Grouping Students

For the beginning of this unit it would be beneficial to keep them as a whole group as I would be presenting new material about atomic states and physical/chemical properties. As the teacher I would lead the class in a brief lecture to introduce the concept.

After going over the bulk of the information of the new lesson I would have the students break apart into small independent groups to work on the handout on which they are instructed to identify physical or chemical properties. When grouping the students for this task I would want to ensure that the students are grouped with others they would mesh with or work well with. Obviously I would have to be sure to not group all the extroverts together because they could very easily go off topic. In the same reasoning I could not group all introverts together because they might have a hard time getting started. I would want to make sure that they are equally spread out amongst the groups. I would also need to take their learning levels into consideration. Pairing up advanced students with those that struggle would be beneficial.

We would then as a whole group go over our answers and see where some might disagree. I think having an open discussion furthers the learning of the students so they can see as the different views of their peers. For the last part of the lesson I have the students come up with their own chemical or physical properties they see in the world. It would be beneficial for students to work in pairs and defend their answers to each other. Again I would want to pair those struggling students up with somewhat advanced ones to ensure that they can feed off each other.

When grouping students it is important to remember that the goal is for all of the students to succeed. Yes grouping struggling students with advanced students can help both but we need to make sure that the struggling students are willing to try and won’t just bring down the whole group. At the same time you want to make sure that all students are given a fighting chance to learn.

References:

McLaughlin, M. (2015). Organizing for Teaching and Learning. In Content Area Reading: Teaching and Learning for College and Career Readiness(2nd ed., pp. 130-135). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy

	Text Link	Rationale for Choosing	Text Frame(s)	Strategy Used and Resource
Engagement Example	Artificial Sweeteners: Friends or Foes?	This article is relevant and informative to students and their diets. It gives just enough scientific evidence in simple text so that students can still comprehend the focus.	Concept/Definition	Power Notes (Buehl)
Guiding Example	Rewritable paper: Prints with light, not ink	This article tackles the ever growing problem of wasting paper. It offers an alternative paper that uses chemicals as the ink that disappears after the chemical reaction is complete.	Concept/definition Problem/solution	Bookmark Technique (McLaughlin)
Extended Thinking	Why Metals Have a Blast in Water	This article was chosen because it involves explosion and that always gets a student’s attention. It explains the chemistry behind metal reactions.	Problem/Solution Proposition/Support	Sketch to Stretch (McLaughlin)

The words chosen for my graphic organizer are 

            “Artificial Sweeteners: Friends or Foes?”: chemoreceptors

            “Rewritable paper: Prints with light, not ink”: oxidation

            “Why Metals Have a Blast in Water”: repel

The graphic organizer I chose to use is Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy or VSS. This strategy involves students choosing a word from a text they deem important and what to learn more about it. After the students are done reading the text they are instructed to choose a word from it, indicate where they found it, what they think it means, and why it should be on the class vocabulary list. Below is my VSS I completed.

1.  Word: Chemoreceptors

Where it was found in the text: “Our tongues are covered in taste buds full of chemoreceptors- cells that send messages to the brain when they interact with certain chemicals.

What it means: It is a cell that has receptors on it that sends messages to a brain about how something tastes.

Why it should be on the vocabulary list: It should be on the list because learning about this certain receptor will lead to an easier understand about other receptors.

 2.  Word: Oxidation

Where it was found in the text: “Oxidation steals one or more electrons from a molecule.”

What it means: It means that one atom is losing an electron to another atom making the latter oxidized.

Why it should be on the vocabulary list: It should be on the vocabulary list because it is an important chemical reaction to learn about and understand.

3. Word: Repel

Where it was found in the text: “After the electrons flee, positively charged atoms remain behind. Like charges repel. So those positive atoms push away from each other, creating spikes.

What it means: To back away from

Why it should be on the vocabulary list: It should be on the list because it describes how atoms act when losing or gaining electrons in reactions. If an atom loses an electron it becomes positively charged and pushes away or repels from other positive atoms. 

I like this strategy because I feel like it involves context clues as well. It makes the student think for themselves about what they feel the word means rather than being told or looking it up in a dictionary. It gives them the freedom to choose what words they believe to be relevant to the course and their education. Once students have chosen the words the teacher can then incorporate them into lessons and assignments to emphasis their importance and meaning for the students. 

References:

McLaughlin, M. (2015). Chapter Five: Using Comprehension Strategies to Guide Thinking.       In Content Area Reading: Teaching and Learning for College and Career Readiness (pp.     75-77).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Kowalski, K. (2015, January 15). Rewritable paper: Prints with light, not ink. Retrieved 
    from https://student.societyforscience.org/article/rewritable-paper-prints-light-not-              ink?mode=topic&context=104

Marr, I. (2012, February 1). Artificial Sweeteners: Friends or Foes? Retrieved from                            https://learn.thinkcerca.com/student_assignments/1715015/lesson_steps/1      

Ornes, S. (2015, February 18). Why metals have a blast in water. Retrieved from Society for      Science & the Public - Student Science:https://student.societyforscience.org/article/why-      metals-have-blast-water?mode=topic&context=6

Sketch to Stretch

	Text Link	Rationale For Choosing	Text Frame(s)	Strategy Used and Resource
Extended Thinking	Why Metals Have a Blast in Water	This article was chosen because it involves explosion and that always gets a student’s attention. It explains the chemistry behind metal reactions.	Problem/Solution Proposition/Support	Sketch to Stretch (McLaughlin)

The article is about the reaction that occurs when alkali metals come into contact with water. Chemists were able to record the reaction and play it back in slow motion to see the metal form spikes before it explodes in the water. This reaction demonstrates how electrons are released when the metal and water connect. Spikes upon spikes form until there enough heat to cause the explosion. This technology allows for further understanding of the reaction.

Sketch to Stretch for “Why Metals Have a Blast in Water”

This strategy involves reading a narrative or informative text and then having the students make a sketch of their representation of the text. Once they are completed they can share with the other students and explain their interpretations. Looking forward, students can be asked how sketching helped them to further understand the text.

Here’s my sketch for the text:

Clearly I am not an artist!  Hopefully you can see that I am demonstrating metal droplets coming into contact with a beaker of water. The spikes form on top of each other and then the explosion or “boom” occurs. This strategy is helpful in that every student is going to have a different sketch and/or interpretation. I think the most valuable part of this strategy is the discussion the students have together afterwards about their drawings. They get to see different points of views and learn from each other to help tie the lesson together. 

References:

McLaughlin, M. (2015). Using Comprehension Strategies to Extend Thinking. In Content Area Reading: Teaching and Learning for College and Career Readiness (2nd ed., pp. 93-94). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Rewritable paper: Prints with light, not ink

	Text Link	Rationale for Choosing	Text Frame(s)	Strategies Used and Resources
Guiding Example	Rewritable paper: Prints with light, not ink	This article tackles the ever growing problem of wasting paper. It offers an alternative paper that uses chemicals as the ink that disappears after the chemical reaction is complete.	Concept/definition Problem/solution	Bookmark Technique (McLaughlin Book)

            The strategy I used to show guiding comprehension is the Bookmark Technique. This strategy allows students to track their comprehension while reading and make evaluations about the text. It’s primarily used with narrative and expository text (McLaughlin, 2015).

            

            Students can be assigned to read the article in class or for a homework assignment. After the students have done the reading four bookmarks cut out from paper are given to each student to fill out appropriately as follows:

            

            Bookmark 1: What was the most important part? Why?

           

            Bookmark 2: Which vocabulary word do you think the class should discuss? Why? And what did you initially think that word meant?

           

            Bookmark 3: What was confusing in the reading? Why?

            

            Bookmark 4: Which chart, map, graph or illustration helped you to understand what you read? Why? And if none of these were provided, which do you think the author should have included and why?

On the bookmarks the students will indicate that paragraph or page number the part of the text they are referencing. Students can work on these together and as a whole class. This technique allows students to come up with at least four points to contribute to the discussion.

Here are my bookmarks for the reading:

Bookmark 1	Bookmark 2	Bookmark 3	Bookmark 4
The most important part was that this technology is allowing a piece of paper to be used and reused up to 20 times. Also it doesn’t require ink so money would be saved on both paper and ink. Paragraphs 1 and 2	A vocabulary word the class should discuss together is redox reactions. I think redox reactions are chemical reactions that involve either losing or gaining electrons. Learning more about this reaction will help us to better understand how the rewritable paper works. Paragraphs 2,3, and 4	The part that confused me was the process of how to print on the paper. It’s unclear to me which part is colored and which disappears, the text or the background, when the UV light is used on the paper. Part 2 “How it works”	This text did not have any charts or images. I think a before and after picture would have helped me to better understand the process. A chart showing how many trees could be saved by reducing paper was would have been beneficial too.

        I think this technique is valuable to those students that have a hard time coming up with something to contribute to the classroom discussions. Sometimes students need some time to gather their thoughts and this activity gives them that opportunity. It also helps students to comprehend the material and discuss with other classmates what one or the other might not understand.

McLaughlin, M. (2015). Chapter Five: Using Comprehension Strategies to Guide Thinking.              In Content Area Reading: Teaching and Learning for College and Career                                 Readiness (pp. 75-77).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Buehl, D. (2014). Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning (4th ed.). Newark, DE:               International Reading Association.

Kowalski, K. (2015, January 15). Rewritable paper: Prints with light, not ink. Retrieved 
       from https://student.societyforscience.org/article/rewritable-paper-prints-light-not-              ink?mode=topic&context=104

Power Notes

	Text Link	Rationale for Choosing	Text Frame(s)	Strategy Used and Resource
Engagement Example	Artificial Sweeteners: Friends or Foes?	This article is relevant and informative to students and their diets. It gives just enough scientific evidence in simple text so that students can still comprehend the focus.	Concept/Definition	Power Notes (Buehl Book)

     Power Notes is a simplified version of outlining. Typical outlines can become very detail oriented while Power Notes focuses on main ideas. It gives students a way to differentiate between examples and details from main ideas. This strategy assists students in organizing texts to allow for easier reading, writing, and studying.

           

     In Power Notes main ideas are given a power 1 rating. Details or examples that follow are given power ratings of 2, 3, or 4. To demonstrate this to students I would use a simple topic first as an example. Using vegetables as the main idea or power 1 then providing power 2 ratings to carrots, corn, green beans. Power 3 ratings could be details describing the various vegetables; their color, shape, or texture. Once they have grasped the basic concept a lesson could be used to show further demonstration. Vocabulary words in a lesson could be used and students would need to determine whether they would be a power 1, 2, or 3.

            

     For me this strategy hits home in my studying strategies. I have always been a visual learner and by this I mean I need to take notes or make outlines. Seeing how things fall into place helps me to better understand concepts and lessons. I have a hard time gathering my thoughts but writing them down in an outline helps substantially.

           

     With this lesson I would have students read the article in class and then together we would determine what main ideas would get a power 1 rating and then what would go under as the power 2’s and 3’s. I would want the class to do it together so that the students would get a better idea of how to plan it out for their future lessons to assist in their studying.

            

     Advantages of this reading strategy are that it allows the student to learn how to prioritize and actively read texts. One disadvantage that teachers should be aware of is if the student is including too many details on the Power Notes. It is meant to be a guideline, a way to gather the main ideas. If they are including too much they will have a hard distinguishing between the main ideas and the details. Overall the strategy should help students to better organize their lessons and thus improve both their reading and writing.

Below is my Power Notes for the article

1. Sugars

2. Carbohydrate

3. made from carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen

2. Energy source

3. important for function

2. Cheap

3. easy to obtain

3. food manufacturers more likely to use

1. Artificial Sweeteners

2. Saccharin

3. chemist Constanin Fahlberg

3. coal tar

3. Sweet-n-Low

3. causes bladder cancer in rats

2. Cyclamate

3. banned in US

2. Aspartame

3. Nutrasweet

3. Equal

3. chemist licked fingers in lab to discover

3. weakly linked to brain tumors

2. Sucralose

3. Splenda

3. grad student tasted chemical by mistake

References:

Marr, I. (2012, February 1). Artificial Sweeteners: Friends or Foes? Retrieved from                            https://learn.thinkcerca.com/student_assignments/1715015/lesson_steps/1            

Buehl, D. (2014). Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning (4th ed., pp. 155-157).                    Newark, DE: International Reading Association.                  

Stoichiometry Applications

Here's the link to my finalized presentation of my action research plan:

http://prezi.com/bwmm86a0qr0f/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy


It's hard to believe we have finished our third class already! I hope everyone has a great break and just want you all to know I love working with you and I am learning so much from each of you. 

Personal Assessment Philosophy

Authentic assessment can be defined as a “performance assessment in which the student’s tasks resemble real-life tasks” (Popham, 2014). In other words it is an assessment that the student can apply to real world situations. The opposite being traditional assessments which consist of the standard multiple choice or true-false tests. The purpose of authentic assessments is to require students to use their knowledge and apply it rather than just memorizing and recalling answers to typically one answer questions. It also allows students to show their true selves. Many times students are answering questions on exams or assignments in a manner that they think their teacher will approve. While it is important to do the assignment correctly it is equally if not more important that the student is allowed to demonstrate their understanding and thoughts on the lesson through their own words.

This type of assessment is beneficial because it makes students think about how the subject they are learning about will affect them in the “adult world”. Too often students focus on what they need to remember in order to do well on a test. This is not how teaching or learning should work. Students should be learning about how they will use their newly acquired knowledge in their day to day practices. Authentic teaching answers the student’s ultimate question “will I ever use this?”. Bringing real world examples into the classroom allows students to see that there is a purpose to Algebra or Physics. These assessments allow teachers to see that if the student grasped the concepts of the lesson rather than just memorizing definitions or formulas. The importance is to be able to apply the knowledge outside of the classroom. If that cannot be achieved then there really was no purpose to the lesson. The day students cannot bring anything out of a lesson is the day that teaching has ultimately failed. This may seem overzealous but I think that’s what is missing in schools. Passionate teachers make for passionate students. If teachers are able to come up with assessments that allow students to see the lesson through other outlets the students will be able to apply it to learned concepts. Authentic assessments allow students to explore their thoughts and opinions while still learning the concepts.

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is based around the idea of applications being completed with critical thinking. With everyone following the same standards it allows teachers to ensure that progress is being accomplished. The CCSS is built upon the principle to prepare students for college, career, and life. In a way authentic assessment and the CCSS go hand in hand. Authentic assessment allows a student’s knowledge to be measured in a real life setting. Being able to do this allows both the teacher and the student to see how the lesson is going to affect them in the long run. Teachers want to be able to make a difference in their student’s education and leave a lasting mark on them. If a teacher is able to make things relatable to a student and have them understand the importance of a topic they will take it out of the classroom and keep it with them which is the result of authentic assessments. I do not have any experience with teaching with the CCSS but I am eager to get started. I think it is vital for students to know how they get an answer and not just say it because they know its right from memory. I want my students to take something home from class everyday no matter how small it may be.

I want to add just a few more insights to my personal philosophy since I have finally begun my field experience as a tutor in Towson High School’s ACCESS program. ACCESS is an optional after school program offered to students that received a failing grade in a major class in their first quarter. I am helping students with their chemistry and math. Today (December 9) was our first official day with the students. To start we had the students fill out a self-assessment about their learning styles and goals for the afternoon session. They were asked about their academic strengths and areas that can use improving. The final thing the students had to do was name the goals they will have reached by next report card (February 7, 2015). We gave the students about ten minutes to complete these assessments.

The teachers and I began to mingle with the students to find out what they had brought with them to the session to work on. At first I had a hard time finding any students that needed help with science or math so I sat with two students that were working on English and American Government. I was so eager to help I was willing to do anything. I even offered to help one student with his Spanish. Unfortunately he did not have his homework with him. This seemed to be a trend with most of the students in this program. They are very disorganized. I noticed that their notes and homework sheets are all over the place rather than separated by subject. Luckily another teacher noticed this and quickly came to the rescue with a bunch of folders and markers for the kids to sort their things out. One of my goals is to help the students keep their papers/notes together by subject.

I did eventually find a student that needed help with chemistry. We worked on her homework together and I could see that she was trying. She even admitted that sometimes she would overthink the problems. The sessions are only an hour but I am happy to report we got half of her homework finished. Before leaving the session her chemistry teacher, who is helping in the program as well, asked me how she did because he says he sees her falling behind in class but it is hard to help everyone because that class has over 30 students. I do believe that sometimes students just need a little one-on-one time to help them understand a concept. I am looking forward to helping her and other students as the program continues.

References:

Myths vs Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/myths-vs-facts/

Popham, W. (2014). Performance Assessment. In Classroom Assessment: What Teachers Need to Know (7th ed., pp. 212-213). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Lombardi, M. (2008). Making the Grade: The Role of Assessment in Authentic Learning.Educause. Retrieved from https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3019.pdf

McAlister, B. (n.d.). The Authenticity of Authentic Assessment: What the Research Says…Or Doesn’t Say. Retrieved from http://calpro-online.org/eric/docs/custer/custer4.pdf

Wiggins, Grant (1990). The case for authentic assessment. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 2(2). Retrieved November 2, 2014 from http://PAREonline.net/getvn.asp?v=2&n=2