Class Reflections

Initial Reflection-

I believe that my strengths as a student are that I work hard and always get what is needed done. Even if I have to stay up late or do homework when I want to be doing other things, I'll always get my work finished and completed as needed. However, I would say that my weakness is getting stressed and overwhelmed easily. If I don't understand a topic as quickly as I feel that I should then I'll feel very down, get upset, and I tend to stress over school a lot. As teacher, I think my strengths would be that I'm very social and empathetic so I would connect with my students very well because I'm a people person. Regarding my weaknesses, I think the hard part for me would be planning out everything I need to teach my students and how I would do that. It seems a bit overwhelming to have so many different subjects to teach young children and needing them to grasp it all within the time span I'm given, as well as being creative with how I teach it. I honestly don't feel confident right now at all with teaching earth science, because I haven't taken an earth science class in several years so I definitely need to brush up on those skills during my semester in this class. However, I feel confident that with time I'll be able to understand everything I need to by the end of this course so that I am able to teach earth science to my students. What I would feel nervous about though with teaching earth science to younger students is like with other subjects, that they won't understand it from the way I teach it and that I'll struggle to figure out a way to get them to understand it. My SMART goal for this class is to understand all of the topics we learn well enough, to be able to teach it or explain it to someone else. I don't need to be a genius in every topic, but I want to have a thorough enough understanding to where I could teach it to someone who knows nothing about the topic. If this were a graded class my goal would definitely be an A, because when it comes to school I always strive for an A. However, this class doesn't have grades so I will be working towards learning the material as best as I can. Specific steps I will be taking to achieve this goal is to study at least one hour outside of class every weekday, and if I don't understand certain topics well enough then I'll ask more questions and study more on that topic until I feel I could teach it to someone else. A good way to assess my growth in this class I think would be the explanations I'm able to give when asked about each topic. Either comparing my written explanation of each topic from how I did it at the beginning of the semester versus the end of the semester. Or, verbally to you (my professor) explaining my knowledge on all of our topics in each reflection meeting so that you can see my improved knowledge, or lack there of. My thoughts going into the semester regarding the topic of ungrading is that I like it, and I'm excited to have a class where I won't feel constantly stressed on whether my grade is rising or dropping. I think it'll be a completely new experience and I'm very excited to try it out, because if I really enjoy it by the end of the semester then it may be something I think about doing for when I become a teacher. However, the only thing I would say that I am nervous about regarding ungrading is that I won't know where I'm at throughout the semester. For example, when I have a letter grade and I have a B near the end of the semester, then I focus on doing what needs to be done to get my grade up to an A. We are still going to get a grade at the end of the semester, and I just don't want to think I'll end up with an A because in my mind I was working hard and understanding everything well, but then receive a B because it wasn't the same in your eyes but I didn't know that.

Mid Term Reflection-

You

Where do you think you have exhibited your personal strengths in this class?

I think my personal strength in this class would be in my teaching presentations. I feel confident with speaking in front of an audience, and I felt good about the activities I used to help the class better understand the material. Since I'm going to be teaching everyday once I start my career, I think this is a good strength to have and having our teaching presentations in this class has helped me grow in my confidence with this.

Where do you think you are weakest?

I think I'm weakest when it comes to the memorization of identifying the different rocks and minerals. It's easier for me to look at more generalized topics such as how metamorphic rocks are made, rather than remembering what Olivine looks like and how hard it is, along with many other rocks and minerals. 2

Goals

When you look back at the goals you set for yourself at the beginning, how do you feel you are coming on them?

I feel that I have been doing well with the goals as I feel comfortable with the topics we've been learning, and I understand the material well. My goal was to not be perfect in every subject, but to have a good understanding of each topic to where I know the general information and feel confident that I could teach others the subject. Although there are some topics I don't know as well as others, I try to use the labs to help with my understanding, watching the linked videos, etc.

- How often have you been present in class? How focused on what is happening in class have you consistently been?

I have done well to make sure I am always present in class and haven't missed any classes. Although on our longer days that includes lecture and lab my mind tends to wander after a few hours, I stay focused pretty consistently. When my mind starts to wander I'll take a quick break from the activity so I'm not just staring at my paper blankly, and this helps a lot. I am always paying attention in class however, and feel as though I'm engaged with the class and typically only use my phone when I'm taking a break.

- How many hours a week do you typically spend on this class? When thinking about your progress in this class, do you feel it is enough?

I typically spend around 4 hours per week on this class outside of the classroom, which I feel is good progress when my goal was 5 hours. I wanted to work on this class with studying and my e-portfolio to where I have a good understanding of the material, and a strong e-portfolio that will benefit me in my teaching career. If I feel as though I'm accomplishing my goal of understanding the material and having a good e-portfolio, then I have accomplished my goal because that's why I'm setting aside a certain amount of time to focus on this class.

Looking at your work in this class, what letter grade would you give yourself?

I would give myself an A, because I have turned in all of my work and worked hard on all of it. If I had turned it in and got a few questions wrong that I needed to fix, I always went back and fixed my assignment and asked questions on how I could do better.

Now that you have had a chance to contemplate your focus, time, and performance in this class, is there anything that you are planning to change for the rest of the semester?

I think I'll try and work on my e-portfolio's the same week we learn about them. Starting the semester I had wanted to do this but had a lot on my plate with work and my other classes. However, now that I've been doing this for a while and I have a hang of things, I can work on my portfolio's more often because know when I will have time to work on it. I think it will benefit me for the future when I go back and look at my resources, because I'll usually work on a few topics at a time rather than one topic by itself for a while. I want each topic to have the best resources possible, so working on them separately will help with this.

Teaching

How do you feel your comfort level with teaching earth science has been impacted by class so far?

I think my comfort level with teaching earth science has definitely improved, especially in the sense that we teach it as if we are talking to elementary students because those will be my students in the future. In the sense of teaching younger students, I have looked at a lot of fun activities I could possibly do with the students to help them understand the material better, and it's honestly helped me as well. Being able to do fun things and not only lecture has been something I've enjoyed a lot. I have always shied away from earth science, but now that I've been needing to teach it and in taking this class I feel a lot more comfortable in the subject.

How do you feel about your eportfolio and what you've built there so far?

I feel good about my e-portfolio and like I have good resources, and having the first feedback session helped me a lot in realizing what I need to fix and how I needed to have a bit more to really help me in the future.

Other

Is there anything else you would like to share regarding how you feel things are going at this point in the class?

I think I'm definitely understanding the material better than I thought I was going to. I have always struggled in science and didn't find it as interesting as the other subjects, but I have been doing I feel in this class. I think the ungrading brings down a lot of my stress so I don't feel nervous going to class, and our lectures and labs really do help me understand the material better.

Final reflection-

Class/Teacher Interaction

For what percent of our classes were you present for?

98% and I only missed one class period. This was also on a lecture day, so I did not miss lab.

When you think back to your presence in class, what percent of the classes were you actively participatory in? (ie. not on your phone, talking, sleeping, etc.)

I think I was actively participatory for around 90% of class as I only went on my phone during breaks and sometimes while doing independent work. I also wouldn't sleep or talk to my classmates during important situations such as the lecture, presentations, etc. I think I did well on trying to actively pay attention and cut out distractions, but I wasn't always 100% engaged in always knowing what was going on or answering/asking questions

How many hours a week (on average), outside of class, did you study for/work on this class?

I think around 8 hours per week were spent studying or working on things for this class, outside of class.

How many times during the semester did you directly interact with me on an individual level? (ie. coming and asking questions, getting clarification, an inbox message, etc.)

During class I asked many questions to get clarification or help on things I did not understand several times during the semester. However, this was typically in person and I only sent one or two inbox messages.

How do you think that your participation with the class and me may have impacted your knowledge and growth in this class?

I think my participation helped grow my knowledge very well, because while giving and participating in our group presentations they actually helped me understand the topics much better. As well as talking with classmates during labs and working together, this also helped me understand everything a lot better than simply doing everything silently on my own. Asking you questions also helped a great deal as well.

Practice work

How many of the practice work assignments did you get a "complete" on?

How many of the practice work assignments did you get an "incomplete" on?

4, but they all included e-portfolio topics that I went back to and revised

How many of the practice work assignments did you not attempt?

I attempted all of them, except for one sheet of one of our labs that was optional

How many of the assignments that you did submit were submitted on time? (usually 1 week)

All of them except my radioactive dating lab

When you look at those numbers above and your knowledge of topics, how do you think that your participation with the practice work impacted your knowledge?

I think my participation with the practice work impacted my knowledge in a very positive way, as I tried my best to be engaged and I had a complete on almost all of my work. I can see a positive correlation between the two

ePortfolio

How soon into the semester did you get your eportfolio url created and submitted to me?

I had the url created and submitted on time, however I do not remember exactly when. I did however start my e-portfolio very soon into the semester as I started my e-portfolio right away.

How many objectives did you get submitted and receive feedback on throughout the semester?

All of them by students except for mass wasting, deserts, and fossils because I did not realize those were topics that needed to completed at the time. However, you have seen all of my topics and given me feedback on them.

How many objectives did you complete within the last 3 weeks?

All of the topics that were talked about in these past 3 weeks I have completed on time, and already had the other previous topics completed.

When you look at the answers above and your final product, how do you feel your eportfolio turned out and the impact that the answers may have had on its quality?

I feel good about my e-portfolio as I worked very hard on it, and it has a lot of great resources that I personally have found useful. I also think my answers have shown it's good quality as I have been working consistently on my portfolio and getting everything done on time, and for the most part each topic had what was needed on time as well.

Overall class

When you look at the overall class, the entire semester, what are you most proud of accomplishing during your time in this course?

I would say that I am most of proud of my improvement in teaching in front of the class. Going from being stressed and fearful over a 15 minute presentation to feeling confident with our hour long presentation made me feel very accomplished. I definitely felt a lot more confident, and better understood what to do the more times I was able to present.

When you look at the overall class, the entire semester, what is it that you most wish you could change or do differently?

I would say I wished that at the beginning I didn't save my e-portfolio's for last minute because that was stressful, and that I had asked more questions to completely understand how to do it. As time went on I got better with completing everything in a reasonable time frame and understood what to do, but it would have made things easier to understand it all completely from the beginning.

When you look at the overall class, the entire semester, what final grade would you give yourself based on your current knowledge of the class objectives?

I would give myself an A- or B+ based on knowledge alone as I know there are some topics that I don't understand as well as others, and I know should understand them all quite well. However, I did put in a lot of time and effort into my work and trying to understand everything.

Do you think that your grade would match the grade I would give you? Why or why not?

Yes, because I feel like we have communicated well and are on the same page. I feel like you can see when I am struggling and I ask for help, and I can see what you think of my work based on how you are grading it.

Final Thoughts

Any last thoughts/reflections/comments on your personal work/participation/growth in this class?

Nothing other than I really thought our group and individual presentations helped me grow a lot. It made me feel much more comfortable teaching in front of other people in a variety of ways, and I really enjoyed the environment of our classroom and how relaxed and accepting it was.