Reflection - First Month of School

The first month of teaching involves a lot of questions and figuring out the answers.  How do my students learn?  How must I sit my students in order to get to every single student easily?  Who are the talkers and how do I keep those people quiet enough to get through my lesson?  Am I going to have any uncontrollable classroom management issues to deal with this year?  How can I execute clean transitions to avoid losing the focus of my students?  The list goes on and on and on. 

So far, the year has gone okay.  For whatever reason, I have been behind since the first day.  I did not get off on the right foot, but I seem to be getting it together.  I hope it was just a "back-to-school" thing and trying to get back in the groove.  Everything is graded, now I just need to input the grades!

During some bells, it is hard to gauge the learning style as I can barely get through a lecture due to all of the talking.  I can definitely say they LOOOOOVE to talk.  I am trying strategies to get that under control and hopefully it will be sooner than later.  I spoke with the ring leader of the talkers today in hopes that she will switch over to my side and help calm down the pack.

All of my classes contain a mix of learners, from what I initially see.  Today, I gave my students a visual of and an analogy for water properties using a volleyball.  Students seem to really love that idea.  It kept them engaged, too.  My lesson plans contain opportunities for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners in most, if not all, of my lesson plans.  Except for those, perhaps, when the students are taking a test.  The real test of kinesthetic learners comes next class period as we study the properties of water.

Initial Reflection:  Science Philosophy and Vision
September 8, 2012

            As a science teacher, my vision is to become Ms. Frizzle and take my students on the Magic School Bus.  I would be omniscient in the area of science and would have a hands-on lab every day of the week for my students.  No need to formally assess because I would know the experience my students just had would last forever.

            Now, let me get back to reality.  I only know so much about science, mainly biology, from my coursework and my first year of teaching.  During my first year, I was not the only teacher in the classroom as my students had some great questions in which I did not know the answers.  I chose Biology because it is the content area I excelled at in school and it is the content in which I am the most interested.  This makes teaching easier, because I pass on my excitement of Biology to my students through my personality, approachability, open communication, promptness, and my ability to say, “I do not know the answer to your question, but I will find out.”

            Going on a mission to mars and creating a Mars Land Rover to collect data was the highlight of sixth grade science; while the rest of middle school was science fair projects and my poor choice to test the strength of a toothpick.  Dissections in high school Biology classes had a lasting impression and really grabbed my attention, as well as, the science teacher who used a microphone when he spoke.  AP Biology was the epitome of a class that contained thousands of notes. 

            One was unable to see the true use of technology within a lab setting until college.  In my classroom, students would be engaged and would want to come to science class.  There would be plenty of gloves, lab coats, goggles, lab desks, working sinks, plenty of storage for lab equipment, a separate room attached to mine with lab kits and necessary chemicals, a working SMART Board, and a knowledgeable teacher – ME!  A typical day in Ms. Mahon’s Biology class would start with a higher-level question for a student to answer.  This would be followed by an anticipatory set to grab students’ attention, a short lecture, and a meaningful, fun lab.  Finally, students would be able to answer the question posed to them at the beginning of the class.  During the class, students would be respectful of each other and I would provide them more things to do and experience in hopes of student reflection and understanding.  I refuse to be the AP Biology teacher who gives her students fill-in-the-blank notes that fill up a 2” binder by the end of the year.

            To make that typical day occur, I am hoping the VISTA program can teach me how to give my students more meaningful hands-on experience.  I hope I learn experiences that are able to be differentiated, low-cost, time efficient, and inquiry-based.  In addition, I would really love to learn how to make students see the purpose of a lab.  Students need to make connections between content and labs instead of just seeing the lab as something to do before their next class.