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Mirjan's Journal
January 13, 2010 - Grade 9 Applied Science: The end of the semester is near! Reflections on last week of Ecology and the Unit Test It is the New Year – Happy 2010! Kids came back from their holidays wearing new clothes, shoes, jackets and some new attitudes. We continued with our learning of Ecology during the first week of January (January 4th to 8th) .The unit test was last Friday (January 8, 2010). In order to prepare the kids for the unit test, I had to review some of the key concepts that they learned before the break. The students completed a review sheet in their home groups to help them recall the key concepts. During that first week back I also engaged the kids in a individual reading of an article that I wrote on human activities and the effects the humans have on our ecosystems. After reading the article and answering some individual questions, the kids engaged in a paired-interview, a tactic that I thought would allow the kids to talk about what they have learned from the short article.  The interview pair had to ask each other three questions, think about the answer and share their responses with each other. The three questions were: 1. What is one new thing that you learned from this article? 2. Tell me something that you found surprising in this article? 3. Someone says to you: "Who cares about the environment; none of this stuff affects me!" How would you respond to this person? Each student record their answers as well as the answers of their partner. Everyone, expect one pair, appeared engaged. The disengaged pair was a "bad" match. That particular boy-girl pair was somewhat awkward – the girl has a form of social phobia, is extremely shy and the boy was intimidating to her. The brain research informs us that the "brain" needs to feel safe. If it does not feel safe, then the student is not going to willingly engage in a paired discussion. The girl probably did not feel safe with the boy. However, I still decided to keep them as a pair for the sake of putting them out of their usual comfort zones and observing their interacting. I have to say, the interaction was minimal most of the time, until the last 10 minutes of class, where they decided to start talking to each other. All other students were talking about their answers; some took silent time to first write down their responses before sharing them with their partner. The results of the test were more than satisfactory in all areas except the making connections.
The results tell me that my students have a very good knowledge and understanding, however they need to work on applying that knowledge to new contexts. The knowledge and understanding category had a high average mainly because it tested students understanding of ecology vocabulary/key terminology, which is something that we spend most of our time studying. Thinking and Inquiry category was also done very well – most students have mastered the skills of reading and interpreting graphs, which was the inquiry skill we focused on in this unit. All student were able to identify at least two human activities that contribute negatively to our ecosystems proving that students have learned something from the article reading and our class discussions. December 15, 2009 - Grade 9 Applied Science: Some results... Today I gave students another quiz on the 14 words and their definitions, which we learned today. The quiz consisted of two parts: Part I - Match the word to its definiton - this was exactly what the students practiced yesterday with a partner. This part was evaluated for knowlege and understanding. Part II - Writing of orginal sentences using some of the words. The instruction was to write an original sentence using the key word in the sentence. I provided an example: "An ECOSYTEM can be as large as a rain forest or as small as a rotting log." This part was evaluated for communication. RESULTS OF THE QUIZ: Part I - The average was 82%! EXCELLENT! Part II - The average was 75%! MET THE EXPECTATION! Conclusion: It appears that students were able to recognize the definitions very easily, and that yesterday's pair-matching activity was successful in helping students learn the definitions of the words. However, the more challenging part was to communicate the understanding of the key words in original sentences. I am not surprised that the students would score lower in communication as this requires more skills than matching words to their definitions. The average of 79% still indicates that students were able to meet the minimum expectations (on average); some exceeded the expectations; 4 students socred below the 75% mark, which I would set as the minimum expectation for all students. December 15, 2009 - Grade 9 Applied Science - Learning Key Vocabulary in Ecology: Paired-Activities, Non-verbal illustrations and the Word Wall The objective of the lesson today was to learn 14 words and their definition in 90 minutes. The words were: ecology, ecosystem, habitat, abiotic, biotic, population, community, species, biodiversity, sustainability, producers, consumers, food chain, food web. Prior to the start of the activity I asked the students to recall some of the words (not their definitions) since yesterday we had completed a short matching exercise in the workbook.  Students were asked to pair up and sit around one table. I placed the key words and the definitions on the table. Students had to work together to match the words to their correct definitions. When they were done I gave them the answer sheet to check their answers.After checking their answers, I asked the students to study the definitions and then individually match the definitions to the key words. While one partner is matching the definitions to the words, the other is watching and may assist his/her peer. Once the students have individually matched the definitions to the key words, I assigned two words per pair and asked them to DRAW/ILLUSTRATE the meaning of their assigned words on the paper. I gave everyone some crayons and after about 10 minutes we had a visual representation of each of the 14 key words.  I placed the illustrations on our word wall and asked everyone to gather around the wall. With kids gathered around me I asked each student to explain how their illustration defines the key word to which they were assigned. Finally, I instructed each student to sit individually (not with their partner) and to take out their science journals. The final assessment task was to define each of the 14 key terms. Students were told to write definitions using their own words and if they were unable to define the word, they could provide an example. I observed that most students were highly engaged in all the activities. They especially liked illustrating the meaning of the words. During the final assessment task many students glanced at the word wall. It was great to see that they were using the word wall immediately. The paired-activities were effective in terms of keeping the students engaged in learning. I felt that 14 words was too much to learn in 90 minutes. I still have to assess the final task to see how many students learned the words, and what are the results of the chosen instructional tactics. In this case I employed paired-learning, non-verbal illustrations on a place mat and creation of the word wall. Result: The average on the quiz was 72% (knowledge category ability to recall the definitions of the words). December 7, 2009 - Grade 9 Applied Science - Ecology Graffiti  Today I introduced the students to Ecology unit. I decided to use the graffiti tactic to activate students prior knowledge just like I did in Electricity Unit.What was different this time is that I gave students a definition of ECOLOGY. I wrote on the board: "Ecology is the study of living organisms and their interaction with the environment." Students worked in groups of 3 to 4. Students were lettered A – C/D. Person A picked up the place mat for the graffiti, while B and C set up one table with three/four chairs around the table for face-to-face interaction and collaboration.  I asked the students to draw whatever comes to their mind when they think of ECOLOGY. I observed that many students drew the following on their place mats:
Students had a chance to also write at least 10 words that related to Ecology. They also had a chance to do a "ghost-walk" and see other students' ideas. They contributed a word or an illustration to other graffiti. I also walked around and wrote two concepts: "food chain" and "biodiversity." After the "ghost walk" I asked the students to take a look at the new words/drawings on their place mat and discuss them with the group. I asked each group individually to discuss what is a food chain and biodiversity. Furthermore, every group displayed their graffiti at the back of the classroom. For the final assessment piece, I asked the students to write ten sentences in their reflection journal. The sentences were suppose to illustrate how various organism interact with their environment. As an example I wrote a sentence on the board: "Fish are living organism that live in the water." I observed that many students wrote at least 5 sentences in 15 minutes. Some students had some trouble coming up with 10 sentences. Come to think of it, maybe I should have asked for just 5. Maybe it would have been a better idea if they had their graffiti in front of them. I should have waited for this final assessment piece and then posted the graffiti at the back of the class instead of the other way around. It made it more difficult for the kids to recall from memory what they drew and wrote. However, I did realise that during their reflection, so I encouraged them to get up, but only one student got up to look at his groups' graffiti. November 27, 2009 - Grade 9 Applied Science - We ARE ready for the JIGSAW After almost three months of cooperative learning structures I felt that the students are well prepared for one of the most complex cooperative learning strategies – the Jigsaw!  Students learned about various methods of electricity generation in their expert groups, which consisted of four members; however, to ensure accountability I further divided the expert groups into pairs. Each expert-pair answered a set of five questions on a place mat. In order to build vocabulary I placed a large place mat on an empty table and asked the students to write any new words that they encounter in their expert groups. The students worked diligently with minimal disruptions to answer the questions. The expert-duos gathered to review the answers to their questions. Once every expert group member was confident with his/her answers, the students were instructed to cut out their section of the place mat and take it to their home groups. In their home groups, I asked the kids to letter themselves (A – D). Person A picked up the information collection table. Students shared their information starting with expert member 1 and ending with expert member 4. I circulated and ensured that everyone was listening and recording at least three pieces of information.  I also encouraged students who were presenting, or teaching their peers, to explain images related to their method of electricity generation. Students used the "How it Works: Electricity Generation" booklets from Ontario Power.After the sharing and recording session, which took about 30 minutes, I asked the students to write ONE information paragraph stating what they have learned about the four methods of generating electricity in Ontario. Students were asked to include their opinion on what method of electricity generation they favour and why. The results: class average was 70% in the communication categoy, which was the major skill assessed and evaluated in this assignment. November 24, 2009 - Grade 9 Applied Science - Paired Problem Solving Using Place Mat Tactic - Another WOW Lesson!  Today I introduced my students to problem solving using voltage, current and resistance measurements. I drew a table on the board showing the symbol for V, I and R as well as the units for each: Amps, Volts and Ohms, respectively. Then, I solved one problem with them using the V=RI relationship. I also showed them the "magic triangle" that allows them to manipulate the V=RI formula more easily. The WOW moment took place when I spread the desk around and place two chairs at each desk with a ledger size place mat (see photo above). The students followed directions very well and paired up with their usual partners.  With one workbook in front of them, two calculators and writing utensils, the kids worked diligently to solve 5 questions in 30 minutes. The results were impressive. Everyone was fully engaged! (see photo on the right)I observed kids chatting with each other about the problems, and deciding on what is given to them in the question. I also observed kids checking each others work, and reminding each other to use the correct units.  There was a sense of collective responsibility towards what everyone was doing. The paired problem solving using a place mat tactic was a tremendous success. Some students were competitive which encouraged them to get through the questions quickly while still getting all the answers correct. Everyone followed the G.U.E.S.S. method for every question. Some pairs drew a table on their place mat with a row for each of the G.U.E.S.S. steps. My conclusions:
November 17, 2009 " Grade 9 Applied Science - Celebrating Success! A WOW TEACHING MOMENT"  Today was the day that I felt that EVERYONE was successful in class. It was definitely a WOW teaching moment. I just read everyone's journal entries and even the students who struggle with writing wrote short paragraphs on what they learned in class today.I started the class by giving the students a short quiz which they wrote today. The results of the quiz were unsatisfactory. I took up the answers with the students, then I asked the students to pick a partner for our Think/Pair/Share activity. For the TPS activity I instructed the students by asking person A to tell B what is static electricity. B listened. Then, B would repeat what A said. We continued with the TPS activity until we reviewed static electricity. These were the questions that I asked:
In each case when A talked B listened, then B repeated what A said, and vice versa. After this TPS activity the kids wrote the quiz with closed notes. The results were ASTOUNDING! The class average was 86% in the knowledge and understanding category! After this quiz I introduced the students to current electricity via a demo. Then I gave each pair some wires, batteries, light bulbs, motors and switches and allowed them to play. Each and every one of those kids had a smile on their face at some point or another during the activity. Kids were constructing series circuits without even knowing what a series circuit is. They were adding batteries in series and seeing the effect on the brightness of the light bulb, and coming up with those conclusion themselves. They would discover that as more batteries are added in series the bulb would become brighter. One kid constructed a parallel circuit and with excitement asked me to come over so that he can show me that he was able to get the motor and a light bulb to work at the same time without the bulb going dimmer. I grabbed this teaching moment and told the kid that he had just constructed a parallel circuit. Kids were questioning things, and some intelligent questions came out of this discovery activity. A couple of kids saw aluminum foil on the table and wondered if they use aluminum instead of wires if it would still conduct electricity. They asked me if they could try it, and of course, with the hearts content I allowed it. One group constructed a fan with the motor. The group added a few batteries and watched the fan spin faster and faster. The kids asked: "Is this how real fans are made?" I said: " Yes, except that they use stronger material for the blade and the motor is bigger." After this wonderful discovery activity, the kids wrote in their journal what they did and what they learned. The result was a reflective paragraph in well articulated sentences expressing the learning using proper scientific terminology. I felt like I succeeded! I felt that I made a difference, not just to a few kids, but to everyone in the class today. The result: 72% class average in the communication categoy when I assessed and evaluated their reflection paragraphs. November 11, 2009 " Grade 9 Applied Science - Investigating Static Electricity"  The objective of the lesson today was to get students to investigate friction, and the effects of static electricity generated by friction.Students were asked to perform the hands-on investigation in pairs. After writing the purpose and stating their hypothesis, students copied down an observation table from the black board. I gave students step-by-step instructions; however, I had to repeat my instructions a few times since some students either didn't listen or did not understand what to record in the table of observations. Student appeared very engaged as they rubbed different materials together and tried to pick up small pieces of paper. They counted how many little pieces of paper were picked up and recorded that in their table. The best combination was a balloon and fur, which picked up over 20 little pieces of paper. It was rewarding to see students take turns in this lab and talk about what they were observing. It is this kind of "science talk" that I am hoping will help students develop better science literacy skills. Kids had fun today, and learned in the context of fun! One student had sweaty palms and wondered why he was not able to get the balloon to pick up any pieced of paper. I asked him to show me his palms and sure enough they were sweaty, so I explained to him that his hands are conducting away the electrons. This was a nice teaching moment. I was able to extend this new learning to a new context and explain to the student why we experience static only in winter and not summer. After collecting their data, students answered five questions about electrostatics. I observed students working together, sharing their answers and probing for clarification. The final stage of my 80 minute activity was student self-evaluation. Students had to rate themselves on their written and oral communication, their ability to work with others and their level of interests and engagement in today's activity. The results: the class average was 77% in the communication category and 81% in the thinking and inquiry category. November 6, 2009 " Grade 9 Applied Science - What do I know about electricity ? Using the place mat tactic in small cooperative learning groups"  Today we started the new unit in Grade 9 Applied Science. I wanted to survey the class to see what my students knew about electricity. What prior knowledge did they bring? What misconceptions do they have? I placed students in groups of three to four students. They sat around one desk, and in the centre of the desk I positioned a place mat with the word "electricity" in the centre. Students were asked to write one idea in their square, rotate the paper clock-wise, read someone else's idea, and add a new idea. I observed that most groups followed instructions very well. Some groups had more ideas on their paper than others. I asked for a minimum of 10 words/ideas about electricity per square. In order to get students to elaborate on their ideas, I employed the 'one stray, the rest stay' tactic. One student from each group walked around to other groups and he/she brought back ideas to their group. This worked okay. Students who walked around were tempted to write their ideas on someone else's square, and one member came back to her group with no ideas, so I had to asked her to stand up again and come back to her group with some new ideas. She followed instructions well and came back to her groups with a few new ideas.  Once the students had a minimum of 10 ideas/words in their square I asked them to cut out their section. After cutting it, they would read the words, and construct a paragraph that would use the words and demonstrate what students know about electricity. I felt that this was an excellent activity to get students to
November 2, 2009 " Grade 12 Chemistry - Place Mats in Tutorial Groups" ![[Untitled]](http://image.wetpaint.com/image/1/ifrffzK-pV0xTwp1NMDOjg1816052/GW416H311 "[Untitled]") I use the place mat cooperative learning tactic today in my Grade 12 Chemistry class to get my students to draw Lewis structural diagrams for 15 molecular compounds.I placed the students in what I call "tutorial groups" or TGs for short. TGs are cooperative learning groups of three to four students. Usually a month and a half into the course I structure these groups based on the academic abilities of my students. I try to make it so that each group has a student from each of the four Levels (1 through 4), and that there is a balance between boys and girls in the group. The goal of our lesson today was to draw Lewis structural diagrams for various molecular compounds. I asked the students to letter themselves A through C. I asked the person A to pick up the place mat, while the person B picked up the set of 15 molecular compounds. Person C picked up a molecular model kit, so that students can build the structures of various compounds that they were drawing and describe their shape.
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November 2, 2009 "Mind Map - Review of Chemistry Unit - Preparation for the unit test" Tomorrow is Chemistry Unit Test. In order to prepare my students for the unit test I introduced the students to the mind map strategy. I showed them a few examples of science mind maps that I found on the internet last Friday. I also started the mind map for them by drawing it on the black board. I put the word "chemistry" in the centre, and drew a few branching lines radiating from the central word. I labelled one branch "WHMIS", another "HHPS", and another "Lab Safety". I went in the order of the major themes or concepts that we covered in the class since the beginning of the unit. Then, I let the students complete the rest. I observed that some students were very quick at "getting it".
I felt that some kids were rushing through the mind map. I wonder if it will help them prepare for the test. When I had asked the kids to hand in their mind maps today, one student asked if they can take them home to study for the test. I thought to myself: "Of course! Why would I even ask the students to hand in their mind maps? After all, the purpose of constructing them is to study for the test, so it makes every sense that they take them home." So I quickly replied: "Yes, of course you can take them! But please do not lose them! " | |||
I handed back the Moon crash landing assignment, which the students completed yesterday. The students imagined that they were on a space expedition to the Moon, but their space crashes on the light side of the Moon, 120 km away from the base on the Moon. Of all the items that they brought, some survived the crash. The students had to rank the items in the order of importance, and decide the top three items that they would absolutely need to their survival.
 October 30, 2009 "Creating a dynamic and productive cooperative learning environment"It has been two months since the school year started. I know my students much better now. I know their strengths and their limitations. This means that I can start pairing and grouping students according to their individual needs. Since the beginning of the semester my students have been sitting in groups of three to four. We have done a number of small group activities using a variety of cooperative learning structures. Every month I change the groups to keep it interesting for the students and to give them a chance to work with different kinds of personalities. While the students were writing their quiz today I was standing at the back of the room and thinking about who should sit with who for the November month. I first started thinking about my most apathetic and needy students. I thought: "Hmm…who in the class would complement each other well? How can I tame the chatty ones, engage the disengaged, motive the unmotivated, interest the uninterested, challenged the unchallenged, and create a balanced learning environment?" By the end of the 20 minute quiz, I came up with the new seating arrangement and I shared it with the students. No one complained, so I must have gotten the right combination to unlock their cooperative learning potential, or at least I hope so! I hope that my knowledge of students' i) individual personalities ii) interpersonal relationships iii) learning needs iv) and academic performance so far my class will all help me create a more dynamic and productive cooperative learning environment. It's all about balance! Chatty with the quiet, shy with the outgoing, focused with the unfocused, strong with the weak, boy with a girl! |
October 23, 2009 Grade 9 Applied Science "Reflection on Paired Learning of the first 20 Elements in the PT - GREAT LESSON!" The objective of the lesson was to get the students to learn the first 20 elements in the Periodic Table of Elements. The students had to know the name, atomic number and the sybmol for each of the 20 elements. I introduced the activity as a game to everyone - in fact, as a partner game. As an incentive I said that the pair that scores perfect on the paired-quizz will get a free lunch. This made some students more competative in learning the first 20 elements. I observed that many of my students were engaged and really trying hard to learn the names and symbols with a partner. The paired memorizing strategy worked very well as I was seeing a lot of interactions and hearing positive encouragement that pairs offered to each other. One of the students exlaimed to her friend: "We can do this! Yes we can! Yes we can!" One other pair was so enthusiastic that they had to get out of their seat and move to another corner of the room, where they can quiz each other and learn together. I gave each pair a place mat that they divided in two sections (one per pair) and almost all pairs used the place mats to write the symbols and the names of the elements. After about 20 minutes of practicing I spread out the pairs and gave each pair a blank sheet and asked the write the first 20 elements in order as their would appear on the periodic table. I posted a blank periodic table of elements on the screen for students to fill in. The pairs were allowed to help each other complete the quiz. I noticed positive talk during the quiz and a great effort by all students to name the first 20 elements. The results: after completing the quiz to assess and evaluate students knowledge and communication, the class scored 71% (on average) in the communication category and 73% on their knowledge | ||
October 21, 2009 Grade 9 Applied Science "Reflection on my Focus Students' Progress" I just finished looking over the two science journal entries as well as the chemical and physical changes lab that my students completed this week.I assessed the journal entries and evaluated the lab. The two journal entries reflected what students know about matter from the graffiti activity and what they have learned about everyday uses of elements and compounds by watching a three minute "Meet the Elements" video. The "matter" entry revealed to me that my students (on average) are struggling with their understanding of some key science concepts that are related to matter. For example, many students are unable to use the words "mixtures", "compound", "elements" in a sentence to convey a deeper understanding of these three concepts. One student wrote: "pure substance is one whole material" which doest not demonstrate an understanding of what pure substanes are. What does the student mean by "whole material"? I observed short sentences and often repetitive sentences. For example, a student would write: Solid is an example of a state of matter. Then he would continue with the second and third sentence by simply replacing the word solid with liquid or gas. My students sit in groups at all times. I have also noticed that there is evidence of some plagiarism, especially amongst the less academic students. On a positive note, my students are working with each other. They are sharing answers and talking about the concepts that we are learning. I wonder how much are they learning? And, how authentic are my assessment strategies, like the science journal? How well do my various assessment strategies help my students learn? For my action research project I am testing how various cooperative learning structures help my students develop better subject area literacy. More specifically, I want to see if certain cooperative learning structures such as think/pair/share and graffiti will help students develop better written, visual and oral communication skills. The focus students for my study are two boys who are very different from each other in terms of their areas in which they struggle. One of the boys is a Grade 10 student who is taking Grade 9 Applied Science, since last year he took the Grade 9 Locally Developed course. He is an apathetic learner, who lack motivation and does not act with initiative. He often questions why do we have to do what we do? One day when I ask the class if the scientific method applies to their everyday life, he was quick to say that it does not. The tone of his response was negative and this attitude was indifferent. Furthermore, the student has and I.E.P. and has been identified with a language learning disability. Currently he sits with an academically strong student, who is motivating him to complete his work, and I am noticing a change in my focus student's performance in terms of engagement, staying on task and demonstrating a better use of science vocabulary and terminology. My second focus student is a more challenging case. He has had a difficult past academic history. His previous reports show that he struggles with literacy. His marks were below the class average in all subjects. He was in a French immersion program in his 4th and 5th year of elementary school. When he came to my class he was a quiet boy who sat at the back of the class. His records did not match his outward personality; however, after two months now my focus student has come out of his shell and now I can see what he has been struggling with in the past. He cannot focus for a long period of time. He needs frequent reminders to stay on task. His written expression is weak. Sentence structure is poor. There is a lack of understanding of key science concepts as was demonstrated to me in his recent journal entry. I am concerned that this focus student may not represent what students struggle with in general, and so I might rule him out of this study. I am not giving up on him! However, for this action research project the idea is to find a focus student that will hopefully benefit from the kinds of cooperative learning structures that I put in place. Currently my focus student is a reluctant learner, a sly mischievous individual – but I see hope for him. I see the potential for him to develop into a better student. He is lacking support. I should note that this student comes form a single parent home, and there may be an absence of father figure, which may be impacting his academic growth. Another candidate for a focus student is a very respectful boy who wants to do well in my class, but struggles with retention of information (memory controls). He is also one that does not follow directions very well. He is a sociable student. However, he is not very confident with his knowledge even when he does know something. His literacy skills are also weak. After reading through his science journal entries I observed poorly structures sentences and a few spelling mistakes. There are also nouns that are capitalized in the middle of his sentences. He is the type of student that leaves some questions unanswered, rather than attempting to answer a question, or asking for help. He is also not demonstrating the depth of understanding that I am looking for in this class. In his recent "matter" journal entry he wrote 6 sentences all in the form " _____________ is a made up of solid." The blank space had nouns such as "wood, paper, door, car, window, box." The instructions for this assignment were that the students take the words from the graffiti and write a sentence that uses at least 10 words and demonstrate how the words relate to matter. Was I not clear in my instruction? Did I ask a challenging question? Now that I reflect on what I did in class, may be I could have done this better. I was not clear how elaborate the sentences have to be. My example on the board was: "Solid is one of the three states of matter." One of the key words that was written on many of the students' graffitis was solid. One student in class said that she thought that every sentence has to end with the word "matter". So perhaps I was not clear with my example, or may be I should have provided a couple of example of different sentences. Now that I am in a deer reflection, I could have paired students so that they write the sentences together. I observed that only a few students were using their Science workbooks. I did mention to students that they could use their workbooks, but not many were. Those that used their workbooks wrote better sentences. I should schedule time in class for my students to take my feedback and improve. I feel a bit pressured by the time constraints and the demands of the curriculum to move, but what else is new? I think that for the next time the kids have to write something I should scaffold the activity better. I could also have the kids co-construct criteria of what would qualify as a good sentence in terms of it conveying an understanding of science by using appropriate science vocabulary and terminology. Finally I am going to implement rating scales for students to self-evaluate their progress. Specifically I am going to ask kids to self-evaluate on their oral, visual and written communication. The student will also self-evaluate their cooperation in groups and their level of engagement and interest. They will complete self-evaluations twice a week. Before the next CASL session I should have about 8 to 10 self-evaluations from all students. I hope to correlate students' self-evaluations with my own observations and evaluations. | ||
October 19, 2009 Grade 9 Applied Science "Reflection on Graffiti Tactic"![[Untitled]](http://image.wetpaint.com/image/1/RTsJUOJRdsMJbd5570KESA1258736/GW413H309 "[Untitled]") The objective of today's lesson was to review what we have learned on Friday about the structure of an atom as well as for students to recall as much as they could about 'matter', since for the last two weeks we have been learning a great deal about matter.I started the lesson by handing out students' science journals and having them look at the last entry, in which students had to state the three subatomic particles, their charges and their location in an atom. I evaluated their entries and gave them written feedback. I also used that feedback in order to generate a mini-Socratic review lesson. Most kids were eager to participate in the review session and answer my questions about the atom. I felt that the review was effective judging by the level of engagement and the responses to my questions. After a10 minute review lesson, I wanted students to recall as many concepts as they could remember that dealt with matter. I introduced the graffiti tactic, and explained to students that they would first write or draw in their own square of the place mat, then when I tell them to, they would stand up, move to other tables and read what other people had written as well add a few new ideas to another group's place mat. After a few minutes, the kids returned to their groups and read over the new ideas that students added to their place mat. My short-term goal for the kids was to get them to use the vocabulary and terminology of science. I asked them to take the concepts (words, illustrations) in their sections of the place mat, and for every word they would write a complete sentence in their science journal using that word and how it relates to matter. For example, if the kids had the word "solid" in their section of the place mat, they would write: "Solid is one of the three states of matter." I modeled what kids were expected to do by writing this sentence on the black board. The requirement was for the kids to write at least 10 complete sentences. Most of my students had no problem generating sentences. Some kids were so eager that they wrote close to 20 sentences. One of my focus students, TM, needed a lot of reminders to get started. He was clearly not focused on the work. The fact that it was the last period might have had something to do with his lack of engagement. Also, he was being easily distracted by RS, who sits directly across from him. TM's partner was progressing well, however, MA was not having any influence on TM's progress, and I was hoping that MA would encourage TM to work. Instead, I had to keep TM motivated by continuously encouraging him to write. To further engage TM and his group, I placed a few prompts on the table to help them visualize the concepts and write sentences. For example, I placed an example of a heterogeneous mixture on the table (oil and water), and an example of a pure substance. This seemed to have helped TM a bit, but he was still experiencing difficulties with his concentration and ability to stay on task without frequent reminders. SJ wrote 4 sentences of which 3 were the same except that instead of the word "solid" she used the words "liquid" and "gas". She felt that she was done, but I had to point out to her that the first three sentences are almost the same. I needed her to be more creative with her sentences, so I also placed a few visual prompts on the table of SJ's group. After about 5 minutes, SJ had generated 9 full sentences, which was great progress. | ||
October 15, 2009 Grade 9 Applied Science "Reflection on Organization of Notes and Paired Concept Formation Exercise" Today was the day that I spent 40 minutes helping my students to organize their notes. I bought 17 duo-tangs and gave one to every student. I wanted the students to take all the handouts (quizzes, labs, assignments) and organize them in chronological order in their new duo-tangs. Until today they have been keeping their handouts inside the workbooks, and I realized that the workbooks are getting cluttered and the kids will lose their stuff if they didn't put these handouts somewhere else.I learned that kids need to be taught how to organize their notes. It's not as simple as saying, "Kids, put the handouts in order!" Also, some of the sheets of paper are legal size, and kids don't realize the 'aesthetic' organization, so some of the sheets were hanging out of their duo-tangs. Some folded the legal size handouts in half and if they were to flip through their duotang they wouldn't even know what was on that sheet. This meant that I had to go around and explicitly show to students how to place their handouts in order, and in such a way that would make them all neatly visible and organized. Once everyone passed my organization test, I placed a sticker on the front of their duotangs. During the second half of the class, I took up the homework, and gave students a quiz on classification of matter. I wrote 10 short questions on the blackboard and the students answered the questions in their science journals. When they were done, I checked their answers and mark the quizzes right away, thus giving kids immediate feedback. The result: The class average was greater than 70% (formative assessment). Following this quiz, I asked the students to work with a partner on the next exercise. By now the kids are always working with a partner and talking about their work. I have created a community where most kids are immediately becoming engaged with a peer and working cooperatively on the assigned work. Today's task was to classify 24 substances into categories. Initially I wanted this to be a concept formation data set, but since we already learned the concept the kids knew the categories into which to classify the substances. So this was not really a concept formation. It was more of a concept consolidation exercise, which worked out very well. Students took about 15 minutes to complete the exercise with the partner. They used their science journals to draw the flow chart/table into which their classified the various substances. I am showing a photo here of one of my 'target student's' and his partner's classification table. The bottom table belongs to my 'target student' and the top is his partners. The data set is also visible in the photo. | ||
| October 14, 2009 Grade 9 Applied Science "Reflection on Paired Lab Work and TPS in Community Circle" ![[Untitled]](http://image.wetpaint.com/image/1/Lhf3bdsowS8KizDoGIv_BQ1587356/GW371H277 "[Untitled]") Today I had a two hour class with my Grade 9 Science students. In order to maximize their engagement, I had to come up with engaging activities that would energize the students and keep them interested in the subject.Since I heard one of my students yesterday say how they have not done any experiments I thought that I need to provide that opportunity to my students, even though we are not in a proper lab environment. I decided that students will perform a series of four mini-experiments in which they observe the reactants before the reaction, then mix various reactants, record observations again, and state if the change was physical or chemical. Since we already learned about the chemical and physical changes, I expected that students would have no problem doing the lab, which turned out to be the case for most of the students. I set up the lab so that ALL the lab equipment and the chemicals were located on the desks in front of the kids, so that no one had to move to get anything. This meant that I had to come in early and set it all up! I started the lab by having a student read out loud the question, then I asked the students to write the hypothesis to the question which we read. After they had written the hypothesis, I told the students to record all the materials that they see in front of them on the back of the lab sheet. This was a good call since it required of students to recall some previous knowledge of the names of lab equipment.After this was done, I explain to students what to do for the first two mini-experiments, and then I let them work. I observed that most students were fully engaged, with the exception of JZ, who walked in late, sat down quietly but needed some frequent reminders to fill in his observation sheet. All students worked with a partner, so this was a collaborative lab, where kids shared observations with each other and discussed their findings. After completing the first two mini-experiments, I gave further instructions and the majority of kids completed the lab successfully. RS and KC were chatting a lot about something else while completing the analysis questions, which meant that it took them the longest to complete the lab and hand it in. I also walked around with my camera taking photos of students in action (See Photo above). After the lab and the cleanup, I instructed students to sit in the community circle, which seems to really please most kids (they just love the community circle!!!) I began by asking this question:
Think Pair Share: After this short discussion, I told the kids to pick a partner and letter themselves A or B. B would then tell A about the first min-experiment, while A listened. Then, A would tell B about the second mini-experiment, and so on until the kids reviewed the four mini-experiments that they just completed. I observed that most kids were engaged in TPS activity, except JZ and ZD who were talking about something else. After the TPS review I told the kids that I was observing them and that I heard some conversations that we not related to what I had asked the students to do. While still in our community circle I assigned another TPS activity, but this time A would start telling B to what class of matter substances in Row A belonged (this was an activity we did yesterday). Then, B would tell A to what class of matter substances in Row B belonged. Once this quick TPS was complete, I took out the original substances which we observed yesterday, and started to further classify them into Elements and Compound (if they were Pure Substances) and Heterogeneous or Homogeneous (if they were Mixtures). I stood up from the Community Circle, walked up to the board and drew a flow-chart of this classification. The students watched and listened to my mini lesson (5 minutes). After that they went back to their original groups, where they completed a few exercises from their Science Workbook. Actually, we completed the first exercise together, then the students worked on the other exercises individually. Whatever they did not complete in class was left for homework. | ||
October 13, 2009 Grade 9 Applied Science "Reflection on Paired Concept Attainment" The goal of today's lesson was to get students to recognize that matter can be classified as pure substances and mixtures.I decided that the best way to do this would be to engage kids in some inductive thinking with a partner. I prepared 12 samples of different substances and organized them into two rows in the centre of the classroom. Row A had 6 substances and row B also had 6 substances. I gave students the handout in which they had to fill in at least two physical observations/properties for each substance in rows A and B, as well as list if the substances were a metal or a non-metal. Then, I wanted students to discuss with their partner what was in common with all the substances in Row A, and what was in common with those in Row B. I told the kids to focus on the COMPOSITION of the substances, thus providing them with a focus statement. After they had discussed it with their partner, they would classify four additional substances into As or Bs (the testers). (As represented MIXTURES and the Bs were PURE substances). A few of the kids got the concept rather quickly, but the majority was not sure what the concept was. One pair said that the As were the non-metals, and the Bs were metals, however there was a liquid substance in row A, so I pointed that out to the students. I tried to guide the students to the right answer by taking about what we observed for each of the substances in Row B. One pair said: "All of the substances in Row B are composed of more than one layer." But one student pointed: "Hold on...that yellow liquid is only ONE layer, so it can't be that all of the substances in Row B are composed of more than one layer." There was some interesting discussion amongst students. SL was very passionate about the exercise, while my "target student" TM needed a lot of reminders to complete the table and work with his partner, MA, who is generally a very good student. I asked ZD, who worked alone since his partner JZ was away, to sit with TM and MA and help them since ZD got the concept quickly. Without singling anyone out I said: "I don't want ZD to sit alone, so he will join you and work with you guys." But what I really wanted was for ZD to work with TM and help him complete the work. ZD was helpful, but I did notice that at one point he was just telling the answers to TM and a few other group members, which meant that they were not fully engaged in this exercise. The idea of paired-inductive thinking works well for a few students who posses the higher order thinking skills, but it seems to be very challenging for students who struggle with this kind of critical thinking that is needed for concept attainment. What I am trying to do is to combine the social theory (Think/Pair/Share) with learning theory (Concept Attainment) to help students acquire the new knowledge and understanding of the way we classify matter. | ||
| October 9, 2009 Grade 9 Applied Science "Reflection on Paired Review before the Quiz" I started the class by reviewing the evidences of Chemical Changes. I asked the students to reflect on what we did yesterday by looking into their notes, and tell me some evidence that a chemical change is ocurring. After generating this list, I took up the homework that was assinged last night. One of my target students, JZ, insisted that I check homework since he made an effor to finish it. He reminded me by saying: "Sir, can you please check homework?" I was pleased to see that he is making progress! A few students, SJ and PC, did not finish their homework for the second time in a row. Before I gave the students their quizzes I asked them to review with a partner the key learning from the previous lessons. For the less auditory students I wrote the instructions on the board, and listed specific topics that students should review. I gave them about 10 minutes to discuss their learning with a partner. As I was walking around encouraging focused talk, I noticed that most students were quizzing each other. One pair had covered the names of the lab equipment showing only the picture and they were testing each other to see if they have learned the names. Another pair was engaged in reading statements out loud and asking each other if the statement represented a chemical of a physical change. There was one pair that was disengaged, and talking quietly about something else. This was JZ and his partner ZD - they said that they had finished reviewing. They rushed through their review, so I kneeled beside them and explained why I am doing this exercise with them and the importance of this for their learning. After I was done with my little chat, the boys began testing each other. Furthermore, TM, who is my other target student, skipped my class yesterday, and so he was behind on the concepts of chemical and physical changes. He also did not do the homework. But TM sits with MA, who is a Level 4 student. A few days ago I asked MA to be a role model for TM, and to encourage him to do his work and to engage TM in science talk whenever we have paired discussions. I noticed today that MA was making an effort to help TM to catch up. One boy, TA, decided that he would not review with his partner, and instead he would just study by himself. I learned that paired review may not be effective for everyone. Some students simply prefer to study alone, which is also fine. In the case of this one boy though, he recognizes that he is lacking in some team work skills (he filled out his self-assessment today rating his teamwork as satisfactory and commenting that he does not always work well with others), and so he might need some positive encouragement. Also I have switched parters around so TA is with someone new, and being a quiet kid it might take him some time to open up. He worked well with his last partner but even that took a few weeks. I will have to keep an eye on him. I also noticed today that PC was disappointed at the fact that she forgot to do her homework twice in a row - this lack of doing her work reflected on her quiz, and when she self-evaluated she noted that she needs improvement. The idea of student self-reflections following any kind of summative assessment is generating some real excitement for me. I am noticing that many students are being very honest about their performance, and also I am able to find out which students have skewed perceptions about their learning. For example, SJ rated herself as excellent in taking initiative, yet she is the most quiet, and reluctant participant in the class. Maybe she does not understand what "initiative" means? Or she really thinks that she is taking excellent initiative, in which case I better explain or model to her what taking initiative means. I just marked the quizzes that students wrote today and the average was a staggering 86%!!!! Since I am learning more about my students (and more is revealed through formative and summative assessment), I have decided to follow SJ as one of my target students along with two others: JZ and TM! PC is the forth candidate as my target learning student in this study! Both SJ and PC failed their quizzes, while everyone else scored above 70 per cent! | ||
October 8, 2009 Grade 9 Applied Science "The Day The Whole School Knew What We Were Doing" It was a bight and shiny day. The sun was out and there was not a cloud in the sky. I planned a fantastic lesson for my students. I had it all figured out! First I was going to use Think/Pair/Share to get my students to review yesterday's lesson, then I was going to move into a series of demonstrations which students would classify as physical or chemical changes. What better way to teach students the difference between physical and chemical changes than to show them a few catch "firey" demos! The class started at 11:00 AM, and at about 11:05 I asked the students to stand up and and line up in two rows facing each other. I asked them to stand close enough to their partner so that they would be able to have some 'face-to-face promotive interaction'. The partners picked a letter A or B, then I asked that letter A starts to tell letter B whatever he/she remembers from yesterday lessons. B would listen! When I said "pass" B would continue. After about a few minutes of this TPS review, I asked the students to stop. I followed the TPS activity with a few review questions. Most students were very eager to answer my questions, however there were a few that didn't know the answer. When I asked SJ to give me an example of a physical property she did not know, but MR was quick to help her out with an answer. We reviewed yesterday's key learning points chronologically. Following the TPS review activity, I handed out science journals and asked the students to make a T-chart. On one side of the T-chart they wrote Chemical Changes, and on the other Physical Changes. I should mention that I was dressed in my white lab coat wearing a molecular model hat. All of this was to excite the students about what I was trying to do! I began with the first demo. I ripped a piece of paper and asked the kids to tell me what kind of change that was. Once we determined that it was a physical change, I wrote this on the black board while the students copied it in their science journals. For the next demo I burned a piece of paper, and asked them to predict what kind of change this was. Most kids were quick to respond with "It's a chemical change!" Once again, I wrote this on the black board. After a few other exciting demos (turning "water" into "wine", and the "traffic light" demo) I decided that I would burn lithium chloride in ethanol. Now I should mention that I am doing all of this in a portable classroon and not a proper science class, where I am normally used to doing these kids of demos. The ceilings in the portables are very low and there is one fire alarm detector in the center of the ceiling, which I noticed yesterday. After setting lithium chloride and ethanol on fire with a match, we watched it burn in a 500 mL beaker. The kids were in an awe over the astonishing red flame that was produced as a result of lithium chloride burning. However, I placed the beaker on the aluminum foil on a desk directly under the fire detector. I didn't think that this would activate the alarm! As we stared into the mesmerizing hues coming from the flames, the fire alarm blasted our eardrums!!! I looked up and immediately saw that the red blinking light on the fire alarm sensor was flashing, and I knew that we set off the alarm. With 25 minutes before the end of the lesson, everyone evacuated the portable classroom. In fact, the whole school came out!!!!!! I rushed to the main office and on my way saw Mr. Freier with two police officers walking down the main hallway, so I interrupted them and said: "It was me! I set the alarm off." As we walked out the back door towards the portable the Arts teachers cheered me on saying: "That's the way we teach around here!" There was no need for the fire trucks even though they arrived anyways. One of the custodians reset the panel and after about 15 minutes all the kids were back in their classes, including my own students, who immediately asked me: "Sir, we saw you with the police. Did you get into trouble?" One student exclaimed :"Mr. K, thank you for the fire alarm! That was cool!" Although I appreciated his enthusiasm and the thrill of the situation, I had to explain to kids that we must make the best of every situation, and that this was a learning experience for me. I continued my lesson by writing evidences of chemical changes on the black board, while the kids copied it in their notes. I ended the lesson by saying: "This is the lesson that you will never forget, because the whole school got involved!" I wonder how they will do tomorrow's quiz! | ||
October 7, 2009 Grade 9 Applied Science The objectives of today's lesson were: (i) to teach students about physical properties through hands-on inquiry and think/pair/share tactic (ii) to distinguish between physical and chemical properties through concept attainment (iii) to teach about physical and chemical changes through visual demonstration Students worked with a partner to complete Physical Properties Lab which consisted of 12 stations. At each station was a different substance in a beaker or a flask. Students in pairs had to move around the room from station to station and fill in a table. They had to indicate the state of the substance, colour, hardness and lustre, and then predict the identity of the substance based on their observations and past experience/knowledge. The activity went very well. Student moved in a orderly fashion completing the observation table. It took about 45 minutes to complete the activity. One of my target students that I am observing for this research did not have his table with him. He was just walking around the room following his partner. As soon as I realized that he was not filling in the table, I pulled him aside and explained to him that he should also fill in the observations. The student listened and followed my instructions. After this activity, I wrote the identity of each substance at the back of the card which sat at each of the 12 stations. When kids were done answering discussion questions I asked them to get up again and check if their predictions match with the true identity of each substance. This was an exciting part of the lesson, since many kids were very eager to see how many substances they guessed correctly. After handing in the lab, I showed the kids demo of burning copper sulfate and magnesium, which produced green flame and white light, respectively. This was a nice treat for the kids after completing the lab. Following the demos during which they only observed, I used Concept Attainment to teach students the difference between physical and chemical properties. I put two sets of data, a focus statement and five testers on the blackboard. I first asked the kids to copy the CA data in their notes, and then to work with the partner (Think/Pair/Share) to try to figure out the concept. A couple of pairs got the concept very quickly, and few pairs were not sure what to do, so I explained again. One of my students, let's call her "SJ" simply copied whatever else her partner had, so I explained to her that she should try to think on her own, then share her idea with her partner. SJ is a very quiet and shy girl. I took up the CA activity and explained physical properties and chemical properties by listing examples of each on the black board, while the students watched and listened, then copied examples of PPs, and CPs in their notes. The activity in the workbook followed, but I realized that activity in the workbook was not so great since it had confused the properties with changes. Although these two concepts are related, they are different, however, the exercise in the workbook on page 14 did not seem to make that distinction clear. After completing the exercise in the workbook I took up the answers with the class. With about 15 minutes into the class I asked the students if they think there is a difference between PROPERTIES and CHANGES. If they thought that there was a difference between the two, they would go to the AGREE part of the room, and if they thought that there was no difference they would move to the DISAGREE part of the room. And if they simply did not know, they would remain seated. Of the 17 kids, 1 AGREED, 4 DISAGREED and the rest sat. This indicated to me that perhaps kids didn't quiet understand my question. That' the feeling I got. I tried to introduce another concept, in this case the concept of PHYSICAL and CHEMICAL change by posing a question. I asked the kids who stood up to explain their decision. One girl though that properties and changes were different, while one student (SL) explained using an analogy how properties and changes are different. I asked the kids to sit down and then I showed the them the demo of ripping a piece of paper (an example of physical change) followed by burning that paper (chemical change). The visual demo helped the kids understand the difference between physical and chemical changes. I also referred back to physical properties describing the piece of paper ("It's yellow - physical property") and it's flammable (chemical property). Then, I made a distinction between properties and changes. Finally, I asked the students to complete an exercise in their workbook with 10 minutes to the end of the class. Those who did not finish the exercise took the workbooks home to finish it for homework. |
Mirjan |
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