colehintz.files.wordpress.com€¦ · web viewin talking to my co-op after the quiz she agreed...

Process Paper ECS 350 Cole Hintz

Lesson Plan: Physical and Chemical ChangesConcepts:

Physical Change, Chemical Change, States, Changes of State

Formal Outcome:

AE9.3 Demonstrate an understanding of the classification of pure substances (elements and compounds), including the development and nature of the

Connections to Previous Concepts:

Changes of State, Elements, Compounds

Materials:

Physical and Chemical changes sliderocket (w/ changes), student quizzes.

Purpose:

Students did not show an understanding on the quiz. Purpose of this lesson is to revisit and re-address the concepts we have previously covered.

Notes:

Focus on changes of state.

Emphasize the basic concepts of physical and chemical changes.

Show how to apply basic concepts to a broader understanding.


The purpose of this lesson was to re-visit concepts that we had previously covered as a

class. I had thought that my students understood the concepts I had taught and so I gave them

a quiz. What I found was that my students were not as capable as I thought they would be at

applying what they had learned. I did not choose to include the marks the students had

received in their grades as I felt this was a poor reflection of the outcomes. I instead went back

and re-taught much of the content, this time showing the students how to apply what they had

learned.

In talking to my co-op after the quiz she agreed with me that I couldn’t move on if as

many students were struggling as there were. She understood my desire to not include this

assessment as a grade because my students had not yet met the outcomes. What my co-op

suggested was that I go back re-emphasize the concept and more importantly focus more on

having my students apply the concepts. My co-op and I went through the quizzes and

discussed the important aspects that students were struggling with. I then created some visual

examples that challenged my students to apply the concepts. To take application skills further I

created application type questions based around student exploration stations.

This lesson taught me the importance of really focusing on having the students think for

themselves. I saw how it was more valuable to have students explore and apply concepts on

their own as opposed to teaching it and thinking they’ll remember. This lesson also taught me

the value of formative assessment. I needed to do a better job of assessing my class before

giving them the quiz.

With my co-ops help I was able to realize that I can use a quiz meant as a summative

assessment for a formative assessment instead. I learned the importance of teaching to the


outcomes as opposed to the content. My co-op was extremely helpful in how she allowed me

lots of freedom to make mistakes and try new things. If I did not have this experience I don’t

think that I would have learned the importance of formative assessment early on. I also

learned that it is important for me to have activities that have my students applying the

concepts if that is what I am going to test them on.

I found that by showing my students that I cared about what they were learning it

helped them to buy into the process. Going over the quiz with the class and not focusing on

marks really helped establish trust with my students early on. This lesson helped my students

to learn very early on in my pre-internship that I was there to help them learn and not to pile on

a bunch of marks. I found that this lesson helped to not only shift my students’ focus away

from marks but mine as well. I found that using the test as a formative assessment really

helped me settle in and shift my focus to the actual learning process in my class and how it

happens.

Moving forward I want to incorporate a lot of the aspects of teaching, that I took away

from this lesson, in my future practice. I learned the value of formative assessment and the

need to have students buy in to the learning process. The class did far better on the next quiz

after we had re-spent time on the concepts we needed to.


Lesson Plan: Static Electricity

Formal Outcome: CE9.1 Demonstrate and analyze characteristics of static electric charge and current electricity, including historical and cultural understanding. [CP, SI, TPS]

Concepts:

Static Electricity, Triboelectric Series, Charging by Friction, Charging by Conduction, Charging by Induction, 3 Electrostatic Laws

Connections to Previous Concepts:

Force, Attract, Repel

Materials: Balloons, Wool Sweater (..of Science), Pop Cans, Electroscope, Cut up Paper, Comb, String

Sliderocket Presentation:

http://portal.sliderocket.com/BFPTO/Static-Electricity

Some Questions:

What is static electricity? How does it happen?

What are some everyday examples of static electricity?

Does static electricity present any dangers?

What are some things we do to deal with static electricity?

Show me how static electricity works.

Notes:

- Hand back tests from last unit.- Next time don’t give everyone in the class a balloon…turned into birthday party mode.




ReflectionUpon reflecting on this lesson I believe that it was a very effective, engaging lesson for

my students. We focused not only on the basic static electric concepts but began to apply

these concepts to our everyday lives. My students were able to identify some of the risks

associated with static electricity and we were able to focus on technologies we have developed

to limit these risks. I felt like my students were excited to explore on their own and were very

effective at this once I gave them the opportunity.

I felt like I gave too many notes with this lesson however upon discussing with my

partner after, my idea of ‘lots of notes’ was nowhere near what most teachers give. I found this

to be comforting because although I believe notes can be important for some concepts I

wanted to focus more on student engagement. I found that by getting my students engaged

and interested in the concepts this lesson presented they were able to guide their own

learning. I loved how many questions my students asked in my entire three week pre-

internship and this lesson was not an exception. As my partner remarked in my data collection,

I think that I did a pretty good job of answering my students’ questions with a question. They

realized very quickly that I would not give them the answer but would instead encourage them

to explore their understanding deeper until they realized that they knew the answer just in a

different form. I found this process of understanding to be extremely effective, especially

within Grade 9 science, because even though there are a lot of concepts most of them are

pretty intuitive. I found students understood most concepts of this lesson just sometimes in

different forms and not quite in ‘science’ words.

I was constantly assessing my students understanding by asking them questions as I

progressed. I felt like sometimes I was asking the same question, just in a variety of ways, of


different students to make sure a concept was clear. I thought this may have been kind of

excessive however my partner thought, through observing the students, that this was quite

effective and really emphasized the concepts that I wanted to be emphasized.

I felt very comfortable with this lesson and I think a lot of it had to do with how my

demeanor made my students feel more comfortable. I tried to put myself more in the position

of a fellow learner and hoped my passion and excitement would be infectious. I think a

majority of students picked up on this and so felt very comfortable asking and answering

questions. I didn’t have a problem with students being afraid to answer questions because of

this.

Moving forward I believe that there are a lot of aspects from this lesson that I found out

worked well with me and the type of teacher I want to be. I was able to incorporate a lot of

activities and student involvement and limit the amount of student ‘inactivity’. I really enjoyed

being able to engage my class and engaging in that experience with them. I felt like this was a

very effective lesson and the concepts I wanted my students to understand were addressed and

emphasized.

colehintz.files.wordpress.com€¦ · web viewin talking to my co-op after the quiz she agreed...

Documents