The four lesson plans I read about in Science stories that interest me the most are the snails, the floating/sinking fruit, the avocado pit and the germination bags.

The two that stuck out the most though were the snails and the fruits/vegetables. With the fruits and vegetables I thought that, besides from being a hands on and 'messy' lesson, the teacher showed how much she cared and how much thought she had put into it by bringing in foods from all different cultures. Not only would this make all the students feel more comfortable, but they were able to learn from each other without help from the teacher. The fact that she went so far as to do the avocado experiment soon after showed the students that she valued thier ideas and their contributions to the class.

My favorite lesson was, hands down, the snails. I love snails, have a few in my room as pets (apple snails) and find them incredibly interesting and relaxing to watch. They are extremely easy to care for, inexpensive, hearty, and would make great class pets/science projects. I think that having them make their own rules and making them responsible for the care of their snail brought a lot to the experiment. It gave the students a sense of autonomy and, although she helped in someways, they were. I will definitely be doing this lesson with my classes in the future.

Think of ideas....

Since a big part of the SCOS for early grades focuses on patterns, sorting, and comparing I think a fun lesson would be to make a class book about leaves and trees. As a class you could go outside and let everyone find a leaf of their choosing. They would need to make a drawing of it and (with either teacher or parental help) identify the type of tree it came from. The class culd make a bullitan board by arranging thier actual leaves (that have been laminated and cut into squares) in a pattern and let the other classes guess at what rules they had used that led them to arrange such a pattern. All the drawings and sketchings they made of their leaves, as well as a few fun facts about the tree it came from, could be put together to make a class encyclopedia. 

A messy lesson plan I found online that I thought would be enlightening was making your own landfill. Though it's a project that is done over quite a while (6 weeks) if you left it over December break (or had jars that you had started weeks before), it could be done. I think that not only would All About Trash be fun and interesting to watch, but seeing the exact process of what happens after we throw the trash out may give students an understanding about why recyling is important. 

All About Trash by Dawn Gilbert

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/3637

*Image credit http://farm1.static.flickr.com/31/61114776_66062dcac8.jpg?v=0

What do you see as your role as a teacher?

As a child I loved school; the playground, my friends, the little yellow cartons of milk--all of it. My parents believed that a good education was the best gift they could ever give me and worked hard to do so. My mom, a kindergarten teacher, found the perfect school for me and my father, a salesman, schooled me in classic rock on our 45 minute drive to it each morning. The small size of my school allowed for a close relationship with my teachers which I treasured. The teachers were interested, caring adults who wanted us to be happy.

As I started 4^th grade things changed. My dad was in and out of hospitals; hooked up to IV's and machines, in a wheelchair with a halo on his head. All of the equipment terrified me, but my mom showed me how to decorate the bars of his halo with Chanukah lights and he was still my dad. My parents were always truthful with me about what was happening, but school was a different story. My teachers knew what was going on, but never said a word to me about it; 'school should be her happy place, let's keep the sadness out' was their unspoken agreement. But you can't keep the sadness out when it's part of a child's daily life. April of my 5^th grade year my father died unexpectedly. When I went back to school everyone pretended as though nothing had happened; they didn't want to upset me. I remember wishing I could tell my teachers what I was feeling, but stopping myself because I didn't want to make them sad too. If one teacher had given me permission to cry, or if one classmate had understood the tightness in my throat, I think that I would have been able to let it out and then move onto the school work at hand but, as it was, I just sat in class wondering how everyone else managed to be so happy. I learned then that school was where you were free to express your feelings-- unless your feelings were sad, or could upset others, or make them uncomfortable.

Life went on for my mother and me and, though it was never easy, it was ours and we had each other. The day before I started 8^th grade we moved to South Carolina. After a year in a local private school there that just didn't fit, my mom and step-father reluctantly put me in public school where they feared that, instead of being 'Jillian: an individual', I would be just one more in a sea of faces struggling to stay afloat. And it's true; high school was a different world which I found restricting, impersonal and lonely.

Christmas of my senior year my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. My step-dad was a wreck, and I knew I couldn't handle things alone, so I told one of my teachers what was happening. When I started Leslie's AP English class the previous August I had hated it; had hated her. But Leslie saw something in me that she thought was worth the hassle and refused to give up. I resisted, but over time began to trust her. So one day, with too many thoughts swirling around in my head, I went and told her everything; what was happening to my mom, how I was scared and numb and confused, but knew I couldn't let it show because I needed to be strong for her. Leslie didn't pity me, didn't treat me differently than she did anyone else, just made sure that I knew she was there to talk to. Even though I didn't take her up on her offer, just knowing that someone was there and that they knew what I was going through made it easier to breathe. Early that February my mom died. When I started back at school it was Deja vu: people avoided my eyes, spoke only of cheerful things, and never let the conversation lull for fear that I might bring up the exact topics they were so carefully tip-toeing around. Everyone but Leslie, that is. Leslie looked me square in the eye and hugged me, then just sat there and rubbed my back as I cried for the first time. She ended class early everyday that week and just talked to me. Whenever I had bad-dead-mom-days, Leslie could tell and always offered to talk, even after I graduated; my first semester of college she called or e-mailed at least once a week to make sure I was okay. Leslie taught me the difference between what it means to teach, and what it means to be a Teacher.

Now that I am on the road to becoming an educator, the classes that most interest me are those that focus on the student as an individual rather than as a learning receptacle. Some say that I'm following in my mothers' footsteps, but I think (and hope) I'm leaving my own. My life has led me to all kinds of experiences with all kinds of teachers, and I've been given the gift to decide who I want to be. My goal in life is to be happy, and if I can do for one student what Leslie did for me, I know that I will be.

*Image Via Postsecret

SCOS

In all honesty, the first time I looked at the SCOS for a single grade I was terrified. I just couldn't see any way in which I, as a teacher, would be able adequately cover all that the state wanted me to in a single year.

As I've worked in more and more classrooms I'm beginning to see that it's really not that difficult after all. You integrate the same goals and objectives in different lessons through out the year. There is a lot of information that needs to be covered, but you can do more than one goal in a lesson plan and, if you're creative enough, you can even incorporate many of the goals into play.

What book did you choose and why?

I chose 'Meeting Special Needs in Science Curriculum' as my book because it's more useful for my intended teaching path than the books suggested on the list. Though I have not recieved the book yet I know that there are parts that, for the intention of our integrated curriculum course, are not relevant (i.e. policy writing, working with TAs, etc). The sections of the book that I am most interested are those that will explain how to modify science lessons or create lesson plans that special needs students (both physically and developmentally delayed) will be able to have fun with and learn from.

In all the years that I've been working in special needs classroms I can not think of a single in depth science lesson that was taught. I'm sure that when your students are working on gross/fine motor skills, speech, and even feeding themselves, that it's easy to overlook science. Every once in a while you'll have a lesson about animals or weather, but never any real answers (why do frogs croak? what makes a cloud?). I hope to one day incorporate science experiements and hands-on lessons; I believe that special needs students benefit even more from these approaches that general ed students do, and it's vital that we give them the opportunity to do so.



Photo by Jillian L. of Chappy P. (Making a volcano in Wales, UK) 2007

What book did you choose and why?

What grade level are you interested in teaching and why? What's your host site?

When the time comes for me to have my own classroom, it will be a special needs class, ideally special needs kindergarten. My heart has always been in special ed, and though I value all children, I have found special ed to be the most rewarding.

My mom was a special needs teacher and I grew up in her class playing with her students, seeing them as nothing but equals. I knew that they were different, but so is everyone. My dad was quadriplegic for the last couple years of his life, so the adaptive equipment, therapists in and out, and learning how to appreciate all abilities, no matter how small, were part of my everyday life.

I think that both of these situations contributed to my passion for special education. For the last seven years I have worked at a special needs preschool, having had my own classroom these last two summers, and I couldn't love it more. It's hard, emotionally and physically exhausting, often messy, and things rarely go as planned, but it's worth it. Every so often you stop and realize just how far a child has come (seeing first steps at five years, witnessing a mother hear her child call for her by name after waiting for three years) and everything you've done is without a doubt, worth it.

My fieldwork placement is in a third grade classroom at Hall Fletcher Elementary. My first visit isn't till Thursday, but I have high hopes that my spent there will be a great experience. Mrs. Duquet, my host teacher, seems extremely kind and dedicated. She said that there were many high needs students in her class this year so I hope to learn how and observe her differentiate instruction for all different subjects.

*Photo Credit: Jillian L. Taken Summer 2007 from a science lesson during Constraint Induced Therapy Week at The Meyer Center, Greenville SC.