The science instruction in my second grade clinical
classroom is done in large group, mostly at their desks. Science instruction
happens in the afternoon, depending on the day either my teacher is teaching
Science or Social Studies. I have only seen science instruction a few times,
but from what I have seen I know that my teacher uses discussions to ask
questions to students to find out what they know, uses guidance and reasoning
to encourage thinking and responses, and uses discussion to encourage interest
and hypothesis. The last time I saw my cooperating teacher teach science, she
used real world connections, daily experiences, and real life examples to
encourage thinking and discussion in the topic on nutrition and daily intake.
Students used prior knowledge to discuss the different kinds of food you find
in each food group and why the daily intake is different for each type of
nutrition.
A lot of times the
teacher will also have students use their science notebooks to record
information, graphs, and data from investigations to record this for later use.
My teacher will show students what to do sometimes using her document camera,
other times she will have them reflect on the lesson or activity in their notebook.
I like the idea of using a notebook to record and document information and I
will definitely want to try to use this in my future classroom. My teacher
encourages children to discuss and respond in the large group by asking
prediction questions, connecting to students real lives, and using visual
examples on the Smart board. Some students are distracted at their desks during
the long discussions, but my teacher encourages them to focus and be engaged by
walking around the room and engaging with students and questioning their ideas
or opinions. I think students like the large group discussion because they make
connections to their world and can investigate and argue ideas and facts. My CT
gets most of her lesson ideas by incorporating the social studies topics with
science instruction. As a past teacher in Texas, my cooperating teacher did
this kind of instruction and incorporated these two topics in instruction. The
science instruction is more focused to explore ideas, make predictions, and
brainstorm ideas, whereas in social sciences students are applying what there
are learning from literature and real world to understand the concepts through
application.
The parts I like of my cooperating teacher’s practices is
that she uses large group discussion and engagement throughout the activity,
she provides children with a high amount of reasoning and information when using
discussion in her lesson, and she provides exploration and engagement by making
real world connections. I think she guides and supports children’s thinking and
responses in discussion very well and when she engages students in discussion
she provides good examples of real world connections and explanations that show
she understands the topic and can guide students to explore the concept.
I have not science instruction in my clinicals before, nor
have I had a science class in education until this semester, so from what I
have learned in my science class this semester, my CT has very engaging and
interesting discussions. I can easily make connections to my class readings on
how to provide application to learning science and I can see how I would plan a
science activity that could extend my CT’s discussion. When my CT taught the
nutrition circle on the plate, students could have used different pictures of
foods and their amounts to apply it to the plat and show visually how much food
should really be consumed in each category.
I think some things
that I would do differently is having children sit at their desks the entire
time. Children start to get distracted and are not as engaged in discussion
after about twenty minutes and I think I would get children out of their desks
and transition so they stay engaged in the lesson. I also think I would change
how students share their ideas and responses in the lesson because my
cooperating teacher usually have students raise hands and respond individually.
I think I would sometimes have children talk within their small groups at their
desk and then have a “reporter”, someone to report what was said in their
group, so that students are still engaged in discussion and are working
collaboratively in groups. But the science instruction I see in my clinicals
helps me to see that in the future I can use some of the positive aspects of
her lessons and discussions but also build on that by providing more engaging
discussion and formative assessment tools that I believe would benefit children’s
knowledge of the topic and participation in the discussion.
Here is a link I found on guidelines for forming groups, group work techniques, and ideas for forming groups: https://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/sections/groupwork.html
From UCD Dublin Teaching and Learning Resources I found very helpful teaching toolkit on large and small group discussion techniques. The toolkit has a very organized way of explaining each type of technique and the advantages to using each technique in a small/large group.
Here is a link I found that has examples of formative assessment tools that can be used during the science discussion: http://wvde.state.wv.us/teach21/FormativeAssessment.html
This link has 22 easy formative assessment techniques for teachers, something I definitely want to keep for the future! http://www.nwea.org/blog/2013/22-easy-formative-assessment-techniques-for-measuring-student-learning/
Chantal,
ReplyDeleteI really liked when you said “I have not science instruction in my clinical before, nor have I had a science class in education until this semester, so from what I have learned in my science class this semester, my CT has very engaging and interesting discussions. I can easily make connections to my class readings on how to provide application to learning science and I can see how I would plan a science activity that could extend my CT’s discussion.” I think it is awesome that what you are seeing in clinicals relates to what we are learning in class! I wish I could say the say about my clinical. It is great that teachers are seeing the importance of implementing science lessons in their classrooms and allowing them to be very hands on with the experiments and topics. The hands on aspect is great for young children because they get to see the real life connections to what they are learning in the classroom. I also think it is so neat that your teacher is from Texas and is still implementing what she has learned in that environment and is bringing it into her classroom now! Has she told you any major differences in the curriculum between here and there? I would be interested to hear how different it is!
Jordan,
ReplyDeleteI too am glad I get to see some great examples of how to implement engaging and interesting activities. It is so helpful to actually be able to compare what I am learning in classes to what I see in clinicals. The difference between here and Texas is not a lot but there is a lot more that Texas schools are doing to incorporate science and social studies into the curriculum and are using strategies and teaching techniques that provide students with engagement and application to what they are learning in that subject area. Texas schools are a lot more focused on math, science, and social studies, whereas here in Illinois our major focus at the moment is English and Language Arts Instruction. Texas also has fully implemented Common Core Standards into Mathematics and Language Arts and from what my CT has told me about her past school she taught that in Texas, the school had a lot more funding and grants that provided new materials and supplies for leveled books and reading materials that teachers can use in their classrooms. My CT consistently discusses with me the downfalls of the school she teaches now compared to where she taught before in Texas. I think it is really interesting that Texas is so far ahead and advanced in their funding and can provide such a rich environment for students to learn. Also, one thing I found really influential to my teacher being able to plan and implement lessons is the resources and materials she has. In Texas, my CT said her school had supplies and new materials that were useful and actually helpful in teaching science and social studies, whereas when she came to Unit 5, the school gave her bins full of plastic and paper cups, plates, utensils and other simple materials. This was all the materials my teacher was given for science this year and is expected to be able to use these things to invent creative and engaging activities. I think it is so interesting that even the resources and materials in Texas are more available to teachers and that schools support their teachers in engaging students in the learning by providing materials and resources for teachers to use.
Chantal,
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm late to the commenting party here, I am so happy to see you and Jordan engaged in an online dialogue about science in the ECE classroom! Awesome! Also, I appreciate you looking at both the stars of what is currently taking place with science in your setting and wishes for how it could be even more engaging and creative. Your links were especially helpful! I'll be saving these on Pinterest for future students to use! So, thank you!
I also want to caution you and Jordan from thinking that your CT's experience in Texas represents all of Texas ECE teaching. Thinking this would be just as faulty as thinking that what one school in our town experiences is the same as another in East St. Louis or Evanston--or all of Illinois. Texas is a massive state, and I am sure that each district there operates similarly and differently from all of the others, just like ours here. Something to think about...
:)Kira