Post date: Jan 30, 2017 2:49:31 PM
In the Beginning:
In the past, I have had practicum student teachers who observed my class twice a week and taught 3 lessons. This is the first time I have had a student teacher. I had very high expectations for my student teacher. J (I will refer her to J to keep her identity anonymous) and I first met over the summer of 2016. We met at a local coffee shop to discuss the courses I teach, my syllabus, and pacing guide. My first impression of her was that she was excited, full of hope, and nervous all at the same time. I completely empathized with her, because I was in the same shoes several years ago.
As we talked about the pacing guide, she asked me why I teach chemistry in a relatively unconventional order. She noted that after teachers teach significant figure and review of scientific method they move on to the atoms, periodic table trends and naming; why do I go straight into moles, changes of matter and then stoichiometry. She made me go back through all the reasons why I changed my order so many years ago.
I stated that I originally did start teaching chemistry with the conventional order. At first, students did great and were getting the material because most of the material covered were conceptual. When we got to the second half of the course, more math was introduced to them, such as gas laws, molar conversions, stoichiometry. Students began to struggle with all the math being thrown in at the end. Many of them were unable to digest the information and had difficulties succeeding with assessments. Students who received As on the first half of the course were now getting Cs, Ds, and Fs on assessments.
So, during a PLC (Professional Learning Community), I discussed with other teachers in the county what they did. One teacher taught atoms the second semester and taught molar conversions plus gas laws in the fall semester. So, the next year, I decided to try moving the untis around and alternating the units with math heavy and concept heavy. By putting a lot of the math heavy sections in the first part of the course, I noticed that the students were able to master the math when introduced in the beginning. Also, I was able to have remediation with students that struggled and get them towards mastery of the math. By giving them the break from math every other unit, the students seemed less overwhelmed. This was more true with my students with weaker math skills.
She found that to be interesting and was nervous about teaching in an order that she was not used to. I told her it is ok to be uncomfortable with the order. She can try the order and then when she has her own class, she can determine her order. Unless she is at a school that has a very strong PLC and requires all teachers to teach in a specific order. Then, she'll have to make do to become comfortable with the order.
During the Process:
Post-Student Teacher: