What’s Science got to do, got to do with it? #psuaged16

I have an extreme love for science and hands on activities. Being able to apply what you have learned from a classroom setting is truly awesome connecting all of the dots together. Classroom to connection to chemistry though really threw me for a whorl! Although I appreciate all of the sciences, Chemistry was never my strong suit. However, being in Mr. Foley’s 11^th grade Chemistry class opened my eyes to what could have been better whenever I was in the seats of those students.

For my Penn State curriculum, I have to complete an assignment which makes me observe another science oriented classroom. Not only would this be a learning observation from different teaching standpoints, but also see how students interact in a different learning environment outside of the agriculture classroom.

So Chemistry. What a whirl wind. I can still hear my old high school teacher making punny jokes like, “Chem IS try so don’t give up!” However, Mr. Foley’s class was different. He was a fantastic teacher to watch because he let the students ask questions, come to conclusions, and work things out on their own instead of spoon feeding them the answers. On top of that, he made Chemistry interesting by having the students create models that he proudly hung up all over his classroom.

When examining his schedule and classroom management techniques, it was interesting to see that he relied on the same kind of teaching styles I do! Starting each of his class periods, he has a Bellwork, a review about what happened the previous day, some sort of lecture, and then a hands on activity to connect the dots. Although his schedule was mastered through many years of teaching in practice, it is nice to see that I am on the right road of following in his footsteps on becoming that “Master Teacher.”

Overall, this was an experience! It’s nice that with a student teaching internship like this one, my coursework includes me talking with teachers outside of the agriculture department and truly getting to know the school around me! In conclusion, science has a lot to do with it!