Tammy Wilson

Long Practicum at Windermere Secondary

  • Day 1/2 linear program
  • one block of Science 8 (Fluids: Mass, Volume, Density, Buoyancy, Temperature, Pressure)
  • 3 blocks of Science 10 (atomic theory and Acids and Bases)
  • two blocks of Biology 11 (Evolution, Taxonomy, Viruses)
  • 5 students with learning disabilities, 10 students at varying levels of learning English.

Credo

I believe everyone has the ability to learn and should be given that opportunity. For students to be open to learning, it is important that a teacher build strong connections and create a safe and caring environment in the classroom.

Goal: To Maintain an Inclusive classroom:

Not all students learn the same way, offering a variety of teaching strategies benefits all students. Stronger students who finished early were encouraged to help weaker ones or were given the opportunity to work on homework quietly while the others observed more examples.
  • Respect: Began the class with my goals as a teacher is to help students learn. If someone doesn’t understand to let me know.
  • Employed Low key interventions like wait time, eye contact, proximity, new seating plan.
  • Building Connections and Fostering a Safe Environment through “Question of the Day” and “Getting to know you cards”.

Goal: To keep students engaged for learning to take place using
Student centered lessons with Demonstrations, Movement and Hands-on Acitivities

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 Labs, Demonstrations, Images:
  • Lava lamp to demonstrate how temperature affects density and buoyancy.
  • Dancing raisins –buoyancy (make a prediction)
  • Vinegar and baking soda – chemical reaction (and later law of conservation of mass)  Cartesian diver
 
 

Syringe lab – hydraulics/pressure

  • Jigsaw (the importance of pH, five agents of change driving evolution)
    • Collaborative, cooperative, discussions, identifying important points as a group.

  • Natural selection simulation: chopsticks, spoons, paper clip to pick up three different food sources.
Choices
  • Virus project: your goals for what students will learn and the objectives by which you will help them achieve those goals
 
 
 
 
 
Making it relevant
  • By demonstrating connectedness of everything around us
  • Many household items can be classified as either acidic or base
  • (importance of pH in the soil for plants, in our blood for our cells, in oceans
  • Pressure- atmospheric and oceanic pressure, hydraulics
  • Different densities of liquids will cause some to float on top of others helps us understand why oil spills are so dangerous to shore birds.
 
Inquiry
  • Fosters collaboration
  • Develops critical thinking and deeper understanding.
  • Problem solving skills
  • Eg. Law of Conservation of Mass, Build your own submarine

 
Critical Thinking
  • dihydrogen monoxide, H2O
  • Alien periodic table
 
 
Assessment
KWL, Think-Pair-Share, Five finger check in, Thumbs up/Thumbs Down, Ticket out the door, Discussions, Concept Map, posters, Scavenger Hunt Review, Kahoot! Password, Taboo, crossword puzzles.
 
 

 
Aboriginal Education
  • New partners are picked for each lab to foster collaborative community.
  • Storying telling (jigsaw, anecdotes, eg. three-legged chicken story).
  • Berries and vegetation, how invasive species affects and environmental changes like global warming, oil spills and damn building affect coastal communities who depend on local flora and fauna for sustenance.
 

Adapted and ELL
  • Visuals-Images, Demos, drawings
  • Notes are fill in the blank
  • Instructions both written and verbal
    • Visual representation for those that are distracted by surrounding noise or need more time to process information
    • benefits everyone

  • Reduced content complexity and amount
  • Open book tests with reduced choices on multiple choice tests
  • Supportive Learning Environment:
    • Students encouraged to work collaboratively during seat work. Students who finish early encouraged to help others. 
    • Adapted students are paired with stronger students.
    • Wait until everyone has their paper out. Point to spot.
    • Circulating directly to them.
    • Seating next to stronger students.
  • Additional instructional time during tutorial block
  • Other teaching strategies: eye contact, proximity, frequent check-ins.
  • Weebly Williams Syndrome
  • http://williamssyndrome426.weebly.com/
 


  • Homework Club

Technology
Library time and chrome books, Kahoot!, Images, Videos, animations, interactive sites, OneNote, writing tablet, PPT, Weebly.
  • Interactive video of comparative size of virus to bacteria: http://www.cellsalive.com/howbig_js.htm
  • Vampire finch video demonstrating adapation
  • Crash course videos for intros and summaries
  • Mythbusters video of meat man imploding to demonstrate the importance of pressure differential in deep sea diving
 

 
 
 



  • Class Dojo
  • CASEL.org
  • Schoology
  • FreshGrade