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What Does it Mean When Your Teacher Changes Your Name? - Rethinking Schools

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Day one of the semester as an icebreaker I had the students make name tents so that I could learn their names and a little bit about them. This was a fun, entry activity for the semester that links with an article by Rethinking Schools on cultural sensitivity when it comes to names. Student names are a part of their heritage and identity and asking their names while learning to pronounce them correctly is an important first step in the classroom. As other students joined the class later in the semester I made sure to have intent on learning and pronouncing their names correctly.

TQS II Element B #5; TQS II Element A #6; TQS II Element B #2

These name tents fostered a sense of community amongst students in the classroom while making sure their backgrounds were acknowledged, while also initiating a caring and respectful relationship.

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A Do Now is a concept that was talked about in each educational course I took at MSU Denver. As students arrive they know the routine and what is being asked of them in the classroom. As the semester evolved I tried a variety of methods to get students on task with a Do Now. I learned that at Lake Middle School they needed to be approachable questions for our students. On Mondays, as seen above, I always have two parts, the first is just about what they did on the weekend. This gives them a chance to express and share positivity from the weekend and ease into the academic setting. I then ask a more academic-driven question about the unit, incorporating approachable questions so that students can start the week 'on the right foot'. Do Nows are an important concept to get students engaged and create routine as talked about in all of the educational theory courses at MSU Denver.

TQS III Element A #1; TQS II Element A #3

By meeting students 'where they are at' on the Do Now students are engaged at their physical, social, and emotional levels in a routine manner both daily and weekly.

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Scientific articles can oftentimes be hard to read. Throughout the semester multiple forms of guided reading and annotation were attempted. This specific example is a guided reading with questions that chunk an entire article into specific parts, with questions students must answer. In both science methods and educational literacy making meaning of scientific writing was a key concept, breaking down the ideas so that they are more readily conceptualized by students.

TQS I Element B #9; TQS I Element B #7: TQS I Element C #1

By scaffolding and chunking the reading students are able to apply literacy concepts such as annotation to science readings, involving interdisciplinary skills. This also makes science reading more approachable for students of all reading levels.

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At the end of the matter and ecosystems unit students were tasked with creating their own Biodome where they and others could live on possibly another planet. This gave atudents the opportunity to express further creativity while linking scientific concepts learned in class, such as photosynthesis, cellular respiration, biotic, and abiotic matter. They not only had to draw what would be in the Biodome, but also what jobs would be necessary, as well as a food web. This interdisiplinary project highlighted students interest in art while also linking concepts across multiple units over the span of the science semester.

TQS III Element A #4; TQS I Element C #12

This is a specific example of a creative learning experience that is very student-oriented and synthesizes original thinking across content areas.

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This is a photo of students playing jeopardy as a review for the matter and ecosystems unit. I was intentional about reviewing before each large assessment so that students felt more comfortable for tests. It improved their confidence beforehand and showed how much they had learned during the unit. In this specific photo the students had taken over full control of Jeopardy, both hosting and partaking in the competition. This was one of my prouder teacher moments as the students were driving the review session and interested in competition as a part of review. The healthy competition aspect was mentioned in multiple courses, specifically in science methods as it facilitates learning in a fun and engaging way.

TQS II Element B #2&3; TQS III Element E #5

The student-led community in the classroom is on full display in this artifact as students feel very comfortable with both the teacher and one another. Their teamwork and leadership skills facilitate the review process, making them feel more ready to be assessed in the content area.

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Using the Amplify curriculum ACE-ITs (assertion, context, evidence, interpretation, and tieback) were the summative assessment for each unit. This illustrates educational theory on  summative assessments learned in EDS 3210. Students chose a claim and then used evidence that they gathered over the unit to provide evidence and interpretation as to why they chose the claim. Students were provided with these pieces of evidence on the day of the summative assessment. It provides evidence of student learning and knowledge acquisition over the span of the unit as well as argumentative writing to clearly exhibit understanding of science concepts.

TQS I Element B #7; TQS III Element D #7; TQS I Element B #3

The ACEIT directly assesses and improve students reasoning and writing skills for scientific argumentation. They justify conclusions through evidence and synthesize knowledge gained throughout the unit.

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Chemistry Word Wall - Science Frameworks

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Throughout various courses in the program word walls were a constant conept being talked about. They give the students a chance to visualize key words and concepts that stamp their knowledge acquisition. The word wall was used throughout the various unit with the chemistry unit illustrated in the photo. Students were able to recall these words and use them in answering questions verbally and in writing. I even allowed them to use them on the assessments, giving the students the ability to use the classroom to their advantage.

TQS I Element C #1; TQS I Element B #5; TQS II Element C #2

A word wall is an example of scaffolding for the students since as mentioned, the concepts and definitions are available to the students throughout the unit. In addition, it emphasizes language skills and acquisition be giving the students the opportunity to use the scaffolded vocabulary both orally and in writing.

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This packet of student work illustrates differentiation and the wide array of student-driven activity in the science classroom at Lake Middle School. It initiated interest in comics where then the students were able to draw on their creativity to make their own comic about phase change. It also exhibits student writing and assessment in the assertion, evidence, and interpretation as well as the quiz. Not only were students assessed but they were then able to correct their mistakes on the quiz, reinforcing the leanring on phase change.

TQS II Element C #11; TQS III Element B #11; TQS I Element C #7

By allowing students to correct their quiz mistakes theyparticipated in self-regulation and reflection in the classroo setting to better understand and set goals going forward. Any questions that many of the students missed were addressed as a group and instruction was adjusted going forward to further negate student misconceptions.

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This specific artifact I used as a lesson demo in EDS 3280 and have used in other classes in the program. I have modified it to incorporate universal design for learning concepts as well as teacher quality standards for Colorado. It is one of the more engaging lessons that I have had the opportunity to teach on multiple occasions. I even used it as a sample teach lesson to get my first 'real' teaching job at Morey Middle School for this upcoming year.

TQS I Element B #12; TQS I Element C #10; TQS III Element E #7

This lesson connects potential and kinetic energy to the real-world through roller coasters. Students enjoy rollercoasters and because of this the interest is always evident. They then get to apply their experience to science concepts in the classroom, including a hands on activity of building their own rollercoaster. The building of a rollercoaster is a complex task and can be elaborated on in the future, combining groups to make a long rollercoaster that emphasizes energy concepts. Lastly, it emphasizes teamwork and team building in the classroom.

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This artifact is a student activity that uses a science world magazine to answer questions and then write a final message to aliens in outer space. It was done as the Friday activity before Spring break, after taking an assessment the day before. It illustrates science interest in the students and an acitivity that is fun and engaging, balancing the cognitive load right before Spring break.

TQS IV Element C 2&3;
This artifact demonstrates meeting students where they are at in a fun and engaging way, adapting the ever-changing classroom and school needs depending on the timing of breaks and cognitive load of the students.

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Near the end of the matter and ecosystems unit a plant growth experiment with marigold and corn helped students conceptualize photosynthesis and experimentation in in the classroom. They put some seeds in light an others in the dark to see germination rates and compare using observations. This illustrates the scientific process, involving experimentation and hands-on learning. Once the seeds grew a little bit they were then transplanted into pots for students to take home and continue growing. It was an exciting and fun activity where students saw science first-hand and even got some plants to take home to their families.

TQS III Element A #4&7

This is a creative learning experience that applies both new and different ways on learning hands-on and through observation and experimentation.

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From Science in the Art Gallery to Art in the Science Classroom - NSTA

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Students drew and used crafts to illustrate both what an atom and what a carbon atom looks like. This gave students the opportunity to express themselves artistically in the science classroom. This idea of combing art into the STEAM setting links to ideas learned through the NSTA art and the science classroom. It also publishes student work for all to see and creates a more welcoming classroom environment in which the student is most valued.

TQS III Element A #4; TQS I Element C #3

This artifact demonstrates a creative learning experience form students drawing on both prior knowledge and new concepts learned in class. Students made connections with what they already knew about atoms and electron confirguration while building new connections with the material.

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During the chemical reactions unit students were given tokens to demonstrate the modeling of chemical reactions. Each atom was a different color and students learned the law of conservation fo matter along with various chemical reaction ideas. This artifact is talked about in the book Ambitious Science Teaching as modeling ideas while still being student-driven is important in the classroom. Many students who were not heavily interested in the chemical reactions unit did very much enjoy this activity that was done a various parts of the unit.

TQS I Element C #5; TQS III Element D #3

This model of using tokens demonstrates multiple methods for concept explanation while also modeling critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

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During the chemistry unit students analyzed and interpretted data on chemical reactions as they mixed chemicals on a sheet and recorded data. Some of the chemical reacted with one another and created new colors and students saw first hand what a chemical reaction is. This links to NGSS standards learned in Science Methods on analyzing and interpretting data in a lab setting.

TQS III Element D #2; TQS I Element C 8&12

Students applied critical thinking skills gained in the chemical reactions unit to better understand why certain chemicals reacted and others did not.