EDCI Blog#2 Performance As A Teacher

As a teacher I believe that I am growing with each lesson. Throughout the year I have conferred with and observed other colleagues. Everyday I learn a new technique or a new procedure that helps me function better in the classroom. Also, I constantly think of ideas that will help me achieve my classroom goals. In summer school the learning goal where my students are excelling is in ecology. The success is contributed to the hard work of my team: the second years and the first years. I believe that Lisa and myself have prepared the groundwork that has allowed my students to be successful. In addition, the students relate well with the material, because they can see evidence of classroom discussions outside in nature. Also, they widely involved with the lessons and are able to answer questions and participate in a friendly, inviting, and supportive environment.

My students are least successful in genetics. I found this to be disturbing, because the same solid foundation was paved in this branch of science as well as in the other branches of science that we are covering in summer school. En masse, the students’ grades in this discipline are lower than in the other Biology I topics. However, there are students who are still excelling in every summer school period. Some possible suggestions for the lack of success in genetics are the terminology and the complex thought processes associated with this discipline. Additionally, the time constraint of summer school hastens the comprehension of concepts that would normally take a few weeks to conceptualize in a regular classroom. Reteaching efforts that are vital to ensure adequate learning are forced into the summer school curriculum; considering other information must be covered in the classroom. As we see the problem of missed concepts arising among the students, my team has decided to reevaluate lesson plans in order to include this vital reteaching step.

I believe that my instructional procedures are effective. When I plan, I try to place all of my procedures in my lesson plans. Many times it lengthens my plans, but I am able to visualize how my lesson will come to fruition. My procedures also allow me to foresee problems that may arise throughout my lessons. During a lesson, I find that my procedures are a guide to show me where I am in my lesson and a reminder to help me see where I am going as my lesson progresses.

In my summer school class differentiated learning has definitely taken place. I have used differentiated instruction during class activities to reinforce previous concepts. For example, during a food web exercise, students were given the option to draw a food web with pictures or to just use words to describe their food webs. The students did an excellent job on this project. Other methods have been used to appeal to different learning styles from acting out certain ecological relationships; using auditory as well as visual note taking; drawing or writing out autotrophic-heterotrophic relationships; and using math skills to comprehend the genetic code. Additionally, the students have had the opportunity to work with mind map, in groups, and alone. They have investigated different part of a main concept and have shared that information with their peers in the classroom.

There are many things that I can do differently or better in the future to improve my students’ performance. First, I think that could plan reteaching instruction and activities before the problem arises. Also, I believe that I should distribute weekly progress reports in summer school to ensure that the students are aware of their academic progression in the classroom. I would also like to try more inductive strategies in the classroom to stimulate more learning. Finally, in the future, I would also like to think of more creative activities to include in my lessons to make my classroom a more enjoyable place to learn.