Brittney Sawyer Competency B: Planning, Preparation, Instruction, and Assessment Regent University

Rationale During my student teaching practicum in irginia Beach Pu!lic Schools I was a!le to wor" closely with my cooperating teacher to plan and prepare instructional strategies as well as pre and post assessments# $ne particular area I was a!le to with in which the class seemed to really struggle was the %irst science unit on the solar system# &he cooperating teacher and I !egan !y giving pre'assessments to determine how much the students "new a!out the (arth, )oon, and Sun as well as the order o% the planets# By analy*ing the pre'assessments the students too", it was clear that the class needed to !e taught concepts such as rotation, revolution, and tilt o% the (arth, and the order o% the planets# +or the two wee"s that %ollowed, my cooperating teacher and I used a variety o% instructional techni,ues to teach this material to the class# $ur techni,ues included things such as whole group lecture, giving class notes, and having them move around their des"s to demonstrate rotation and revolution# &o teach them the order o% the planets, the students participated in an activity called &he Solar System Shu%%le# In this activity eight students were selected and given a card with the name o% one o% the planets# &hey then stood at the %ront o% the class and had to wor" together to arrange themselves into the proper order o% the planets# -e did this particular activity at the close o% the science lessons %or several days so that every student would have the opportunity to participate and it would help them learn the order o% the planets# Also to help the students remem!er the order o% the planets I taught them a pneumonic device# I% they ta"e the %irst letter %rom each planet in the correct order it creates the sentence .)y ery (ager )other /ust Served Us 0achos#.

A%ter applying these strategies %or two wee"s, the cooperating teacher and I moved on to the ne1t unit %or a %ew days# -e then gave the post assessments %or the solar system unit a wee" a%ter we %inished it# -e decided to wait a wee" !e%ore giving the post assessments in order to properly gage whether the students had ade,uately learned and were a!le to recall the in%ormation or not# $ne post assessment re,uired that the students place the planets in the correct order# &he students did e1cellent on this assessment, however, the ne1t one re,uired them to answer ,uestions regarding the rotation and revolution o% the (arth and )oon as well as what is caused2created !y this# Un%ortunately the students did not do well on this assessment# At %irst the cooperating teacher and I were !a%%led as to why they were not a!le to recall all the in%ormation we had taught them# -e thought we had used all the !est teaching strategies to help them learn and grasp the in%ormation, !ut %or some reason it did not help them# A%ter spending several hours thin"ing a!out how to teach the material so that it would stic" in their minds I came up with a couple slightly di%%erent strategies to try# +irst, although we had the students physically demonstrate rotation and revolution !y moving around their des" and had gone over the in%ormation a!out these process created ver!ally, the in%ormation a!out them was scattered throughout their notes# At this time I "new the students well enough to "now that they would not !e a!le to read through their notes to study the in%ormation# -hat they needed was to have one location where they could easily loo" and see all the critical in%ormation they needed to "now a!out the revolution, rotation, and tilt o% the (arth and )oon# I then made a graphic organi*er %or the students to %ill out and study#

Another thing I %rom the assessment on revolution, rotation, and tilt was that the students had some slight memory o% the %acts o% revolution and rotation, !ut they had no memory o% how tilt o% the (arth e%%ects the seasons# I reali*ed the students pro!a!ly did so well on the planets assessment !ecause they had the pneumonic device to remem!er the order# &here%ore I decided it would pro!a!ly help them to have a pneumonic device %or tilt# +or this I came up with the %ollowing pneumonic device, .-hen the (arth is tilted &$ward the Sun, it3s &$$ hot 4Summer5# -hen the (arth is tilted a-A6 %rom the Sun, it3s -A6 cold 4-inter5#. By using !oth the graphic organi*er and this pneumonic device the students will !e !etter a!le to learn and remem!er the in%ormation regarding the rotation, revolution, and tilt o% the (arth and )oon#

The Tilt of the Earth

I% the (arth is tilted TOward the Sun, it3s TOO hot# 4Summer5

I% the (arth is tilted aWAY %rom the Sun, it3s WAY cold# 4-inter5