For
my clinical experience, I have been lucky enough to work with Mrs. Wolf on her
social studies lessons. Lindsay’s Cooperating Teacher, Ms. Weddington, teaches
the same students the science portion of their lessons. Since Mrs. Wolf
exclusively teaches the social studies aspect, I have never witnessed Ms.
Weddington’s science lessons. However, I will be teaching a science lesson in
Mrs. Wolf’s classroom on April 9th. Therefore, I have unfortunately
not had the experience of seeing a science lesson for this age group in person,
and I do not know the exact methods that Ms. Weddington uses. However, Lindsay
has blog posts which outline her experiences in a clinical science classroom : http://gladlyweteachandlearnisu.blogspot.com/
I
do know that Ms. Weddington has been working on types of soil and the rock
cycle in her classroom, so I will be planning to teach about that same topic.
My idea for a lesson plan is to show the students a couple of videos on the
rock cycle and have them fill out a worksheet based on the concepts that they
have been reviewing. I know that this is not a very hands-on lesson, but I
decided to use it since the other lesson I prepared will not be ready for the
students. (Originally, I was planning to do an interactive lesson with baby chicks,
but Ms. Weddington informed me that they will not be starting that unit until
the week after I teach.)
One
thing that I’ve already found difficult about science lessons is trying to make
them as interactive as social studies lessons. Since I have a lot more
experience working with social studies, it is easier for me to come up with
activities that involve maps, people, and places. With science, a lot of the
concepts are not as easy to show simply using pictures or stories. Many of the
components happen without being seen, such as with the rock cycle. We obviously
do not have enough time to watch rocks change over time, as that can take
hundreds of years. However, the science book comes with lots of ideas for
hands-on activities for the students so that they can get a glimpse of the
concept in real life. I am sure that the authors of the book were very aware
that science can be a difficult topic for younger children, so they provided
lots of pictures and boiled down the lessons into interactive activities and
real world applications.
I
know from what students say in Mrs. Wolf’s classroom that science is not always
a favorite subject for kids, since it’s not as easy to comprehend as something
like the Civil War. In my future classroom, I am going to make a concerted
effort to make science lessons as fun and hands-on as possible. Science often
ranks lower on students’ favorite subjects due to its content, and because a
lot of teachers make their lessons lecture-style. After my lesson on the 9th,
I hope to grasp a better understanding of what goes on in a science classroom
and the techniques that Ms. Weddington uses to keep her students engaged.
This is the Wedsite that Ms . weddington use for her science lesson.
Yeseul,
ReplyDeleteThanks for all of the detail you provide here! You give us a full picture of the structure of content instruction at your site, and you support it with your own plans. I especially loved the shout-out to Lindsay's blog--this is always nice when we can support other bloggers. You write that learning about science may be more difficult than learning about the Civil War, but I am not sure if I agree with that statement! I think some people would find history more challenging than learning science concepts! This is of course based on interests and learning strengths we have and the form of delivery and instruction of the content. Hmm….
:)Kira