SCED 330: Senior Year Introduction!

OVERALL REFLECTION

Oh, my goodness how is it that I am a senior with my student teaching placement (kindergarten) getting ready for my last year of undergrad?! Time has truly flown by, and a lot has happened. Right now, I have just completed my first full week of classes for the semester and in Science Methods. This week we focused on learning about phenomenon and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). One thing that I am most proud of is connecting the dots with phenomenon and feeling that I have a solid understanding of this idea. 

I did come to some crossroads as I have started this semester out just trying to plan out my work times and balance my work load and being in my classroom as much as possible. This semester is definitely different than any other semesters of course work. I feel my time slowly is getting shorter and shorter and myself being pulled in a hundred different directions. My work this week that I am the most satisfied with is my video talking about the NGSS and NCSCOS just because I was able to do the video all in one take without messing up. I will never forget my first-time videoing myself and I kept messing up and I never thought I would ever get one all the way through that I liked. 

This past week I participated in the discussions we had in class about phenomenon and really defining what it is by doing the 4 A’s activity: assumptions, arguments, ask, and act. I think for the future I can continue to keep the class conversations going because I learn better that way and am probably not the only one from the class that also could benefit from these conversations. Over this next week I plan to orient myself better with the science fair project and contribute more to my group than I have been so we can get started with our product. 

Now that I have been placed in kindergarten I am starting to think about lessons and activities that are age appropriate for these 5-year olds. I found a great website that gives some great science activities for the little babies where they are able to understand these concepts better. 

https://www.weareteachers.com/kindergarten-science-activities/

All of these activities are very hands on and interactive which from what I have observed these first few days is really what these kiddos need. I could totally see myself using some of these in my future classroom or even student teaching. One of the activities for example was all about fall and having students place their hands into a paper bag and describe what they were feeling and what it might be or how it would relate to the season fall. 

SCIENTIFIC THINKING 

             This week we did a lot with phenomenon. We went out and took pictures of different phenomenon around us in the outdoors. My group talked a lot about the weather. I found a really cool article that was on Popular Science. The article was titled, “Why You Can Smell Rain Even Though its Odorless”. If you think about it this is so true rain is water which has no taste nor smell, but when it first begins to rain it has a distinct smell. According to this article, “the smell actually comes from the moistening of the ground” (Logan, T). I found this really interesting and something that you don’t usually think about. As I look at the NCTCS I can’t help but to go straight to 3d. teachers make instruction relevant to students, 4c. teachers use a variety of instruction methods, and 4e. teachers help students develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. All of these standards seem to have been the theme for this week as we have talked about how science looks in an elementary classroom. By making the instruction relevant to students they are able to better understand the material. This can be done by teachers using a variety of methods or tools. Lastly, science is all about some problem solving and this is a skill that students need to know outside of the classroom walls. 

            As I am observing in my kindergarten classroom these first few days of school and learning about these new standards and different tools to teach science. I am seeing more and more how important these skills are that we are teaching students. I definitely want to incorporate these into my future classroom especially if I do get put with younger grades just because students are coming to school with no social interaction or thinking skills so that just shows that it is up to use to instill these into their minds and get them into the habit of using them, so they can be successful 21^stcentury learners in and outside the classroom. 

Logan, T. (n.d.). Why you can smell rain-even though it's odorless. Retrieved August 30, 2018, from https://www.popsci.com/rain-smell 

                   

            Here are three of my tweets from this week. The first one just talks about science education in general stating that science is a never-ending puzzle that just get better and more exciting with time. That is so true I feel like. Science is never ending and never really solved but that okay. I feel like this really shows the importance of having science in our classroom daily. My second tweet is just some encouragement. We are ending the first full week of school and I know everyone is so exhausted and probably overwhelmed because I know I am. But this quote stating, “New teachers should know we all feel overwhelmed at times, especially at the beginning of the year. They need to know they are not alone, kids thrive with support and structure and all kids deserve a challenge.” This is just my way of saying to the whole class that even when times get tough we can make it! Just think we have already made it this far. My last tweet was a video clip of how NGSS teach a cause and effect lesson. I saw this and thought what better tweet to put then one talking about these new standards that I had never really heard of until this week.