A Blog on Autobiographies!

For our Science Methods course, we were asked to write a blog that is an autobiography.  We were given a few main points that I would like to answer.  Here are the suggested topics we were given:

• What are the skills and strengths that you bring to the school science experience?
• There are different strengths that I bring to the school science experiment.  I can be a very creative person.  I think this is a great aspect for a science teacher to have because it will constantly motivate the students to explore the experiments given to them, and to even explore the world around them!  Having a creative teacher can make a student more aware of observing every day objects because they can always be used in a science experiment.
• What are the areas in which you would like to improve as you set about doing science with students?
• As I am doing science with students, I would like to improve my ability to  use technology in the classroom.  Since technology is always improving, it is important for educators to be up to date on all of the new tricks and tools to use in the classroom.
• How do you define “science” now as you prepare to teach it?
• I would define science as the world around me.  It is constantly changing which allows for students to learn new things all the time.
• How will technology help you stay current and teach science in an innovative way?
• Technology will help keep me and my students motivated and engaged throughout a science lesson.  It will connect us and allow the students to collaborate with one another for their science assignments.  
  

What Will be Non-Existant by 2020?

10 Years ago we never thought CD players would be replaced by iPods.  Now we are wondering what will be obsolete 10 years from now.  My professor e-mailed our class an article written by Ian Jukes yesterday with predictions of what would be extinct within the next decade.  The article is titled, "21 Things That Will Be Obsolete By 2020."  I could not believe what their predictions were!  I can't even imagine how much this will effect how and what we will be teaching in just a few years.

Paper--gone.  We are moving on to Kindles and paper-less classes.  Although this is Eco-friendly, I will miss the feeling of turning a page in a book or handing in an actual paper to be graded.  Well since there is no paper, Jukes says we are not even going to have a thing called homework!! Us, as educators will have to think of other ways to assess students with individual work I guess!  Computers will even not exist in 2020!?  Handheld devices will replace these dinosaur computers. 

Teachers who do not know how to incorporate technology to personalize their lessons will soon be out of a job.  This shows us the importance of practicing with technology now so we won't fall behind in the tech world later on.  Attendance offices will vanish within the next few years, Jukes says.  He believes that there will be bio scans to keep track of who is attending school.  This will save time in the classroom because we won't have to set aside time to take attendance, but I cannot imagine all parents being comfortable with this idea, or all children being brave enough to be body scanned by a foreign object. 

Schools will soon be educating not by grade but by learning level.  Schools will become more "home based" so they will be smaller and greener.  There will be less people on campuses at one time.  With this, Parent-Teacher conferences will be gone too.  Technology will make it easier for parents and teachers to continually connect with each other.

Although these are all just predictions made by one man, it should open our eyes as future educators to realize the importance of technology in the classroom.  We need to keep up-to-date with the ways education is changing.

If you want to read this article in full, just click here.

Four Fieldwork Sessions

My Science Methods course had recently begun our fieldwork sessions with Mrs. Benfer, the Science teacher for grades 3, 4, and 5 at our on-campus Elementary school, Bishop Dunn.  Our first session was a "Get to Know You" session where we met our student and began working with them.  I got Garret, a fifth grade genius, if you ask me.  He speeds through all of his work; faster than I can even think about it! 

On our second session, we worked on Test Prep together, where I assisted Garret along through questions he was prompted in his class' textbook.  I noticed Garret was not too enthused to be doing book work, and I don't blame him.  I tried to relate the topic to his every day experiences, connecting the material topics he is interested in.  Whenever I offered him an idea for a possible answer to a question to further his thinking, he would reply with, "Yes, but I believe we should put that in larger words so it sounds more Scientific and people will know I am smart."  Woah, I took a step back and realized that I wasn't needed as much as I had hoped.

On our third sesion together, Garret and I got the opportunity to work in an Inquiry lesson where he had the opportunity to explore his scientific world while creating a buoyancy boat that would hold the most pennies when placed in water.  Let's just say our first boat failed, but I loved how Garret was open to trying again and again until his boat was a success.  This kid is a persistant student!  I love how he never even thought of giving up.

Our fourth session together, which was our half-way point through our course's fieldwork process, I assisted Garret through his Chapter 11 test.  He flew through it, hoping to be the first one done and to have some down time to relax.  I did not allow this to happen.  I had him review his answers with me and give background knowledge for his answers so that I knew each answer was correct and that he actually knew the information instead of just spitting it out onto the paper.  He made a few silly mistakes and I was happy to see him realize that he needs to take his time during his assignments.

It touched my heart to see how upset Garret got when I told him that I would not see him on Monday because I will be attending my school's NCATE meeting (I will blog about this experience after Monday; I am honored to be invited to such an event!).  He was looking forward to working with me again, but I reassured him that I would be back the Wednesday following; there was no need to worry.  He was even more excited when he found out I would actually be teaching the Chemical Change lesson with my Science group!  I absolutely cannot wait.

April Fools!

Over the past week, I have heard rumor after rumor about our area of New York being hit with over ten inches of snow!  I couldn't believe it!  I thought Mother Nature must have been playing an April Fools joke on us.  I woke up this morning expecting a Winter Wonderland on the first day of April and actually pleased to take note that it was mearly drizzling outside.  With a sigh of relief, I went off to a session of Methods of Science fieldwork, where I took a Science test with my fifth grade student, Garret.  After fieldwork was over, I went to class and then went straight to the library.  Being focused in my work, I didn't even think to look out the window. 

Once I decided to take a break from my studies and take a little walk around the building, I noticed huge snowflakes falling from the sky!  Who would have thought that today, the first day of April, it would be blizzarding out!  I am still in shock.  What a silly way to end yet another hectic week of my Spring 2011 semester.  Hopefully by this time next week it will be nice and sunny out!  We can only hope...