EDSS 541

READING REFLECTION #1

The general idea from all of the “Focus On” articles, is that teachers need to be aware of their students’ backgrounds and cultures to teach effectively. To simply teach to a generic student, does not provide the insights or connections that all students benefit from. These connections foster increased information retention and life long application. By ignoring the diverse nature of today’s classrooms we ignore our students’ individuality, and needs.

Asian/Pacific Islander:
-Recognize the cultural differences, and diversity of this enormous group. Include curriculum that highlights achievements, and contributions to world history and the advancement of knowledge. The A/PI population is increasing in the local areas, and additional emphasis should be paid to ensure inclusion, and understanding.

Latino:
-Instruction should be focused on cultural interrelation, and purpose for the instruction. Connections should be emphasized to demonstrate the connections of learning to school, community and family.

African American:
-Provide students with challenging and meaningful instruction. Hold all students to the same standards. Understand the student’s individual background, and their particular learning profiles. Connections should be made to culture, family, and community to promote the need for learning.

LGBTQ:
-Provide a safe environment where students do not have to worry about acceptance and tolerance. Show all students that the classroom is a caring and safe place, where negative or derogatory behavior will not be tolerated. Provide positive exposure to LGBTQ role models throughout the curriculum.

Native American:
-Tie curriculum to cultural richness and history. Acknowledge the infusion of Native American languages/words in our national vocabulary and naming convention.

Girls:
-Provide positive role models through instructional materials. Break down stereotypes, and deemphasize male/female roles in our culture. Ensure that educational materials represent contributions of females in math/science.


READING REFLECTION #2
Activity 7.1:
In discussing possible topics for our ITU Harry and I decided on the controversial subject of Hydraulic Fracturing, also known as "Fracking".  This subject should allow us to incorporate our two disciplines, as well as Social Science, and  English components. Although our two disciplinary focuses are Physics, and Earth/Planetary Science, we will come up with lesson plans that incorporate other potential disciplines (Social Science/Mathematics). 

7.2: Some Essential Questions for our theme:

What are the economic/environmental implications of tapping into this reserve of natural gas? 

This question explores the costs (both economic and environmental) in obtaining a potentially vast reserve of energy. Students will need to weigh benefits and costs (both realized and potential).

How is it possible to apply enough force to fracture a rock formation miles underground?  Which speaks to how fracking works and leads into the subjects of hydraulics, i.e. pressure, Pascal’s principal, how Pascal’s principle reflects the definition of work and how hydraulic systems relate to simple machines.

How does the greenhouse effect work?  Which speaks to the ecological implications of finding abundant new sources of cheap fossil fuels and leads into a whole range of Physics, possibly more than we can really cover.  Quantum theory, optics, the nature of light, the Bohr model of the atom are all needed to understand scattering and the greenhouse effect.  Or, we could leave it at “The Greenhouse Effect”.  

Where does electricity come from?  Which addresses both ecological and political/economic implications of  fracking by way of the fact that natural gas is the currently preferred fuel fior electrical generating plants.  A complete coverage of the question brings in thermodynamics and E&M as well as nuclear physics and solid state physics, if one goes so far as to cover nuclear and solar energy.

READING REFLECTION #3
Hard copies will be brought to class.

READING REFLECTION #4
The tasks that I would like to oversee and feel confident about are:

Task 1: Them for Interdisciplinary Thematic Unit

Task 3: Context Information- Community, School & Student Population

Task 4: Unit Rationale- Enduring understandings, Essential Questions

Task 7: Unit Calendar

Task 8 Technology Applications

Task 9: Art Component

EDSS 541 RR # 5
ITU Team Blog...

http://wmitu.blogspot.com/

READING REFLECTION #6

As teachers we should embrace new technologies and employ them in the best ways to benefits our students. Just as schools have moved from slide projectors to animated PowerPoint presentations, we must continue to search for technologies that can better communicate the information being presented. Much like life long learning, teachers cannot be satisfied with what has been used in the past. We must constantly seek out those cutting edge technologies that will make our teaching more effective. 

RR7: Identify the key elements and process for Service Learning.

Key Elements:

The text defines Service Learning as…

“Service Learning can be defined as a teaching method where guided or classroom learning is deepened through service to other in a process that provides structured time for reflection on the service experience and demonstration of the skills and knowledge acquired.”

Students will:

1. Apply academic, social, and personal skills to improve the community.
2. Make decisions that have real, not hypothetical results.
3. Grow as individuals, gain respect for peers, and increase civic participation.
4. Experience success no matter what their ability level.
5. Gain a deeper understanding of themselves, their community, and society.
6. Develop as leaders who take initiative, solve problems, work as a team, and demonstrate their abilities while and through helping others.

Although the service being provided is fundamental to the process, the involvement of students in the selection, planning and design of project/unit is critical.  Students need to drive the service learning experience as much as possible to truly benefit.

Different Kinds/Categories of Service:

1. Direct Service: Interactions are “person-to-person and face-to-face”.  The services being provided are through working with the recipients of that service.
2. Indirect Service: Benefit the community as a whole, but do not provide service to individuals.
3. Advocacy: To raise or create awareness about a particular issue.  This can take the form of meetings, letter writing campaigns, or any accepted method to raise public awareness about the selected issue.
4. Research: Student run investigation and activities that gather information about a particular issue that has public interest.  Students benefit by becoming knowledgeable on issues that they may have not been aware of, or passionate about prior to the service learning experience.

Process of Service Learning:

The text breaks down the process into four fundamental stages:

1. Preparation:

a) Identifying a need

b) Investigating and analyzing it

c) making a plan for action

2. Action:

            a) The direct result of the preparation and planning stage

            b) The manifestation of the idea

3. Reflection:

            a) Students consider the experience and understand how it increased their knowledge, and increased their skill set. Without reflection, there is simply action. The benefits are not understood, and growth is impaired.

5. Demonstration:

a) How the students provide evidence of their experience and learning. This can be accomplished through displays, performances, lectures, writings.  The demonstration phase should encompass all of the preceding stages to be truly effective.
 

RR8: LIST ideas and resources you can use for your Service Learning and ITU (Task 11).

1. Through establishing and volunteering for a local environmental clean-up project. This will allow students to understand the benefits, and costs of wasted energy in the form of trash. Emphasis will be placed on the requirements of creating products and objects that we regularly discard.

2. Through the blogging and pooling of ideas of alternate forms of energy.  This could become a school project, and could be incorporated into a kind of science fair for ideas on conservation, and creative forms of energy production.

3. Conduct a study on energy usage in their own community.  They can form a group that monitors and collects data regarding energy usage.  This can be tied to energy requirements, and production capabilities.  Then the students can project future usage by incorporating future population estimates. 

4. Students can attend local forums on energy production and the environmental concerns associated with each type of production method.

5. Students can work as a group to implement alternative energy production methods at their school site. This can be accomplished by incorporating known alternative methods of energy production (solar, wind…etc).

RR9: Begin your ethnographic research on your school site to complete your ethnography for EDSS 530 and to complete Task 3 for the ITU.

RBV School Data
Demographics of School: Total school enrollment and listed percentages of the total population by race	Total Enrollment 3,061 Black/African American:  4.0% American Indian/Alaska Native: 1.4% Filipino: 1.4% Asian: 3.2% Pacific Islander: 0.9% Hispanic/Latino:  45% White: 43% Two Races or More:  0.8%
Academic Progress Index (API) Scores: Base Year and Growth Year School scores and by ethnicity/subgroups Did groups/subgroups meet their targets? Please list targets and growth.	API: 771 (schoolwide) 2009 Score: 757 (Base) 2010 Score: Hispanic/Latino: 685 White: 832 School as a whole improved 14 points in API category from 2009 to 2010. Targets (All subgroups growth targets were met) Hispanic: 2009 API Score: 2010 API Score: 702 White: 2009 API Score: 832 2010 API Score: 847 Growth Target N/A because group is over 800. However, the scores did increase from 832 to 847 in 2010.
English Language Learners: (ELL) Population Total number/percentage and primary language group % What are the students’ primary languages?	15% of total population: Hispanic Language:  Spanish

RR10: Revise your team's Task 2: ITU Cover Sheet. Make sure you use the ITU assignment template and ppt to guide your work.

After reviewing both Harry’s and my cover sheets, we have decided that his encompasses the intent of the project better than mine, and we will be using his for the actual cover sheet.  We will continue to make edits to improve the communication of the intended message. 

READING RESPONSES INVOLVING ITU TASKS CAN BE ACCESSED AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS:
http://wrenchmaasitu.blogspot.com/


RR 11: Postponed 


RR 12: Incorporated in ITU site. Link shown above.

RR13: IDENTIFY what co-teaching approaches were modeled this week.

Supportive Co-teaching - where the one member of the team takes the lead role and the other member rotates among students to provide support

Parallel Co-teaching - where support personnel and the classroom teacher instruct different heterogeneous groups of students

Complementary Co-teaching - where a member of the co-teaching team does something to supplement or complement the instruction provided by the other member of the team (e.g., models note taking on a transparency, paraphrases the other co-teacher’s statements)

Team Teaching - where the members of the team co-teach along side one another and share responsibility for planning, teaching, and assessing the progress of all students in the class.

RR14: DESCRIBE the co-teaching approaches you will use in you ITU (Task 5).

Team: On days that Harry and I have decided to combine the Physics and Earth Science classes we will be using the Team model for areas not specifically designated for Complementary co-teaching.

Complementary: As with the Team model of co-teaching, we will be incorporating the Complementary model during the days that we will combine the two classes. The Complementary model will be utilized primarily during lectures. One teacher will act as the lead, and the other teacher will provide additional input, or visual reinforcement of the concepts being covered. This may be in the form of writing out notes on the board, or a visual demonstration.

RR 15: DESCRIBE in your lesson plans who, what when, how and why in regards to the co-teaching approaches (Task 7)

-Covered in ITU lesson plans.

RR 16:

Identify the 5 components of Cooperative Learning

Positive Interdependence: Students are provided the opportunities to work in groups and understand their individual roles in accomplishing the group’s goal. They interact and rely on each other for the group’s success.

Individual and Group accountability: Not only are students responsible for their own assignments, and parts of the group project, they must ensure that the other members of the group understand what is expected, and assist them in achieving understanding of the subject.

Group Processing: Students reflect, during and after the project to look at how they worked together.  This reflection is critical to improve the next group assignment.

Social Skills: Anytime students are working together cooperatively, they are building their social skills.  They understand what actions and attitudes are beneficial and which ones are detrimental to the process.    

Face to Face interaction: Best in small groups, this interaction allows students to work and bond as individuals.  

RR 17:

The primary method of incorporating cooperative learning in our ITU will be through labs, and group projects. The group projects will be the final assessment for the ITU.  This project will require the students to work in small groups to create a poster showing their understandings of the hydraulic fracturing process, and incorporate this information to depict its effects on particular areas/demographics.  This poster project can be accomplished by using traditional poster making media, or electronically. There must be evidence of all students participating, and they will evaluate their group effectiveness, and note any issues that arose during the process. 

RR 18:

INCORPORATE some of the lesson planning resources in your lessons and ITU.

Students will work in groups throughout the unit. They will conduct labs and projects in small cooperative groups to allow for collaboration and synergy. The final art project is a direct collaboration between two or more students depicting their overall understandings of the concepts presented within the unit of study. These activities are highlighted within the unit lesson plans.

*Incorporated into ITU lesson plans.

RR 19:

Identify strategies to differentiate assessment.

1.) Through the use of creative projects that demonstrate a student’s overall understanding of the content. This can be accomplished through visual media, such as posters, videos, digital animation.  As long as a well thought out rubric accompanies the assessment, students will have the greatest flexibility to express their understandings.

2.) Students can use comparison to demonstrate understanding. The teacher can ask them to group, or compare and contrast different concepts within the content being instructed, and assess the students’ knowledge through their relationships. This method should also incorporate explanations of the groupings, so that the student can show cognitive processes. 

RR20:

Identify 2-3 assessment strategies you can use in your unit.


-I intend to group students with others who can provide linguistic support, and assistance if needed. Additionally, students will be provided L1 information on key vocabulary to assist them with making connections in English. 


-Through the use of posters that demonstrate understandings of key concepts, students will not be restricted by L1/English difficulties. Students will be free to offer graphic representation of their ideas and knowledge. 

RR 20:

RR 21:

Identify how you can use these assessment strategies in TPA Tasks.


RR 24:

Point Paper for the inclusion of the hydraulic fracturing ITU into curriculum.

1.) Very low cost to implement. This unit should be able to be conducted without additional equipment or excessive expense to the school or families.

2.) Cross discipline benefits. This ITU can be incorporated in all disciplines with benefits increasing with additional implementation. Currently it is only being utilized in the science department. However, Social Science, English, and Math classes could effectively join in the ITU.

3.) Availability of resources: Most of the information needed by the students is available online, or within their texts. They can complete a study into hydraulic fracturing without additional acquisition of educational resources.

4.) This ITU relies heavily on group work, thereby assisting students with developing their social-academic interactions.

5.) This is a current topic. As we learn more about energy production through the hydraulic fracturing process, we can decide if the benefits outweigh the costs involved