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Before this class, I was super nervous about planning units and lessons because I had never done it before and didn't know how. Now, however, I feel much more confident about doing this. There are a lot of things that go into planning a unit, and by using the templates and prompt questions, I was able to understand the importance of planning your units and the main reasons for teaching them. It was a little confusing to think about what an essential question is and how it differs from more content specific questions, but now I have been able to practice identifying the main take-aways that I want my students to remember. With lesson planning, I have been able to practice it for both general and science methods, which has given me good practice for when I am a teacher on my own. I've been able to figure out what makes my lessons effective and how I can best engage my students through the use of technology, activities, labs, and projects since I have both practiced teaching a lesson I created and writing up the specifics of each lesson within my unit plans. I am feeling very confident about going off on my own to teach because of this practice, and I am very glad that I have gotten the chance to practice writing both unit and lesson plans.

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This image is a little bit of genetics humor because it is talking about the fact that different species can't mate with each other to produce viable offspring because they aren't genetically compatible. This image relates to discussions we've had about having humor in the classroom to keep students engaged. It offers a little comic relief from a lecture to help refocus students who may have started to let their minds wonder. In biology, it is kind of inevitable that there will be some lecture (even if its just short lecture), but by incorporating humor into them, I can help to keep students interested in the content. An image such as this can even get students thinking about why chromosomes need to be the same in order to make offspring. Plus, funny pictures and jokes (even cheesy ones) always lighten the mood of a classroom.

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I chose this image because I believe that every child has a desire to learn, and I want to encourage that desire. I really like this image because it shows a young boy reading, and it eludes to him growing up and graduating from school. When students get older, I feel that the desire to learn can sometimes fade as they get into high school, and that can lead to students just not caring about continuing their education, not just through college, but throughout the rest of their lives. I want students to understand that learning does not have to be a chore, and it is something that they can continue to do years after they finish school. This image can be tied into the reading Why Students Don't Like School because it illustrates what happens if they actually do enjoy school. When students don't like school, they are more reluctant to continue their education, but if teachers can find a way to make learning exciting and something a student can care about, students will better appreciate the act of continuing to learn.

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http://www.usnews.com/news/stem-solutions/articles/2016-10-27/tennessee-students-science-scores-grow-fastest-in-nation
My reaction to this story was one of excitement. I am very happy to hear that Tennessee schools have closed the achievement gap between males and females in science classes, which has historically been hard to do. Tennessee schools have also narrowed the achievement gap between white, black, and Hispanic students.  A quote in this article is "Instilling a lifelong love of science and learning is really the goal of science education" said by U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr., and this something that I believe wholeheartedly. This ties into many things we talked about in class, but one of the main things I want to talk about is teaching the student first and the content second. Teachers are working hard to instill a love of science into all of their students, and by working to connect with students and help them succeed, students are automatically retaining info better because they are also enjoying classes. I hope that Minnesota (and all states for that matter) can work towards having successful students from all backgrounds and demographics to want to learn science. I am going to strive to be a teacher that works towards every student being successful in biology, and I want to help them develop an appreciation for the natural world. It will be a tough goal of mine since I can be realistic and understand that some students will really not care, but I do want to inspire each and every one of them.

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This topic was another that I had not really experienced while in high school. From my experience, my biology teacher lectured the whole time and gave us worksheets that were from the textbook. There were a few labs, but other than that, all instruction was monotonous. From this class, I was able to understand the importance of differentiation within lessons and a few different ideas for incorporating it. Differentiation helps keep students excited and engaged while learning, which in turn helps them to retain knowledge. It also helps students who may learn differently than others to grasp the same ideas that are taught in a number of ways. Differentiation is not just lecture, but different activities, projects, and new ways of thinking that help students to learn content, retain content, and find the relevance of it to their lives. Students get easily bored if they are doing the same thing over and over again, and I want to make sure that does not happen in my classroom. I want to show my students all of the cool things about biology and find ways to interest them even if biology may not be their thing. With the use of activities, labs, and projects, my students will get the chance to explore new ideas all while staying engaged in the lesson. This topic was a new idea to me at the beginning of the class, but from what I've learned, I know that I can incorporate differentiation into my future classroom.

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I love the new ideas for using technology in the classroom that I have learned from this class. Before, I was really only aware of a very minimum amount of technology that I could use in classes, such as powerpoint, youtube, and word. Now, I feel much more prepared to teach and differentiate instruction because I have a larger collection on technology tools to help me and my students in the classroom. I was not familiar with certain quiz websites, like quizlet, or other presentation platforms, like pear deck. Now, I am comfortable with these new options since we've gotten the chance to try them out, and I feel like I could use them to benefit my instruction of lessons. I know that I will need to do some lecture in order to teach the content, but now I have to ability to create interactive lessons that can help keep students engaged. I can also use technology to assign certain projects so that students can conduct their own research from credible sources or create things like thinglinks or glogster posters. I am very excited about the ability to use technology, but I have also learned that there are certain circumstances where it may not be appropriate to use it. I may get a job in a smaller school where they don't have access to certain technology tools, so I won't be able to use it like I would if I get a job in a larger school with more resources. I also know that there is such a thing as too much technology, so I will have to evaluate when technology is beneficial and when is it just extraneous nonsense that may take away from student learning. I was not aware that technology can be a bad thing sometimes, so now I will be a better judge of whether or not it is necessary to use it in class.

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As someone who went to school in a very homologous school, I had never really thought about teachers using culturally relevant pedagogy in the classroom because there wasn't any diversity. While exploring this topic, I have learned quite a few ideas for including culturally relevant pedagogy in my biology classroom, and I intend to use it regardless of the level of diversity in the class. What I mean by that is even if the class has students only or mainly of European backgrounds, I will include scientific achievements of people from all backgrounds to let students know everyone can succeed in the field of science, not just white people. It is so important for students of color to have representation in each subject so that they feel included and engaged in the lessons. Without including representation, some students may feel like they won't be able to succeed in the field of biology, or maybe they don't feel like they belong in the class. I want to make all of my students feel welcome by including representation for them that may reflect their own identities. When you don't include culturally relevant pedagogy, student may feel like they need to give up part of their identity in order to relate to the lessons, which means they will not learn to the best of their abilities or even give up on the class. Using culturally relevant pedagogy allows all students to feel welcomed and represented within the classroom. My perception of this topic has widened from this course because I did not know how important it is for schools with a larger amount of diversity, as well as schools with very little diversity. This is something that I want to incorporate regularly into my classes so that I can connect with my students, and my students can connect with the content they are learning.