The biggest way in which I grew, also related to how I was moving away from Modern Classroom style of teaching. As students would end up falling into the same routine, doing individual work, and having my role be more of a supporter than a teacher, I was stagnant. As I moved away from Modern Classroom however, I began experimenting more with different styles of teaching and assignments
A daily routine was just:
- Introduction to the concept of the day
- Students break into watching the video of the day
- Filled out notes
- Solved problems on the back
As I moved away from Modern Classroom, I started to do more whole class discussion such as bell works, discussions, and mini activities, there was also more labs starting to be incorporate, with an aim of doing one, approximately once a week. Down below is an example of how much my growth in handling whole class discussions really grew. During my first round, when I had only my first class, that end of class discussion was very weak with some students looking but overall, it was fairly silent. While growing more
As I continued to move further away from the Modern Classroom style of teaching, I started experimenting, taking risk, and keeping a growth mindset of, “even if a lesson flops, it will be a learning experience to make the next one even better”.
I was trying out new things like flash cards, puzzle pieces instructions, or going out in the hallway for stations. However, there had been one thing I was nervous to try out and it was projects, or multiday lessons. Some of it stemmed from lack of experience, and not knowing how such a project would be received. I did do two-day labs with my period 6 however, which had its ups and down at times. Finally, during my waves and light unit, I decided to do one. This unit is also one where I believe I grew the most, in terms of experimenting and lesson planning.
Moment of Powerful Student Growth
This section of my E-folio really shows the growth I have had. I think to sum up the shift I had in my teaching, was a shift to more of a hand on, and phenomena-based teaching. Ultimately, this was the reason why I felled in love with physics and decided to pursue an education within it. In terms of my teaching, I think partly why I did not take this approach was because the first half of the physics curriculum can be very math heavy, and such, I focused more on the equations and less on the phenomena itself. As the year progressed, there was less equations which ended up pushing me in this direction. Looking back, I am thankful to now be doing more of what I wanted to when I was a student, thinking of becoming a teacher.