Reflection 3

Emily,

You mentioned in your third reflection that you were “surprised at how aware [teachers] are of different things going on in each of the students’ personal lives.” I too was surprised by this. In a meeting I recently attended, we discussed a student and came to the conclusion that due to the circumstances, our new purpose/goal was to make going to school the best part of his/her day, because learning SOL 2.3 really isn’t what this child needs right now. Like we learned in Ed Psych about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, if certain needs aren’t met, it’s tough for a kid to function, much less perform well.

Shark Dissection!

So today we did a shark dissection in Zoo/Bot and luckily I had my camera handy. Just wanted to share some of the fun!


This class is great because they kids really get into it. This group attempted to cut out the jaws of the dogfish to keep. Thankfully it didn't work.


Some of the sharks were pregnant! It was really neat to see everyone swarm the table to see. These kids are true bio nerds, and I love it!


Here's what the babies look like! It was cool because I never new some sharks give live birth.


Here's a closer look. Some of the groups had larger shark fetuses and they even dissected one! It was fully developed and looked like the adult, just pocket size.

I Love Dissections... even if they stink up the room the rest of the day :)

Reflection 3

Cody,
I have noticed similar issues to the ones you talked about in your paper. We usually adapt our lessons to the lower achieving kids, but it seems like the higher achieving kids get left out. I suppose it is a lot easier to go down and include everyone than to go up and leave some out. However, I still feel like we are "cheating" those higher level students. A lot of them have figured out the minimal work needed to get an A, do it easily, and then just goof off. It is really hard to keep them engaged sometimes. The hands-on activities that we do seem to serve everyone in the classroom pretty well. That is the best strategy I have seen so far in engaging all students.

Reflection 2

Amy,
I love how you are so positive and have found lots of good things about your teaching experience instead of just focusing on the bad! I was just wondering if you have seen any benefits to maybe blending the teaching style of your teacher and then the inquiry style that we are learning? Or do you think it would be better to be totally inquiry? Even though it is more fun, I think that "traditional" style has its own benefits too.

Reflection 1

Rebecca,
I really enjoyed reading about your school environment, especially since it is a lot different than the one I am in. You talked about how getting the kids involved and motivated might be a challenge for you, and since you wrote that a few months ago, I was wondering if that has changed. Have you found any "tricks" to getting your students into science? Has it been easier than you expected?

Rebecca,
I enjoyed your third reflection about how our school community fosters adolescent learners. I think that it is interesting that we both chose to focus on how the team meetings can be beneficial in keeping students on track academically and behaviorally. I also enjoyed the points where our reflections diverged. For example, I wasn't very aware of how the school helps students prepare for their final eighth grade field trip.
P.S. I really had fun coming in and seeing you at work on Friday. I thought you did a good job trying to help each group as they tried to do that lab.