Practicum Teaching Requirements



Practicum Project: Learning Science

The goal of this project is to apply and reflect on the strategies and big ideas we have discussed in class. The focus is on how students are learning science in your classroom. Please follow the sequence below:

1. Preparation

A. Contact your cooperating teacher early in the quarter and ask him/her when you will be able to teach this quarter, what topic you will likely be addressing with the students, and how many lessons (or days) you will be teaching (at least three consecutive lessons with the same class of students).

B. Prepare a series of lesson plans (typically about three days worth). Use the same format we have used for microteaching.

C. Schedule a pre-conference with the TA if you have questions about your lessons before teaching.

2. Doing the teaching & collecting data

A. Make the necessary arrangements with your cooperating teachers for teaching the lessons. If you can coordinate this with one of your University Supervisor’s visits, this would be ideal!

B. In order to complete the practicum project you will need to collect data during your lessons:

1. Collect samples of student dialogue. When students are working in groups try to listen in on their conversations and jot down some notes on what was said, who said it, and how the group develops scientific ideas together. Your notes do not need to be word-for-word. Just try and capture key words and a flavor for what seemed to support scientific idea development. For ideas on what to listen for and how to prepare data sheets ahead of time, think about how you collected data during our session on group work. On the data sheet include a short paragraph on why you chose to collect that data.

2. Collect sample student work from all students in 1 class period. Photocopy the students work and remove at least their last name from their work. For each student you should have copies of 1 assessment of prior knowledge and 1 assessment of learning related to the lessons you taught (this doe not necessarily have to be one that you gave to the students).

3. Make notes on the lesson plans & then revise your lesson plans

A. After teaching your lesson, please make notes in the margins to indicate

□ Strengths in your lessons

□ Surprises that you encountered

□ Concerns that you have

□ Include not only notes about “how smoothly” things went (or didn’t), but also about what you learned about student thinking

B. Revise lesson plans in a different font color based on your notes.

4. Student Learning Reflection; Respond to the following questions

Review your lessons & samples of student work/discourse and please answer the following 3 questions. We recognize that you may have little choice in what or how you teach during your field experience and we will not evaluate these answers based on how or what was actually taught. You will be evaluated on the degree to which you incorporate ideas we have learned about in class & the degree to which you use examples from the student work in your responses. (4 typed pages, 12 font, double-spaced)

1. Choose one of the teaching strategies we learned last quarter. Which strategy was incorporated into your lesson and how effective was it? OR Which strategy could have been incorporated into your lesson and in what way? Use evidence from student work and from your lesson to support your answer. Your answer should also provide evidence that you understand the goals for the strategy you chose (see handouts from last quarter or website).

▪ 3 Strategies: eliciting students’ ideas, direct instruction, guided exploration

2. Review the 5 phases of inquiry. Were their parts of your lessons that emphasized or supported any of the 5 inquiry phases?

If so, what were they and what do you think your students learned?

If not, how would you re-conceptualize this lesson such that it could be a part of a larger inquiry project?

Use evidence from student work (if applicable) and from your lesson to support your answer. Your answer should also provide evidence that you understand the phases of inquiry (see handout or website).

3. Choose one of your objectives for the lesson and describe how you know that your students worked toward or mastered that objective. If your students did not display evidence of learning, what might you do differently next time? Use evidence from student work/discourse and from your lesson to support your answer.

DUE DATE: Your practicum project is due to the TA within 1 week following the last week of your field experience.

Check list: Please place in this order & label each piece.

□ Student Learning Reflection (4 typed pages, 12 font, double-spaced)

□ Revised lesson plans

□ Photocopies of sample student work from all students in 1 class period (1 assessment of prior knowledge and 1 assessment of learning)

□ Notes on student discourse during your lessons

Name:

Practicum Project Rubric

| |Performance level 4 |Performance level 3 |Performance level 2 |Performance level 1 |

|Student Learning |Answers strongly & clearly |Answers clearly relate to |Answers relate to content in |Answers are purely descriptive |

|Reflection |relate to content in this |content in this course |this course (strategies, |& lack thoughtful reflection on|

| |course (strategies, inquiry, |(strategies, inquiry, |inquiry, objectives) yet the |student work/discourse and on |

| |objectives) & provide clear |objectives) & provide examples |connections are not |the content from this course |

| |examples of this relationship; |of this relationship; Answers |well-formulated and do not | |

| |Answers strongly integrate a |integrate a reflection on |provide clear examples; Answers| |

| |reflection on student |student work/discourse & |weakly integrate a reflection | |

| |work/discourse & lesson |lesson |on student work/discourse & | |

| | | |lesson | |

|3 revised lesson plans |Lesson plans contain all |Lesson plans contain all |Lesson plans contain all |Lesson plans do not contain all|

| |components; changes to lesson |components; changes to lesson |components; changes to lesson |components; reflections are not|

| |show reflection on both topics |show some connections to topics|show loose connections to |based on topics covered in |

| |we have covered in class and |we have covered in class and |topics we have covered in class|class nor student data |

| |modifications based on student |modifications based on student |and modifications based on | |

| |data |data |student data | |

|DATA: Pre & Post |Documentation of Pre & Post |Documentation of Pre & Post |Documentation of Pre & Post |Little documentation provided, |

|assessment for all |assessment for all students in |assessment for all students in |assessment for all students in |little to no analysis work was |

|students in 1 class |1 class is included; evidence |1 class is included; evidence |1 class is included; little |done |

| |of analysis of student work is |of some analysis of student |evidence of analysis of student| |

| |included |work is included |work is included | |

|DATA: Notes on student |Data sheets indicate that the |Data sheets indicate that the |Data sheets lack foresight |There is little evidence of |

|discourse |teacher thought ahead of time |teacher thought ahead of time |and/or have weak rationale. |student discourse data |

| |of what data should be |of what data should be |Minimal data was collected. |collected and analyzed. |

| |collected and WHY. (Data that |collected but rationale is not | | |

| |was not planned for may perhaps|specified. There is evidence | | |

| |be more interesting and should |that analysis of some type was | | |

| |also be included.) There is |performed on the data | | |

| |evidence that analysis of some |collected. | | |

| |type was performed on the data | | | |

| |collected. | | | |

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download