Professional Development
An effective science teacher has a commitment to lifelong learning and recognizes that "science" is not static, and new discoveries are being made every day. An effective science teacher looks for opportunities to experience learning opportunities that can be taken back to the classroom and used to to elaborate on the lessons being taught.
I have already participated in 12 hours of professional development that was presented at the University of Texas at Dallas through the UTeach department. The topics were Classroom Management, Advanced Classroom Management, Mastering the ELPs and Advanced Interactive Notebooking. I also attended the UTeach conference in Austin in 2014 and I plan to attend CAST (Science Teachers Association of Texas conference) in the future. I have used many of the techniques I learned in these workshops within my classroom as I was student teaching. These are available during the regular semesters and I plan to continue to participate in these valuable training opportunities. A good teacher is open to continual improvement and learning.
Besides continuing to improve methods used within the class room I plan to expand on my own personal experiences to be able to relate science to the real world. One of the required lessons for 8th grade science is on plate tectonics and volcanism. A trip to Hawaii and experiences with active volcanism and the surrounding landscape serve to illustrate the point to the students. In this day of special effects students are apt to be skeptical and if the teacher can say "I was there, I saw this" then the students can get a better feel for the material. It becomes less abstract, more practical and helps to head off the dreaded "when will I ever use this anyway?" The National Geographic is a supporting of geo-literacy and is has field trips available for science educators which include being introduced to some of the research that is being conducted in these areas. In addition,I plan to join the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) which is an excellent resource for professional development on both the understanding of science and the best ways of bringing it into the classroom.
An effective science teacher has a commitment to lifelong learning and recognizes that "science" is not static, and new discoveries are being made every day. An effective science teacher looks for opportunities to experience learning opportunities that can be taken back to the classroom and used to to elaborate on the lessons being taught.
I have already participated in 12 hours of professional development that was presented at the University of Texas at Dallas through the UTeach department. The topics were Classroom Management, Advanced Classroom Management, Mastering the ELPs and Advanced Interactive Notebooking. I also attended the UTeach conference in Austin in 2014 and I plan to attend CAST (Science Teachers Association of Texas conference) in the future. I have used many of the techniques I learned in these workshops within my classroom as I was student teaching. These are available during the regular semesters and I plan to continue to participate in these valuable training opportunities. A good teacher is open to continual improvement and learning.
Besides continuing to improve methods used within the class room I plan to expand on my own personal experiences to be able to relate science to the real world. One of the required lessons for 8th grade science is on plate tectonics and volcanism. A trip to Hawaii and experiences with active volcanism and the surrounding landscape serve to illustrate the point to the students. In this day of special effects students are apt to be skeptical and if the teacher can say "I was there, I saw this" then the students can get a better feel for the material. It becomes less abstract, more practical and helps to head off the dreaded "when will I ever use this anyway?" The National Geographic is a supporting of geo-literacy and is has field trips available for science educators which include being introduced to some of the research that is being conducted in these areas. In addition,I plan to join the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) which is an excellent resource for professional development on both the understanding of science and the best ways of bringing it into the classroom.