Phase 5 of EDU 6120 project

Group project: Presentation to give new teachers

What worked well?

I thought that this project would have worked better if we had figured out a way for all members to attend our group discussion sessions. I liked the group discussion times, and they were helpful in keeping me on track to finish my individual portion, and then help with the group collaborative portion.

What were the challenges?

The challenges were our entirely different schedules. We have one member on the East coast, one member who is coaching two sports, I believe, at her school and one member who is just finishing up the year for student teaching and taking a full load of classes. We are on very different time schedules as well. Some people go to bed early, while others get home late. It was difficult to work out times when we could all “meet” online.

Are you satisfied with the quality of the charter, essay or presentation (whichever is appropriate for the phase you are on)?

Yes, somewhat. One group member did not include enough citations, nor did they include notes on their slides. I tried to alert her to the oversight, but she did not respond.

Are you satisfied with the individual and collaborative work of your team?

Yes, somewhat. Pretty much the same reason as the last question, because it is hard when group members do not follow given instructions and then are not around to fix the issue. I gave her about 8 or so hours to fix it, and it was hard to not get any response, even the next day.

Describe how you personally did, in terms of following the charter?

I thought I did well. I kep ton top of everyone for the power point, and made sure that everyone had all the parts they needed. I added my information to the outline before the deadline and I looked over the final essay to make sure it was high quality.

How did the team do?

As a team, I thought we did well. We completed every part of the whole project and I liked all the final products. I learned a lot from my group members and I hope they learned a lot from me.

Were there technical challenges?

none. I figured out how to post everything to google docs, which allowed us to post everything on the blackboard site easily.

Essentialism versus Progressivism

Essentialism is different from progressivism because progressivism focuses on student interest and curiosity while essentialists focus on student effort and discipline. Essentialism is the idea the education is intellectually demanding and very rigorous. Students should be constantly challenged by a well-informed teacher, who is very knowledgeable about their subject matter(Ellis, 2010). Essentialism must have been the base of our curriculum design in education today. Essentialists believe curriculum should be based around core disciplines, and involve textbooks, specific goals, formal evaluations, standardized tests and grades. Social activities and relationship between peers are not as important in essentialism.

I am not sure why essentialism is the dominant form of education in America. In all my education classes, the biggest focus is on caring for our students. Even when applying for jobs, at least two of about ten criteria is rapport with students. I think this shows that social and emotional well-being of students is important. There is also research that talks about how much better students learn when they are engaged and interested they are in the material. John Medina specifically discussed this idea of engagement leading to higher achievement in his book “Brain Rules.” My question is, why is our education system still based on essentialism rather than progressivism? I think it may be possible to alter our education system to reflect our new knowledge, but I think there needs to be dramatic change and possibly a complete re-hauling of the system in order for the system to change. Is it possible? I’m not sure, because we would have to change our country’s core beliefs about education.

ActivVotes

I have started using ActivVotes in both my chemistry and biology classes and I absolutely love them! They are a great tool to get students to participate in class practice problems. They can be made anonymous or linked to a specific person, so students do not have to be afraid of being singled out with the incorrect answer. You can save the results of the quiz directly into your flipchart (ActivStudio or ActivInspire technology, which is linked with a SmartBoard) or power point so that you can keep the results, as a bar graph, for yourself or as a motivator for your students. I think the students really like to use them, even though they are completing the same types of problems that they would be if I had them complete the practice problems on paper. In addition, you can export the flipchart with the saved results to a jpg or pdf or a word doc. They show up as pictures, so it is necessary to adjust you formatting if you want to see the original question beneath your saved results graph. Below I linked some examples of questions I asked (and the students’ responses):

Biology: 5, 6, 7, 8

Search for Meaning

In the lecture this week I learned about Aristole, Plato, Socrates, and Quintilian, all of which lived many many years ago. Education was very different back then, and it would seem that ideas of these educators would not apply to todays society. But looking more closely, the basic ideas are very applicable.

Socrates taught people through demonstration, which is done widely today. I do demonstrations of chemical reactions in chemistry all the time. In biology, we do demonstrations both by the teacher and the students (which are teacher directed) to help them better understand a specific concept.

Plato thought that virtues were gained through a well-rounded education. In education today, teachers are supposed to teach morality and ethics in each of their subjects. For example, in science we discuss different advances in biotechnology, such as cloning, and the ethical view on each advance. Should this advance be used? What are the pros and cons? What does it mean to be a moral scientist? With this range of subjects that were expected to be learned, the idea of a curriculum was also developed. Educators today would not dream of trying to teach without a curriculum. The state standards try to establish a universal curriculum state-wide, as the national standards do for a national curriculum.

Aristotle advocated for “sense realism,” or using your senses to to observe and study the world around you. In science, we still use the senses to study different concepts. We use microscopes to study plant cells, smells to compare different chemical structures and taste to compare acid concentrations. There are many ways the senses can be used to enhance learning and students learn much better when we incorporate this idea into our teaching.

Finally, Quintilian had many good ideas in teaching. The idea that most stuck out to me was his thought that “a good teacher knows his pupils as individuals and knows their interests and abilities” (Ellis). I agree with his thoughts because students need the connections to their interests to spark their desire to learn. If a teacher appeals to the students interests, they will be much more inclined to learn what the teacher is trying to present. Knowing students’ abilities is also very important because lessons and activities may need to be modified to help students learn the material. Every student is different, and each needs to be able to learn in their own way. Education today supports this because of the existence of IEPs and 504 plans, in addition to the push in certification programs for teachers to individualize their curriculum for each of their students.

Why I teach…

Today was one of those days that I live to teach for (5th period anyway). I came in a little upset because of previous classes and a couple of my students noticed. I was smiling within 5 mintues of just chatting with my students. Right now we are in the middle of cell reproduction. We have just finished mitosis, and are working on learning about karyotypes as an introduction to meiosis.

Yesterday, we started off with a short multiple choice question review on chromosome structure using the active voters (small remotes that have multiple choice answers so students can answer questions from their desks and feedback can be immediate). It was the first time we had used them, and the students were very excited. I was able to see immediately the the class remembered everything about chromosome structure. We then discussed the different types of chromosomes (autosomes and sex chromosomes) and the different types of cells (somatic cells (all cells in your body except sex cells) and sex cells (eggs and sperm)). The students were asking lots of great questions and we did not get through very much material because they were asking such great questions. At the end of the period, I had them write a “clear/ unclear” statement, which was also a first for this class. I have had them write summaries before, and answer specific questions, but I have never asked them to write about what confused them. This was extremely beneficial because I could see exactly what I needed to re-address, or what I needed to go over. I also had some students ask great questions in addition to explaining what they didn’t understand, most of which will be answered once we start meiosis on monday . Examples of students responses will be posted soon.

Today, I used the warm up to start a conversation about the concepts covered the day before. I included a visualization activity in which the students were asked to close their eyes and think about the chromosomes in different parts of their body, so they would get an idea about how many chromosomes they have in their entire bodies. It was great because I got a lot of students saying “ooh!” because they get what they did not understand the day before. Then, we talked about karyotypes, both what they are, how they are put together, and what they are supposed to look like. Again, the students asked great questions and starting great discussions. Finally, we talked about chromosomal disorders, issues with the number of chromosomes people can have, using karyotypes of specific disorders. The students were so interested in the different disorders that as soon as I put up a picture of a new karyotype, they immediately wanted to know the symptoms, and would barely let me describe the chromosomes before berating me with questions about the symptoms, even though I was about to list them. The questions the students were asking were so great. As we were talking about disorders, I breifly introduced meiosis, just to get the students thinking about how you inherit each chromosome. One student had a great “aha!” moment. She asked “so is that why pregnancy takes 9 months? Because the baby starts out as one cell, then divides exponentially? Like it starts out as one cell, then becomes two, then becomes four, then becomes eight and so on?” I said yep, and she exclaimed, “ooh! that is so cool!” Then the girl behind her says, “This stuff is so interesting! No offense, but I wasn’t so interested in previous units, but this unit is so cool. Well last unit (mitosis and DNA) was cool too, but this is really interesting!” The last thing we did was use the active voters to see of the students understood how the karyotypes showed disorders. From the few slides we got through, it was very obvious that the students really grasped the concepts. Today was one of those days that I live for. My students all were super interested in the material, and they made me feel like I was really doing a great job teaching them to love biology.

Planning for enhanced student learning

As I am planning the next concept the chemistry students must master (stoichiometry/ dimensional analysis), I am trying to determine the best type of activities to help the students understand and master the material. In the beginning of the year, my mentor taught the students basic stoichiometry, with simple metric conversions and other conversions the students should already have been familiar with (1 dozen = 12 pieces, etc). Now that the students have learned about the mole, we can incorporate the mole conversions into stoichiometry. The student had a hard time with dimensional analysis the first go around, and the mole is a hard concept for students to wrap their heads around because they cannot see it. I am trying to use small group work to help the students teach each other how to solve the problems. Sometimes, however, I find that the students are not motivated to learn the material unless I give them a quiz, or somthing similar. I am trying to think up ways that I can intrinsicly motivate the students without threatening them.

Ideas so far:

Showing students a map of paths to get between different units and having them use it to guide them to the correct conversion factors.

Using a demo (combustion of methane) and working through problems as a class- choosing students to give answers by drawing popsicle sticks- each students’ name on a popsicle stick.

Having students work in small groups to help each other learn how to solve one problem (each group with a different problem), then mixing the groups to have small groups of one student teaching the other three or four students how to complete their problem.

Motivators:

Telling the students that one of the problems they are solving will be on a single question quiz the next day.

Splitting students into groups and turning a worksheet  in to a competition- whoever completes the problem the fastest, and gets it right, wins.

Having students work as a team through a set of problems. If they get all of them right on the first time they get checked off, they get full points. If they get one wrong, they go back, fix the issue and they can get most of the points, etc.

Philosophy of Teaching

1. What education is

I believe that education is teaches children about the world around them. Parents can teach their children the basics, but eventually children need to be taught by those who are experts in those subjects to be learned. Not everyone is an expert in the subjects we have deemed important for students to understand, which is why we have teachers for specific subjects in secondary school. Our goal in education is to give the next generation enough knowledge so that they can be competent citizens, who understand how the world works and why we live the way we do. Especially right now, with the debate about climate change in the government, students must be able to understand the science behind the theories so that they can make an informed decision about what they believe.

I believe that education can excite students about the world around them. Engaging student curiosity is important because students will be more willing to learn, and may learn more completely. The more young people we can engage with the world around them, the more involved those students will be in the world as the mature and move in to their later careers. The more involved people are, the more they participate in important events, such as elections. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2009), in 2008, of the total population 18 and over, only 71.0 percent registered to vote and 58.2 percent actually voted. It is important that all citizens have a say in how our government is run, as it is our right to do so. 63.6 percent is a far cry from all citizens, and I think the more we engage students in the classroom, the higher this number will go. The number of people who actually voted is five percent higher than the number of people who voted in the 2004 election (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). Educating students about the election and the bills to be passed helps these numbers to keep rising.

I believe that education fosters skills in group work and collaboration in students. In their later skills, students will most likely need to be able to work with other people, whether in a single partnership or in a large group. Education is one way to help the students gain the ability to successfully work with their peers, whether at the same achievement level or not.  When working in a group or pair with a peer (or peers) at the same achievement level, a student can learn how to effectively bounce ideas off someone else, or look at a problem from a different perspective. When working in a group or pair with a peer (or peers) with different strengths and weaknesses, a student could learn how to improve their weaknesses by seeing another student’s example, or help another student with their weaknesses. In some cases, this strategy helps both (all) students with their weaknesses, and they learn much more than they would have on their own (Toward Inclusive Classrooms, 1994, p. 47).

I believe that education teaches students how to be leaders. Leadership skills are important for most careers, and the classroom is a safe place that students can use to gain these essential skills. Education can provide a model for leadership skills as well, giving many examples of leaders both in history and in present day. Leadership skills include those necessary to manage group tasks, to take initiative and plan out an agenda, to collaborate with others on a single project, and many others. All of these tasks are inherently tasks that require one to solve a problem, and students will need to have many strategies at hand when asked to solve any problem in their later careers (Sue Law, 2000, p. 175).

I believe that education teaches students about diversity. In our society, we tend to focus on how people are alike, and we cling to those things that make us the same, or that help us fit in with the crowd. Education can help students realize that differences should be celebrated, and can help our society grow. Education can show students that everyone can reach their goals when motivated enough, even if the student is reaching for the sky. Especially for marginalized and “at-risk” youth, it is important to show that everyone can be successful, no matter what their background is (Sheri C. Hardee, 2009, p. 38).

I believe education can teach students about morality and ethics, to help them see right and wrong. Morality is something that affects students daily lives on a constant basis, and education should teach them how to deal with the issues. Students are faced with issues as small as copying homework, to as big as stealing and education should give them the tools to make good decisions. I think education provides an environment in which moral issues can be discussed, and moral issues can be experienced and viewed. Although it is difficult to tell students what is right and what is wrong in all cases, there are issues that can be discussed, and examples given, but students have to gain their own sense of right and wrong for their own beliefs (Standish, 1997, p. 96-97).

1. How teaching supports

I believe that teaching supports student learning about the world because teacher can use his or her own enthusiasm for the subject material to excite the students. Teachers can be the key to student engagement. If a teacher is excited about the subject material, it is more likely to be interesting to the student (Medina, 2008, p. 76).

I believe that teachers can support collaborative learning by modeling collaboration with other teachers. Teachers can do collaborative projects with other classes, or talk about other teachers in their classes. In addition, teachers can encourage group collaboration on certain assignments or projects, even encourage the higher achieving students to help the lower achieving students understand the concepts. As students work with others more often, they will improve their collaborative skills very quickly.

I believe that teachers can model good leadership skills in the classroom, showing students a good example of a wide variety of skills. Teachers can encourage development of leadership skills by putting students in the position to use those skills often, giving them a chance to try, fail and try again. Practice will help students hone these skills, and if each student is given an equal opportunity to plan a project, or mediate discussion in a group, or give a presentation on a particular concept or idea, they will be able to fully develop problem solving and communication skills needed by leaders.

I believe that teachers can show students how differences can enhance our society rather than devastate it. Teachers can provide a model by making a point to notice students’ strengths, individually or in front of the class, whether by complimenting their work, or going to an event. Small reminders to students in class, such as, “nice job in the game on Saturday, Suzanne!” will help the students see that a teacher cares about each student enough to notice each students’ strengths and celebrate the different activities that each student excels in. Students will see this, and begin to celebrate their own differences from their peers, and maybe start to celebrate the differences in others (Noddings, 2005, 18).

 I believe that teachers can show students the difference between right and wrong through example and discussion. Using real examples will give students real situations to think about, and will force them to think about situations they could be in. Teachers can give their students good class discussions, and complex situations to think about so that students can develop their own sense of morality. Teachers should not tell students what to think, but give them time and issues to think about. Teachers can get students to develop a great sense of right and wrong if they simply give the students time to think and reflect.

I believe that teaching adds the personal connection between educational content and student learning. The teacher can be the spark that gets the students excited about the material and engaged in the school community. When teachers take in to account the situations their students are in, the environment they grew up in, and the state their brains are in, as teenagers, they can alter the way they teach to accommodate for the issues most teenagers have. We can use research on the brain and knowledge of our students to coordinate our lesson plans to help them learn the best they can. We can help the students by previewing material, priming the students for the material, and repeating the material with the students, because this is the way their brains learn best (Jensen, 2005, p. 39). As teachers, we are trying to educate our students, and help them succeed in school. The more we can do to help them succeed, the better teacher each of us will be.

References

Dalheim, M. (1994). Toward inclusive classrooms. National Education Association of the United States.

Jensen, E. (2005). Teaching with the brain in mind (2nd ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Medina, J. (2008). Brain Rules. Seattle: Pear Press.

Noddings, N. (2005). The challenge to care in schools: an alternative approach to education. New York: Teachers College Press.

Sheri C. Hardee, A. R. (2009). Women’s well-being initiative: creating, practicing, and sharing a border pedagogy for youth. Perspectives on Urban Education , 6 (2), 29-40.

Standish, R. S. (1997). Teaching right and wrong: moral education in the balance. Staffordshire: Trentham Books Limited.

Sue Law, D. G. (2000). Educational leadership and learning: practice, policy and research. Buckingham: Open University Press.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2009, October 20). Voting and Registration. Retrieved February 21, 2010, from U.S. Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2004/tables.html

Meta-Reflection: Standard L: Knowledge of learners and their development in social contexts

I feel that I have continued to learn and gather evidence to fulfill this standard this quarter. In taking over both chemistry and both biology classes, I have learned so much about my students and how I can help them succeed in my classes. Coming into student teaching, I knew dealing with high school students was going to be a completely new experience. From fall quarter, I saw the huge difference in maturity between sophomores and juniors and seniors. I also saw a difference in maturity between my two sophomore biology classes, probably because of the difference in the other classes the students are taking (those in IB math or block and those who are not). I have learned that different techniques are needed to handle the different classes, and I must keep in mind how much I can expect each class to be able to do without guided instruction.

My biology classes, for example, have a hard time with a lecture when it lasts all period, no matter how many attention grabbers, or stories I insert into the lecture. Therefore, I try not to lecture all period, rather lecture for half the period, and then do an activity or worksheet for the second half. Even if this means splitting up a lecture, I think the students will learn more if they are focused throughout the lecture, rather than spacing out or getting bored. When I do need to lecture for an entire period, I try to give the students a break in the middle of class. The break is usually to do yoga with the students, or to talk about an upcoming event (such as HSPE testing, or a track meet). I find this helps keep them on task while giving their brain a break. If I give them a chat break, I find that it is really hard to bring them back in to the material.

In my chemistry classes, the students can handle a little more lecture during the period. Of course I still use practice problems, stories, demonstrations and video clips to break up the lecture, to hold the students’ attention. I try to begin a unit with a lecture that begins with a somewhat relevant video clip (see power point links below) from a TV show that the students recognize and possibly watch. I feel that this helps relate the material to their lives outside of school. In addition, I try to present a chemistry cartoon that relates to the material I am presenting that week, every Friday. I also put pictures, animations and cool backgrounds into my power points (1, 2), with not so much text, so that the students can focus without getting bored with tons of text.

This quarter, both my chemistry and biology classes had a design lab project (biology experiment). This means that they were given a research question, and they needed to work with a partner to develop a procedure to answer the research question. All periods were given in-class time and needed to get checked off before they could start the experiment. During the experiment, the students needed to work together in order to come up with a procedure and then work together to complete the experiment. This project required the students to collaborate with their peers and work well with their assigned partner. At the end of the chemistry experiment, the students had to individually write a letter to a ceramic company, recommending the glaze that the students found during the experiment. It was meant to show students how to appropriately communicate with members of the community in a business setting, and from a peer’s perspective, rather than from a student’s perspective. In addition, the letter helped the students explain in their own words why they designed their experiment the way they did. The students could explain how they came to the conclusion that they did, as these students did (1, 2, 3).

I have had many parent conferences this quarter, in e-mail, on the phone and in person. I have learned a lot about how to talk to parents. It is always good to show them that you care about their student’s success by giving ways to help their student succeed in your class. It is also good to start off with something positive about their student, so that they can feel that their student is doing something right in your class, and that you have not written them off as a bad egg. I like to encourage parents to help their child with homework, especially with labs and studying for exams (flash cards are very helpful to students and parents can quiz their child with them!)

In my biology class, my mentor has a set of activities to help the students learn the structure of DNA, and how the molecule replicates. The students work in pairs to first make a model of one DNA molecule out of string, two different types of pasta, and four different colored pipe cleaners. They have to answer given questions, study the different parts of the molecule and how it is put together. After they feel they are ready (they know the molecule backwards and forwards), they come up to me and must pass an oral quiz. The students must get every question correct, or they must go study and come back up again. Each time they are sent back to their seat, they lose one out of five points. This encourages the students to learn and master the material quickly, so that they only have to get quizzed once. I try to change up the questions each time because nothing prevents the students from telling their friends all the questions I asked them. I also do not want the students memorizing the questions I asked them in their first try so that I know that they are actually learning the material, rather than memorizing the minimum material. We go through the same routine for replication of DNA, with another oral quiz.

For my Standards-based Assessment class, we had to complete a project that involved assessing what the students have learned up to a point, re-teaching, and then giving another assessment. I gave the students a formative assessment (pop quiz) on new material right after I lectured and gave examples on the material. Then, I helped them practice the material over the course of the week, with homework problems, warm up problems, having students answer orally in class, and partner work. At the end of the week we had another quiz. In my project, I attached the work of five students, showing their improvement over the week. I had students answer reflection questions, including any strategies they used to solve the problems, or learn the material. It was interesting to compare student performance to whether or not they had a strategy for solving the problems. The students who had strategies for learning the material, and actually understood how they learned were the most successful.

Students all learn differently, and it is important for a teacher to understand that when he or she is planning lessons. It is also important for students to understand their own learning, both what they have learned and how they have learned. It is really important to put learning in context for the students in terms of the community, get them involved in the classroom, and get their parents involve in their learning. Students have individual needs when it comes to learning a good teacher knows how to meet those needs.

Standard V Project

I completed a project for EDU 6613 that required an assessment, teaching to help students master the material, then another assessment on the same material. I learned a lot from this experience, and I am looking forward to using this strategy in my future teaching, especially because I can have students share their strategies for solving prolems with other students, because I find that studentss with a system tend to perform better on exams. My completed project can be accessed through the link below.

Standard V Project

Meta-Reflection: Standard L: Knowledge of learners and their development in social contexts

I feel I have learned a lot about what this standard means in the past quarter. This standard calls for the teacher to personalize her teaching to individual learning strategies, and to help students succeed even with large obstacles in their way. I have many students that are dealing a variety of obstacles, and I have learned a lot this quarter about how to help them in my classroom and tailor my teaching to their needs without feeling like I am giving them an easy pass. In order to find out more about my students, I gave a student questionnaire during the first week of school, in order to give them a chance to tell me how they learn best, and if they have any issues they would like me to know about. I get 504 and IEP information directly from the school, but I wanted to know about all the issues students might have, not only the legal, documented students.

I have several 504, IEP and ELL students who all require some modification to their learning in the classroom. Nearly all of these students are placed up front in the seating chart, though not next to each other. I want to help them succeed by putting them near me, so I can help them be separated from distractions. I have also separated these students so that they are working with a student that will help them keep up with their classmates, whether that means someone who speaks their native language, or focused student that will help them be more focused, or away from other students who distract them even more.

For ELL students specifically, I allow them to continue working on their exams in their ELL classes. I feel that they need this extra time because of the English barrier. Even though their ELL teacher does not know much about science, she can help the students understand the English questions being asked. Sometimes I allow this extra time on assignments as well. I had one student complete an assignment, but received a low grade on it because he misinterpreted what most of the questions were asking him to do. I gave the assignment back to him and asked him to go over it with his ELL teacher. He turned it in the next day and received an A because of the help he received with the English. I also saw great improvement on his last couple exams, I think because of how much better his understanding of English is becoming. I made sure that, in both seating arrangements we have had so far, he is seated next to another student who speaks Chinese (I happen to have two other students who also speak Chinese in his class) so that he can translate with them, and get help when he does not understand things. On the first few exams, it was apparent that his English was preventing him from showing his understanding of the material. On the last two exams, he got As, which shows that he is improving greatly.

I tend to have a lot of group work in my classroom, because I feel that it helps connect the students to each other, and help each other learn. We have labs approximately every other week, which calls for students to work in their partners (they sit together). When we do other partner work, I try to mix it up so students can work with other students more often. I also switch up the seating chart once a quarter, to differentiate which students work together in labs. I feel that putting students into groups, and then mixing up those groups help the students develop a learning community with their classmates, and feel like the class is learning together, rather than everyone learning for themselves. Group work in the classroom also will help students develop the skills they need to work with others, because they will have to work with others in some way for the rest of their lives.

Already this quarter, I have had many conversations with several different parents, over e-mail, on the phone and in person. I have come to understand that a lot of teaching is responding to parent concerns about their students, even in high school! Many parents just want to know how to help their students do better, and my mentor has been great about helping me respond to these queries. Most e-mails and phone calls can be answered quickly, noting what areas the student needs to put more effort in, giving examples of how they can improve (i.e. making flash cards, attending after-school tutoring or coming in after school to see me). Some meetings can be this simple as well. Some other e-mails and meetings, however, need a little bit more. Some parents need specific lists of what their students are missing, although Skyward (an online grade book) helps greatly with that, and some parents even need e-mail attachments of assignments, especially in cases of IEP students. I try to keep these parents informed; I even do weekly e-mails for one student with his Learning Strategies Teacher and his mom. I have attended a few conferences, with parents and the student, with the parents and other teachers, even with parents, teachers and administrators. I have learned that it is much easier for the parents if you have something positive to start out with, even if it is as simple as “your student does not disrupt class” or “your student seems to be engaged when we do hands-on activities.” There are a lot of issues to keep track of, but I think keeping track of everything is important to help all students do their best.

My biology mentor is very much an environmental biologist. Our most recent unit was ecology and we will begin human impact when we return from break. She always makes a point to discuss the environment and our effect on it many times during this unit. This idea is built into the power points, Populations and Ecological Pyramids, for this unit. During the Populations lecture, we discussed how different countries have contributed to our advances to extend Earth’s carrying capacity. We also discussed how these actions affect other organisms, including other humans. In the Ecological Pyramids lecture, we discussed how we could stretch our resources even more, and how differences in eating habits between countries can affect our use of resources differently. We are trying to help students become aware of their impact on the environment, and I think the next topic (Human Impact) will open their eyes to the idea that they have an effect on the world they live in.

Although I mostly have reflective evidence for this standard, I think my knowledge has still greatly increased in fulfillment of this standard. I hope to collect more hard evidence, especially student-based, over the next two quarters.