Week 2 Reflection

As we went into this week I knew my students would need a break from the research paper. Thinking back to my days teaching Earth Science I knew an activity looking at rock layers would be helpful in not only giving the students a chance to learn more about a related topic, but also in thinking about how so many things in science are organized by patterns. 

I really felt like this supplemental activity was perfect for the break in the task I wanted and will definitely include more similar activities to bring in related topics and to add some variation in class.

I also have tried to break up the days by discussing skills and expectations throughout. These have included mini lessons on evaluating resources and creating thinking maps and will later on include lessons on citations and creating presentations. All of these are skills the students have learned in the past, but can be helpful to review.

The research for my students has been going well. I've had a few students change topics as they realized they were not finding enough information to support their thoughts or find an answer, but all together they are developing some great information for their final papers. Having the project be so supported by class time allows me to be there throughout the process to answer questions and gives me a chance to really keep track of their progress as they are working. I found that for me, making a seating chart with their questions was critical (as I don't think I could have remembered all 244 without it). I plan on also using a seating chart in the future to make my own notes about students progress through the tasks, but haven't found that necessary for this task.

I've also had to keep organized in checking off the students' progress through the tasks as this information doesn't go into the grade book until I enter a final score at the end. With the task not having definite due dates, I have different students at all different points in the process. Using a check off sheet that included each task has helped me quickly see, not just where each student is, but also how far the class as a whole is with the project.

The numbers show me their score on the peer evaluation, and then the score from their rubric. I initially highlighted the students who had not yet reached mastery with the initial background information worksheet, but from then on I highlighted those who reached mastery. My hope is that by keeping both sets of information it will help give us more insight into their progress during parent-teacher conferences.