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My teacher's work sample was a unit of study based on the Next Generation Science Standards. The overall section of the standard is Physical Science and the strand is Pushes and Pulls. The standard explains how students will draw concepts and processes in pushing, pulling, forcing, starting, stopping, directing, and redirecting. The performance expectation is physical science: Students can describe and understand what it means to push, pull, redirect, start, and stop certain objects. Students can demonstrate their knowledge and understanding through hands-on experiments and activities based on pushing, pulling, redirecting, starting, and stopping. This unit is taught over a week in a Kindergarten classroom at Fairfield Primary school.
When collecting information for my contextual factor analysis, I sent out parent/guardian surveys to gain information about each individual and their needs. 11 out of 12 students sent back their surveys and one key point that was asked was “what would you like to see your child improve on through the school year?” 9 out of 12 parents/guardians mentioned how their main goal was for their child to become more social and learn more life skills. I kept this in mind when planning this unit and have most of the work done in groups. This way students can collaborate with their peers and learn how to communicate different thoughts and ideas with one another. The fine and gross motor skills present in my classroom right now are either at an appropriate age level, or below the age level. This is another thing I kept in mind when planning this unit.
My CFA also shows how cognitively diverse these students are. Student number two has an IEP for ADHD. With this in mind, there is a lot of movement and physical activity where he can let out more energy before settling down for the next lesson. I also have students who have not had much exposure to experiences and hands-on activities in a large space so this will allow them to experience a new way of learning.
As far as how I planned for instruction, I wanted to try to push the students in a direction that may feel unfamiliar to them. I did this by stretching them out of their comfort zone. The students had a hard time with direction and routines at the start of the school year and now they are starting to get more comfortable with their jobs throughout the day. My goal now is to further the students learning by giving them more opportunities through different ways of work. Rather than desk work which they are more comfortable with, I want to stretch them more into hands-on science activities.
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