7.+Planning

< Back to table of contents //**7.**// **PLANNING PRINCIPLE** //**:**//

//The teacher candidate plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals. In this section of the portfolio, you need to make the case, with supporting evidence, that you have achieved each of the following proficiencies://

//**7.1. Candidates are able to align instruction with learning goals consistent with professional and New York State standards.**//

Before creating any of my lesson plans, I began by looking at the standards and the concept map of standards provided for chemistry, and used those to construct my unit goals and objectives. Looking though the core curriculum standards, one can identify that Standard 4 is Physical setting, and Standard 1 is Analysis, Inquiry and Design, Standard 2 is Information Systems, Standard 6 is Interconnectedness: Common Themes, and Standard 7 is Interdisciplinary Problem Solving. I used these standards to create goals for my units. At East High School, my CT told me I would be teaching atomic structure, bonding, and acids and bases. For my atomic structure unit, I made sure that students would learn the related process skills, key ideas and performance indicators in the respective standard of the physical setting/chemistry core curriculum guide. When referring to one of my lesson plans on atomic structure, it can be seen that I used backwards design to plan my lesson (7.1.a). This lesson plan shows that I set goals and objectives based off of the NYS Standards that were relevant to the topic I was teaching. Each lesson I wrote stated the goals and objectives along with the standard from which it was drawn. In my innovative unit, the assessment chart I constructed clearly shows the links between the unit goals, unit objectives and the NYS Chemistry Standard 4. Each unit objective stems from a unit goal. The relationship between the NYS Standards is reflected in the chart as well as through a narrative I included in my innovative unit explaining the connections between the standards and the goals. Using backwards design, I identified the desired results first, which were identified in the standards (McTighe & Thomas, 2003). Therefore, it was important to know what I would be assessing my students on. After assessing them and analyzing student data, I would be able to see what the students did and did not understand which would help infom my instruction.

//**7.2. Candidates are able to implement lessons according to a well-defined and high quality plan.**// After writing up lesson plans, I would submit them to Kim, Michael and Jim for feedback before I went into the school and implemented them. I would consider all of the feedback and make improvement in areas that could benefit student understanding, according to recommendations from my supervisors and mentors (7.2.a). All of my lesson plans had detailed procedures, with various scripted questions or transitions that I thought would assist me in teaching and help the class progress smoothly. All activities were thoughtfully planned out and many spent a considerable amount of time thinking up or creating necessary materials for them. This lesson plan is an example of how I structured my lesson, beginning with its creation from the standards. After setting the goals and objectives I had for the class, I carefully considered all resources I would need, the roles and responsibilities of the students, what I would do if there was extra time, possible solutions for challenges I would have, possible student misconceptions, and all students’ needs, especially those with IEP goals. Much effort was put into all sections to ensure careful consideration of every component of the lesson. My lesson plan shows much thought as to how the assessments all relate to the standards and goals and how they flow into one another. I have included an email from Jim that he wrote after reviewing one of my lesson plans, before I taught it, as well as the narrative he wrote after observing me teaching that lesson to provide evidence that I can implement the lesson according to the well defined, high quality plan that I sent him (7.2.b).

**NSTA STANDARDS:**

//**6.a Candidates understand the curricular recommendations of the National Science Education Standards, and can identify, access, and/or create resources and activities for science education that are consistent with the standards.**//

The National Science Education Standards manual states “Students cannot achieve high levels of performance without access to skilled professional teachers, adequate classroom time, a rich array of learning materials, accommodating work spaces, and the resources of the communities surrounding their schools” (p. 2). Students need to be provided the opportunities for inquiry, they must learn and practice scientific literacy, and educators should engage students through not only “hands-on” but “minds-on” activities as well. Through this inquiry-based learning, students can achieve the critical thinking and problem solving skills that authentic science experiences entail, which can help them as they develop into life long learners. In accordance with the recommendations of the National Science Education Standards, I engaged students in inquiry-based activities focused on essential questions as they worked collaboratively with peers. Students at SWW worked in small groups as well as jigsaw groups to explore the nature of science. Students worked individually or in pairs to decide what they thought of when they thought of scientists. Students were also given photographs of everyday people performing common tasks that can be considering doing science. They determined why these people were scientists and also related it to their own daily lives, recognizing how they were scientists as well (6.a.a). They also did the inquiry box activity, working as a community and constructing knowledge together as they learned the complexity of the process of science and how it does not work in a linear fashion. Students used their classmates and worked as teams to determine the answer to something that they could not see. In my East High School placement, students learned about electrons and their movement through using a Van de Graaff generator and touching it with their hands and making a human chain around the room to create shocks and demonstrate the movement of electrons (6.a.b). During our innovative unit at SWW, students in 4 classes broke up into a total of 16 groups, each exploring different topics, and each group having unique variables that they were testing. Students were faced with problems regarding pollution and needed to come up with a solution to their topic’s specific prompt. They worked in small groups of four or five students to design, plan and implement their own experiments having to do with either creating ethanol from different fruit, creating the most eco-friendly house, testing to find the most eco-friendy cleaning chemical, and designing windmill blades that created the most electricity. Every group chose a different variable--some windmill groups chose to vary the length of their blades whereas other groups wanted to test different numbers of blades or even different shapes. Students spent two weeks on these investigations, taking data, analyzing their results, developing conclusions and then sharing their particular experiments and findings with the class. This authentic science experience allowed students to engage in guided and open inquiry while learning about man’ effect on the earth and how to create a more sustainable environment. Students were able to use many different forms of technology ranging from thermometers, temperature probes, pH probes, conductivity meters, volt meters, and distillation equipment (6.a.c). At East High School, students learned about acids and buffers through a three day lab activity that gave them the opportunity to simulate three lakes (water in plastic cups) that had different bottom materials/substratum. Students were to work with partners, predict which lake would be most affected as “acid rain” accumulated in it (vinegar), and then tested it by adding incremental amounts of vinegar and using pH probes to observe the changes in pH and then record the final pH. Students were introduced to Vernier LabQuest and employed this technology to help them observe a process that happens in their environment and affect their lakes. By noticing the different changes in pH students were able to uncover the definition and function of buffers on their own, and were able to relate their findings to see the importance of buffers in different areas of the environment and including inside their own bodies and blood (6.a.d).

//**7.a Candidates identify ways to relate science to the community, involve stakeholders, and use community resource to promote the learning of science.**//

Science can constantly be related to the community and using creativity, teachers can often use resources in the community to promote science learning. In our programmatic mentor group, we went on a trip to the Rochester Museum of Science, having a chance to explore the building and experience the wonderful activities and equipment that are available for students to use and play with as they learn about different science topics. In addition, I related science to the community by relating the acids and buffers lessons to a specific community issue involving the abundance and effects of acid rain right here in Rochester, the students’ neighborhood. Also, at SWW we took the students out on a walk into the city to explore the “urban biome” during their unit on biomes. Students took sketch pads and drew different characteristics and components they observed of the urban biome. During their expedition, all of us teachers worked closely with professionals from Clark Patterson Lee (CPL) construction company in Rochester to partner with students as they were faced with the task of designing a shelter for animals at LollyPop Farm. Designing a building not only required architecture and engineering skills, but students went to Lolly Pop farm with environmentalists from CPL who taught them how to use different equipment to test the soil and ground material as they considered appropriate locations on the land where the building could be constructed. Students also had to be thoughtful of the surrounding environment and be able to recognize and explain how the erection of a new building could affect the ecosystem and animals’ habitats (7.a.a). In my EDU 429 unit where students were studying astronomy, I also planned for one lesson where the students would utilize the resources in Rochester and the teacher would take them on an educational field trip to the planetarium (7.a.b).

//**7.b Candidates involve students successfully in activities that relate science to resources and stakeholders in the community or to the resolution of issues important to the community.**// The unit at SWW that I did which enabled students to create and implement investigations of an eco-friendly solution, allowed students to explore ways to be more environmentally friendly and aware of their ecological footprint and the pollution that occurs everyday (7.b.a). Additionally, at STARS, the girls decided they wanted to study the effects of different cleaning solutions on the environment by testing diluted solutions on plants. After testing an eco-friendly product as well, our group found that eco-friendly “laundry soap nuts” existed, and were able to get them donated to our group from a website online to further extend the students’ experience and exposure to the eco-friendly solutions they were looking for (7.b.b). Again, as mentioned in 7.a, I worked with students at SWW during their investigations where they had CPL experts and LollyPop farm as resources, and were involved in the activity of creating a plan to build a shelter for animals at the farm, helping to resolve the issue of providing animals with the comfortable space they needed (7.b.c). Get Real! Science Action camp also gave seventh and eighth graders the chance to explore Ontario Beach with a multitude of equipment and technology and conduct an experiment surrounding their testable question to determine why the beach was always closed. By getting the students out into the community and enabling them to uncover information that was meaningful and relevant to them and their community, they were able to learn the science involved in these important issues they worked to resolve (7.b.d). || Atomic Structures Lesson Plan || || Jim Observation notes and Lesson Plan Comments || [|DSC00412_2.JPG] || East High - Van de Graaff || [|DSC07670.JPG] || SWW Biomes Expedition || || Get Real! Science Camp Investigation ||
 * Evidence # || Embedded or Linked Object || Description ||
 * 7.1.a || [[file:20100319-EastHighObs2-MSaunders (4).doc]]
 * 7.2.a || [[file:EastHighWLPObs1-MSaunders.doc]] || Lesson Plan Feedback ||
 * 7.2.b || [|Gmail - LP for 3 19.html]
 * 6.a.a || [[file:20091105-SWWSeriesof3-Lesson1-MSaunders.doc]] || SWW NoS Who is a scientist? ||
 * 6.a.b || [[file:20100319-EastHighObs2-MSaunders (4).doc]]
 * 6.a.c || [[file:20091214-SWWLesson2-InvestigationTopics-MSaunders.doc]] || SWW Innovative Unit Investigations ||
 * 6.a.d || [[file:20100327-EastHighAcidRainLab-MSaunders.doc]] || East high - Acid Rain lab ||
 * 7.a.a || [|DSC07468.JPG]
 * 7.a.b || [[file:20100503-EDU429IU-Astronomy-MSaunders.doc]] || EDU 429 Innovative Unit ||
 * 7.b.a || [[file:20091214-SWWLesson2-InvestigationTopics-MSaunders.doc]] || SWW Innovative Unit Investigations ||
 * 7.b.b || [|DSC07653.JPG] || STARS soap nuts ||
 * 7.b.c || see 7.a.a || SWW biomes and Lollypop Farm expedition ||
 * 7.b.d || [|Picture_10.png]

References

McTighe, J. & Thomas, R. (2003). Backward design for forward action. //Educational Leadership//, //60//(5), 52-55.

National Research Council. Olson, S., & Loucks-Horsley, S. (Eds.). (2000). Inquiry and the national science education standards: A guide for teaching and learning. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press.

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