comments and suggestions that would be great

This innovative unit was designed for an Earth Science class at Thomas Jefferson High School. Thomas Jefferson is a 7-12^th grade school located in the city of Rochester, New York. Jefferson operates as a magnet school with small learning communities within a larger school and a focus on technology. The student population of Jefferson consists of 202 7^th graders, 194 8^th graders, 273 9^th graders, 190 10^th graders, 179 11^th graders, and 107 12^th graders. Jefferson is a large school but within the city of Rochester there are many larger schools. Jefferson is a very diversity school with 18 percent of the students having limited English proficiency. Many of the students are not United States citizens, coming from all over the World. 61 percent of the student population is Black or African American, 18 percent is Hispanic or Latino, 16 percent White, 4.5 percent Asian, and .5 percent Native American. The gender make up of Jefferson consists of 56 percent males and 44 percent female.  Jefferson is considered a high need school with 78 percent of the students being eligible for free or reduced lunches. The graduation rate at Jefferson is 51 percent which is low compared to New York States average of 76 percent in 2009. Jefferson’s test scores are not very impressive. In 2008 there was only a 32 percent passing rate of the Earth Science Regents exam. The State passing average in 2008 was 70 percent.

The Earth Science classes in which this unit will be implanted in consists of 9^th through 12^th graders with a variety of different science background. Jefferson does not follow any science sequencing ordering therefore some of the students have previously taken Regents science classes and many have not. The students come from a variety of background many of whom are new to the United States. In the classes there are students from Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Tanzania, Somalia, Liberia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand, Yemen, Taiwan, and Chad, all of which have been living in the United States for less than 7 years. The majority of students in the classes are males with an approximately  4 to 10 female to male ratio in all sessions expect one session with has a 5 to 1 male to female ratio. The Earth Sciences classes are inclusive contain three students with IEPs. The three students with IEPs each have trouble with verbal information and require detail instructions.

This unit explores the processes of weathering and erosion and how they work to shape the Earth. The big ides of this unit is that Earth is always changing. Forces are constantly working to alter the Earth. Uplifting forces (plate tectonics) and leveling forces (weathering and erosion). The students have not learning plate tectonics yet but that will be the next unit they complete. Students often have the misconception that weathering and erosion is essentially the same thing and can be used interchangeably. This is not true. Weathering is the breakdown of rocks and erosion is the transportation of rock material. Weathering is the result of physical and chemical alteration of rock and mineral material.  The resultant of weathering may or may not be transported. There are many agents of erosion such as wind, water, ice, and gravity. Running water is the agent produces the most erosion around our Earth. The Essential question for this unit is what are the forces that change the Earth? The Earth is always changing. Some focusing questions that students will investigate include; what factors influence weather, what factors influences erosion, why does erosion occur, and how has Earth been changes but weathering and erosion.

The unit will begin with the introduction of weathering and the different types of weathering (physical and chemical). Student will investigate through inquiry experiments the factors that affect weathering such as surface area, temperature, moisture, compositions and shape. Once students have an understanding of weathering they will be introduced to stream velocity and how it is affected by gradient. Students will manipulate the gradient of different streams and then measure the velocities. After students have discovered the relationship between velocity and gradient, they will investigate the relationship between velocity and erosion and depositions. Lastly students will apply their knowledge of the relationship between velocity and erosion and deposition to a meandering stream to determine with the most erosion and deposition will occur.

This week started of horribly but ended wonderfully. Thursday and Friday I made three huge triumphs that made my week sooo much better. I realize how much you can make a difference by simply talking with a student and showing them you care and want to see them succeed. I had one students who refused to do work or participate in the lab. So I sat down with him and just talked with him. I asked him about basketball and March madness. Then asked him what was wrong and just let he talk away. I discovered that he did like his grade in the class which is why he refused to do work. We had a heart to heart and I explained how he could improve his grade by making up lab and after school he was the only one to show-up to make up labs.  My Ct was highly surprise because that student never tried to make-up work before.

My next triumph occurred when I again took the time to get to know a resistant student who refused to work and by building a relationship with him I was able to get him to participate in the lab and complete it. At the end of class he was able to answer the closure question and was so proud that he understood the work. When I saw him after school as I was walking to my car he was so happy to see me and so nice. This made me feel great because teachers around the school noted to me he was trouble and I am glad I didn’t believe the hype.

My next triumph was that a student, whom I have keep in contact with from Wilson, confided one of his biggest secrets to me and I was able to be there and support him and I could tell how much he appreciated it.

Overall I was able to  remember why I want to be a teacher and I was able to once again experience how building relationships with students can make a powerful impact!

A great tool for enhancing conceptual learning is a misconception wall. At my current placement my CT does an after school program called dial a teacher and he noticed many of the students where confusing weather and weathering. To combat these misconceptions he put up a poster on the wall labelled misconceptions and addressed the different misconceptions he noticed. I think this is a great idea for any classroom because deeper learning is often sparked through misconceptions.

Now whenever a student talking about the weather outside instead of weathering I can simply refer to the Earth Science misconceptions wall and explain the student the differences. The misconception wall also helps to remind teachers of possible misconceptions so that while teaching they can make sure these items are addressed. So far I’ve seen great ah ha moments come from the wall and it has definitely helped lots.

Another great tool is a questions to address later wall. This wall is very useful when students ask great question that are off topic or that you do not know the answer to. You can simply write it on  the wall or have them write it on the wall and revisit the question after you have time to research the topic or when there is extra class time. This allows students to see that teachers are human and do not have all the answers and lets every students feel their question matters. We just put a question to address later wall up, so I’ll let everyone know how that goes soon.

Today was my first day at Jefferson and what I learned is KIDS ARE KIDS! I was really worried about switching schools. People kept telling my how lucky I was to be at Wilson and how great the IB kids are. People made comment like wait until you’re in a real city class without IB kids. As if the IB kids were so much better than every other set of students in RCSD. I learned today that it really doesn’t matter where you are or whether you have advance kids or the struggling student, KIDS ARE KIDS!

I now truly believe that planning well and setting an appropriate classroom culture can greatly reduce classroom management and behavior problems. Of course students are going to bring outside baggage to the classroom and you may have to diffuse all kinds of issues or have students with an off day that just won’t focus but this can happen no matter where or what students you have its just in the city/urban areas you may have more incidents like this.

My experience today made me so happy because I now know no matter where I get a job I can handle it. As long as I stay strongly embedded in my teaching philosophy, encouraging choice and critical thinking, promoting social justice, maintaining high expectations to combat the culture of low expectation seen in urban areas, and creating an environment of mutual respect.

At an interview/observation I was asked if you were teaching in a non-IB classroom would your teaching style change. Will that answer is Clear NO, because KIDS ARE KIDS! and I strongly believe in my teaching style and I know what I stand for. I encourage all of my classmate to find out what you stay for because as you all know, ‘if you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything’. If you fell that you need to change your philosophy depending on your environment maybe you need to re-think your philosophy!  A good teacher in the city should still be a good teaching in the suburbs and vice verse because just like KIDS ARE KIDS, STAR TEACHERS ARE STAR TEACHERS no matter the environment.

I am sorry this turned into a rant but I got into a serious debate today about teaching and coaching and how my experience coaching in the suburbs can not be applied to city kids. This outraged me. I stated “I coach like I teach and no matter where I am I will always be the same!” I strong believe in this so I wanted to share/vent.

I’m leaving my first students teaching placement so I decided to write this poem to express what I’m feeling:

The Gardener by LaToya

Early September I stepped into the garden and look around

I looked at the gardener confused, all I saw was empty ground

The wind began to blow and one by one little seeds began to appear

“Plant them” he said “one here, here and there”

He handled me a book called curriculum

Said it would show me the rules of gardening

He handed me the water pail of knowledge, the weight of this pail was astounding

Said you must fill it every day and one by one sprinkle some on each seed

Then he showed me the way

Most importantly he said, up there is the Sun of hope

And you must always make sure it shines bright as can be

This is the best way to grow these seeds

So one by one I began to plant

And over the last six months watched as they grew

They bloomed so beautifully and ways I never knew

The gardener said “the time has come

You’ve done all you can do, it’s time to move on”

I replied “they are a part of me now, how can I leave?

I am afraid this process cannot be complete”

“There are many gardens” he said “all with seed in need

You are now a prepared gardener and I know you will help them grow

This is why you must go”