Kelsey Townsend

Scope on Safety: Essential First Aid for Science Teachers

Tue, Nov 08, 2016 2:55 PM
Safety

This is a short article, however, it covers very important information. It is the teacher’s responsibility to keep his or her students safe. However, not all teachers are trained to handle emergency situations. This article gives examples of lab incidents in which a teacher may need to respond. It also provides an explanation of how to respond to that situation. This would be a great resource for teachers to get a brief idea of how to respond to different emergency situations and how to handle that situation properly. Safety of our students should always be a top priority in our classrooms.

Methods and Strategies: Formative Assessment Probes

Sun, Oct 23, 2016 5:52 PM
Formative Assessment Probes

I found this article to be very informative. After reading this, I feel like I have a deeper understanding of formative assessment. This article helped me understand that probing questions help the teacher determine what students already know and how to begin teaching the concept. I really liked that this article provided a detailed example of how to use probing questions for formative assessment. I also thought it was interesting how the teacher was able to connect classification of rocks with classification of matter. This article really helped me realize the importance of background knowledge when teaching a new concept. Formative assessment probes help the teacher determine the best way to proceed in teaching a lesson.

Perspectives: The Art (and Science) of Asking Questions

Thu, Oct 13, 2016 3:01 PM
Questioning

This is a very short article that teachers would benefit from reading. It talks about the importance of asking questions in science, and the different types of questions that teachers can ask. It is important for teachers to be aware of the different types of questions that can be asked in the classroom, and which questions work best. Good questions will encourage students to use higher order thinking instead of simple recall. This article also gives suggestions on how to become a better questioner. It was beneficial for me to read this article because it helped strengthen my confidence in asking meaningful questions in the classroom.