The fieldwork experience was like nothing I have ever done before. The teaching I did was collaborative and whole-class. I have only ever taught a small group of students or one-on-one and I always used my own lesson plans. The style of this fieldwork was more realistic to what actual teaching will be like: me and a co-teacher working together on lessons and then implementing them together to a whole class of students. Although the workload that accompanied this fieldwork experience was wearing me out through February and March, now that I have reached April and can reflect on the processes and products that came of the work, I am filled with life again. This fieldwork experience brought something new to me and to the students that we have never had before in our science learning. The students were creating, supporting life, using a model to study larger bodies of water, observing all day, reporting their findings at a science fair and at an expo, and then reported on in a newspaper. This project even got the attention and commentary of Michael Edelstein and Cary Institute workers who were amazed at the learning, inquiry skills, and in depth knowledge that the 5th grade students at Bishop Dunn Memorial School showed.
Another big learning curve that I can look back on now was in writing different types of lesson plans. In all of my other methods classes we wrote and followed the Mount Saint Mary College lesson plan format. This fieldwork experience was the first time I got to experience, look into, and then write lessons plans like Inquiry, Cooperative, and 5E. Now that I have spent so much time reading about, creating, and editing these three new types of lesson plans I can see the potential in each and in bringing them all together. If I may say, I believe I am proficient enough with these lesson plans now where I could use them in science and in other subjects outside of science to differentiate teaching and enhance student learning.
Fieldwork and class content fit hand in hand to help my learning excel. Reading about 5E lesson plans and then writing and implementing one brought learning to a whole new level that just understanding the 5E’s never would have. We began the semester with an example of inquiry and read a lot on how to teach inquiry lessons, foster inquiry, and what inquiry would look like. Even with all of this knowledge my understanding and ability to implement inquiry in the classroom continued to evolve. Inquiry is a way of doing things and is not as easy as other pedagogies but the results that it got for the students and for me were unprecedented thus far in my education. As part of the last lesson plan I conducted in fieldwork the students did a case study of the Hudson River as representative of both fresh and saltwater ecosystems. This type of experience was a good addition to the concrete and abstract learning the students already gained because it gave them a chance to work cooperatively and apply their learning.
Once these lessons have been designed and perfected they must be implemented. I learned that implementing a small group lesson is much more predictable than a whole-class lesson. With these formats of lesson planning the students take over most of the responsibility for learning which leaves room for growth and exploration but also open ended learning which may or may not be in your lesson plan. Watching other teacher candidates teach their lessons added to my understanding of planning and teaching science by acting as models. Being that my group was one of the last to go I was able to learn from the mistakes and even more so the triumphs of previous groups. I was also able to read all of their lesson plans and get a better grasp on what the types of lesson plans would look like for the class that we were teaching. Taking my understanding of planning and teaching science outside of this experience, however, watching other teachers helped me to improve on my teaching and planning in general because I was able to put myself in the students’ shoes and see what watching the powerpoint is like or see how inquiry can feel awkward at first.
As for the assessments that I used during my fieldwork experience, there was a pre-assessment, checks for understanding throughout every lesson, and open ended summative assessments. For the pre-assessment there were four questions that assessed students current knowledge on models, the scientific method, freshwater, and observations. For the post assessment or summative assessment I chose an exit ticket and then a letter to the director. I chose these assessment tools because they are open ended and require students to think independently and critically about what was learned that day. I also like open ended responses because it reduces cheating and shows authentically whether students understood the content. Questions that are not open ended could show that students can repeat information but they do not necessarily show the level of understanding that students took away. As you can see in the exit ticket below, the student was able to demonstrate full understanding of the scientific method and how to apply it. By asking the student a yes or no question I would not have been able to ascertain this extent of knowledge.
Look at the persuasive writing attached (an extraordinary example I know) and then look at the one below it. This open ended persuasive essay used as an assessment really showed the extent of what students took away from the experience and what they thought was important or interesting about the learning experience that they had.
The instructional method that I found most helpful was inquiry. Cooperative and direct instruction are needed, good, and successful but of the lessons I taught inquiry was the best. The persuasive essays showed better understanding and interest in content than the exit tickets after direct instruction did. The exit tickets had lower grades in general and there was no voice in the answers, the students just demonstrated the understanding of the content. Direct instruction is necessary to get students the basic and essential knowledge they need to go on and explore on their own with inquiry. During our direct instruction we moved at a quick pace and used a lot of choral and group responses to keep engagement. Despite all of this, the students just shined more when they were working during the two inquiry/cooperative lessons and exploring/ seeking understanding on topics they chose and were interested in. This interest and vigor for learning during inquiry showed in the grades and quality of writing I received in the persuasive writing prompts. These assessments also showed that the instructional methods used were effective because students showed proficiency in the scientific method, models, freshwater ecosystems, and the ability to observe. This was a success for the students and for myself because the difference between the pre-assessment and these summative assessments was quite drastic.
Cooperative and inquiry lessons feed off of the natural curiosity that students have creates concrete and impactful learning that students discover for themselves. Direct instruction is very quick, direct, and fact-based to create a foundation for learning and a context for other instruction; it is the backbone that inquiry and cooperative lessons branch off from. In future lessons, I would keep the same instructional methods used and in the same order (inquiry, direct, inquiry/cooperative/case study). In future lessons I would like to use more case studies and add the instructional methods of jigsaw and WebQuest though. These are two methods I have not used before but throughout our class experiences and observing others use them, have proven to be engaging and effective.
In this classroom there were not a lot of students who needed accommodations or modifications but there were two students who had delays in reading comprehension and two students who were exceptional learners so there were adaptations to the lessons made to meet these students. All directions and important information were read aloud so that struggling readers had the chance to comprehend verbal directions and the exceptional learners were given more challenging prompts and prompted for metacognition during learning experiences. High achievers could also be asked to describe how they would build a model ocean and what inquiry would go with this model- parallel to our freshwater model and inquiry questions. In the future if I had a student with a writing need I would have a scribe for that particular student so they won’t have to worry about writing and processing the information at the same time. I would also provide them with a computer or keyboard so that they could still participate in exit tickets and writing prompts. Speech to text could also be made available if needed. In the future if I had any students with behavior problems they would be given different versions of assignments to do that incorporate their hands so they do not get bored and distracted easily. These students could also be taught behavior management and self-monitoring skills. This activity lends itself nicely to students with behavioral issues because it is very hands on and interactive.
In future classrooms, when I have english as a second language learners, I would provide all materials to them in their native language allow them to use text to speech as well. I would make sure these students were in a group with english speaking students who could help them. I would try to add a section to the inquiry or cooperative lesson that requires their native language to be used so that their ability to speak another language is valued and not seen as a handicap. For this I could find an article in Spanish, for example, and then ask the ESL student if he could read the article and explain what we need to know from it. We could also incorporate a case study from their home country. These same adaptations could be made to celebrate the strengths of struggling readers, writers, and those with behavioral issues. Their special need can be set aside for one piece for the lesson where I, as the teacher, would make sure their strengths shined. For this I could make sure there was an art, drawing, music, or kinesthetic piece to the lesson so that the children who may be struggling readers, writers, or behaviors can have a chance to shine at these other types of activities.
Moving off from students with disabilities and on to the benefits of teaching that requires students to think critically and use inquiry flows quite nicely. With inquiry and critical thinking there is no right answer and the students create, explore, and discover their own knowledge. Three students will have three different responses and they are all different but none of them are wrong. This benefits many students, opens up worlds of possibilities, and eliminates students that just search for the right answer. Activities that will foster critical thinking and inquiry are ones that follow the 5E model and allow children to find interest in a path and follow it to the end; this path being different from the path and interests of other students. Inquiry activities are those that pose a problem or question and then allow the children to discover and generate their own knowledge through interaction with a topic. There are certain practices that help to foster critical thinking such as: creating a community of learners where students are not afraid to take chances, using open ended questions and replies, building off of natural curiosities, and using inquiry in all subjects. These simple practices foster the environment for critical thinking in a classroom. After this environment is set all I will have to do is follow through with engaging and compelling problems or prompts that allow students to show their critical thinking and inquiry abilities (each in their own way). In the future I will teach, grade, and encourage students while keeping in mind that critical thinking and inquiry are processes and ways of doing- not a product or result. Records and assessments should reflect the emphasis on this process and means, not the product or end. I will use running records, anecdotal notes, formative assessments, and metacognition to foster critical thinking and inquiry that is valued by students and myself.
All of these adaptations, focus on inquiry, and assessment types lead to one underlying and connecting factor: community. Student work cooperatively, learn cooperatively, explore and report out cooperatively, and contribute to the classroom community cooperatively. In my lessons the only room for independent work is during direct instruction or individual assessments but even then I try to use choral or group responses and give students time to collaborate with one another before responding to written prompts or assignments. I have two feelings on cooperative learning. 1) It is necessary, realistic, goes along with inquiry, and no one goes through life alone so children should not have to learn alone. 2) Teachers must be vigilant of their introverts. Teaching and classrooms are geared towards extroversion (group desks, presentations, and squeaky wheels) but being an introvert has many educational benefits and should not be seen or treated as a negative attribute. Extroversion is so favored by society so teachers do not need to add to this personality injustice. With both of these feelings being said, cooperative learning is never a bad choice, after all, two heads is better than one.
Community is key. If a strong community has been created within a group then cooperative learning can look different for each individual who is partaking and the group will naturally divide work among strengths so that each student is working where they are most successful and watching or seeing other students work where they might need help. Cooperative learning is natural to students and is beneficial to the demands on teachers time, being that children can answer each other's questions. Cooperative learning activities grow from the psychological research on social learning. Humans, and my future students specifically, are social creatures and learning in a social setting while working cooperative is natural and will be successful. Cooperative learning also highlights the recent research and emphasis on the previous knowledge that each student brings with them into the classroom and to every lesson. Every student has something to offer and share with their group, so by working cooperatively this advantageous knowledge can be shared and multiplied by however many group members there are. With all of this said, methods for incorporating cooperative learning would be using roles sheets during group work, creating teams who research together and then share out (jigsaw), and creating opportunities for every student to be engaged, not just taking one answer and then moving on. Methods for cooperative learning also encompases leaving out worksheets and individual seat work. To work collaboratively students must be in groups, moving and discussing, and using their communication skills. Worksheets are confining physically and mentally when used just to keep the noise level down in classrooms. If the noise is coming from insightful conversation then let it ring through the halls.
In a final reflection I would just like to comment on the growth that this experience has provoked within me and the better teacher that I am for it. Through this reflection I have already begun to apply it to the future and how I can improve even more for the benefit of the students. The class we worked with was large and energetic which gave us a lot of educational drive and force to work with and good practice in managing a class without yelling or losing our temper. I am so thankful for the experience and the hard work that the students put into every activity.
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