Reflective learning journal - semester 2
Monday - 6/8/12
After returning to the biology class after the mid-semester break I found the class had changed quite a bit. There were fewer students than last term and only 3 students from last terms class. I found that most of the students were fairly quiet, though there was one student that I know has ADHD. As the students were doing a project on water quality issues with the Murray River, I took the students outside and showed them some issues that exist on the school grounds that are similar to those in the Murray-Darling basin. All of the students enjoyed being outdoors and on returning to the classroom I found each student had taken a different approach in their presentation, with some focusing on the scientific aspects of figures and others creating a visual flowchart showing the movement of nutrients through the river system. I thought this task was well suited to allow these different strengths to be expressed, while still addressing the curriculum outcomes for biology.
Tuesday - 7/8/12
Today I planned the biology lesson around a trip outside, as most students seem to get bogged down if they are in the classroom for the entire double lesson. We went to the apple orchard and I explained how the groundwater system works. We then had a look at the paddock and I explained how run-off occurs and the implications of this for the river. After we got back I demonstrated the effects of turbidity by using the different soils the students had collected in different beakers, then shone a bright torch through each one. All of the students were very attentive while I did this and it definitely showed them the problem with turbidity in the Murray river. I told them a story my grandad had related to me about how clear the river used to be and I also showed them an old picture by an aboriginal artist clearly showing how clear the water once was. This created some discussion about how the river has changed and I was sure to re-enforce how important the river was for the Aboriginal people of the area in terms of a food source and their spiritual belonging. The students were all quiet for a time after this and I think they were all considering how much of an impact Europeans have had on the Aboriginal people.
Wednesday – 8/8/12
Science was the only lesson today and the year 9’s were like a different class compared to how they were in lesson 6 yesterday. I introduced myself at the beginning of the lesson and most students seemed quite friendly and receptive. They all had a large assignment due and Dr. Gatford was checking their progress and recording how much they had done. Almost all of the students were working conscientiously on the assignment and the lesson went very smoothly. Dr. Gatford had set up a system where he could monitor and report on the students’ progress and call their parents if they were falling behind, which I thought was very effective.
Friday – 10/8/12
In biology today I demonstrated how water can evaporate to leave salts behind. While most of the students expected the result, I think it re-enforced the concept to them and gave them a practical appreciation for the process. Most of the students are working quite well on their assignments and I think most of them will pass. I will need to think of another practical to demonstrate pollution and it’s effect on pH in the river.
Monday - 13/8/12
In chemistry today Dr. Gatford outlined what was required of the year 12’s straight from the SACE guidelines so they knew what was required for the topic they had just completed. I thought this was a good way of teaching, as it left no doubt as to what they needed to know for the exam.
In biology I demonstrated the effects of common fertilizers on water pH. This seemed to make sense to all of the students, though they were all a bit inattentive because we had an assembly today. In science the students had to submit their assignments to Moodle, which seemed to be a very efficient way of doing things.
Tuesday – 14/8/12:
In biology today I told the students that the double lesson would be the last school time they would get to work on their assignments. As some of the students have been very off-task in previous lessons and have failed to get work done, I told them that if they wanted to mess around they should go elsewhere and that the classroom was only for those who were not going to waste time. I also moved one students away from his usual seating group and found that he and the rest of the class got a great deal of work done, which I was quite impressed with. I found that the students were ‘smarting’ slightly from the speech I had given them but I decided that the behaviour that had been going on in previous lessons was getting to be too much of a problem.
Wednesday – 15/8/12
In science today Dr. Gatford intended to show the movie ‘Outbreak’ but unfortunately the DVD was not working. He then went on to ask the students what they thought ecology meant and what they thought an ecologist would do via a program called votapedia, where students use their mobile phones to vote on the correct answer to a question. He then asked them to write down 5 words they associated with ecology and used these to create a word cloud. This lesson definitely showed me the value of planning future lessons and being organised in case things do not go to plan.
Thursday – 16/8/12
In chemistry today we discussed the definition of a salt and did a demonstration of the solubility of different salts. The year 11’s seemed to understand this quite well and Dr. Gatford gave them a worksheet to re-enforce these concepts. I was surprised how quickly the students were able to grasp something new almost immediately after they had been introduced to it.
Friday – 17/8/12:
“Today I went on an excursion to the Flinders University open day with some year 10,11 and 12 students. The day went very smoothly and all of the students gained an insight into university life and courses they were interested in. I grouped the students into course categories of science, humanities and arts. I went with the science group and took them to some of the introductory lectures where they were given a brief overview of different study areas and had a tour of the science facilities. I advised the students to listen to the university personnel, as I explained that they are all experts in their field. I noticed that the students were treated with a lot of maturity by the university personnel and all of them behaved with a great deal of maturity in return.”
Tuesday 21/8/12
Today I didn’t know what I was meant to be teaching in biology until the lesson had started, so I had to make up a lesson on cell transport without any prior planning. The lesson went quite smoothly and I found that with my experience so far I was able to create a lesson introducing osmosis, diffusion and active transport. I will now have to plan where to go from here in future lessons.
Wednesday - 22/8/12
Double science was the only lesson today and we watched the movie ‘outbreak’, which Dr. Gatford had promised the students previously. I found that they were all quite well behaved and did use their knowledge to help explain what was going on. This seemed like another way of getting the students to learn, or at least cement their knowledge without them realising. Also, it gave them a break from the theory.
Thursday – 23/8/12
Double chemistry was the only lesson today and we continued looking at ionic salts. Both students seem to be handling the topic quite well and the learning environment is very relaxed with so few students in the class. It is very easy to see when a student is struggling with only two in the class and is also easier to extend the students, as more time can be devoted to individuals.
Friday - 24/8/12
In biology today I took the students through concentration gradients and osmotic pressure so that they could predict what would happen in different solutions. They were all quite attentive and the lesson went very smoothly. I have some practicals planned to demonstrate this topic and I am confident they are all understanding what I am teaching them.
In science we watched the end of the movie ‘Outbreak’ and Dr. Gatford gave the students some questions regarding the movie, which asked for some independent thought regarding the ethics of disease control. Being Friday afternoon, the students were not entirely on-task, though they still gained a lot from the lesson.
Monday – 27/8/12
Today I had to make a practical booklet for biology and I found that it does indeed take plenty of time to plan lessons, learning management plans and practicals and to try and integrate all of these together. My lack of materials is definitely costing me some time, as I am having to create all of the materials I need.
Tuesday – 28/8/12
In biology today we had a very successful practical and I was ahppy with the way all of the students worked. As I had created the materials for the practical and given the students direct instructions about what to do, it all went just I expected it to.
Wednesday - 29/8/12
In science today Dr. Gatford asked the students to all do a diagonal transect across the oval, randomly sampling along the way. They all did reasonably well in this and when they were finished we got them to enter their results into an excel spreadsheet. They then did some calculations with their results and we asked the students to write a short report about what they had done. This was a good activity that got the students thinking by challenging them to do something new.
Thursday – 30/8/12
In chemistry today the year 12’s had to do an esterification practical. The year 11’s continued their work on salts and I helped out with the practicals. Most of the year 12’s worked quite slowly and didn’t manage to get he practical finished. I was a bit disappointed with their inability to follow instructions, though I was impressed by the year 11’s ability to work independently.
Friday - 31/8/12
In chemistry today the year 12’s finished their esterification, though one group failed to get a product. In biology the surface area to volume ratio practical was quite disappointing and none of the students came prepared. Most managed to get a result but I had to step in quite often to point them in the right direction. The proof will come with their practical reports, I suppose. The students in science were equally disappointing and none of them had done their report from the previous lesson. Perhaps I need to re-enforce what is required for the students for each task.
Monday – 3/9/12
I was not planning on giving the students any class time for their practical reports but Joe said he would rather have things this way. In biology I collected the questions that the students did on the osmosis practical and found that they were mostly showing an understanding of what was happening. In science the students were quite unruly, so Dr. Gatford discussed the idea of making a planned seating arrangement.
Tuesday – 4/9/2012
The biology students continued working on their practical reports today and were asking me plenty of questions relating to this in the lesson. I was trying not to give them too much information, as I thought this would give them all easy answers, though I realised that I should still help them and demonstrate what they should be doing. I tried to demonstrate the processes they needed to use to calculate surface area and volume without using the same numbers the students obtained from their results as a compromise. I also noticed one of the students struggling with sitting still and writing his practical report, which is not too surprising considering he has ADHD. I sat down with the student and made a compromise that he could present his practical report to me orally and just hand up his results in written form. I think this is a much more achievable option for the student, as I have found in the past that he will usually not hand up anything if it involves long written components. I checked the curriculum outline and found that this would still satisfy the desired outcomes provided his presentation is structured correctly. I think this will allow the student to demonstrate more of what he knows than simply failing to hand up anything from thinking it is too difficult before even starting.
Wednesday 5/9/12
In science today we watched a documentary about the challenges associated with travelling to Mars. The students were fairly interested for the most part and it definitely got them thinking about the possibility of people travelling to Mars and the possibility that life may once have existed there. Dr. Gatford then asked them to write down some challenges to do with travelling to Mars, hen we used a bell jar to demonstrate the effects of a vacuum on water, a balloon and some shaving cream. This was a very successful lesson that definitely got the students thinking.
Thursday 6/9/12
In chemistry today we did some flame tests with the year 11’s, which worked quite well. Dr. Gatford spent plenty of time getting the students ready for this by teaching them the relevant theory, so when it came time for the practical they knew just what to do.
Monday – 10/9/12
Today the biology practical report is due, so it will be interesting to see how well the students have done. I am hoping that they all demonstrate a good understanding of what they did in the practical and show a good understanding of the topic. In the lesson I found that most of the students had not finished the report, so I gave them until tonight to finish it. I was disappointed with this and I was hoping they would have done more for homework. In science we went to the garden and got the students to look at how energy flows through an ecosystem. The students were quite unruly, so this was a good option for the last lesson.
Tuesday – 11/9/2012:
Today in biology most of the students submitted their practical reports but I was disappointed to see that very few had done what I had asked in the assignment sheet. It also seemed that none of the students had done any of the work at home and were content with what they had done during the lesson, even if it meant their practical reports were nowhere near finished. As well as a lack of motivation, I think this may have been a result of the students never having learned how to structure a practical report correctly. To remedy this, I think I will write up a model practical report and spend some lesson time in future talking them through how a good practical report should be constructed.
Wednesday 12/9/12
Today I taught the double science lesson, as Keith was away at the show. He had prepared an article and some questions for the students about living in space, which was quite a good activity. As there was a lot of reading to get through, we read through the article as a class, then the students answered the questions. All of them showed some comprehension and I really enjoyed teaching them. As I know most of the students quite well now, I was able to have some fun with them while also keeping them on task. I found they listened to me quite well and followed my instructions.
Friday – 14/9/2012:
Today in biology I gave the students an overview of mitosis and meiosis to give the students some knowledge before exploring the topic. As I thought that the new words associated with this topic might serve as a barrier for learning I introduced each one along with its meaning and asked the students to begin compiling a glossary of these terms. I will ask them to keep adding to this glossary and refer to it if they are unsure of the meaning of any biological terms in this topic in future.
Monday – 17/9/2012:
In biology today I didn’t have a very clear plan for the lesson and as a result the lesson was not terribly successful. We were also in a different classroom, so the students were not very settled. I used this opportunity to get some copies of students work for my own use but I first asked the students if they would mind me making a copy of their work and displaying it, keeping in mind that I would not show their names in association with it. They all agreed, though I also gave them a talent release form to be signed by their parents before I did make any photocopies.
Tuesday – 18/9/12
In biology today I got the students to look at cells undergoing mitosis and meiosis. I asked them to draw 4 cells and label these using the glossary of terms they have been creating. I gave them very clear instructions on how to use the microscopes and I was happy with how they did things in this lesson. Hopefully they are all able to use the terms they have been learning to label their diagrams, as this will show that they are starting to apply their knowledge.
Wednesday – 19/9/12
Today I talked to the year 11 English class about public speaking, as they are doing a presentation about selling a house. I found that they all gave me their attention and that I had more ‘free reign’ over what I could say to them compared to the other science subjects I have been teaching. In science we tried launching a water rocket but unfortunately the pump we were using did not work. I was impressed by how well the students applied themselves to this activity, though, and that probably demonstrated how effective practical activities are at capturing their attention.
Thursday – 20/9/12
Today, Dr. Gatford asked me to plan and teach the next topic for the year 9 science class. I will have to put together a learning management plan for this and decide what to teach and how to transition to this from the current work we are doing on space.
Friday – 21/9/12
As today is the last day of term, everyone is fairly laid back. I found that the students were actually quite well behaved when I expected they wouldn’t be. In chemistry I found that the students worked hard to get their work done before the holidays.
Monday – 8/10/12
Now I am teaching both the year 11 biology class and the year 9 science class. I prepared a learning management plan for both subjects and I factored in the possibility that students may be less attentive today. This proved correct, though I was still quite happy with how both lesson went. Having the learning management plan allowed me to refer back to what I had planned to teach and meant that I could allude to future topics to drive learning in that direction.
During the holidays I organised all of my documents and as I have been compiling my portfolio throughout the year I have found that I have evidence for almost every outcome. This is not something that I planned to do; instead it seems to have been a logical progression as I have done more teaching and taken on more responsibility with each of my classes. This is very encouraging for me, as it shows I am close to having all of the skills that would be expected of a qualified teacher. During the holidays I completed my first aid training and mandatory notification course. The mandatory notification course in particular opened my eyes to the additional responsibilities of teachers and the role they play in the upbringing of a child.
Tuesday – 9/10/12
Today’s biology lesson was very successful, perhaps the best so far. I found that the students had retained much of the knowledge from the last lesson and were able to apply this knowledge to the topic of genetic engineering. I tried to make the topic as interesting as possible while still adhering to the curriculum and the students responded very well to this. I set them the task of doing an oral presentation about an article to do with genetic engineering, in-vitro fertilisation or stem cell research and they all approached the task positively. I began by showing them an article about some rats that had been genetically modified so their skin would glow under ultraviolet light, which certainly grabbed their attention and stimulated their interest. I then asked them to first look at the results of the human genome project to see where particular genes are located within chromosomes, then asked them to find an article that detailed either genetic engineering, in-vitro fertilisation or stem cell research in society to use in their oral presentation. While the students had grasped these concepts quite well, I thought that by asking them to talk about ethical implications and their own opinions on these issues, students who did not excel at written work or at explaining theory in detail could still achieve a good mark while still achieving the curriculum outcomes. There is one student in the class with ADHD and I think he will benefit most from this task, as he can give a true demonstration of what he has learned and use this to justify his own opinion without having to complete a lengthy written task.
Wednesday – 10/10/12
Some teachers have been raising concerns about one of the girls in our home group truanting school. It turned out that she was not at school when her mother assumed that she was, so Dr. Gatford called the girl’s mother to discuss what had been going on during home group time, leaving me to do the role and read the notices. When I thought about this, I realised it would be relatively easy for students to choose not to come to school and do otherwise. This being so, it is then up to the school staff to ensure that students are where their parents wish them to be when they cannot supervise them.
In double science we used the water rocket to demonstrate how different forces operate. I began by explaining the differences between simple and complex machines and also explaining how all machines work. I then used this to show how the water rocket worked before going outside to demonstrate. The demonstration went well but did go more quickly than I had expected, so I had to think of something else to do. I decided to ask the students to draw the water rocket set up and show where the forces were going.
After I collected the diagrams that the year 9’s had drawn of the water rocket set-up, I realised I needed to work out a way of marking them. I decided to create a rubric where marks were allocated for each aspect of the diagram that I had asked the students to show. I found that this made it very easy to assign a grade to each diagram and also to provide feedback as to how the diagram could have been improved.
Friday – 12/10/12
As we are learning about reproduction and genetics in biology, I thought briefly about the possible religious implications of this before I began my lesson. After I had outlined the process by which haploid cells fuse to create a zygote, one student raised the problem of the virgin Mary and the birth of Jesus. I know there is at least one student in the class from a catholic family, so I tried to diffuse the situation by explaining that self-fertilisation is indeed possible and has happened in the past. I moved on quickly from this so that the discussion did not continue and found that the students were satisfied with this explanation. I have always tried to avoid references to religious groups unless it is in the most positive manner, as I know there are many students from families of different beliefs in the school. In biology I have found that it is usually best to avoid any mention of religion and instead teach the students biological concepts within a biological context, as it is not my job (nor am I qualified) to speculate about religion.
Today’s lesson, however was quite successful, with all of the students presenting their ethical issue. I wrote the marking rubric for this task on the white board so that it was clear how the students would be marked. They all responded well to this by trying to address these criteria in their presentations and I was easily able to go through these with the student in question and the rest of the class in providing feedback about how they had gained their marks and where they could have improved.
Today I also began organising my portfolio documents and found that the only outcomes left to address were those relating to liaising with parents. With this in mind I decided to contact the parents of a student that I was particularly impressed with in my science and chemistry class after receiving the advice to do so from one of my mentors. I was somewhat apprehensive at first but found that the parents were more than happy to receive some feedback about their child’s performance at school and received my communication very well. This experience definitely taught me a lot about what parents expect and value from their child’s teachers.
Monday - 15/10/12
Today in biology I introduced the year 11’s to the structure of DNA and explained how this codes for genetic traits. I related this to the last topic of ethical issues with cell division and I asked the students to ask their parents about the ethical issues and the general ‘feeling’ in society that surrounded the cloning of Dolly the sheep. I thought this would be a good way to highlight to them the progression we have made in modern genetics, while the ethical issues are very similar to those of 10 to 15 years ago. I also thought this would show the students’ parents what we are doing in biology and perhaps involve them more in the school lives of their kids.
Today I am finally ready to submit my registration forms and from all the accreditation it has required I can see that the government will not let ‘just anyone’ teach in schools. I suppose this is a good thing considering that teachers have so much responsibility and control over the life of a child while they are at school.
Tuesday – 16/10/12
In biology today I tried to mix things up in the lesson and tried 3 approaches. I started by outlining h theory behind transcription and translation, then I showed a short video about protein synthesis, and then I asked the students to create a poster showing this process. I found that all of the students responded quite well to this and they all learned a great deal.
Wednesday – 17/10/12
Today the students worked with the lego technic sets to try and create a car that travelled as slowly as possible. I first explained to them how gears work and asked them to use this in designing their lego car. I found that the students were very attentive when I was talking but they were fairly immature when it came to working with the lego. In the end we only had 1 successful car, though the rest of the class was beginning to get the idea.
Friday - 19/10/12
Today in biology I asked the students to continue with their posters, something that seems to be re-enforcing the processes of transcription and translation for the students. In science the students works on their machines assignments. Everyone is fairly laid-back today because it is muck-up day for the year 12’s. After the test had closed on Moodle at the end of the day I recorded the marks for each student and found that the lowest mark was 10 out of 15. This was not an easy test and most students did even better than 10, so I was particularly happy with the results. While I was teaching this topic I found that all of the students did seem engaged, which seems to be the case based on the test results.
Monday – 22/10/12
Today I did a speech at assembly thanking all of the students and teachers I have worked with and it went extremely well. I have even had teachers asking me to come and speak at other functions today! In science I gave the year 9’s another lesson to work on their assignments and in biology I also gave the students one last lesson to work on their posters. I am finding that the quality of work looks much higher than previous assignments that I had asked them to do entirely for homework.
Tuesday – 23/10/12
In biology today I worked with the new student teacher, Mr. Hay. I was teaching the students about heritable and genetic diseases and it turned out that Mr. Hay had been a clinical photographer at a hospital and knew of many different genetic diseases. I found that the students gave their respect to Mr. Hay quite readily, just as they did with me. I decided to copy the template of lessons I used in the last topic, where I introduce a new topic in the first half of Tuesday’s double lesson, ask the students to investigate a facet of the topic and prepare an oral presentation about this for Friday’s lesson. This time I am asking them to study a genetic disease and report about it to the class.
Wednesday – 24/10/12
Today I went to a conference run by a man called Dylan Wallace about successful assessment. I found that he gave me plenty of ideas of new things to try and also reiterated the value of some things that I am already doing, which was reassuring!
After returning to the biology class after the mid-semester break I found the class had changed quite a bit. There were fewer students than last term and only 3 students from last terms class. I found that most of the students were fairly quiet, though there was one student that I know has ADHD. As the students were doing a project on water quality issues with the Murray River, I took the students outside and showed them some issues that exist on the school grounds that are similar to those in the Murray-Darling basin. All of the students enjoyed being outdoors and on returning to the classroom I found each student had taken a different approach in their presentation, with some focusing on the scientific aspects of figures and others creating a visual flowchart showing the movement of nutrients through the river system. I thought this task was well suited to allow these different strengths to be expressed, while still addressing the curriculum outcomes for biology.
Tuesday - 7/8/12
Today I planned the biology lesson around a trip outside, as most students seem to get bogged down if they are in the classroom for the entire double lesson. We went to the apple orchard and I explained how the groundwater system works. We then had a look at the paddock and I explained how run-off occurs and the implications of this for the river. After we got back I demonstrated the effects of turbidity by using the different soils the students had collected in different beakers, then shone a bright torch through each one. All of the students were very attentive while I did this and it definitely showed them the problem with turbidity in the Murray river. I told them a story my grandad had related to me about how clear the river used to be and I also showed them an old picture by an aboriginal artist clearly showing how clear the water once was. This created some discussion about how the river has changed and I was sure to re-enforce how important the river was for the Aboriginal people of the area in terms of a food source and their spiritual belonging. The students were all quiet for a time after this and I think they were all considering how much of an impact Europeans have had on the Aboriginal people.
Wednesday – 8/8/12
Science was the only lesson today and the year 9’s were like a different class compared to how they were in lesson 6 yesterday. I introduced myself at the beginning of the lesson and most students seemed quite friendly and receptive. They all had a large assignment due and Dr. Gatford was checking their progress and recording how much they had done. Almost all of the students were working conscientiously on the assignment and the lesson went very smoothly. Dr. Gatford had set up a system where he could monitor and report on the students’ progress and call their parents if they were falling behind, which I thought was very effective.
Friday – 10/8/12
In biology today I demonstrated how water can evaporate to leave salts behind. While most of the students expected the result, I think it re-enforced the concept to them and gave them a practical appreciation for the process. Most of the students are working quite well on their assignments and I think most of them will pass. I will need to think of another practical to demonstrate pollution and it’s effect on pH in the river.
Monday - 13/8/12
In chemistry today Dr. Gatford outlined what was required of the year 12’s straight from the SACE guidelines so they knew what was required for the topic they had just completed. I thought this was a good way of teaching, as it left no doubt as to what they needed to know for the exam.
In biology I demonstrated the effects of common fertilizers on water pH. This seemed to make sense to all of the students, though they were all a bit inattentive because we had an assembly today. In science the students had to submit their assignments to Moodle, which seemed to be a very efficient way of doing things.
Tuesday – 14/8/12:
In biology today I told the students that the double lesson would be the last school time they would get to work on their assignments. As some of the students have been very off-task in previous lessons and have failed to get work done, I told them that if they wanted to mess around they should go elsewhere and that the classroom was only for those who were not going to waste time. I also moved one students away from his usual seating group and found that he and the rest of the class got a great deal of work done, which I was quite impressed with. I found that the students were ‘smarting’ slightly from the speech I had given them but I decided that the behaviour that had been going on in previous lessons was getting to be too much of a problem.
Wednesday – 15/8/12
In science today Dr. Gatford intended to show the movie ‘Outbreak’ but unfortunately the DVD was not working. He then went on to ask the students what they thought ecology meant and what they thought an ecologist would do via a program called votapedia, where students use their mobile phones to vote on the correct answer to a question. He then asked them to write down 5 words they associated with ecology and used these to create a word cloud. This lesson definitely showed me the value of planning future lessons and being organised in case things do not go to plan.
Thursday – 16/8/12
In chemistry today we discussed the definition of a salt and did a demonstration of the solubility of different salts. The year 11’s seemed to understand this quite well and Dr. Gatford gave them a worksheet to re-enforce these concepts. I was surprised how quickly the students were able to grasp something new almost immediately after they had been introduced to it.
Friday – 17/8/12:
“Today I went on an excursion to the Flinders University open day with some year 10,11 and 12 students. The day went very smoothly and all of the students gained an insight into university life and courses they were interested in. I grouped the students into course categories of science, humanities and arts. I went with the science group and took them to some of the introductory lectures where they were given a brief overview of different study areas and had a tour of the science facilities. I advised the students to listen to the university personnel, as I explained that they are all experts in their field. I noticed that the students were treated with a lot of maturity by the university personnel and all of them behaved with a great deal of maturity in return.”
Tuesday 21/8/12
Today I didn’t know what I was meant to be teaching in biology until the lesson had started, so I had to make up a lesson on cell transport without any prior planning. The lesson went quite smoothly and I found that with my experience so far I was able to create a lesson introducing osmosis, diffusion and active transport. I will now have to plan where to go from here in future lessons.
Wednesday - 22/8/12
Double science was the only lesson today and we watched the movie ‘outbreak’, which Dr. Gatford had promised the students previously. I found that they were all quite well behaved and did use their knowledge to help explain what was going on. This seemed like another way of getting the students to learn, or at least cement their knowledge without them realising. Also, it gave them a break from the theory.
Thursday – 23/8/12
Double chemistry was the only lesson today and we continued looking at ionic salts. Both students seem to be handling the topic quite well and the learning environment is very relaxed with so few students in the class. It is very easy to see when a student is struggling with only two in the class and is also easier to extend the students, as more time can be devoted to individuals.
Friday - 24/8/12
In biology today I took the students through concentration gradients and osmotic pressure so that they could predict what would happen in different solutions. They were all quite attentive and the lesson went very smoothly. I have some practicals planned to demonstrate this topic and I am confident they are all understanding what I am teaching them.
In science we watched the end of the movie ‘Outbreak’ and Dr. Gatford gave the students some questions regarding the movie, which asked for some independent thought regarding the ethics of disease control. Being Friday afternoon, the students were not entirely on-task, though they still gained a lot from the lesson.
Monday – 27/8/12
Today I had to make a practical booklet for biology and I found that it does indeed take plenty of time to plan lessons, learning management plans and practicals and to try and integrate all of these together. My lack of materials is definitely costing me some time, as I am having to create all of the materials I need.
Tuesday – 28/8/12
In biology today we had a very successful practical and I was ahppy with the way all of the students worked. As I had created the materials for the practical and given the students direct instructions about what to do, it all went just I expected it to.
Wednesday - 29/8/12
In science today Dr. Gatford asked the students to all do a diagonal transect across the oval, randomly sampling along the way. They all did reasonably well in this and when they were finished we got them to enter their results into an excel spreadsheet. They then did some calculations with their results and we asked the students to write a short report about what they had done. This was a good activity that got the students thinking by challenging them to do something new.
Thursday – 30/8/12
In chemistry today the year 12’s had to do an esterification practical. The year 11’s continued their work on salts and I helped out with the practicals. Most of the year 12’s worked quite slowly and didn’t manage to get he practical finished. I was a bit disappointed with their inability to follow instructions, though I was impressed by the year 11’s ability to work independently.
Friday - 31/8/12
In chemistry today the year 12’s finished their esterification, though one group failed to get a product. In biology the surface area to volume ratio practical was quite disappointing and none of the students came prepared. Most managed to get a result but I had to step in quite often to point them in the right direction. The proof will come with their practical reports, I suppose. The students in science were equally disappointing and none of them had done their report from the previous lesson. Perhaps I need to re-enforce what is required for the students for each task.
Monday – 3/9/12
I was not planning on giving the students any class time for their practical reports but Joe said he would rather have things this way. In biology I collected the questions that the students did on the osmosis practical and found that they were mostly showing an understanding of what was happening. In science the students were quite unruly, so Dr. Gatford discussed the idea of making a planned seating arrangement.
Tuesday – 4/9/2012
The biology students continued working on their practical reports today and were asking me plenty of questions relating to this in the lesson. I was trying not to give them too much information, as I thought this would give them all easy answers, though I realised that I should still help them and demonstrate what they should be doing. I tried to demonstrate the processes they needed to use to calculate surface area and volume without using the same numbers the students obtained from their results as a compromise. I also noticed one of the students struggling with sitting still and writing his practical report, which is not too surprising considering he has ADHD. I sat down with the student and made a compromise that he could present his practical report to me orally and just hand up his results in written form. I think this is a much more achievable option for the student, as I have found in the past that he will usually not hand up anything if it involves long written components. I checked the curriculum outline and found that this would still satisfy the desired outcomes provided his presentation is structured correctly. I think this will allow the student to demonstrate more of what he knows than simply failing to hand up anything from thinking it is too difficult before even starting.
Wednesday 5/9/12
In science today we watched a documentary about the challenges associated with travelling to Mars. The students were fairly interested for the most part and it definitely got them thinking about the possibility of people travelling to Mars and the possibility that life may once have existed there. Dr. Gatford then asked them to write down some challenges to do with travelling to Mars, hen we used a bell jar to demonstrate the effects of a vacuum on water, a balloon and some shaving cream. This was a very successful lesson that definitely got the students thinking.
Thursday 6/9/12
In chemistry today we did some flame tests with the year 11’s, which worked quite well. Dr. Gatford spent plenty of time getting the students ready for this by teaching them the relevant theory, so when it came time for the practical they knew just what to do.
Monday – 10/9/12
Today the biology practical report is due, so it will be interesting to see how well the students have done. I am hoping that they all demonstrate a good understanding of what they did in the practical and show a good understanding of the topic. In the lesson I found that most of the students had not finished the report, so I gave them until tonight to finish it. I was disappointed with this and I was hoping they would have done more for homework. In science we went to the garden and got the students to look at how energy flows through an ecosystem. The students were quite unruly, so this was a good option for the last lesson.
Tuesday – 11/9/2012:
Today in biology most of the students submitted their practical reports but I was disappointed to see that very few had done what I had asked in the assignment sheet. It also seemed that none of the students had done any of the work at home and were content with what they had done during the lesson, even if it meant their practical reports were nowhere near finished. As well as a lack of motivation, I think this may have been a result of the students never having learned how to structure a practical report correctly. To remedy this, I think I will write up a model practical report and spend some lesson time in future talking them through how a good practical report should be constructed.
Wednesday 12/9/12
Today I taught the double science lesson, as Keith was away at the show. He had prepared an article and some questions for the students about living in space, which was quite a good activity. As there was a lot of reading to get through, we read through the article as a class, then the students answered the questions. All of them showed some comprehension and I really enjoyed teaching them. As I know most of the students quite well now, I was able to have some fun with them while also keeping them on task. I found they listened to me quite well and followed my instructions.
Friday – 14/9/2012:
Today in biology I gave the students an overview of mitosis and meiosis to give the students some knowledge before exploring the topic. As I thought that the new words associated with this topic might serve as a barrier for learning I introduced each one along with its meaning and asked the students to begin compiling a glossary of these terms. I will ask them to keep adding to this glossary and refer to it if they are unsure of the meaning of any biological terms in this topic in future.
Monday – 17/9/2012:
In biology today I didn’t have a very clear plan for the lesson and as a result the lesson was not terribly successful. We were also in a different classroom, so the students were not very settled. I used this opportunity to get some copies of students work for my own use but I first asked the students if they would mind me making a copy of their work and displaying it, keeping in mind that I would not show their names in association with it. They all agreed, though I also gave them a talent release form to be signed by their parents before I did make any photocopies.
Tuesday – 18/9/12
In biology today I got the students to look at cells undergoing mitosis and meiosis. I asked them to draw 4 cells and label these using the glossary of terms they have been creating. I gave them very clear instructions on how to use the microscopes and I was happy with how they did things in this lesson. Hopefully they are all able to use the terms they have been learning to label their diagrams, as this will show that they are starting to apply their knowledge.
Wednesday – 19/9/12
Today I talked to the year 11 English class about public speaking, as they are doing a presentation about selling a house. I found that they all gave me their attention and that I had more ‘free reign’ over what I could say to them compared to the other science subjects I have been teaching. In science we tried launching a water rocket but unfortunately the pump we were using did not work. I was impressed by how well the students applied themselves to this activity, though, and that probably demonstrated how effective practical activities are at capturing their attention.
Thursday – 20/9/12
Today, Dr. Gatford asked me to plan and teach the next topic for the year 9 science class. I will have to put together a learning management plan for this and decide what to teach and how to transition to this from the current work we are doing on space.
Friday – 21/9/12
As today is the last day of term, everyone is fairly laid back. I found that the students were actually quite well behaved when I expected they wouldn’t be. In chemistry I found that the students worked hard to get their work done before the holidays.
Monday – 8/10/12
Now I am teaching both the year 11 biology class and the year 9 science class. I prepared a learning management plan for both subjects and I factored in the possibility that students may be less attentive today. This proved correct, though I was still quite happy with how both lesson went. Having the learning management plan allowed me to refer back to what I had planned to teach and meant that I could allude to future topics to drive learning in that direction.
During the holidays I organised all of my documents and as I have been compiling my portfolio throughout the year I have found that I have evidence for almost every outcome. This is not something that I planned to do; instead it seems to have been a logical progression as I have done more teaching and taken on more responsibility with each of my classes. This is very encouraging for me, as it shows I am close to having all of the skills that would be expected of a qualified teacher. During the holidays I completed my first aid training and mandatory notification course. The mandatory notification course in particular opened my eyes to the additional responsibilities of teachers and the role they play in the upbringing of a child.
Tuesday – 9/10/12
Today’s biology lesson was very successful, perhaps the best so far. I found that the students had retained much of the knowledge from the last lesson and were able to apply this knowledge to the topic of genetic engineering. I tried to make the topic as interesting as possible while still adhering to the curriculum and the students responded very well to this. I set them the task of doing an oral presentation about an article to do with genetic engineering, in-vitro fertilisation or stem cell research and they all approached the task positively. I began by showing them an article about some rats that had been genetically modified so their skin would glow under ultraviolet light, which certainly grabbed their attention and stimulated their interest. I then asked them to first look at the results of the human genome project to see where particular genes are located within chromosomes, then asked them to find an article that detailed either genetic engineering, in-vitro fertilisation or stem cell research in society to use in their oral presentation. While the students had grasped these concepts quite well, I thought that by asking them to talk about ethical implications and their own opinions on these issues, students who did not excel at written work or at explaining theory in detail could still achieve a good mark while still achieving the curriculum outcomes. There is one student in the class with ADHD and I think he will benefit most from this task, as he can give a true demonstration of what he has learned and use this to justify his own opinion without having to complete a lengthy written task.
Wednesday – 10/10/12
Some teachers have been raising concerns about one of the girls in our home group truanting school. It turned out that she was not at school when her mother assumed that she was, so Dr. Gatford called the girl’s mother to discuss what had been going on during home group time, leaving me to do the role and read the notices. When I thought about this, I realised it would be relatively easy for students to choose not to come to school and do otherwise. This being so, it is then up to the school staff to ensure that students are where their parents wish them to be when they cannot supervise them.
In double science we used the water rocket to demonstrate how different forces operate. I began by explaining the differences between simple and complex machines and also explaining how all machines work. I then used this to show how the water rocket worked before going outside to demonstrate. The demonstration went well but did go more quickly than I had expected, so I had to think of something else to do. I decided to ask the students to draw the water rocket set up and show where the forces were going.
After I collected the diagrams that the year 9’s had drawn of the water rocket set-up, I realised I needed to work out a way of marking them. I decided to create a rubric where marks were allocated for each aspect of the diagram that I had asked the students to show. I found that this made it very easy to assign a grade to each diagram and also to provide feedback as to how the diagram could have been improved.
Friday – 12/10/12
As we are learning about reproduction and genetics in biology, I thought briefly about the possible religious implications of this before I began my lesson. After I had outlined the process by which haploid cells fuse to create a zygote, one student raised the problem of the virgin Mary and the birth of Jesus. I know there is at least one student in the class from a catholic family, so I tried to diffuse the situation by explaining that self-fertilisation is indeed possible and has happened in the past. I moved on quickly from this so that the discussion did not continue and found that the students were satisfied with this explanation. I have always tried to avoid references to religious groups unless it is in the most positive manner, as I know there are many students from families of different beliefs in the school. In biology I have found that it is usually best to avoid any mention of religion and instead teach the students biological concepts within a biological context, as it is not my job (nor am I qualified) to speculate about religion.
Today’s lesson, however was quite successful, with all of the students presenting their ethical issue. I wrote the marking rubric for this task on the white board so that it was clear how the students would be marked. They all responded well to this by trying to address these criteria in their presentations and I was easily able to go through these with the student in question and the rest of the class in providing feedback about how they had gained their marks and where they could have improved.
Today I also began organising my portfolio documents and found that the only outcomes left to address were those relating to liaising with parents. With this in mind I decided to contact the parents of a student that I was particularly impressed with in my science and chemistry class after receiving the advice to do so from one of my mentors. I was somewhat apprehensive at first but found that the parents were more than happy to receive some feedback about their child’s performance at school and received my communication very well. This experience definitely taught me a lot about what parents expect and value from their child’s teachers.
Monday - 15/10/12
Today in biology I introduced the year 11’s to the structure of DNA and explained how this codes for genetic traits. I related this to the last topic of ethical issues with cell division and I asked the students to ask their parents about the ethical issues and the general ‘feeling’ in society that surrounded the cloning of Dolly the sheep. I thought this would be a good way to highlight to them the progression we have made in modern genetics, while the ethical issues are very similar to those of 10 to 15 years ago. I also thought this would show the students’ parents what we are doing in biology and perhaps involve them more in the school lives of their kids.
Today I am finally ready to submit my registration forms and from all the accreditation it has required I can see that the government will not let ‘just anyone’ teach in schools. I suppose this is a good thing considering that teachers have so much responsibility and control over the life of a child while they are at school.
Tuesday – 16/10/12
In biology today I tried to mix things up in the lesson and tried 3 approaches. I started by outlining h theory behind transcription and translation, then I showed a short video about protein synthesis, and then I asked the students to create a poster showing this process. I found that all of the students responded quite well to this and they all learned a great deal.
Wednesday – 17/10/12
Today the students worked with the lego technic sets to try and create a car that travelled as slowly as possible. I first explained to them how gears work and asked them to use this in designing their lego car. I found that the students were very attentive when I was talking but they were fairly immature when it came to working with the lego. In the end we only had 1 successful car, though the rest of the class was beginning to get the idea.
Friday - 19/10/12
Today in biology I asked the students to continue with their posters, something that seems to be re-enforcing the processes of transcription and translation for the students. In science the students works on their machines assignments. Everyone is fairly laid-back today because it is muck-up day for the year 12’s. After the test had closed on Moodle at the end of the day I recorded the marks for each student and found that the lowest mark was 10 out of 15. This was not an easy test and most students did even better than 10, so I was particularly happy with the results. While I was teaching this topic I found that all of the students did seem engaged, which seems to be the case based on the test results.
Monday – 22/10/12
Today I did a speech at assembly thanking all of the students and teachers I have worked with and it went extremely well. I have even had teachers asking me to come and speak at other functions today! In science I gave the year 9’s another lesson to work on their assignments and in biology I also gave the students one last lesson to work on their posters. I am finding that the quality of work looks much higher than previous assignments that I had asked them to do entirely for homework.
Tuesday – 23/10/12
In biology today I worked with the new student teacher, Mr. Hay. I was teaching the students about heritable and genetic diseases and it turned out that Mr. Hay had been a clinical photographer at a hospital and knew of many different genetic diseases. I found that the students gave their respect to Mr. Hay quite readily, just as they did with me. I decided to copy the template of lessons I used in the last topic, where I introduce a new topic in the first half of Tuesday’s double lesson, ask the students to investigate a facet of the topic and prepare an oral presentation about this for Friday’s lesson. This time I am asking them to study a genetic disease and report about it to the class.
Wednesday – 24/10/12
Today I went to a conference run by a man called Dylan Wallace about successful assessment. I found that he gave me plenty of ideas of new things to try and also reiterated the value of some things that I am already doing, which was reassuring!