A recent assessment that I have given was for students to do a mini-summary worksheet after reading a graphic novel as a formative assessment practice activity for the photosynthesis and cellular respiration lesson. For this assignment, students have to complete a reading, which in this case is a Max Axiom…
What do I prioritize when I am giving students feedback? Great question! I would say that the most important characteristics of effective feedback would be... 1. Timely 2. Focused/ specific 3. Opportunity for correction Timely: feedback needs to be given while the information is still fresh in students' minds.…
Chapter 2: Part 1 - Making connections across lesson plans One objective from the lessons that I am planning is "I can describe how plants make food through photosynthesis and why this is important." One type of formative assessment that we will be doing is something called a…
My biggest takeaway from building the unit would be creating the learning targets because I want to think about creating learning targets that utilize different cognitive processes and language demands so that the students are engaged and doing a variety of learning. Yet at the same time, I am working…
I privilege experiential learning. Having students explore different topics with hands on activities and labs can be very rewarding and help to maintain student engagement. This can also be challenging, however, because students sometimes have trouble connecting abstract concepts to the activities that they are doing in class. This was…
Being a STEM teacher- the why It's hard to know what to prioritize as an educator. When I first started in the CU Denver Masters of Teaching program, I was thinking about all of my experiences teaching kids outdoors skills and believing that I experiential learning is the…
I found the Emdin video extremely powerful- especially the part where he talks about the five C's of reality pedagogy (cogenerative dialogues, coteaching, cosmopolitanism, context, and content). While each of the five C's are very powerful, I would like to focus on coteaching and how I…
What do I do to recharge, you ask? I like to read, watch TV/anime, and enjoy great food. I used to be really into yoga, so I still occasionally enjoy taking classes or doing meditation exercises. Hiking or taking walks with friends. Snowboarding in the winter, rafting in the…
Some things that I think make a task worthwhile: 1. Tasks connect to concepts or themes (though maybe not obviously at first) 2. Tasks are interactive 3. Tasks foster positive attitudes 4. Tasks deepen comprehension of concepts/themes Tasks Within Biology: An example of a task that I can think…
Thinking about questions... In one of my current education classes, the teacher begins each class by asking: "Any shout outs, achievements, or current events?" I particularly like this approach to questioning because it gets students to open up, getting to know each other and the teacher. If nobody…