Signs of Science Fun

So, for my final for Science there were a few things we had to fill out, and one of them was a reflective question on how I have grown as a science teacher over the semester. I felt like my response was interesting to read, and somewhat surprising, so I thought I would post it. Feel free to skip over it, I just felt like posting it for those who understand education and would enjoy reading it :) Another fun post will be coming soon, so stay tuned!

Brittany

I can remember back to the beginning of this semester when I first entered room 242 for the class, Teaching Science K-6. I was nervous out of my mind and excited was the last word I would have used to describe myself at that moment. I remember Dr. Staples handing us a Science Efficacy Belief survey and a copy of a sheet where she instructed us to “draw a picture of ourselves as a science teacher at work.” I remember laughing to myself at both of these assignments because at the time, I hated science. I personally had never liked science in school, and I certainly did not feel qualified to teach it to students. I answered the questions on the survey as best I could and I drew a dysfunctional picture of myself attempting to teach science to a class full of students. Little did I know that in a matter of months, my opinion of science would completely change.
    As I began to learn more and more in the methods class, I saw myself enjoying science more and learning new concepts, but I still doubted my ability to teach students these same concepts. I loved the random experiments we did in class, starting with the “Save Fred” experiment and ending with the “Meal Worm” experimentation. Each day I found myself learning more and more about science, and I slowly began to realize it wasn’t as bad as I had always perceived it to be. When our Literacy Practicum was over I got nervous again, because I knew this meant the Science Practicum was about to begin.
    I was in charge of the Explain phase for our first lesson we gave the 4th graders on Nutrition. I spent hours over spring break reading over my notes and practicing in my head exactly how I would relay this information to the students so they would not only understand it, but also have fun with it at the same time. The day finally arrived where we were to go to Ogden and give the lesson and I was nervous/scared/anxious out of my mind! I had to keep telling myself to stop over thinking it and just stand up there in front of them and do what I knew I was capable of doing. As I began talking, within minutes I got into my “teaching groove” and the rest was history. The lesson went off without a hitch and the students loved it. It was such a proud moment for me as a pre-service teacher when the students handed me their worksheets and I saw the final product. Every paper had tons of scratched out calculations written in the margins, and each answer was spot on. I knew they had learned something from me that day, and I was so proud of myself.
    As the semester went on, we gave more and more lessons and I saw what it meant to be a team player. It took the work of each of my team members contributing to make for a well written, age appropriate lesson and a well-executed lesson within the classroom. I had to heavily rely on my team members to help me gather materials and explain any foreign concepts before we began teaching. My team and I worked so well together and they taught me so much about team planning and learning to be flexible (which is a quality all good teachers must possess, or so I hear ☺).
    I was in charge of writing our final lesson titled “The Mystery of Fruitvale’s Water Supply.” By this time, I felt extremely capable of writing a coherent, age appropriate lesson that elicited higher order thinking and conceptual understanding of the students. The written lesson got wonderful feedback from all parties involved, and I felt like I had accomplished so much in such a small amount of time.
    Overall, this semester helped me gain the confidence I needed to go out and be an effective science teacher. I hope I get the chance in the future to teach science to students in a different grade level, so my knowledge of science concepts and process skills will continue to expand.