The Elements of Teaching Science

  My Philosophy of Teaching     For as long as I can remember I've always wanted to be a teacher. I have always had a passion for working with young learners. Throughout my years of schooling, I was lucky to have amazing teachers who served as role models to me.      The Job of a teacher is not an easy one. Good teachers spend five days a week educating students in the classroom. Dedicated teachers go beyond the regular school hours and days to ensure they are giving their students a valuable education. For me, education goes beyond teaching math and spelling. To be an elementary school teacher you have to teach your students the importance of kindness, respect, and teamwork. In high school I volunteered in a kindergarten class twice a week, there I learned the importance of teachers focusing on these concepts on top of regular academics.      A teacher's goal is to make every student feel welcome and accomplished in the classroom. Most stude...

 Science Book Trailer Book info/Synopsis:          This book, written by  Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld and illustrated by Priscilla Lamont published in 2014 discuss the science behind the changing seasons and earth’s rotation around the sun. The book is full of informative information and graphs to help educate young learners.  Science Connections:      The Earth’s changing seasons are an important topic taught in any science class. The earth spins on its axis taking 24 hours to complete a full rotation. It also completes a full rotation around the sun in 365 days. With the earth constantly rotating around it causes day and night as well as the four seasons. Zoehfeld’s book does a great job at detailing the scientific facts behind the earth's rotation describing the Hemispheres and Equator. The book also highlights the Fall Equinox, Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, and lastly the Summer Solstice to properly educate the reader. Alo...

 Virtual Teacher Resources      During this semester I was introduced to various online resources that have helped me as a student and teacher. In this post, I want to share with you the multiple resources I used in my course and fieldwork. These resources are all free and easy to use, they were extremely helpful. Zoom- A virtual classroom. For the majority of my courses, we held over zoom sessions. This allowed us to meet as a class from the safety of our homes while the campus was closed. It was also a great resource for meeting with professors and fellow peers to complete assignments and lesson plans. Google Meets- A virtual classroom. I used this resource to conduct fieldwork for Science Methods and RTI. Similar to zoom it allowed me to meet with my students, peers, and professors. Paired with Google Slides it allows you to display a presentation with the members in order to teach a lesson. Google Slides/ Google Docs- Both are great resources for completing group...

 The Struggles of Teaching Virtually      Due to the pandemic schools around America have been closed forcing schools to be taught remotely. Teachers and students have to adjust the way they teach and learn in order to stay successful during this new time of schooling. I have had a first-hand experience with this being a student myself taking virtual classes and a teacher candidate teaching lessons to my students virtually.       This semester I have learned so much about teaching virtually and how to create effective engaging lessons. Through my fieldwork experience in Scientific Methods as well as my RTI course I have become familiar with various programs and tools that allow me to create effective lessons. It can be a struggle having to adjust a lesson to be taught online and keep students engaged but it's not impossible. If there's one takeaway I could take from this whole experience is that the method of teaching is constantly changing and as...

 Virtual Fieldwork Experience: Teaching Climate Change          T hroughout the semester in Science Methods, my fellow teacher candidates and I have been conducting virtual fieldwork sessions on Google Meets with a few students. Every week on Tuesday and Thursday a group of teacher candidates teaches two lessons on a new aspect of climate change. Each lesson focuses on informing students of the effects and results of these conditions and how we can stop them. Each group works together to create a direct instruction lesson and an inquiry lesson.     Each group created a unique lesson to educate our young scientists on the many factors of climate change. before the session started we discussed various ways of teaching science in an effective way. one aspect we focused heavily on was assessments during and after the lesson. Assessments throughout the lesson allow the teachers to evaluate the student's understanding of the topic. This can help us make...

 Technology Safety: Keeping Student's Safe on Technology      With the way students are being taught switching from a classroom setting to a virtual setting due to the pandemic, new concerns have to be taken into consideration to protect student's safety. My professor shared an important article by Amy Roberts, " How to Keep Your Students From Viewing Harmful Content " the article discusses the importance of educating students on the dangers of online activity and how a software management system in your classroom can help.     It's important for students to know what they post online will be seen forever by their teachers, peers, and future employers. what you say online can follow you for the rest of your life so it's important to be aware of what you say and always use professional language when speaking to peers online. there's also a risk of cyberbullying that can become seriously harmful.     As educators, there are steps to prevent these is...