I have worked on a committee that develops curriculum for the past twelve years. I am comfortable looking at benchmarks and standards and creating a lesson sequence that links concepts and uses the five E model. Someone may have thought this assignement would have been a piece of cake for me. That was definitely not the case. I spent a lot of time second guessing my content and I am still not sure that I hit the target using the STEM approach.
Instead of connecting my lesson plan to one of the Historical Perspectives, I designed the entire lesson around it. I chose Understanding Fire because it deals with chemical reactions which is part of the unit I am now teaching. I liked the way the standard describes the way students should know that there was a development of the science of chemistry from the time of Aristotle. Since our readings this week also dealt with historical and cultural perspectives, I thought my lesson would be a good way to see the progression of ideas and the way scientists built on the research of one another.
I use the Five E's when developing lesson sequences for my district. The difficulty I had with this assignment is that using all five of them requires several lessons instead of just one. As a result, my lesson turned into more of a project that will lastsseveral days. I am wondering if I took the lesson plan too far.
My other area of duress is the number of standards that I included. It seemed like I spent so much time trying to find all of the NSTA, NBPTS, NSES, and Project 2061 standards in addition to the state benchmarks that applied. I would get distracted by other links as I was trying to find the one that directed me to those standards.
My issues this week are the same ones I face each week. I wonder if I have enough information and then realize I've probably gone a bit overboard. That's probably true for this blog as well.
Hi Roesera, I am really impressed with your experience level. I am new as an educator. This is my second year teaching but my first year with Science. I also had trouble trying to fit everything into one lesson. The standards are what seemed somewhat overwhelming for me. I like the idea of showing the students how scientist built on the work and research of another. This in a sense displays or gives off a sense of teamwork or dependency, thus allowing the students to see that you can't do everything alone.
ReplyDeleteTeamwork makes the dream work,
Alana
Ann,
ReplyDeleteIs the committee you currently sit on deals just in science or does it encompass all content areas?
I like how you connected your lesson from the Historical Perspective context and you also provided insight to your students how science developed from the time of Aristotle.
One of the time consuming parameters is looking up the standards, especially the NBPTS. I did not know if the template was asking for, the Core Propositions or standards for a particular certificate area. I chose the latter after conferring with my wife, who assisted in the development of a couple of the certificate areas when she worked for the NBPTS.
I think we all contemplate the same issue, whether we have enough information. I do it every week with every discussion and application.
Ann,
ReplyDeleteOh, I am very much in the same basket with you. I spend so much time looking at the standards that I find myself often changing my plans for the lesson. If I could just choose the content for sure then this would be so much easier. I have to remind myself of what my instructors told me when I was getting my bachelors degree "Only pick a couple of the standards, not ALL!" If we could remember that I think we'd find this a much simpler process.
Also as teachers, we will always go above and beyond and make lessons much more involved than we need to. We want to make sure to hit every little aspect which means we often turn them into complete projects or even units by the time we are done.
Again, we need to learn so much ourselves, which is why we are here. :)
~Charity