Efolio Struggles

Since I took Social Studies Methods last semester, I thought I would have an easy time creating my e-folio since I had already created one! At first I hated the website we used, which was livebinder, but after a while I got used to and became an expert. This semester Dr. Smirnova decided to use Google Sites instead so that everything would be on our Google accounts. This threw me for a curve ball!! 

I am still learning how to navigate the site and there are some things that I just cannot figure out! Little by little I am making my way and getting my e-folio done. We have to include everything such as edTPA tasks, science projects, an about me section, our blog, unit plan, resume and much more. Not being familiar with the sight has hindered me a little bit, but it is something that I can overcome. Hopefully with a little practice I will figure out how to navigate it better!

The e-folio is a great tool for us to have because it keeps everything in one place. This is something that would be so excellent to show a future employer and I am sure they would be very impressed by what we have accomplished! Throughout the course of the semester I think we did amazing work and many impressive projects. We learned so much and our e-folio is our chance to show to the world what we learned and what we achieved! Hard work always pays off! I am hoping that I will finish my e-folio by the middle of next week so that will be one less thing I have to worry about. Another great thing about this e-folio is that I can use it next semester when I am student teaching. If I need to refer back to anything we did during this semester, it will all be easily accessible in this e-folio! 

Science Fairs!

Throughout time, one of the most exciting ways to engage students in science would be through science fairs. Students would pick a problem, go through the steps of the scientific method and carry out their problem to test their hypothesis. Some love it~Some hate it. Science exhibitions originated in 1828 in New York. There is a lot of competition that usually takes place with science fairs. The competition of science fairs is usually reduced at the elementary level so that all students can have the self confidence and courage for their love and learning of science. Science fairs have grown in popularity all throughout the years all around the United States. They have been recently growing in popularity in other countries as well, including Brazil, Canada, Chile, Sweden, United Kingdom and many more. A lot of times, when students have to participate in science fairs, there is a judging system. An article written by Lawrence Bellipanni and Edward Lilly, broke down the difficulty in being fair and partial when judging science fair projects. They believe that judges should be recruited from elsewhere so that there is no biased views. Judges should also be given instructions on what to be judging on before seeing any projects and should evaluate all projects on the same rubrics or scoring sheets. Students should also be judged on factors such as creativity, skills and  thoroughness of their work. They also believed that science fairs should be voluntary for students and the emphasis should not be placed on competition and winning, but instead should be placed on the experience of learning. One great quote that I found from this article said that "The elementary teacher has to be the guiding light for the student." Science fair should be a fun and rewarding experience for students and teachers should be an inspiration for their students and help propel their learning forward. The science fair project should be more of an opportunity for students to get involved with a hands on learning experience in science. This article concluded by saying that it is most important for science fair projects to be a learning experience that is rewarding and helpful to the students (Bellipanni and Lilly, 1999). 

In another article written by Janell Wilson, it was stated that science fairs are a great way for students to become engaged and interested in their science problems and their science learning. It gives students the chance to become an expert on a particular topic, have to put their project together in a way to present to others and then be able to explain and help educate others about their project. By having a science fair it can get students more involved with the material they are learning. By giving students the option of picking their topic it can also be a fun time for students. It was concluded in this article that science fairs can help to promote a positive attitude toward science and give students the chance to actively participate more in science (Wilson, Cordry, Uline 2004).      

Overall, I think that both articles made excellent points about science fairs and students involvement in them. Personally, I agree that with science fairs comes a huge deal of competition. Sometimes people focus more on the competition part and wanting to win more than they focus on the question they are going to be exploring and explaining. Although, I do think that it is crucial for students to be judged and evaluated on their projects. I also do think that science fairs give students the chance to become more directly involved and engaged with the science material. Science fairs should be another way that students are learning hands on and it should be a fun process as well as educational. 

Bellipanni, L. J., & Lilly, J. E. (1999). What have researchers been saying about science fairs?Science and Children, 36(8), 46-50.

Wilson, Janell D; Cordry, Sheila; Uline, Carol. College Student Journal38.1 (Mar 2004): 112-115.

Skype around the world!

Today during our class session, we had the great opportunity to participate in a "Skype-A-Thon" and Skype with another class! This was part of something the other class called a "Mystery Skype"! Our class skyped with an 8th grade class from Kansas! We did not know them, and they did not know us! It started out with the other class asking us a question about where we lived! They would ask us a question and then we would ask them going back and forth. The class would ask us a question and then mark off on a map they had. So, they would ask us questions to try to narrow down where we lived, and when we answered they would mark off an area that would then be considered 'out' based on the answer we gave them! We went back and forth for a while before we finally guessed they lived in Kansas! After a few more questions they figured out that we were from New York! They said that they were surprised we did not have New York accents! 

This was a really great opportunity and learning experience. At first, I was a little weary about how this would work out skyping with another teacher and classroom that we had no idea who they were! But, the class was really great and very into the whole process, as was ours! The teacher was also excellent and had a lot many amazing ideas and advice for us as future teachers! One important thing she kept saying, was that as teachers, we need to create lessons that students will remember! It is so important that students are involved with their learning experience and it should be memorable and enjoyable for the students! 

After the lesson, she showed us how she would normally wrap up a lesson, as if we were not there. So they gathered together and talked about the overall lesson. I think this was also good for us to observe because we got to see how another teacher handled this and effectively closed a lesson. I think there are a lot of benefits to this "Mystery Skype." One of the students in the class explained to us that she skyped with another group of kids from Africa. They were trying to help the kids in Africa learn about clean water that they could drink and use. The student told us that they also talked with a class from Greece as well! This gives students the opportunity to learn so much about other people and other cultures! 

The teacher even gave us some time to ask her questions because she has been doing this for many years now. Overall, I think this is a great tool that I would definitely use in my classroom. This allows students to learn in more ways then one and gives them an incredible experience. I am very glad that we got to participate in this! 

Breaking Science Stereotypes RAR

I read an article titled Breaking Science 
Stereotypes, written by Alec Bodzin and Mike Gehringer. A study was conducted and students were asked to draw a picture of what they thought scientists looked like as a way to get a better understanding of what they thought scientist looked like. The results were that many students view scientists as white males with stereotypical items such as a lab coat and eyeglasses. The class that participated in this study was then visited by a variety of scientists who did not fit the students original perception of what a scientist was. After he visit, many of the students drawing changed! Some students drew pictures of female scientists and included other images that were less stereotypical than the original drawings. It was concluded that the interaction between the students and the scientists influenced students and their perceptions of what they thought scientists looked like. Seeing scientists face to face helped to break many of the stereotypes that students originally had in their minds. The researchers concluded that there needs to be a way that scientists can be more involved with elementary school students so that students can be engaged and get a better understanding of what scientists are!

I thought this was an excellent article because it was a great study that was conducted about the perception of what students think scientists are. I think it was an awesome idea that real life scientists were brought into the classroom to meet the students. It is great to give students a time to interact with real scientists and give them the opportunity to meet and see that they are just like us. This can also inspire students to realize that that can be them one day!

We participated in this stereotype breakthrough the first day of science methods with Dr. Smirnova. She gave us each a a piece of paper and asked us to draw a picture of a scientist and give them a name. Even as college students, we all had a stereotypical scientist drawing. We walked around the classroom and looked at each other's drawing. Most of the scientists were, in fact, males with glasses just like the study concluded in the article!

I think it is extremely important to break stereotypes within the classroom at any level. I chose this article to write about because I wanted to see how the stereotypes were researched and broken within this study. I think having the scientist come in was one great way of breaking through the stereotypes and if it is possible to have real life appearances, it can break many other stereotypes. As a teacher, you also have to be willing to talk about the stereotypes and then show students those are not always true. 

Bodzin, A., & Gehringer, M. (2001, January). Breaking Science Stereotypes. Science and Children, 36-41.

Science in the News

ThingLink

Science is all around us! I logged onto NewsELA, which is a wonderful website that has a compilation of so many articles on different topics and can be customized for different reading levels. Using this website, I was able to find tons of articles having to do with science. I focused on astronomy and compiled a collection of about ten articles that I thought were relevant and interesting. I took those ten articles and put them into a thinglink to make a scrap book. All of the articles I chose were very current and recently in the news. I thought this was a great type to choose because these discoveries are relevant to our lives right at this moment! For example, I found a few articles about scientists learning about life on other planets! The thinglink I created was fun and easy. This is a great tool that students can easily use in the classroom. Next, I took all the articles and created a timeline about when these articles were written. To create the timeline, I used tikitoki. This was an excellent tool and the final product is amazing! It is a little bit more confusing and hard to navigate, but in the end it is completely worth it to use it! Students can have the prompt to research articles and create a scrapbook, then put them into a timeline, just like I did. Then to take it a step further, they can pick one article that interests them, and continue to investigate this article. Depending on the grade level a research project or paper can even be incorporated to make sure students are grasping the topic they chose. 

TikiToki T

One article that I found particularly intriguing was about scientist possibly finding a new world past Pluto. This planet is part of our solar system and scientists are thrilled that they may be so close to a new discovery. Another article I found to be great was a new, nonexplosive source of black holes. Usually black holes form from the violent death of a star but with this new discovery a computer says that at least one black hole may have been formed from collapsing gas cloud. This is so interesting because this is such a new and interesting discovery that could lead to so many more discoveries about black holes. A third article that I thought was worthy to discuss is that astronomers found planets that they think could support human life. Obviously, they are no where near actually being able to make a final decision as to whether it is one hundred percent possible, but they are on their way and one step closer. 

This has helped me to realize how science is all around us all the time. This would be a great assignment for students so they can realize this as well. 

Trade Books!

Choosing a book that is both educational and engaging for students can sometimes be very difficult. Often time you may find a book that is very enticing and entertaining for students, but it may not be very educational. On the other hand, you may find a book that is very educational and does an excellent job explaining a certain topic, but it may be very boring. I sometimes find this happening and it can be very frustrating! 

I found an excellent book on rocks and minerals that was both educational and very interesting to read; Rocks and Minerals, by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld. The book was written in a very light and fun hearted way. It talked about the types of rocks, types of minerals, the rock cycle, where you can find these and much more. But, the pictures that were included in the book were all very relatable. For example, one page talked about how we can find rocks anywhere, while a child was rock climbing. On some pages there were even little jokes having to do with rocks and minerals. I thought this was an excellent addition to the book because it added some humor in a purely educational book. I think this book did an excellent job of covering all the important aspects of rocks and minerals while keeping the readers engaged. The book is also only about 30 pages, with few words on each page and many pictures. This is good because it is not being dragged out. It is long enough to explain everything, but a short read for many students. At the end of the book, there is a section of questions labeled "Stump Your Parents." This provides students with additional information that was not directly covered in the book. The last page has a picture glossary with some words mentioned in the book and their definition. Overall, I think this is an excellent book that I would definitely use in my classroom to teach my class about rocks and minerals. 

I would read this book to my class after I taught my lesson to the class. This book

could serve as a reinforcement from the original lesson. This book could also clear up any confusion students may have about rocks and minerals. I would also set up activities relating to rocks and minerals for my class to participate in. After they complete the activities, they can go back through the book and see if they participated in anything that is explained in the book. Then students can talk about their experiences together. 

I created a book trailer for this story book using animoto. The point of creating a book trailer is to show the book and make people, especially students interested and want to read it. The tool animoto is very easy to use and navigate. I was able to add in a lot of information and with the trial usage you can make a video up to about five minutes long. I enjoyed using animoto and thought the it has really great options. Take a look at the animoto I created for the book, Rocks and Minerals!

Fieldwork Reflection

I feels like just yesterday I was so nervous at the thought of teaching the sixth graders. Now, in what

feels like the blink of an eye, fieldwork is done! This time flew by so quick. I think back to the beginning when we were planning our lessons and that feels like so long ago!

Throughout this whole fieldwork experience, I most definitely learned more than I imagined. I learned what works and what doesn't work within the classroom. First, I definitely learned so much about time management. Sometimes what you think may only take a few minutes, might wind up taking a huge chunk of time and vice versus. I also learned how important it is so always have a back up plan! My group experienced that the first day when we had an extensive lesson and that morning the internet was not working! You always need to have a plan B because you never know what might happen! It is always better to be over prepared than under prepared! Another thing I learned was that although technology is a wonderful and amazing tool to spice up a lesson, you cannot always depend on it. Technology helps to enhance lessons and make them more engaging, but sometimes it may not work. 

Therefore, it is also important to not only rely on technology for your lessons. Furthermore, throughout this fieldwork experience I really mastered my skills of writing lesson plans! I got more experience writing different types of lessons plans and all the criteria that must be included within lesson plans. It is important to keep in mind that there are different ways to write different lesson plans! The way you write a direct lesson plan is not the same way you would write an inquiry lesson plan. This is really helpful because next semester when I student teach I will obviously be writing tons and tons of lesson plans! I am grateful I had this experience to really help foster and master my skills of writing lesson plans!

Another thing that was really helpful throughout this fieldwork experience was watching my peers teach. By watching them, I learned different ways to implement certain lessons and activities. I got to see different methods of teaching and how others work in the classroom. Sometimes, you think you have a great way to implement a certain activity and it goes south. But, you can watch other people try to implement similar activities and they may go great! Then you can keep this in mind and think about how you could possibly adjust your idea to make the activity go more smoothly. Although it is nerve wracking to teach in front of your peers, it really is a learning tool! We all grew so much throughout this whole experience. By observing my peers, it helped me to keep in mind how different people do different things. It is also good to see how one thing does not work for everybody. Therefore, I think it is very important to always have multiple ways for students to learn. One size does not fit all!!

Throughout this time I also got experience with creating and evaluating assessments. Before we began teaching our lesson we gave the class a pretest. This helped us to see if the students had any prior knowledge about our topic of minerals and rocks. The students actually did know a lot, so we were impressed! While we taught our lessons we assessed the students both formally and informally. Formal assessments were conducted through things such as exit tickets. We informally assessed the students by having them raise a flag as to whether they agree or disagree and analyzing the data depending on the answers of the students. While watching my peers teach, I also learned other ways to assess students. My favorite assessment that we did with the class was when we first met with them. We made a poster that we called "Sixth Grade Geologists" and the students were given pieces of construction paper that looked like minerals! On the mineral they were to write what they already know about rocks and minerals and what they want to learn. Then they decorated it with gemstones!

This time in fieldwork has also helped me to realize my strengths and weaknesses. I have realized I am not perfect and nobody is! This time to reflect allowed me to realize that there is always room for improvement! I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses. Now, I can learn how to build more on my strengths and improve my weaknesses! Teaching is an ongoing process. You will always be learning more, and learning as you go! I don't think anyone is perfect and over time I will keep getting better and better! 

Spending this time in the classroom has also helped me prepare for student teaching next semester! This has given me some more insight of what it may be like next semester when I am teaching! Also, creating our portfolio and practicing with edTPA tasks after we taught our lessons is also preparing me for what I will be doing next semester!

Last Week of Fieldwork

Group 4 taught their first lesson today on Plate tectonics! They had a very extensive lesson and I thought they did a wonderful job. In my opinion, this was a hard topic to teach, but I think they did a great job and the students understood the material well! For some reason, the students were extra chatty and energetic today. Throughout the lesson they were talking so much and distracted a lot. I think my fellow teacher candidates did a great job of trying to get them to settle down and refocus their attention back on the material!

My favorite part of their lesson was their continental drift activity. They had the students fold up a piece of construction paper like a fan. Each student had the continents of Africa and South America. They students were instructed to
lay the construction paper on their desk and place the continents on top. Then, they pulled the paper
apart so the continents drifted right in front of them! This was a really great activity and captured the attention of the class. It also helped to make the content material more realistic for them, because they saw it happening right in front of them! 

Group 4 taught their final lesson on Tuesday. We did not have class on Thursday, so they went a week without teaching. They did a very excellent job with this lesson. What I really liked was that they did stations. There were four stations that the students rotated to. Unfortunately, time ran out so the students only got to go to three of the stations. Overall, I think the lesson went very smoothly and you could tell the teacher candidates were a lot more comfortable in front of the classroom. 

I can't believe our time at fieldwork is over! It flew by!! It was very enjoyable and definitely a learning experience. It has helped me feel much more comfortable in front of the classroom and helped to give me even more experience writing lesson plans:)