And so it ends.....

So it's that time again, the end of the semester! Last semester I was very overwhelmed and did not realize all the great information and training I was provided under Dr. Smirnova's guidance. This semester I am able to step back and reflect on how amazing this class was. Yes, it was a lot of work, I mean A LOT, but ever piece of work served some purpose and helped me evolve into a better teacher. I cannot thank Dr. Smirnova and my classmates enough for taking this ride with me and helping me at every bump in the road. Good luck to my fellow classmates in everything you do! 

STUDENT TEACHING HERE I COME!!!!!

Research Article Review

"To develop skills of teaching science effectively you need to follow the research on the current issues in science education." 

Read the entire article here!

Research is super important for not only teachers, but for any profession. Researchers find new innovative ways to approach new standards or strategies and share their findings with us. Once we receive their research, it's up to us to decipher it and use it effectively. Sometimes research is equivalent to proof because research is typically done over a long span of time and requires numerous amounts of data collection which prove or disprove a specific theory or idea. 

The reason I selected this piece is because one of my fellow classmates actually talked about this article in one of her blogs (which you can read here) and I was very engaged in reading about it. In her blog, she outlines a 5E lesson plan that she could implement into the classroom and uses this article as an outline for it. For me personally, I take this article as a challenge to take something that is overdone and overdone, like a field trip to the zoo, and turn it into a fabulous learning opportunity. Digital cameras are amazing tools and could be used in an ELA project or a math lesson. I love the fact that after the students took the pictures they were able to view them and were able to create digital stories. In my classroom, I could use the digital stories idea and apply it to social studies or an ELA assignment in which the student talks about their family or their daily routine. Being trained in special education as well as elementary education, I have seen the wonders the pictures can do and children with or without love to take them, look at them, or make a craft out of them. Speaking from experience, a picture really is worth a thousand words! 

Science in the News!

Title: "Finding Dory" prompts fears of a sudden interest in tropical fish pets
Source: NewsELA

Synopsis: This June Disney's "Finding Dory" will hit theaters! Animal welfare activists and pet shop owners fear that once the movie is released people will be very interested in the blue tang fish. The movie's main character is a blue tang fish. The Humane Society has gotten involved in the situation and explained that the blue tang fish grows to be about a foot long and is just not suitable for a home aquarium. Disney has stated that they are working with the blue tang conservationists to preserve these beautiful creatures. Even now, before the movie has been released, people have started to fish for and look for blue tang fish. 

So, the first thing that grabbed my attention with this article is that it had to do with Disney. I love Disney. The second thing that grabbed my attention was the beautiful picture of the blue tang fish. It has been shown that people are mainly drawn to pictures before they even see or read the words around it. Because this article was visually appealing, I had to read more. I quickly realized this article is about the conservation of the blue tang fish. As I read on this article was very easy to read. This article could be categorized under the main topic of biology, but can also be used to describe habitats, ecosystems, and extinction. 

Read the full article here!


Title: A Ninth Planet?
Source: Scholastic Science World 

Synopsis: This article explores the concept of a possible 9th planet that scientists have found orbiting the sun. Since Pluto was not considered a planet anymore because it was so small, the same concern rang true for this planet. It was quickly discovered that "Planet Nine" has a mass 10 times larger than Earth's. "Planet Nine" might just be making its way into our solar system very soon. 

I have heard of "Planet Nine" before and the idea, that after losing a planet we might gain one, has always fascinated me. I'm not big into science, but any new discoveries always peak my interest. Maybe because it's like that shiny new toy that everyone's talking about? This article in particle also drew my attention because at a quick glance, the picture looks like a black hole in space. After more observation, I quickly realized that it is indeed a planet or a celestrial object, not a black hole, in the middle of space. Very obviously, this article pertains to science and more specifically astronomy. Since astronomy has many subtopics such as planets, galaxies, comets, meteors etc., it is very easy to incorporate an article about a possible planet that may be something other then a planet.

Read the full article here!

Since each article is current and relevant to our lives in certain ways, articles are excellent to bring into the classroom. In order to implement articles into the curriculum, it could be used to connect ELA and science. By reading an article, students demonstrate their ELA skills and by breaking apart the topics and associating the information found in an article to these topics, students can demonstrate scientific knowledge and skills. 

Take me "Home"!

"Home" 
A Documentary about Earth and it's habitability 

Towards the end of the semester, my classmates and I had the pleasure of watching "Home" instead of a final test. At first I was skeptical because I have never watched a documentary that wasn't boring, but with "Home" I was pleasantly surprised. "Home" is a documentary directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and narrated by Glenn Close. "Home" discusses the negative impact that humans place daily on Earth. This documentary was eye opening and shocking. It's scary to think that we are a threat to our own planet, where we live. We have abused our resources with toxic pesticides, excessive mining, water shortages, deforestation, extinction, global warming, droughts, and wildfires, and even many species have become extinct. The only solution to this is for us to make a change. By us, I mean all of us, everyone on Earth. We must protect our natural resources, decrease pollution, and help in any other way we can. Solar power is a great way that we can use natural resources without abusing it. We need to look to solar power to become our primary resource for energy.  

Even some foreign cities like Dubai realize the need to make a change.  We can make a difference but we need to focus. Electricity plants are exploring geothermal energy. The introduction of Wind farms produce 20%  energy.  Intelligence in engineering will help lead our society and joining nations on a mission to preserve our earth rather than exhaust her resources.

As a future teacher, it is so important to impart this knowledge onto our students so that each generation is aware of the harm the can cause and will therefore try their best to protect this planet that we call our home.

Always remember that actions speak louder than words!

Watch the full documentary below!

Tiki-Toki: Fun Word, Great Tool!

I never knew this tool existed and now that I do, I want to use it for everything!

Tiki Toki is an online timeline creator. It is super easy to use and comes with a super cool secret feature. After you put in pictures and events/dates, look in the bottom left corner for a little button that says 3D. Click this! This will turn your timeline into a 3D masterpiece. Timelines in general are a great tool for ELA, history, and, of course, science!

Sound too good to be true? Check it out here for yourself!

Also, check out my astronomy timeline!

Here is a short tutorial on how to use Tiki-Toki!

Generalizations vs. Realizations

The three main aspects when studying science is observation, generalization and explanation. We question something when we observe, it's just common sense. 

Generalization is defined as "a general statement or concept obtained by inference from specific cases".

Realization is defined as "an act of becoming fully aware of something as a fact".

So in simple terms, a generalization is an inference or a guess about a particular topic and a realization is when you completely understand something as a fact and do not doubt it. 

Why is this important? 

Very simply, we must make generalizations to reach realizations. 
This cannot be more true in science. Look at the scientific method. The first step is to make a generalization, a hypothesis is a generalization! Then when you reach the end of the experiment, what do you do? You come to a realization, a conclusion, based on data and information collected that proves or disproves your first generalization, hypothesis.

A Reflection on my Fieldwork Experience

        Overall, I think this experience was very worthwhile and unique. It was unique because instead of teaching one grade in a classroom during the school day, my class was able to teach multiple grades, students from different schools, and for a longer period of time after school. I know that this period of time was illogical in reality, but it was nice to have in the moment. 
           This overall process of creating lessons, modifying the lessons, and implementing them  in front of the students was a very time consuming process, but worth it. My lessons that I taught were focused on the three types of rocks and their characteristics. Rocks is an important topic because we see them everyday in our lives and they also make up many of our world's land forms and play a part in creating the world we live in today.
Since it was so much work, I couldn't do it alone. I worked with two other candidates to construct and implement these lessons.  We meet occasionally to toss around ideas and work with each other to create a fun and engaging set of lessons. Each of us had something to contribute to the lesson. I found the table for our inquiry lesson and I created the graphic organizer for our direct instruction lesson. My other members created the Voki for our inquiry lesson, found the video for our direct instruction, and designed the PowerPoint slides. My group and I worked very well together and seemed to  understand each other's teaching styles. When team teaching this is very important to know what kind of teaching style each teacher prefers. This is important in order to not overshadow any of your co-teachers. 
          Our lessons in general went over well. There were a few hiccups, but nothing is ever perfect. One of the major issues with our lessons was our direct instruction graphic organizer. My co-teachers and I quickly realized this graphic organizer was too hard for the students and one student in particular was getting very frustrated and upset over it. If we were to do this lesson over again, we would replace our graphic organizer with something much simpler and shorter. 
         This issue also lead to another issue which I noticed after teaching, I spoke too fast and flipped too fast through the slides. Since I went too fast, it was very difficult for the students to keep up with filling in the graphic organizer and some students even checked out of the lesson. 
         It wasn't until the inquiry lesson that I could tell if the students were actually grasping the information or not. Each students liked the activity and used lots of questions which is directly outlined in the inquiry format. The student who was frustrated with the graphic organizer quickly involved himself in the small group activity and seemed to take charge. This is a classic example of never judge a book by its cover. What I mean by this is that I truly thought this student became frustrated with the graphic organizer and then simply gave up on learning the material, when in fact this student actually understood most of the material presented and was solely frustrated about not being able to keep up with filling in the graphic organizer. 
            In conclusion, this fieldwork experience lead to many revelations not only about modifications that must be made to our lessons, but also changes that must be made in me as a teacher. Hopefully by noticing these things, I can turn them into a positive and I can become an even better teacher then I am now.