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Evidence #1: Final Paper
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This assignment submitted as evidence for AP#9 – Learning Environment is my final paper for SCE 4310. The main focus of this paper was to take what I had learned from this course, along with all my other classes at USF, and describe what kind of science teacher I intend on becoming and what kind of classroom environment I want to develop. I have combined the knowledge I have acquired as an education student with my own personal ideas and values to create a plan of the most important characteristics of a positive science classroom environment.
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This evidence addresses the Accomplished Practice (Learning Environments) because it shows the thought I put into creating a positive and effective science learning environment for my students. Throughout the evidence, I have planned, and also implemented, various ideas and strategies for developing a learning environment that is beneficial to all students. I have built a concept for a classroom based on the students understanding the importance of following directions, implementing a set of clear, consistent rules, allowing and encouraging my students to think freely, inquisitively, and critically, and knowing that the number one goal in any lesson/activity is about learning something. I mention several times in my evidence about supporting hands-on learning. I believe it is essential to allow students to actively engage with what they are learning, also while learning to interact positively with other students. These ideas not only create an atmosphere of positive thinking and cooperation, but also are skills they will need and use the rest of their lives as adults. I mention in my evidence that I find it is important to work with your students, as they explore and experiment science. If they feel you are there to help and encourage them as apposed to tediously watching their every move to ensure they are following directions, they will feel more comfortable exploring ideas, making predictions, thinking independently, and becoming a self-motivated learner. Using these strategies and ideas to foster every student’s academic development helps create a learning environment that helps each and every student grow to their fullest potential.
I am currently participating in my Level II Internship in a fifth grade class whose teacher is extremely science-driven. Nearly every day I am in the classroom, there is an extensive science lesson and/or hands-on activity planned. This has allowed me to take the ideas I created in my evidence and apply them in the classroom. First off, my cooperating teacher basically gives me full control of the room when I am there. Before ever beginning a lesson with the students, I presented the rules to them that they must abide by. I stressed the importance of the rules in order to keep a successful learning environment, and if anybody should not follow any of the rules they would no longer be allowed to participate. I am a very fair, caring, and sometimes lenient teacher. I will give a little for my students because I trust them. However, implementing the classroom rules, especially during science activity time, is one time where I feel it is important to be consistent and explicit. My rules are my rules, they are made for a reason, and they must be followed. Everything after that will allow for exploring, predicting, hypothesizing, and fun! My students understand this. If they do their part by following all directions and respecting myself and the other students, I will respect them by allowing them to walk around the room, learn and engage with other students, and even give their own ideas for fun classroom experiments they are interested in learning about. For example, two of my rules are to respect mine and other’s property (such as materials used for the experiment) and to always respect others’ thoughts and ideas. I want them to know that during this time, their classroom is a lab and they are the scientists and anything they are curious to learn about they are free to do it. In my interning classroom, the students were learning about weather, and were having trouble deciphering between what a barometer and an anemometer was, what they did, and why? So, I found a website that showed how to make your own and use them, so that’s what we did. We actually learned how to measure the air pressure with a barometer and the wind speed with the anemometer each day. This allowed the students to become hands-on with what they were learning from their textbook, and see firsthand how the instruments work, and also got to make predictions about what the weather was going to be like each day. They then got to test their predictions to see who got the closest correct hypothesis. This first experiment/activity I implemented with my students helped them become more ‘curious’ about the things they were learning in their books. If something didn’t make sense to them or they wanted to find out more, they would speak up, ask questions, and we would find a fun way to be ‘little scientists’ and discover answers together. I feel that my evidence shows my ideas for a successful classroom environment and since I have been actually implementing them in a classroom with my students, I see that these ideas and strategies really do help develop a positive and successful learning environment for all students.
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