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!