Parking Lot Speech
STEM education is important to include in schools because STEM concepts prepare students for a wide variety of careers by emphasizing critical thinking and problem-solving. Programs emphasizing STEM concepts and careers are important especially for young women. In many STEM fields, like engineering and applied mathematics, women are underrepresented. Studies have shown that applying programs that improve attitudes toward women in STEM and exposing young girls to woman role models and mentors in STEM fields can improve these statistics. The other upside of these types of programs is that they don't need to be a huge undertaking. Programs that improve attitudes toward women in STEM or expose girls to appropriate role models can begin with a classroom visit from a woman in a STEM field.
How has your "parking lot speech" changed? How has it been reinforced through your research and conversations? Are you ready to deliver it?
My parking lot speech has changed to incorporate the issue of women in STEM. This concept especially has been developed by my research which has opened my eyes to the various STEM fields that have a low proportion of women. My research has also reinforced my knowledge on the subject and given me real details to back up my ideas. I believe I am ready to deliver this speech because it is something that I am knowledgable and passionate about.
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Reflection Week of 3/13/17
This week, I began my next unit and continued work on the biology board game in conceptual biology. Because I have been having trouble with my time management, I incorporated a little more flexibility into this current unit. I planned on doing less each day and I found several short activities and videos to do when there is time left over in class.
This week, I also began implementing my action research study. I completed a direct instruction lesson and a guided-inquiry based lesson and analyzed the students' engagement for both using a survey and a qualitative analysis. Unfortunately, this Friday was hectic, and I forgot to give the second survey to my 9th period class. In addition, I forgot to inform my 8th period class about their upcoming quiz on Tuesday. My mentor teacher said that I should still hold the quiz on Tuesday and to make sure I post it on their online class platform. I know that the students will be upset at learning about their quiz on Monday, and I am not sure yet how I'm going to handle this situation, especially since I know that it was my fault that they didn't know about their quiz before.
This week, I also began implementing my action research study. I completed a direct instruction lesson and a guided-inquiry based lesson and analyzed the students' engagement for both using a survey and a qualitative analysis. Unfortunately, this Friday was hectic, and I forgot to give the second survey to my 9th period class. In addition, I forgot to inform my 8th period class about their upcoming quiz on Tuesday. My mentor teacher said that I should still hold the quiz on Tuesday and to make sure I post it on their online class platform. I know that the students will be upset at learning about their quiz on Monday, and I am not sure yet how I'm going to handle this situation, especially since I know that it was my fault that they didn't know about their quiz before.
Reflection Week of 3/6/17
This Monday, I began my implementation of a project that I designed to help my students strengthen their biology knowledge. I am having them work in groups to create a Biology-themed board game based on the unit that they need the most practice on. I used the data from their practice standardized test to assign groups, so I wasn't sure how they would react to these assigned groups. The beginning of this project went surprisingly well. The students didn't put up too much of a fight about grouping, especially when I explained how groups were assigned, and I was pleasantly surprised by the level of engagement and creativity put into this assignment. However, students were very stressed about the fact that I wouldn't be giving them all of the class time they would need to work on this project at once. They will be receiving short amounts of time to convene with their groups before each portion of the project to keep from taking too much time out of their lessons at once. I learned from my mentor teacher that these students almost never receive projects that they need to complete outside of class, so the reason they are stressed is that they are worried they'll have to meet and work with their groups outside of school. Next week, I plan to discuss my plans for this project with them more in detail and reassure them that they will have the time they need in class to work with their groups.
Reflection Week of 2/27/17
This week, I completed the first full unit that I planned and taught in conceptual biology. There were some hiccups, though overall it went well. The biggest thing that I struggled with this unit was time management. I am having a difficult time knowing how long activities will take and making sure I leave time at the end of class to wrap up the lesson. In addition to this issue, after looking at the quiz grades from this Friday, I feel that I didn't appropriately prepare my students for this assessment. My students struggled a lot with applying concepts to new situations and reading comprehension of the test questions. Since the quiz questions came from the state-provided standardized test practice question bank, this raises a further worry that my students won't be prepared for their standardized test in May. I have been using similar questions from this question bank as my warm-ups each class, but I may need to re-evaluate how I approach these warm-ups. I plan to spend more time on walking students through strategies to read, comprehend, and analyze these questions.
Reflection Week of 2/21/17
This week, my students spent the majority of the week taking their practice Keystone test, so I spent a lot of time organizing my space and the students' grades. I conferenced with each student about their grade and any missing assignments. With some students, this conference turned out well and they turned in their missing assignments that day. With others, I got apathetic responses. I learned that for many of these students, I need to constantly remind them of missing work. On Friday, my students began a new unit with a pre-quiz. This precise took longer than I was expecting. Although it was half the size of the students' final quiz for this unit, it still took half the class for the students to finish and review it. In the future, I am considering doing a different kind of formative assessment spread out over the unit using warm-ups. However, this will depend on the results of the pre-quiz. If my students got what I hoped they would get out of this pre-quiz, I may use it again regardless of the time it takes.
This week in my Anatomy & Physiology class, the students completed lab stations based on the special senses. Many of them do well with this hands-on learning. They enjoy being able to work at their own pace and move around the room. I would like to implement some similar activities in my conceptual biology classes, though, behavior-wise, I'm not sure how they'll handle stations like this. I would also like to see if the Anatomy students would do well with completing stations at the beginning of a unit instead of the end, as an inquiry-based lesson. I think that, especially since they are all seniors and engaged in the content of this class, they might benefit from working together to figure some of the stations out.
This week in my Anatomy & Physiology class, the students completed lab stations based on the special senses. Many of them do well with this hands-on learning. They enjoy being able to work at their own pace and move around the room. I would like to implement some similar activities in my conceptual biology classes, though, behavior-wise, I'm not sure how they'll handle stations like this. I would also like to see if the Anatomy students would do well with completing stations at the beginning of a unit instead of the end, as an inquiry-based lesson. I think that, especially since they are all seniors and engaged in the content of this class, they might benefit from working together to figure some of the stations out.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Sunday, March 5, 2017
690 Project Planning Module 6
Planning Sheet
Where should you focus your energies to be sure to complete your research and planning sheet?
To complete my research and planning sheet, I will focus my energies on finding any past research on the issue and how some schools (or my school) is attacking the issue of women in different STEM careers. I will also focus on ways that I could assess the impact of my project.
Where should you focus your energies to be sure to complete your research and planning sheet?
To complete my research and planning sheet, I will focus my energies on finding any past research on the issue and how some schools (or my school) is attacking the issue of women in different STEM careers. I will also focus on ways that I could assess the impact of my project.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Sunday, February 19, 2017
690 Reflective Writing Module 4
Peer Research Summary
The topic that interests me most from the research this week is Society and STEM. This topic deals a lot with women and minorities in science, which is something that I am very connected to. For one, I am a woman in STEM. As I worked toward my Biology degree, I encountered some prejudices and stereotypes, though I consider myself lucky that I wasn't held back by any of these. The first situation I encountered in college was the fact that a majority of my professors were men. It was difficult to have so few women as science mentors, though the few I had were excellent. Another situation that I have encountered is something little, but it shows some of the preconceived notions that students have about science. One of my favorite parts of biology is doing dissections, and as I've worked with peers and students, many have the same, shocked reaction when they find out. This stems from the stereotype that all girls think things like that are gross.
Another reason that this topic interests me so much is that I was involved in a program in college for minority students and women. High schoolers who participated in the program took a college class over the summer, and myself and another college student mentored them and planned STEM-themed field trips and activities. The purpose of this program was to help girls and minority students experience college and become more exposed to STEM. This program also fit in with our "community involvement" topic, as we toured several different businesses where the students got to meet individuals working in STEM fields.
The topic that interests me most from the research this week is Society and STEM. This topic deals a lot with women and minorities in science, which is something that I am very connected to. For one, I am a woman in STEM. As I worked toward my Biology degree, I encountered some prejudices and stereotypes, though I consider myself lucky that I wasn't held back by any of these. The first situation I encountered in college was the fact that a majority of my professors were men. It was difficult to have so few women as science mentors, though the few I had were excellent. Another situation that I have encountered is something little, but it shows some of the preconceived notions that students have about science. One of my favorite parts of biology is doing dissections, and as I've worked with peers and students, many have the same, shocked reaction when they find out. This stems from the stereotype that all girls think things like that are gross.
Another reason that this topic interests me so much is that I was involved in a program in college for minority students and women. High schoolers who participated in the program took a college class over the summer, and myself and another college student mentored them and planned STEM-themed field trips and activities. The purpose of this program was to help girls and minority students experience college and become more exposed to STEM. This program also fit in with our "community involvement" topic, as we toured several different businesses where the students got to meet individuals working in STEM fields.
Reflection Week of 2/13/17
This week, I mainly had my conceptual bio students work through their Bio Journal. Although it is tedious, I think that this journal is beneficial because it gives the students a way to organize the information that they are learning. Since many of them will not take notes without the journals, this is a good way to keep them on task and paying attention. I try to keep the students engaged during the days we work on Bio Journals by asking many questions relating to the journal and requiring fairly in-depth answers that require them to answer “why” they think what they do. I also try to break up the class by doing some sections individually and some sections as a group, and including related concepts and examples from the real world. For example, when we discussed limiting factors, I talked about human population growth and what may be a limiting factor for humans. I gave their ecology test this Friday, so we played a review game on Thursday. I found a review game online that is played like connect four. When a team gets a question correct, they get to place a “piece” on the board. The goal is to get four pieces in a row. This game went over surprisingly well with the students, and they enjoyed it… until they realized that it was going to be difficult for anyone to win the game. However, I saw some great teamwork and they enjoyed the competition, so I would probably use this game again. In the future, I would keep count of how many questions each group got correct so there would be a backup winner in case nobody got four in a row.
In addition to my teaching this week, my mentor teacher and I were able to sit down and talk about my strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. We both agreed that some of my strengths include planning, my energy level during lessons, and questioning and praising students. I believe that these are strengths that I’ve built up based on previous experiences. My energy level is due to my own passion about the topics, and my ability to plan and use questioning and praise to engage students is from my time spent tutoring in college. While tutoring, I encountered students with many different needs and learning styles, so I needed to plan for any situation when I went into a new tutoring appointment. I also refused to give any of the students I tutored direct answers to their homework questions, so I had to build up my skill for creating guiding questions.
We also discussed weaknesses that I need to work on, and my mentor teacher only mentioned one. When I am teaching a lesson, I tend to say “alright” a lot to transition into a new concept or question. This can be distracting for the students, so I will try to cut down on the superfluous words that I use while teaching. Another area that I would like to work on is requiring students to raise their hands or calling on students to answer a question. I have several students who are very eager in class and like to answer all of the questions. This keeps other students who may want to answer from being able to, and it keeps students who are not paying attention from being held accountable. When a student calls out in class, I have started asking them to raise their hand, then they answer again after I call on them. In addition, I have begun to specify when I ask a question, “raise your hand and tell me…” or I’ll sometimes call on a student before I ask the question.
In addition to my teaching this week, my mentor teacher and I were able to sit down and talk about my strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. We both agreed that some of my strengths include planning, my energy level during lessons, and questioning and praising students. I believe that these are strengths that I’ve built up based on previous experiences. My energy level is due to my own passion about the topics, and my ability to plan and use questioning and praise to engage students is from my time spent tutoring in college. While tutoring, I encountered students with many different needs and learning styles, so I needed to plan for any situation when I went into a new tutoring appointment. I also refused to give any of the students I tutored direct answers to their homework questions, so I had to build up my skill for creating guiding questions.
We also discussed weaknesses that I need to work on, and my mentor teacher only mentioned one. When I am teaching a lesson, I tend to say “alright” a lot to transition into a new concept or question. This can be distracting for the students, so I will try to cut down on the superfluous words that I use while teaching. Another area that I would like to work on is requiring students to raise their hands or calling on students to answer a question. I have several students who are very eager in class and like to answer all of the questions. This keeps other students who may want to answer from being able to, and it keeps students who are not paying attention from being held accountable. When a student calls out in class, I have started asking them to raise their hand, then they answer again after I call on them. In addition, I have begun to specify when I ask a question, “raise your hand and tell me…” or I’ll sometimes call on a student before I ask the question.
Reflection Week of 2/6/17
This week, I was able to include some short inquiry activities into my lessons. This has been difficult lately because I am on a bit of a tight schedule for this unit. We are trying to test for the unit next Friday so the students don’t have to take the test after the three-day weekend. We were able to do a POGIL worksheet on Wednesday, which I think was very beneficial for the students. I am trying to get them more used to activities with higher rigor than what they have been doing. This POGIL was not excessively rigorous, but it made the students think, analyze and problem-solve more than what they are typically willing to do.
I have also been planning a project for the students to complete that will take longer than most of their activities. Because of these students’ lack of motivation and willingness to work, the current teachers rarely even assign homework, let alone a bigger project. I’d like my students to make a board game designed around one of their Bio units. They will include questions on the topics in their unit that are similar to test questions. I think that this project can really benefit my students, because creating test questions is a great way to study, and it will give them a creative outlet as well.
I have also been planning a project for the students to complete that will take longer than most of their activities. Because of these students’ lack of motivation and willingness to work, the current teachers rarely even assign homework, let alone a bigger project. I’d like my students to make a board game designed around one of their Bio units. They will include questions on the topics in their unit that are similar to test questions. I think that this project can really benefit my students, because creating test questions is a great way to study, and it will give them a creative outlet as well.
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Reflection Week of 1/30/17
This week was a busy week in my internship. On Monday, I took over planning and teaching the conceptual biology classes. My first lesson went well, but there was a lot to improve on. For my next lesson, I printed out my lesson plan to have a hard copy to refer to during class. This helped me keep my thoughts straight and stay on track during the lesson. In addition, my lesson ended before class did on Monday. To counter this, I have been over-planning for my other lessons. I have been including extra little activities or extensions to do if my lesson finishes earlier than expected.
This week I also began a project with my biology students and I was pleasantly surprised by their enthusiasm for the project. While none of them admitted that they enjoyed the project, the majority of them were engaged in the research and worked hard on their poster. I think that this hands-on activity helped them understand and engage in the material.
On Friday of this week, my mentor teacher came back to school. As well as I was doing running the classroom while she has been gone, and as much as I enjoyed it, I was relieved for her to come back. It will be nice to have a knowledgable teacher in the room to observe me and help me reflect and improve on my teaching.
This week I also began a project with my biology students and I was pleasantly surprised by their enthusiasm for the project. While none of them admitted that they enjoyed the project, the majority of them were engaged in the research and worked hard on their poster. I think that this hands-on activity helped them understand and engage in the material.
On Friday of this week, my mentor teacher came back to school. As well as I was doing running the classroom while she has been gone, and as much as I enjoyed it, I was relieved for her to come back. It will be nice to have a knowledgable teacher in the room to observe me and help me reflect and improve on my teaching.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Reflective Blog Module 1
Before Research
1) How would you describe STEM education to a friend or family member in informal conversation? STEM education is not only learning science, technology, engineering, and math in school, but incorporating those principles in the classroom as well. This includes encouraging inquiry and curiosity in the classroom as well as promoting cooperation and teamwork.
2) Why do you think STEM education is (or is not) important? STEM education is important because it prepares students for many aspects of the "real world." It helps students be creative, free thinkers and become confident, competent adults.
3) What is the value of incorporating or enhancing STEM in public education. Because STEM education has so many positive impacts on students, incorporating STEM in public education will allow students to benefit from STEM principles.
After Research
After reviewing the LiveBinder resources, some of my initial thoughts were reinforced. For example, the article "Why STEM?" talks about how STEM education "prepares students for life, regardless of the profession they choose to follow." This article also discusses how, included with the skills that I mentioned, STEM also promotes critical thinking and problem-solving, and improves engagement. These are skills that are beneficial in any field.
Another idea about the value of incorporating STEM in public education comes from the articles "Why so few?" and "Getting Girls Into STEM." One way to achieve this goal of getting girls interested in STEM is to offer it in a convenient place. By incorporating and improving STEM education in public schools girls (and boys) who go to public school are getting more and more exposure into STEM principles.
1) How would you describe STEM education to a friend or family member in informal conversation? STEM education is not only learning science, technology, engineering, and math in school, but incorporating those principles in the classroom as well. This includes encouraging inquiry and curiosity in the classroom as well as promoting cooperation and teamwork.
2) Why do you think STEM education is (or is not) important? STEM education is important because it prepares students for many aspects of the "real world." It helps students be creative, free thinkers and become confident, competent adults.
3) What is the value of incorporating or enhancing STEM in public education. Because STEM education has so many positive impacts on students, incorporating STEM in public education will allow students to benefit from STEM principles.
After Research
After reviewing the LiveBinder resources, some of my initial thoughts were reinforced. For example, the article "Why STEM?" talks about how STEM education "prepares students for life, regardless of the profession they choose to follow." This article also discusses how, included with the skills that I mentioned, STEM also promotes critical thinking and problem-solving, and improves engagement. These are skills that are beneficial in any field.
Another idea about the value of incorporating STEM in public education comes from the articles "Why so few?" and "Getting Girls Into STEM." One way to achieve this goal of getting girls interested in STEM is to offer it in a convenient place. By incorporating and improving STEM education in public schools girls (and boys) who go to public school are getting more and more exposure into STEM principles.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Reflection Week of 1/16/17
This week, Monday was an in-service day and I participated in ALICE active shooter training. It showed me how important it is to think about situations like that before they may happen. By having a plan, it could reduce panic at the time of an emergency. This week included several interesting activities that I really liked and would probably use in my own classroom. The first was an activity called "Marshmallows and Murder" that demonstrated different mechanisms of evolution. This was a good activity, but I would probably implement it differently than the teacher did. She put a lot of emphasis on the marshmallows, but I would probably focus more on the scenarios. Since mechanisms of evolution depend a lot on situations, I would develop scenarios that are easy to follow and understand so that students can relate to them and refer back to them when remembering terms. Another activity that I was involved in this week was in the Anatomy and Physiology class. They created maps of brain function on swim caps. This was a great way to have a more hands-on review of concepts. Students were able to see and create the structures and functions in the brain. I like the idea of creating a model like this for a body part for anatomy.
Reflection Week of 1/9/17
This week ended the second grading period, and I got to really see how much work goes into making sure everyone’s grades are in. Between grading last minute make-up work and tests, entering and calculating final grades, and keeping track of bonus points, along with teaching and making sure students are on track and have work that they may have missed, this week was a whirlwind of activity. It was especially difficult for me because I don’t have a great organizational system in place right now. My mentor teacher organizes her space very effectively, and always knows where things are, but without her here, I have been having trouble determining where I should put things. As a result, I have several piles of things both in the classroom and in the front room based on whether it needs grading, needs passed out, or is graded and ready to be passed back. Monday is an in-service day, and I would like to work out a better system then so that the space feels more organized.
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Reflection Week of 1/2/17
This week, I was once again leading the classroom as my mentor teacher is still out of school. I felt that this week went very well, but it wasn't without low points. On Thursday, the Anatomy students were given a study guide for their midterm on Monday and given the majority of the class period to work through it and ask questions. Instead of working on their study guide, many of the students were playing on their phone. Since they are all seniors and I feel they should be given responsibility for preparing for their tests, I didn't fight them on it during class, but I did talk to the class about how, when they are given time in class for something like this, they are expected to, at the very least, be working on something. I told them that it is unacceptable for them to sit in class and do nothing, and if it continues in the future, 1. they will not be given time to review in class anymore, and 2. if they are playing on their phones, their phones will be collected; a policy that my mentor teacher created.
A highlight of this week was a review game that I played with the Anatomy students on Friday. Since I have been in this classroom, I have only seen these students review 1 of 2 ways, either with Kahoot, or answering questions in pairs with white boards. I wanted to try something different, and the sub that has been with me in the classroom suggested a relay race-type game that he had played with a class before. I created 26 questions that sampled all 4 chapters that were on their midterm, and created slips of paper with each question on it, as well as a key for myself and the sub. We split each class into 3 groups, and gave each team a whiteboard, marker, and eraser. The question slips were upside down on 3 tables, one for each team, and the teams were lined up behind their tables. When it was their turn, each team member would come up to the table, flip over a question, and answer it on the white board. The sub and I were monitoring the teams to mark right answers and make sure nobody was cheating. The person who was up for their team had to get a question right before their next teammate could take their turn. Each team also got 4 "lifelines" where they could ask their teammates or look up the answer. I think that the students enjoyed the competition of this game and had fun being up out of their seats to play, but I don't think that I would use it again as a review. The disadvantage of this game was that, unlike Kahoot or a white board review, all of the students didn't get to view all of the questions and answers. I am trying to brainstorm new games that might involve the competitive and movement aspects of this game while still allowing all of the students to benefit from the questions given. Another option might be to have smaller teams go around to stations, answering questions. It will get them out of their seats, and whether they remember the answers or have to look them up, it would still be a good way to review for a test.
A highlight of this week was a review game that I played with the Anatomy students on Friday. Since I have been in this classroom, I have only seen these students review 1 of 2 ways, either with Kahoot, or answering questions in pairs with white boards. I wanted to try something different, and the sub that has been with me in the classroom suggested a relay race-type game that he had played with a class before. I created 26 questions that sampled all 4 chapters that were on their midterm, and created slips of paper with each question on it, as well as a key for myself and the sub. We split each class into 3 groups, and gave each team a whiteboard, marker, and eraser. The question slips were upside down on 3 tables, one for each team, and the teams were lined up behind their tables. When it was their turn, each team member would come up to the table, flip over a question, and answer it on the white board. The sub and I were monitoring the teams to mark right answers and make sure nobody was cheating. The person who was up for their team had to get a question right before their next teammate could take their turn. Each team also got 4 "lifelines" where they could ask their teammates or look up the answer. I think that the students enjoyed the competition of this game and had fun being up out of their seats to play, but I don't think that I would use it again as a review. The disadvantage of this game was that, unlike Kahoot or a white board review, all of the students didn't get to view all of the questions and answers. I am trying to brainstorm new games that might involve the competitive and movement aspects of this game while still allowing all of the students to benefit from the questions given. Another option might be to have smaller teams go around to stations, answering questions. It will get them out of their seats, and whether they remember the answers or have to look them up, it would still be a good way to review for a test.
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