conclusions & implications for future practice
In conclusion, I am confident in saying that the data presented in this portfolio affirm my inquiry: discussion and collaboration facilitate student learning and development of scientific literacy skills. As my lessons have consistently intertwined biology factual knowledge with scientific literacy competencies, I believe that when most of my students reply that talking with others "definitely" helps them to better understand biology, they mean both the hard facts of biology as well as the scientific literacy competencies of explaining, evaluating, designing and interpreting scientific information. I found that my inquiry has generally supported my lesson planning strategy of using activities and discussions to introduce new topics and engage student interest in this topic, teaching content through a balance of direct instruction, groups projects/activities, and inquiry labs, and finally closing a unit with activities that allow students to investigate and discuss how the science topics of the unit relate to their own lives. I plan to continue this general format for my lessons, along with the use of collaborative activities and discussions.
In general, the major change I would make to my practice is the incorporation of more scaffolding of activities for my students, from the beginning of the school year onward. I found some aspects of scaffolding difficult to achieve this year, as I did not fully 'take over' the classroom for some classes until nearly into the second half of the year. In the future, I will make a concious effort to carefully scaffold and model certain activities (especially discussion activities) for my students before requiring them to perform the activities on their own. In particular, I believe that better implementation of this type of scaffolding would have greatly enhanced the data discussions that I attempted to have at the conclusion of inquiry labs as well as the peer review process that took place for the lactase lab reports and the cell projects. In addition to implementing the specific scaffolds mentioned previously in the paper, another specific scaffold that I would like to use with my students is something known as "Turn and Talk Coaching Cards." I learned about this resource from a presentation by Ms. Tatiana K. Lim-Breitbart of California College Preparatory Academy in Berkeley, CA. Ms. Lim-Breitbart's presentation, entitled "Fostering the 'I Don't Know the Answer, but I Think...' Classroom", took place at the National Science Teachers Association Conference on April 4, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. These coaching cards contain discussion starter prompts to guide academic discourse in the classroom. The cards can be used both by students with their teams to facilitate academic discourse and by teachers to help a student guide whole class academic discourse. Academic discourse in the classroom will not only help students construct scientific knowledge and practice scientific literacy skills but also prepare students for discourse in their future jobs and careers paths.
Overall, I realize that I am just beginning my journey as a reflective educator and I have a long way to go in redefining and refining my teaching philosophy. I am extremely excited to continue my inquiry and apply my research findings in my own classroom next year.
In general, the major change I would make to my practice is the incorporation of more scaffolding of activities for my students, from the beginning of the school year onward. I found some aspects of scaffolding difficult to achieve this year, as I did not fully 'take over' the classroom for some classes until nearly into the second half of the year. In the future, I will make a concious effort to carefully scaffold and model certain activities (especially discussion activities) for my students before requiring them to perform the activities on their own. In particular, I believe that better implementation of this type of scaffolding would have greatly enhanced the data discussions that I attempted to have at the conclusion of inquiry labs as well as the peer review process that took place for the lactase lab reports and the cell projects. In addition to implementing the specific scaffolds mentioned previously in the paper, another specific scaffold that I would like to use with my students is something known as "Turn and Talk Coaching Cards." I learned about this resource from a presentation by Ms. Tatiana K. Lim-Breitbart of California College Preparatory Academy in Berkeley, CA. Ms. Lim-Breitbart's presentation, entitled "Fostering the 'I Don't Know the Answer, but I Think...' Classroom", took place at the National Science Teachers Association Conference on April 4, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. These coaching cards contain discussion starter prompts to guide academic discourse in the classroom. The cards can be used both by students with their teams to facilitate academic discourse and by teachers to help a student guide whole class academic discourse. Academic discourse in the classroom will not only help students construct scientific knowledge and practice scientific literacy skills but also prepare students for discourse in their future jobs and careers paths.
Overall, I realize that I am just beginning my journey as a reflective educator and I have a long way to go in redefining and refining my teaching philosophy. I am extremely excited to continue my inquiry and apply my research findings in my own classroom next year.
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