Professional Skills and Cooperative Group Work
Demonstrate and model professional skills required in elementary science and environmental education experiences including: reading, writing, listening, speaking, problem solving, teaching/learning in outdoor settings, and cooperative group work
W: Lesson Plan implementation at an elementary school in New York with a range of student ages. This lesson plan included reading, writing, listening, answering questions, collaborative work and team teaching.
SW:This lesson was about science content, but it had a major advocate component that was very exciting to me as an educator. Students wrote a letter to an oil company.... Environmental Education and Social Justice go hand in hand. I want students to think beyond individual responsibility and advocate for themselves and injustice. Many of the students who participated in this lesson where very concerned about the animals that were harmed by oil spills and pollution, and how it effected their community and lakes. Empowering students to make a difference is a powerful tool! NW: In my reflection of this lesson, I answered the question of ‘What did doing this activity teach you about science?’… I was really surprised how fun this lesson was. I think this lesson, this class and the picture perfect book has been really changing my perception about science and teaching science. I didn’t realize how much science is embedded in lessons, games, books and activities we do with children. “Oh Beautiful for smoggy skies, insecticided grain, Oil Spill Lesson Plan- Team Teaching
|
Reflection
PART I:
While students were arriving we asked them to make predictions about what we were going to do. We wanted the students to be engaged and busy while we waited for other students to arrive. Our first group of 5 students, had a one student who was very engaged and answering all our questions. We had another student who was eating and answering less questions and two girls, who were very quiet. We spent some time asking the girls questions and taking them over to the trays to analyze and predict the activity. We wanted to make sure that every student was engaged and commenting. As students arrived late, we made sure that they felt included and could jump right in. One teacher sat next to that student and directed asked questions and made sure that he/she had an active role in the experiment. The biggest classroom management strategies that we had was: not making the students wait, we kept them engaged even when they were waiting. We had enough materials for every student, no one had to fight over materials. We gave everyone time to express themselves. We had our reading portion of the activity away from the experiment, so students wouldn’t be distracted. PART ll: While reading the book, Oil Spill by Melvin Berger, we asked many questions. The format was more like an interactive read aloud. The girls were actively participating and giving great feedback, like “I saw a commercial about a duck.” We acknowledged her comment as important “the company Dawn, was showing how their soap is used to wash animals that have been covered in oil.” After the book Staci asked “how could we get the oil out of the water?” Some of the children pointed out ways that had been shown in the book, whereas on child said “you could light it on fire,” seemly embarrassed by his comment, he said “never mind.” All of us teachers chimed in with ‘that is one way.’ The student eating an apple, put his apple down and said “that would make more pollution with ash.” We teachers got very excited by that comment, which we felt showed students we thinking critically about the problem and with that moved onto the experiment. We really tried to build on their questions and make them important to them. During the lesson we asked ‘What do you think happens when oil leaks from cars on the road?’ Students very quickly made the association between oil on the road to rainwater to their lakes and animals in their community. During our assessment, we asked students to write a post card to an oil company. Doing it again, I would like the students to come up with this as a solution to a question, like: Can you come up with a strategy to stop oil companies from polluting the oceans and lakes? The students all wrote down at least 3 effects the oil was having on the ocean. By talking to the students and reading their cards, you could see how impassioned they got about these topic. They really felt for these animals. PART lll: We had two groups of students, 4th graders and 5th graders. Because our group of 5 co-teachers had planned on larger groups of students, we had a very tight plan. We broke up the instruction, equally between all of us. But when we were at the school, due to the low number of students participating, we ended up having one student per teacher. What was really nice was that all of us teachers adapted very quickly with little conversation. I was impressed that we all jumped in and made adjustments. I felt like my co-teachers were all typically leaders, and if we were placed in a different group we would have taken on that role, but because we were all together, we all adapted. It was my first time in a group were everyone took on a strong supportive role without a natural leader. We all listened to everyone feedback and brainstormed best ideas and practices. So when it came to the day were we were actually teaching, we were very prepared and in-sync with each other. That was reflected in our adjustments made on the spot with little discussion. I learned I didn’t have to be the leader. In the future I might change this lesson to exclude or adjust the different roles, like experimenter, observer, and recorder… each child wanted to experiment. Everyone wanted to get their hands dirty in the trays. Ultimately, we let everyone have a turn as an experimenter. I would make that adjustment in the future. “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.” |