Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350

Meghan Schmitt

Section 1: Setting and Context
This summer I observed a summer school biology in class at Rocky Mountain High
School and a literacy class for six to nine year olds at the Boys and Girls Club. Both classes
faced the challenge of trying to get students to spend a significant part of their summer learning
when many of them would rather be doing other things. However, they did so in different
environments and with different student demographics. Trying to meet the needs of their unique
set of students had a strong influence on how each class set up its instruction. Both shared the
common goal of setting up a classroom environment that was most conducive to student success.
Summer school at Rocky Mountain High School is in some ways a typical academic
environment, but it also differs from a high school in the regular school year in some significant
ways. Many of the typical programs and activities that are available to students during the
school year are not available in summer. The summer school program for the district is all in
one school so many students are learning in a school they are unfamiliar with, although they
seem to have adjusted by the time I began observing the class. The school building itself
demonstrates a lot of high quality student work throughout the hallways and classrooms that
shows off student accomplishments. Much of this work, though, is from the regular school year,
so while it does show high quality student work it is not necessarily an accomplishment that the
summer school students take ownership of or feel pride in.
One major difference between summer school and the regular school year is how they
have to compress a semester of work into one month. Some students were even taking multiple
classes. This means students spend very long days in school when they would rather be doing
fun summer activities. To counter this, the program makes a few more allowances than they
might make during the school year. Long classes are broken up by multiple ten minute breaks
Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

and dress codes are much more relaxed. The principal wears jean shorts and some of the
students wear clothes that do not fit the schools dress code.
A lot of the work of keeping students involved in school for long hours in the summer
takes place inside the classroom. Classes are small, with only twelve students in the class I
observed, which makes it easier for the teacher to get to know all of his students and to
differentiate instruction based on their needs. Differentiation is certainly needed because the
classes consist of both students who failed the class during the regular school year and students
who are taking the class early to get it out of the way, leading to a wide range of abilities and
interest levels. The teacher knows the students fairly well. He talks to them casually about
things outside of class before class, during breaks, and while waiting for other students to finish
working on something.
The general attitude of the classroom is fairly relaxed and casual other than the amount of
material they have to get through. Students call out questions when they have them, lectures are
broken up with a lot of group work and activities, and at least once per class period they all get
up to go collect data on the plants they are growing. Some students are a little difficult to
motivate to do their work, including some of the students who are taking the class early. Still,
they do get their work done with few complaints as long as someone keeps them on task.
The students sit at two-person tables that line an open pathway down the center of the
room and face the front of the room. For most group activities they work with the other person
at their desk, although sometimes they break up into different groups. All of the students are
Caucasian, but the class is split between four girls and eight boys. The girls sit with girls and the
boys sit with boys, but they do get mixed up more when they work with groups other than the
students who sit near them. The student activities and the discussions that follow serve as
Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

informal formative assessments for the class. In between classes the students also had
homework. I did not get to observe a summative assessment but I know that they would later be
tested over the material they are learning. The class managed to get through a significant amount
of material in the week I spent observing them and the students seemed, if not happy to be there,
at least willing to tolerate it in good spirits, so I think these methods worked well.
The key differences between summer school at Rocky Mountain High School and the
Boys and Girls club are the age of the students and the fact that attendance at Boys and Girls
club programs is voluntary. The Boys and Girls club is a safe, inexpensive place where parents
can leave their children after school and during the summer. This means that it attracts a lot of
low income and minority families. The Boys and Girls club also has a younger age range,
starting at 6 years old and continuing until high school. Teenagers are allowed at the club but its
programming and activities tend to focus more towards younger children so it does not attract
many teenagers. The children are organized into age groups for ages six to nine, ten to twelve,
and thirteen and up. Activities move in shifts, with each shift having multiple options for what
each age group can choose to do with that time, including things like time in the game room, the
computer lab, or the literacy program. The game room and shifts between activities are chaotic,
but once students settle into the literacy room everything calms down so students can learn.
The literacy program is a voluntary program to improve students reading skills. For the
six to nine age group I observed the program started with a book that the teacher reads to the
class. The students sit at a curved table that faces the front of the room and the teacher stands on
the other side of the table. Before reading the book they discuss vocabulary and do an activity
relating to what the book will be about. As she reads the book she occasionally stops to ask them
questions or model how shes thinking about what is happening. After reading the book they
Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

discuss it a little more and then release the students for individual or partner reading wherever
they want to sit around the room.
For partner reading the students get to pick books from shelves organized by reading
level and read with volunteers. The book the whole class reads tends to only attract the younger
children but the whole group seems happy to read with volunteers. Understandably, many
students do not want to spend their summers learning to read better when they could be in the
game room so the program has to provide an incentive for participation. If the students
participate in the program they get to go to the island party in August, which is advertised all
around the building. In addition to the party, students are kept interested by teachers letting them
read fun books, by getting to show off their reading skills to adults, and by doing fun pre-reading
activities like drawing or getting to talk about themselves.
Both summer school at Rocky Mountain High School and the literacy program at the
Boys and Girls Club are challenged to motivate students to spend a significant part of their
summer learning. They do this by providing a variety of interesting activities and not letting any
activity run too long. At the summer school they have to contend with long class times and a
relatively fixed curriculum, while in the literacy program the challenge is more towards getting
students to participate at all. Despite the difficulties involved, both those schools meet those
challenges by designing lessons that work with students interests, abilities, and attention spans,
and by forming trusting, pleasant relationships within their classrooms.




Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt














































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Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

Section 2: Case Study Interviews
While observing a summer school biology class I interviewed two students in the class,
Brockhause and Walker. I asked them questions about their opinions of school and what makes a
good teacher and class, their interests outside of school, and their plans and hopes for the future.
While some of their answers were along the lines of what I expected I learned some things that
surprised me. I learned that students are not always how you expect them to be and learned the
kind of things that can help interest and motivate students.
The first student I interviewed was Brockhause. He is a student in the summer school
biology class I observed who is taking the class for grade replacement. He has long curly hair
that sticks out in every direction under his baseball cap and dresses very casually. I chose to
interview Brockhause because the teacher of the class suggested that he would be interesting to
interview, and he was correct. My first impression of him from his appearance and behavior in
class was of someone who probably didnt care much about school, focus much on his work, or
think much about the future. This was not a judgment I intentionally made, but it was the
impression I got from him. After talking to him, though, I had a completely different impression.
To begin with, he knew exactly what he thought made a good teacher and a good class and his
answers were rather insightful. He told me that a good teacher is one who listens to a student,
makes sure all students get the specific help that they need, and is willing to change teaching
styles to help a student succeed. He explained that his favorite teacher was one who had spent
years forming a bond with him and who, in his words, took him from being a failure who didnt
care about grades to a success who cared about grades and his future. His favorite class is athletic
weights, which he told me he feels very comfortable doing because he does it outside of school
and hes good at it. He didnt even have to think about why he comes to school every day when I
Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

asked him, and nowhere in his answer was there anything about doing it because he has to.
Instead, he comes to school because he wants a good future and knows school will give him that.
He also recognizes that school teaches social skills like communication skills and being able to
solve problems with people. Beyond school, Brockhause wants to be a game designer or beta
tester or go into the NFL. While he didnt get into details of his life, it was clear that a teacher
had recognized potential in him when he saw none in himself, and by getting to know him was
able to help him see how success in school could help him achieve what he wanted in life and
help him figure out how to get there. She saw beyond how he dressed and acted, even saw
beyond his grades, to see someone who could achieve and helped him see the same thing. While
he still struggles in school he has now developed into an insightful, motivated student who
knows what he wants out of life and knows what he need to do to get it.
Interviewing Brockhause taught me two main things. First, it taught me not to think that
my first impression of students is all there is to them. A teacher avoided doing this with
Brockhause and it made all the difference in his education. Second, it showed me that to reach
the students who really dont care you have to form a trusting relationship with them. They
arent going to listen to yet another meaningless adult rambling on about what they should do
and what they should care about. Who they will listen to is someone who they can see cares
about them, someone who will listen to what they think and what they want and help them work
towards achieving it. Ive certainly been told things like this in my education classes but theres a
much larger impact in seeing its results in an actual student.
The second student I interviewed was Walker, who is taking biology in summer school to
get it out of the way. Walker is a good student who gets good grades, but who hasnt really given
much thought yet to what he wants to do with his life or to how school will help him get there.
Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

He looks like the image I have in my mind of a well-behaved high school student. He wears
khaki pants and nice shirts and his hair is short and neat. According to his teacher, he is very
smart but tends to try to coast through school, which agrees with what I saw from him while
trying to keep him on task in his class work. The most important thing to him in a teacher or
class is making the curriculum fun, with fairness and being an interesting person also being
qualities he values in a teacher. When I asked why he comes to school, his first answer was
because hes supposed to. He later added that he would still come to school if he didnt have to
because its useful for his future, but he didnt have much more to say on the subject. He hasnt
given much thought yet to what he wants to do in the future. He knows hes going to go to
college and that he wants to go on a road trip, but he does not know what he wants to study or
what he might want to do after college.
Interviewing Walker changed my expectations for what a student who is taking a class
early might be like. I expected him to be more motivated in school and have some idea of what
he was trying to accomplish, so interviewing Walker was an eye-opening experience as much as
interviewing Brockhause was. Its not that Walkers answers show him to be unmotivated or a
bad student, just that he hasnt figured out enough of what he wants out of life yet for the future
to be much of a motivating factor for him. He puts in the amount of effort required to do what is
expected of him, and anything beyond that is motivated by someone making the subject fun and
interesting. This shows me that I cant assume that just because someone is a good student they
will have the intrinsic motivation to do everything they need to do on their own. Sometimes they
need a little outside motivation from the teacher, whether that is holding them to higher
expectations or making what they are learning more fun or interesting so they want to learn it.

Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

Interviewing Brockhause and Walker helped me to learn about two very different
students who were not at all what I expected. I learned what interested them, what motivated
them, and how teachers can help bring those things in line with what we know they need to be
learning. They are by no means representative of the entire student population, in fact Im sure
every student has a unique set of circumstances and characteristics that influence what they care
about and how they learn. The point of interviewing students, then, is to see beyond surface
appearances and what you can see from grades and behavior to get to know the person
underneath. Getting to know them helps a teacher learn how to bring them the things we try to
teach them in a way that matters to them and that motivates them to do well. It also shows
students that we care what they have to say, which helps build those trusting relationships that
are so important to getting them to have even the slightest inclination to listen to anything we
have to tell them.











Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

Section 3: Teaching Experience: Lesson Plan
Teacher: Meghan Schmitt Date:
School: Grade Level: 8th Content Area: Science
Title: Energy of a Burning Cheese Puff Lesson #:__ of __

Content Standard(s) addressed by this lesson: (Write Content Standards directly from the
standard)
Standard 1: Physical Science
Concept 2: There are different forms of energy, and those forms of energy can be changed from
one form to another- but total energy is conserved
Evidence Outcomes
a. Gather, analyze, and interpret data to describe the different forms of energy and energy
transfer
b. Develop a research-based analysis of different forms of energy and energy transfer.
Understandings: (Big Ideas)
Energy exists in various interconvertable forms.
Not all forms of energy are directly observable.
Inquiry Questions: (Essential questions relating knowledge at end of the unit of instruction,
select applicable questions from standard)
Which forms of energy can be directly observed, and which forms of energy must be inferred?
(Standard 1.2, inquiry question 1)
What evidence supports the existence of potential and kinetic energy? (Standard 1.2, inquiry
question 2)
How are the different forms of energy related?
How can we use experimental evidence about observable forms of energy to make inferences
about non-observable forms of energy?
Evidence Outcomes: (Learning Targets)
Every student will be able to: (Create your own lesson objectives from the standard, follow the
ABCD format, using student voice)
I can: develop a model of energy transfer from experimental data
This means: I can collect data in a reliable manner on my lab worksheet from a cheese puff
calorimetry lab
I can draw conclusions regarding energy transfer from analysis of calorimetry lab
data through answering post lab questions on my lab worksheet
I can describe and justify my model of energy transfer in the discussion and
conclusion sections of my lab report based on my analysis of my data
I can: track energy through its forms and conversions through the combustion of a cheese puff
This means: I can identify the type of energy present at each stage of a cheese puffs
combustion in my post lab questions on my lab worksheet
I can recognize where and how energy conversions occur in a cheese puffs
combustion and identify them in my post lab questions
I can describe the path that energy takes from the beginning of combustion to the end
in the discussion section of my lab report
Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

I can: Determine that energy that cannot be observed can be inferred from experimental
evidence
This means: I can infer the presence of a non-observable energy source from my analysis of my
data in my post lab questions
I can describe this energy source and the evidence and reasoning that supports its
existence in the discussion section of my lab report
List of Assessments: (Write the number of the learning target associated with each assessment)
(informal) Observe student discussions during data analysis and while answering guided
questions from the lab manual. Students should be correctly answering the questions on the
worksheet.
(informal) While circulating through the room, ask students and groups questions about
what they are doing, whats happening, and what they think it might mean or how they can
explain what they are seeing. Students should know what their group is doing and why, and
suggest reasonable explanations for their results that they can support with evidence.
(formal) Students will have questions to answer about the lab to guide their thinking
towards developing a coherent model of energy and energy transfer, including questions that
guide them towards the realization that potential energy must exist for combustion to make
sense. Students should collaborate with their groups to reach the correct answers to all
questions, which they will turn in with their discussion and conclusion sections the next day.
(informal) Students will participate in a class discussion based on their answers to the in-
lab and post-lab questions, the main goal of which will be to get students to recognize the
potential energy stored as chemical energy in the cheese puffs and then expand that concept to
other forms of potential and kinetic energy. Their comments in the discussion should reflect this
understanding.
(formal) Students will write up the discussion and conclusion sections to the lab in
response to prompts at the end of the lab worksheet, including an explanation of the energy
transfers behind everything they observed and their overall conclusions about how energy
storage and conversions in this lab work. This assignment should fully and correctly answer all
questions in the prompts and support all claims with experimental evidence.




Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

Planned Lesson Activities
Name and Purpose of Lesson
Should be a creative title for you and the
students to associate with the activity. Think of
the purpose as the mini-rationale for what you
are trying to accomplish through this lesson.
Name: Energy of a Burning Cheese Puff
Purpose: To develop, justify, and apply a model of energy transfer by gathering,
analyzing, and interpreting experimental data on the combustion of a cheese puff

Approx. Time and Materials
How long do you expect the activity to last and
what materials will you need?
This activity will take up a 90 minute class period. For the anticipatory set Ill
need to have the Alkali Metals in Water video set up at the 1:01 mark by the
time class starts
For the rest of class students will need a worksheet with the lab procedure and
related information and questions, a small Erlenmeyer flask, paper clip, wooden
splint, Ring stand, duct tape, thermometer, test tube clamp, water, cheese puff, and
access to a balance.
Anticipatory Set
The hook to grab students attention. These
are actions and statements by the teacher to
relate the experiences of the students to the
objectives of the lesson, To put students into a
receptive frame of mind.
To focus student attention on the lesson.
To create an organizing framework for
the ideas, principles, or information that
is to follow (advanced organizers)
An anticipatory set is used any time a different
activity or new concept is to be introduced.
Before starting I will briefly go over the learning targets for the day, which will be
written on the board. Students will write the learning targets in their notebooks.
Next, we will watch the YouTube video Alkali metals in water, accurate at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uixxJtJPVXk from the 1 minute mark to the
end at 2 minutes, 21 seconds. Before the video I will tell students to pick out each
form of energy they notice is involved in each reaction and record it on a sheet of
paper to be turned in later. I will watch them to see if theyre writing. After the
video I will use cold calling to ask some students for one form of energy they
observed and how they observed it.
How do you intend to engage your students in
thinking during the Anticipatory Set?

Why are you using it at this point in your
lesson?
The results of the alkali metals in water are interesting to watch, and only get more
so as the video goes on, starting with the metal racing around the container with a
trail of bubble and ending with a sudden explosion that destroys the container. Ill
make sure theyre thinking instead of just watching because everyone will have to
write down their observations and ideas and because anyone could be called on
after the video to tell the class what they thought. The point of this video is to get
them thinking about the forms of energy, which they learned in a recent lesson,
Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

and about how they can observe the different energy forms, as well as considering
how one process or reaction can involve multiple forms of energy.
Procedures
(Include a play-by-play account of what students
and teacher will do from the minute they arrive
to the minute they leave your classroom. Indicate
the length of each segment of the lesson. List
actual minutes.)
Indicate whether each is:
-teacher input
-modeling
-questioning strategies
-guided/unguided:
-whole-class practice
-group practice
-individual practice
-check for understanding
-other
1) Ill tell students to look at their lab instructions (at the end of this lesson plan),
which Ill have set on their desks in advance, and go through the purpose, useful
information, safety, materials, and procedure with them.
2) The students will check to make sure they have all their materials and set them
up for the lab while I walk around to make sure theyre all setting things up
correctly.
3) The students will follow the procedure and record data in the data tables on their
worksheet while I walk around observing and asking questions about what theyre
doing, what theyre doing it, whats happening, and why they think its happening.
4) When students finish the experiment theyll do the calculations and answer the
post-lab questions. They can discuss things with their groups but they must all
complete and turn in their own worksheet. There is no set time for when they have
to start the calculations or questions; they just start them whenever they finish with
the experiment.
Again, as theyre working, Ill be walking around asking them questions and
helping them answer their own questions.
5) At the end of the lab worksheet is instructions for the discussion and conclusion
sections they will each write for their homework. They can start working on these
if they finish early, and again they may help each other, but each student will have
to produce their own individual discussion and conclusion section.
6) 15-20 minutes before the end of class I will have every student stop what
theyre working on and clean up. After cleaning up Ill have students share some
of what theyve determined from group discussions in a class discussion
How do you intend to engage your students in
thinking during the PROCEDURE?

Why are you using it at this point in your
lesson?
Students will all be engaged in doing the experiment and answering questions
based on the experiment. Getting to light things on fire will be incentive for some
of them to be involved. I will also be asking them questions throughout the
experiment, especially to students who dont seem very involved in their groups
discussion. I can also use this time to give students who may be struggling a little
more guidance, and ask students I who need more challenge questions that extend
the concepts further. They will all have to produce a completed worksheet
including data, calculations, and answered questions. The worksheet exists to
Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

guide them in gathering, analyzing, and interpreting their experimental data to
develop a model of energy transfer.
Closure
Those actions or statements by a teacher that are
designed to bring a lesson presentation to an
appropriate conclusion. Used to help students
bring things together in their own minds, to
make sense out of what has just been taught.
Any Questions? No. OK, lets move on is not
closure. Closure is used:
To cue students to the fact that they have
arrived at an important point in the
lesson or the end of a lesson.
To help organize student learning
To help form a coherent picture and to
consolidate.
After the class discussion on the lab Ill show the alkali metal video one more
time, telling students to evaluate their answers from the beginning of class and see
if they can improve on them. Their exit ticket will be the sheet of paper with their
observations and explanations of the video from the beginning of class and those
from the end of class. Ill also remind them that they need to have their discussion
and conclusion sections ready to turn in by next class period.
How do you intend to engage your students in
thinking during CLOSURE?

Why are you using it at this point in your
lesson?
Students will all be engaged in thinking because they will be required to turn in a
revision of their initial thoughts on the alkali metal video as an exit slip. Im using
it here to have students apply their improved model of energy forms and transfers
to a quick, interesting system, and to give them additional practice in tracing
energy through a process before they do it more formally in the labs discussion
section.
Differentiation
To modify: If the activity is too advanced for a
child, how will you modify it so that they can be
successful?
To extend: If the activity is too easy for a child,
how will you extend it to develop their emerging
skills?
Everyone will be accountable for the same lab work and the same assignment,
unless extreme accommodations are needed but I will differentiate the activity
based on the depth of the questions I ask individual students and how much
guidance I give them in answering them. Students who need additional help will
get more guidance in answering the questions and students who are ready for more
will get more difficult questions to extend the material. Students who need larger
accommodations will be able to answer all discussion questions step by step
instead of writing a full discussion section.
Assessment
How will you know if students met the learning
(informal) Observe student discussions during data analysis and while
answering guided questions from the lab manual. Students should be correctly
answering the questions on the worksheet.
Teacher Work Sample - EDUC 350
Meghan Schmitt

targets? Write a description of what you were
looking for in each assessment.

(informal) While circulating through the room, ask students and groups
questions about what they are doing, whats happening, and what they think it
might mean or how they can explain what they are seeing. Students should know
what their group is doing and why, and suggest reasonable explanations for their
results that they can support with evidence.
(formal) Students will have questions to answer about the lab to guide their
thinking towards developing a coherent model of energy and energy transfer,
including questions that guide them towards the realization that potential energy
must exist for combustion to make sense. Students should collaborate with their
groups to reach the correct answers to all questions, which they will turn in with
their discussion and conclusion sections the next day.
(informal) Students will participate in a class discussion based on their
answers to the in-lab and post-lab questions, the main goal of which will be to get
students to recognize the potential energy stored as chemical energy in the cheese
puffs and then expand that concept to other forms of potential and kinetic energy.
Their comments in the discussion should reflect this understanding.
(formal) Students will write up the discussion and conclusion sections to
the lab in response to prompts at the end of the lab worksheet, including an
explanation of the energy transfers behind everything they observed and their
overall conclusions about how energy storage and conversions in this lab work.
This assignment should fully and correctly answer all questions in the prompts and
support all claims with experimental evidence.
Teacher Work Sample
Meghan Schmitt
EDUC 350
Cheese Puff Lab
procedures and calculations adapted from GeorgiaStandards.org for 8
th
grade physical science;
https://www.georgiastandards.org/Frameworks/GSO%20Frameworks/8%20Science%20Alternative%20Integrated%
20Framework%20Space%20is%20the%20Place%20Task%202%20Cheese%20Puff%20Lab.pdf

Purpose:
As weve seen, energy is the ability to do work. We see the things energy can do all the time in
our everyday lives, from the heat of an oven that cooks our food, to our cars zooming down the
road, to the light your eyes are using right now to see. But where does that energy come from?
Was the energy propelling your car down the road always mechanical energy for as long as it has
existed? Was the thermal energy in your oven always thermal energy (are the electrical wires in
your house leading to the oven 375F)? Has the energy you observe with your senses always
been in a form that lets you observe it? The purpose of this lab is to calculate the energy given
off in the combustion of a cheese puff by measuring the effect of that energy on a beaker of
water, and to trace that energy back to its origins.

Useful information:
Heat is the amount of thermal energy something has. Its not the same as temperature. A cup of
hot chocolate and a hot tub may be at the same temperature, but the hot tub is a lot better at
heating up a room because its larger size means it holds a lot more thermal energy. We can
calculate the amount of thermal energy something takes in using the following equation.
Q=m x C
p
x T
Q=heat (thermal energy)
m=mass
C
p
= specific heat, a value that tells you how much thermal energy affects the temperature of a
particular substance. For water, C
p
= 1 cal/g/C
T= change in temperature

Safety:
1. Always wear goggles when any experiment is happening anywhere in the room.
2. Never eat or drink anything in lab, especially lab materials.
3. Keep all flammable objects away from flames except for the one you are currently burning.
4. Metal skewers will be hot. Dont touch them anywhere except the insulated handles.

Materials:
small Erlenmeyer flask
paper clip
wooden splint
ring stand
duct tape
thermometer
test tube clamp
water
cheese puff
balance


Teacher Work Sample
Meghan Schmitt
EDUC 350
Procedure:
1. Review lab safety for flammables. Goggles should be worn and hair and loose clothing
secured.
2. Straighten the paper clip on one end. Wrap a small piece of duct tape on the opposite end
for insulation. You now have a skewer. Mass the paper clip and duct tape.
3. Skewer the cheese puff length wise. Record the mass of the cheese puff and paper clip.
4. Measure the mass of the flask. Record
5. Add approximately 50 ml of water to the flask and record the mass.
6. Measure the temperature of the water. Record
7. Place the flask in the test tube clamp on the ring stand.
8. Light one end of the wooden splint, hold the paper clip by the insulated end and light the
cheese puff. Immediately hold the burning cheese puff under the flask as close as
possible without smothering the flame.
9. Once the cheese puff has extinguished itself, measure the final temperature of the water
(stir the water slightly). Record.
10. Mass the skewer and cheese puff residue.

Calculations:
1. Determine the mass of the water.
2. Determine the mass of the cheese puff consumed.
3. Determine the temperature change of the water.
4. Use your answers to numbers 1 and 3 to calculate the heat gained by the water
Q= m x C
p
x T


Data Table 1
Mass of skewer + cheese
puff

Mass of skewer +
residue

Mass of cheese puff
consumed

Teacher Work Sample
Meghan Schmitt
EDUC 350

Data Table 2
Mass of flask + water
Mass of flask alone
Mass of water

Data Table 3
Final temperature of
water

Initial temperature of
water

Change in temperature







Post-Lab Questions
1. What changes did you observe/measure in this lab? Were there changes in the water? The
cheese puff? The surroundings? Consider the beginning, middle, and end of the experiment.


2. Identify the forms of energy at every stage of the lab. How does this correlate with your
observations?


3. How much heat did the water absorb? What kind of energy is this?


4. Did the form of energy the water absorbed always exist in that form, or did it develop over
time? Did any other observable changes correspond to the change in the waters heat?


Teacher Work Sample
Meghan Schmitt
EDUC 350
Homework: Write a discussion section and a conclusion for this experiment.
Discussion: Trace the path of the energy you measured from the beginning of the experiment,
with the skewered cheese puff and room temperature water, to the end of the experiment, with
the burned cheese puff and warm water. What forms of energy were involved at each stage of
the experiment? What energy transitions occurred and when did they happen? What evidence is
there that anything you are describing happened at all? What did your senses tell you? What do
you have to make inferences to support, and how did you make those inferences? Finally, why
should we care about any of this? Does the world have a burning desire to understand cheese
puff combustion, or are there generalizations we can make from this experiment that apply to
real world situations?
Conclusion: For your conclusion, return to the initial purpose of this experiment. How much
energy did you get from burning a cheese puff, where did that energy come from (yes, the cheese
puff, but how did the energy come from the cheese puff?), and how do you know? What does
this tell you about combustion in general?










Teacher Work Sample
Meghan Schmitt
EDUC 350
Post Lesson Reflection
1. To what extent were lesson objectives achieved? (Utilize assessment data to justify
your level of achievement)
I didnt get to teach it. From my other experiences with students this semester I think it would
have mostly gone well but I might not have given the 8
th
graders enough time to figure
everything out before helping them, since I have no idea how long 8
th
graders need to reach these
kinds of conclusions. Still, I think they would have learned what I hoped for them to learn.

2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would you make if you were to
teach again?
I think it would be ok as it is, but after teaching it I may find students need more or less explicit
guidance.

3. What do you envision for the next lesson? (Continued practice, reteach content, etc.)
In the next lesson we would review what weve learned about how energy works and then start
looking into real world applications.




























Teacher Work Sample
Meghan Schmitt
EDUC 350
Section 4: Narrative
Because of the constraints of the summer semester, I was not able to teach a formal
lesson to the students whose class I observed. However, I was able to work with a small group
of students on one of their group assignments in the biology class at Rocky Mountain High
School and work with several individual students at the Boys and Girls Club. I was also able to
collaborate with two of my classmates to teach our class a 35 minute lesson on using the 6 facets
of understanding to design lesson plans. I learned a lot about teaching and my strengths as a
teacher, as well as some areas to work on improving in future classes.
While my experience working with the biology students was limited it did provide an
opportunity to develop my skills in working with small groups of students. The class was given
their assignment to work with their groups to model meiosis on large sheets of paper and to
answer the questions in the accompanying worksheet. The group I was sitting next to got out
their materials and then started talking about other things. The teacher was busy helping another
group so I decided to help with this group. Initially, my goal was just to get them back on task. I
started by asking them if they had any ideas for how to do it, which they did not. Then I started
asking them more specific questions about meiosis, like what the phases were and what the cell
should look like during those phases. Doing this helped them figure out what to do and kept
them on task.
I have seen from this experience and from previous experience teaching labs and tutoring
that one of my strengths is asking questions that guide individuals or small groups towards
figuring things out. However, in this particular case I think I may have gotten a little too
involved, giving them more step-by-step guidance than they really needed. They did need help,
but probably could have figured out more of it on their own than they did if I had let them
Teacher Work Sample
Meghan Schmitt
EDUC 350
struggle a little more once I got them back on task. I have determined that I am better at figuring
out how much guidance is needed for college students than for high school students. In this case
I think I overestimated the help they need in fear of underestimating the help they need. I need
to get a better sense of high school students abilities and more patience to wait for them to
figure things out. Part of this will come from knowing the students I am working with and part
will come from getting more familiar with teenagers in general. I also saw that I would benefit
from developing more strategies for keeping students on task since I will not be able to spend
every minute of class with every group and might sometimes have assignments where I try not to
give them much help at all so they can figure things out.
At the Boys and Girls Club I got to work one-on-one with students in improving their
reading skills. As in the biology class I had to find a balance between helping them and giving
them time to figure things out for themselves. I always challenged the students I read with to
choose a book at the upper end of their reading level. A few students even chose books above
their reading level because they wanted to show they could do it and knew there was someone
there to help them. Helping children work on their reading skills was an exercise in patience.
When they struggled with a word I found it hard to resist the temptation to just tell them how to
say it, which I admit I failed at several times, especially with the first few children who read to
me. However, I discovered that if I gave them a little time to figure it out they were often able to
decipher the word with no help. If they still could not figure it out they learned much better with
small hints like telling them how so say the vowel or vowel combination they were struggling
with, covering one part of the word and then the other so they could figure out each part
individually, or asking them if there was anything in the picture they could use as a hint. This
Teacher Work Sample
Meghan Schmitt
EDUC 350
experience was excellent practice in improving my skills in determining how much help a
student needs, but it is still an area I need to work on.
The only lesson I taught to a full class was the one I taught with a group to my own class.
We planned and taught a 35 minute lesson on the 6 facets of understanding to a class of college
undergraduates and graduates seeking licensure to teach in a variety of content areas. We
worked together to decide the format of our lesson and then each focused on two of the facets.
Our lesson began with a Do Now in which we asked students to explain their understanding of
understanding. It was a good Do Now topic for the lesson, but we should have been more
explicit about what we wanted them to do. The class was initially not sure whether we wanted
them to write about it or discuss it. We assumed they would know that we wanted them to write
it first and then later discuss it because that was how we always did Do Nows in that class, but
this experience showed that I cannot assume students know what I expect of them just because it
seems obvious to me. The class was also unsure what exactly we wanted them to write about so
we should have included more details about the kind of things we wanted them to consider. The
problems with the Do Now revealed that I need to work on making sure my instructions make as
much sense to my students as they make in my head.
For the main part of the lesson we had to get across a lot of information in a short amount
of time so a lot of the class was lecture. Lecture is usually one of the weakest parts of my
teaching but the one for this class was reasonably successful. We structured each of the facets
around an I can, this means learning target statement about the skills students should be able to
demonstrate with this facet of understanding. This gave our class additional exposure to learning
targets while teaching them new content. We broke the lecture up into separate lectures based on
the facets to avoid spending too long lecturing at once. For each facet the group member who
Teacher Work Sample
Meghan Schmitt
EDUC 350
studied that facet defined and explained it and then gave an example of a question or a task
students in their content area could do with that facet of understanding. We then had every
student in the class come up with an example for their own content area. After they came up
with their examples we had some students share their examples and there was some discussion
about how well certain examples fit the facet they were supposed to fit. After the discussion
around a particular facet finished we moved on to presenting the next facet, repeating the process
until we got through all 6 of them. The class finished with another discussion which consisted of
students asking any remaining questions they had and sometimes answering each others
questions.
Classroom management was easy for this class. Everyone had already learned how to
pay attention during lectures, they were all willing to participate in the activities, and there were
plenty of people who were happy to contribute to class discussions. However, if we were
teaching students who were less invested in the content or just less willing to talk we would have
needed to plan more structure into our discussion, and they might need more instruction in what
they were expected to do during the lecture portion. One thing I did realize I needed to do during
the lesson was tell students when it was time to finish their final thought while writing. Looking
around the classroom I could see that most people were done but there are a few people in class
who always have a lot to say and who I think could have happily kept writing for another ten
minutes if I had let them. Telling them that they had about a minute, 15 seconds, or whatever
seemed appropriate encouraged them to wrap up what they were writing so we could move on to
the discussion. It also let the students who were waiting for them to finish know that the end was
in sight, which could prevent them from getting off task while waiting. We also had to keep an
eye on the time during discussions because there was a lot of material to get through and we
Teacher Work Sample
Meghan Schmitt
EDUC 350
could have spent an entire class on examples of just one facet. Overall, I think teaching this
lesson went well, but it did reveal the need to anticipate possible sources of confusion in my
directions and make them very clear.
Although I did not get to teach a lesson to the students I observed this summer I did learn
from the teaching experience I had and from the class in general. I learned that while I am
generally pretty good at asking students questions to guide their thinking I could use some
improvement in deciding how much help to give each student in each situation. I also learned
that while it is important to have a good plan about what you want students to do it is equally
important to make sure they know it too. I have to think of instructions from students
perspectives and anticipate possible source of confusion. I found that I was better at lecturing
than I thought I was as long as I plan out in advance what I want to talk about. Most
importantly, though, I found that the key to effective teaching is not standing up front spouting
off information or sitting behind a desk while my students flounder through things on their own,
but getting right in there with them as they work to build their own model of the world and figure
out where all the little facts and calculations I can give them fit into it. I may not always know
the best way to do that yet, but I suspect that is why part of a teachers job is to never stop
learning.






Teacher Work Sample
Meghan Schmitt
EDUC 350
Section V: Field Notes






















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EDUC 350























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Meghan Schmitt
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Meghan Schmitt
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Teacher Work Sample
Meghan Schmitt
EDUC 350