Teaching Practicum Portfolio
Megan Brady
My Educational Philosophy
All students deserve a quality education, and all students, regardless of their background, have the ability to succeed in science if given the proper support. I feel that it is my duty as an educator to provide students with these supports as well as the encouragement necessary to grasp fundamental science topics. I also believe strongly in the power of engaging students in science and motivating them to ask questions about the world around them. Through the development of this investigative and critical thinking, students learn how to think like scientists and gain important life skills that will aid them in all of their future endeavors.
Personal + Professional Growth
Through this practicum, I developed greater confidence in my abilities as a teacher and my actions. In the classroom, one has to make split-second decisions about how to respond to questions, what concepts to reinforce, and how to handle any unexpected situations that may arise. Prior to my student teaching, I would second-guess many of the decisions I made, at the expense of time and stress. However, being a teacher means being responsible for over 100 students between one's classes and making the best decisions for those students within a brief period time. I feel that students need to see that their teacher is calm and competent in the face of any questions, internet difficulties, or behavioral distractions from class to feel safe in the classroom. As a result, I learned very early in my student teaching how make both minor and major decisions more efficiently and with greater confidence that I was choosing correctly.
Professional Culture
Completing my student teaching practicum during the time of remote learning at first seemed to be a terrible decision. However, it taught me a valuable lesson about the importance of professional cooperation in education. Remote learning was a new and unexpected challenge for all teachers and students, and it required strong problem-solving and creativity to be effective. Two cluster meetings were held each week with all of the teachers and administrators responsible for our group of students. Each week, one meeting of these meetings, focused on the social and emotional well-being of our students, and were often spent figuring out how to reach out to students who seemed to be struggling and how to provide support to these students in the online environment. Additionally, weekly science department meetings were spent collaborating and sharing ideas and plans for lessons, as well as various tools that could be beneficial in the online environment. This culture of teamwork allowed fellow teachers to support one another, as well as better support the students.
How Can Teachers Impact Students?
Throughout my student teaching, students would occasionally tell me, "I'm bad at science," or "I'm not good enough to be a scientist." These comments always caught me off-guard as the students who said them were often those who asked the most questions during class, and they felt that asking questions to better understand the content meant that they were not "prodigious enough" to be involved in STEM. For too long, these students have been told that those in STEM get straight A's in school and understand scientific concepts immediately. Additionally, in a school composed largely of minority students, most of these students have never seen themselves represented among the famous scientists and mathematicians talked about in school. This being the case, most of my students felt that they could never be "good" at STEM. [8] [10] [20] [21]
I feel that it is the duty of all science teachers to redefine what it means to be scientist. By doing so, teachers can encourage students who have been told by society's image of a scientist that they cannot succeed in STEM, that, by asking questions and thinking critically, these students can become the great scientists and engineers of the future. Once I realized how my students felt about STEM, I began referring to them as scientists. If they were completing an activity that involved critical thinking or brainstorming new solutions, those activities became opportunities to "think like a scientist/engineer." I strongly encouraged asking questions to clarify the material or draw conjectures about what they were learning. My students learned how to come to their own conclusions about the information that was presented, jumping straight to the point of the lesson just after introducing a concept, and feel more confident in their scientific abilities. Over time, I watched students' comments change from "I'm not good enough at science to be a marine biologist when I grow up" to "I can't decide if I want to be a marine biologist or a forensic scientist when I grow up." [1]
Professional Goal
My professional practice goal during my student teaching was to better meet the diverse needs of my students, especially by supporting the English Language Learners in the online environment. While I feel that I achieved this goal to the best of my ability given the difficulties of remote learning, especially through encouraging the use of translated captions and breaking down the roots of vocabulary, I would like to work towards this goal more in the future. One way I can work towards this goal is through including more hands-on learning activities in my lessons. Hands-on activities were nearly impossible to include in the online environment, however, the effect of their absence was keenly felt, especially for supporting ELLs and students who need a more active style of learning. I feel that continuing to develop my abilities to meet diverse needs in the future will make me a much stronger teacher.