Reflections on Week Two Readings

Chapter 2: Assessment

This reflection stuff really makes me think about what I am doing that is good, but makes me realize that I could do so much more. I am glad I decided to get take these master’s classes, because they have really pumped me up about good teaching. I may have been getting into a slump. I have tried almost all the forms of assessment expect full-fledged portfolios. I wouldn’t rule any of them out as invaluable. I think it is better to have a variety. Most of my tests contain multiple choice questions, but my students will tell you they are more thinking questions than recall. I also have the students write several lab reports, do essay questions and I include lab practicals on unit tests and on at least one semester exam. I do a fair amount of group work with peer review, but think I need to include more self assessment. This year in one of my classes I want to start an electronic journal to get more individual response to some of the science/society issues. I like the ideas presented in Chapter 2 and plan to use the “does not meet,” “meets,” or “exceeds,” classifications to give students feedback as they “show what they know as they go.” Still I have seen the Praire State Test and I know the ACT test is made up of multiple choice, science reasoning questions and I think the best way to prepare them for that is to give them some of those types of questions throughout their science education. In fact the chemistry teacher and I compiled all types of charts and graphs and are writing multiple choice thinking questions to go with them for next year. There is not one ideal type of assessment, but you have to think and rethink which is the most appropriate for the circumstances and set high standards.

Chapter 3 Role of the Teacher

When I first started teaching I spent a lot of time putting notes on the board. I still think note taking is a necessary evil, but I give the students my notes in outline form and as we go through the unit they can add to the outline if they want as we discuss things and do labs or projects. At the end of the unit I go over the notes to pull everything together. I use several CD roms, that allow the students to interact in some way, and of course all my classes are lab classes. Fortunately, science lends itself to hands on experiences, and therefore my classes are popular with the student body. Still there can be a tendency to just go through the steps in cook book fashion and not truly instill curiosity or thinking. I have to be ever vigilant that I am not the only one “doing science” in the classroom. I use a lot on introductory stories or questions to grasp the student’s interest and I get mad at myself when I see that the students are getting board. This will usually cause me to switch gears to get them back. I do have that curse that many teachers have; I can be long winded. Since reading the articles in Chapter 3 I am going to make a renewed effort to get to know each of my students as an individual. I once heard that children really only learn if some type of emotion is invoked. It even said that anger and sadness can lead to learning, but not caring at all is detrimental to education. It is sad to see the unemotion that goes on in our schools. If you walk through the halls and peer into the classrooms you will always find students asleep or with gazed eyes. Where is the passion?

Chapter 5:Involving Families and Chapter 6:Connecting communities

Actually I must be living in a town from the past because I do see the parents of my students at the grocery store, and around town every day. So the articles in Chapter 5 and 6 didn’t affect me as much. However, this does emphasize the point that every community is different and different techniques are needed to make the schools effective. I do think our school could do a better job of communicating with the parents through technology and I do see that on the horizon. Since this is a small town there is a tendency to chit chat with out parents and never get down to some real educational issues. These things might better be addressed through technology, but there is no need to go to some of the extremes that these articles imply.

Chapter 7: Business Partnerships

I enjoyed reading the article: Building Bright Futures, because our school has a similar program on a small scale. We have a tech prep curriculum and I designed a biology 2 class that focuses on allied health careers. (I was a clinical laboratory technologist before going into teaching.) However, our town is so small that we cannot provide the rich experience that the students at Brighton are getting. My students do job shadowing and tour health related facilities, but they do not get to do internships. I think there is a need for these kinds of programs, but I don’t think they are for everyone. I also teach Advanced Placement Biology and that is what students who are going to a university curriculum need. The whole link to making all of these programs work is a good guidance counselor, and those are few and far between. The other most important things is that either of these programs should have high standards. In the article: Working to Learn and learning to work, Roberto Jones makes this point when he says,” the traditional school curriculum expects too little of students and fails to help them acquire the personal qualities and habits of mind demanded in today’s workplace. This is true for college bound students and students going into the workplace.