Final

How will you integrate critical literacy instruction in your discipline?

I think that it is so important that students are able to take away that science is a way of knowing and thinking.  In order to do this, it is crucial that I provide them with opportunities to practice critical literacy.  I think one approach I want to use is inquiry based learning.  As students are able to face problems and find solutions, they are able to practice the skills necessary for them to critically evaluate the world around them.  In the classroom, I want them to be able to evaluate experimental methods, the theories we discuss, as well as teach them how to communicate in science.  In doing this, it is key that students understand that science is not always fact and that things are always changing.  

How will you choose and teach vocabulary words?

For my self selected project I chose to interview a teacher in my discipline and I learned many ways to teach vocabulary words.  When choosing vocabulary, I want to make sure they are meaningful words.  I think that having a vocabulary list of every in-between word is rather overwhelming and doesn't benefit the student.  Finding the words that are really important to understanding the content is going to be key in choosing the vocabulary.  
One way my teacher taught vocabulary was using visuals.  I like how she used a game-like approach to teach students vocabulary, as they challenged themselves to beat their score daily.  Students were given a visual of the word, and then had to make the connection of what word it is.  I would love to incorporate an activity like this is my classroom.  Also I think that when lecturing or during reading, students need to be able to easily identify what words are important.  One example of how I want to do this in my classroom is have all key words listed around the classroom, as well as make them identifiable in PowerPoint lectures, readings, or notes.


What kinds of texts will you make available to your students? 

The text set we created is one of the best projects I have done since being in the education program.  Researching the different texts available for students has been so beneficial as I think about what I want in my classroom.  One text I want to take advantage of is apps on iPads or other smart devices.  Most school's have a classroom set available to use for a day and there are so many apps that can provide students with learning experiences that aren't easily done in a classroom.  Simulations or virtual dissections can be performed on these devices and can save class time and allow students with the same kind of experience.  I also want to find books that can expose students to all that science encompasses.  In my text set, I found multiple books that were easier reads that would just give students a brief overview of a topic.  Then, I tried to find books that would supplement this reading and give more depth if a student had an interest in the topic.  I also think providing students with magazines or websites as a resource can help keep things interesting in the classroom.  These forms of text are usually formatted in a way that is engaging and sparks interest for students.


How will you support your students in writing texts and producing other representations in your discipline?

One writing activity I would like to incorporate into my classroom is writing lab reports.  We did this is one of my college classes and I felt that it was a very beneficial way to learn how to "write science."  It allows students to do real research and relate it to what they are doing in class.  In doing this, I would like to break up the different parts of the lab report and teach students how to proceed with each section and what is expected from them.  
Another way I will support writing is by providing rubrics.  The use of rubrics has been immensely emphasized throughout my education classes this semester.  Providing students with a rubric helps to ensure that they understand what my expectations are for an assignment and that they have all the necessary parts.

This class has been AWESOME! I have seriously learned so much and am so excited to be able to incorporate the different learning activities we learned about in my own classroom.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything!! By far my favorite class in the SCED program!

Oral Language

In my current clinical placement, my teacher does not allow for students to engage in much discussion.  During lectures, questioning and discussion is very limited.  If the teacher asks a question, it is in the form that just requires a one word answer. There is no real opportunity for teacher-student dialogue. Students don't ask very many questions, and I think it is because the lectures aren't engaging for students.  I felt as if the classroom is what I would consider as extremely traditional, the teacher teaches and students just listen and accept what they are saying.
If I was giving this teacher advice, I would have them read over the article by Van de Weghe that we read.  In this article, the five elements of effective discussions are presented, giving educators great building blocks to use in their classroom.  I think that uptake is a great method in acknowledging students for their contributions in the class.  If students feel like their thoughts are valued, they are going to be more likely to share their ideas and open up in discussions.  Another element is using better forms of evaluation and adding to students' remarks.  By doing this, we are using a students thought to push forward a discussion.  I also would suggest for the teacher to provide more opportunities for students to ask questions and discuss.  The article states, "that practices that promote genuine intellectual risk taking impact student achievement in demonstrably positive ways" (90).  Although it might be difficult to do at first, increasing dialogue in classroom will benefit students and their learning experience.

Critical Literacy

I believe that critical literacy enables students to be able to critically analyze text and understand them completely.  Text are not always straightforward and I think that critical literacy provides students with the skills to take underlying information from the text.  By actively reading and reflecting, students are able to understand better. If students are able to participate in critical literacy, the skills they will develop will help them to be able to take more from text, therefore expanding their knowledge.
I read the article by Behrman as well as the article  by Monahan that pertains specifically to science.  Both of these articles gave me great ideas on how to incorporate critical literacy into my discipline, as well as its importance.  Starting with the Monahan article, I would love to do a project like the students in her classroom.  Students were divided into groups and were asked to construct arguments in which they utilized voice.  I think an activity like this would be very beneficial to students in science because it allows them to bring their own ideas into science.  In one of my classes in college our professor assigned us a similar project.  We were given an article to read and using what we have learned in class we were asked to analyze the article.  Our teacher wanted us to use our own voice and argue reasoning behind the article.  It was difficult at first, but after some practice it became a lot easier and enjoyable.  I would love to do something similar to this for my students. I think too often science is looked at as just boring memorization which is not at all the case!  I think activities such as this help students to realize the science is a way of thinking.
In the Behrman article, six critical literacy approaches are discussed: reading supplementary texts, reading multiple texts, reading from a resistant perspective, producing counter-text, using student-choice research projects, and taking social action.  I hope in my future classroom I can finds to incorporate all of these approaches.  After reading, one idea I had mirrored the example given in the reading.  In the example, students read two versions of a fairy tale and then compared and contrasted them.  They then wrote the fairy tale from a different perspective.  I would love to find a way to do this with different theories or different views of popular research topics.

Digital Text

For my digital text I chose to make a Twitter account.
https://twitter.com/mskfarr

The set up was very user friendly and I didn't run into any troubles when trying to set up an account.  When looking to find profiles to follow, I simply started by typing things in I know I would be interested in following.  For example, I searched UEN and the Utah State Office of Education.  Once I started following these sites, Twitter began making suggestions for other organizations I might be interested in following.  From there I was able to expand my list of people I'm following rather quickly.  I have not yet tweeted anything, but I have found some very interesting reads and information from profiles I'm following.
I think Twitter would be a great resource in a classroom.  When I was in high school and right when I started college Twitter was a pretty new thing.  I had a few teachers try to use it, but they didn't get the participation as it wasn't very popular.  Now Twitter is pretty much a household term, especially for students who are part of the younger generation.  Having a classroom Twitter would be a great opportunity to send reminders to students about upcoming homework assignments or tests.  Also a Twitter account could be useful in providing students with additional resources or interesting articles related to the things we are talking about in class.
For my students, I might suggest for them to make a Twitter account and follow profiles of college or career fields they are interested in pursuing.  Having access to these type of resources might help them determine what they would like to do post-high school.  In order to do this, I would print out a step-by-step instruction sheet and give suggestions to things they might follow.  This is definitely not something I would force students to do or put a grade on.  I know some students might not have access so smart devices, and their parents might not allow them to have a Twitter account.  I could even write a short note home to parents discussing educational benefits Twitter could have as a resource in our classroom as well as for their student's interests.

For the reading, I chose to read the journal article discussing NASA's Twitter account.  I thought this was such an interesting read, which is one reason I chose to do a Twitter account as my digital text.  The article breaks down techniques that NASA uses to apply scientific literacy to a wide audience with diverse backgrounds and knowledge.  After reading this article, I really can see how Twitter can be a beneficial resource for my classroom.  Social media is second nature for students, and utilizing this fact in the classroom will be so much more beneficial than trying to completely restrict it.  I like how Twitter provides students with opportunities to participate in real-life events, like NASA does.  I also liked the suggestion made by the article of using Twitter to join in dialogues of current events and use it to find answers to their questions.

Writing Instruction

For this blog, I chose to do the first prompt.  This weeks PowerPoint and readings really helped me to identify ways that I can implement writing into my science content area.  I believe it is so important for students to be able to write across the content areas.  I really like at the beginning of the PowerPoint discussion when Amy discusses how writing clarifies our thinking.  I can think back on many projects in school when I really didn't understand what I was doing, turned in a project, got the grade, and forgot about it.  I think that writing has the ability for us to expand our knowledge and think more actively about what exactly we are learning.
I really liked the suggestions on creating a classroom that fosters writing.  One particular suggestion that stuck out to me was providing students with rubrics.  I remember one time in middle school, our teacher asked us to just switch papers and peer review the essays.  The girl I switched papers with I was absolutely was terrified of.  She got in fights almost every day, and was always sent down to the principle's office.  I remember as I was reading over her paper, I realized the entire thing was not only one paragraph, but also only one sentence.  Literally, there was one period in the entire thing and it was right at the bottom of the page.  My heart sunk.  I was so terrified to mark anything wrong for fear she would think I was a nerd or teacher's pet, or worse that she would want to beat me up.  Not knowing what else to do, I handed back her paper and said, "Yeah, it looks great!"
By providing a rubric, students will be able to provide their peers with better feedback.  For example, if my teacher would have given us a rubric that said something along the lines of, "Student uses well constructed, complete sentences,"  I could have marked that down and said there are a few places she could look over.  That way, the student knows what the teacher is looking for and doesn't criticize the student doing the review. I also think that providing rubrics allows for students to know exactly what is expected of them.  Nothing is more stressful as a student than trying to write a paper or do a project when you have absolutely no idea what your teacher is wanting!
I also learned it's very important to use the three levels of writing.  I plan to have students keep journals in my class, which will allow students to participate in level one writing.  I want students under no pressure when they are responding to prompts and questions in the journal, so I want to just give them points for participating.  To incorporate level two and three, I would love to do a project similar to the one in my reading.  The teacher provided students with a problem, and divided the class into three groups and assigned them with specific theories to describe the solution.  Students were allowed to research and debate these ideas and were asked to write about it.  This kind of activity allows for students to engage in writing that is related to the science content, but also provides them room to use their voice and creativity.  I think in order for students to gain literacy in science, students need to be exposed to a variety of opportunities to actually write science.

Vocabulary Instruction

In high school, my teachers used a few different methods for vocabulary instruction.  For this blog discussion I will be focusing on how teachers in my discipline, which is science, would go about vocabulary instruction.  In high school, most of my teachers utilized lab books for class instruction.  These lab books consisted of all of our lecture notes, activities, and homework for a particular unit.  At the beginning of each of these lab books my teachers would provide us with the objectives of the unit, as they align with the Utah Core Standards, as well as what specific concepts we should take from each lesson.  Part of this introduction to the unit was also the vocabulary we would be required to understand.  I really liked that my teachers provided this to us because it gave me something to look for when my teacher was lecturing, or when we were participating in a class activity.

In a lecture, my teacher would typically provide the word and definition for us.  We would then talk about different examples or describe the process in which this word is part of.  Discussion of vocabulary would usually occur towards the beginning of the lecture in order for us to be able to more effectively dive in to the material.  Being introduced to the vocabulary beforehand allowed us to make more sense of what our teacher was instructing us on.  I feel like my teachers mostly used the approach of teaching individual words, as discussed in the Harmon, Wood, and Hedrick reading.

One method my teachers used that mirrored an example given in the book was instructing us on Greek and Latin roots.  Many words in science contain these roots and having a knowledge of their meanings can help you figure out what other words mean.  In my Human Biology class, we had a whole section dedicated to learning these roots.  I remember my teacher telling us that knowing these roots wouldn't only help us in the class, but would also help us in our future. Being a biology major, learning those roots has helped my immensely in my major, but my teacher also gave the example of this vocabulary helping us when we go to the doctor, or trying to read labels.  This showed me that having a knowledge of different disciplinary vocabularies is very beneficial when encountering daily aspects of society. 

In my classroom, I would really like to utilize some of the ideas provided from studies on page 7 of the reading.  In the study by Lloyd and Contreras (1985), it was found that students learn vocabulary better when they are provided with a hands on activity relating to the vocabulary.  After reading about this, I reflected back to our last broadcast class when we participated in the soil activity.  I think allowing students to get their hands a little dirty helps them to understand what we are really talking about in class. For example, some students when asked to prevent erosion may mirror terracing before learning about it.  Then when they learn about it in the lecture portion of class, they can make that connection of the word to what they did in the activity.  I think the key to teaching vocabulary effectively will be by providing students with a variety of opportunities.  By providing students the access to related reading and other forms of media students will be better able to understand the vocabulary of the discipline.

Comprehension Instruction

In my discipline of Biology, there are many forms of text that are used such as text books, websites, manuals (such as Bergey's manual used for bacterial identification), and journals.  In my middle school and high school education, we never were able to use text books because of lack of resources.  Teachers provided us with lab books and worksheets that consisted of notes and homework problems.  These lab books were our major resource, with websites being used only a couple times through out the year.  Unfortunately, I don't believe these forms of text led to higher engagement or deep understanding.  These materials were in place to mostly just provide us with the information needed to pass the tests, nothing beyond that.  Although I felt like they were a very useful resource for the course, I do not feel like they provided us with opportunities to expand and practice our knowledge.  With science, I believe that it is so important for students to have these opportunities to discover and obtain knowledge.  For this to happen, it is necessary for students to be able to utilize these texts and acquire the skills necessary to apply these to their future experiences.

I really like the quote on page 19 of Buehl that says, "Textbooks tend to be written to expose students to information rather than help them truly understand it.  I feel like education all too often falls under this phrase.  Teachers just teach students the necessary information without giving them the opportunity to understand it.  Without this understanding, students are not able to build a strong knowledge base.

I would like to provide students with an educational experience that utilizes Buehl's idea of essential questions.  I think that essential questions can help students take the step from knowing what Buehl describes as the "text-based evidence" or what is on the test, and diving deeper into the information and thinking critically about it.  I felt like my middle and high school education did not expose me to such learning opportunities, which did not prepare me for the expectations of college.

One challenge of my undergraduate education in biology was reading and comprehending journal articles.  I had never been expected to read such scientifically heavy text and analyze and think about what the point was.  Some professors would provide us with a worksheet with questions guiding us through the journal, helping us to identify was the author was trying to tell us.  When I am a teacher, I would love to provide assignments that allow students to analyze journals in such a way.  By providing them with essential questions, it is my hope to prepare them for higher education as well as, as Buehl says on page 25, "encourage student inquiry, discussion, and research."