Growth Statement

Many instructional strategies and approaches were provided to us during the length of
this course. These strategies include modeling, differentiation, science inquiry, and the
integration of math and literacy in science lessons. In class we discussed the importance of
modeling activities and experiments. Through modeling students learn what is expected as the
end product. Also, there are students that benefit from visual instruction. Differentiation is
another important strategy that all teachers should take into account because students are diverse
learners and do not perform at the same learning level. Through differentiated instruction the
teacher can achieve learning goals and objectives of all students in the classroom. The use of
science inquiry is another useful approach when teaching a science lesson. Science inquiry helps
teachers target the different content areas such as reading and writing. For example, a teacher can
modify the use of the inquiry by challenging students to focus on one question. By doing this,
students are able to have one main focus and can engage in other related cognitive skills data
collected such as observations, connections, predictions and conclusions.
The strategies above are useful in the classroom because the teacher is able to approach
the common core standards in different ways to meet the needs of all the learners. I would
implement the modeling strategy on an every day basis in all of my lessons. Students will
benefit from modeling of concepts designed at their learning level. They will have a clear idea of
what is expected and what they need to accomplish. In order for students to accomplish their
task, it is important to differentiate every lesson by using different levels of materials and

activities. This includes breaking down worksheets into different levels, using visuals,
manipulatives, and sentence starters in order to promote higher order thinking skills.
Keeping all the strategies in mind will help me further develop as a teacher. However, I
have not worked with students that have cerebral palsy, blind or traumatic brain injury disorders.
These specific population will be challenging, but I will try my best to research learning
strategies that I can implement in order to accommodate/modify their learning. Although it will
be difficult to find effective accommodations, as a teacher I will remain calm when new students/
challenges arise in the classroom. Through this course I have changed my perspective about
teaching science. I have learned to use classroom materials to work on diverse lessons and I feel
I have gain the necessary skills to address the needs of individual students in my class classroom.
During this course I learned about science and how to enhance learning activities. I
learned that science could be interactive and engaging. It is not all about reading and
memorizing, but also hands on activities and experiments. I learned that I have to take into
consideration the students and their needs. I have to break down instruction and make it more
meaningful by rephrasing the problem in order to spark inquiry responses.
One article I found interesting and helpful was Science in the Write Way. This article
showed different ways to incorporate writing into science. My classmate Sean presented the
different ways to use science journals, student author books, custom ABC books, emails to
scientist, and reports in order for students to show their understanding of the science topics. I
think those ideas are wonderful because students are able to write down their observations and
predictions and refer back to their notes for class discussions. Moreover, students engage in
higher order thinking.

Another article presentation I found helpful when developing a successful science lesson
was Science and Literacy Centers presented by Lauren. Lauren explained ways to integrate
science and literacy through hands on activities. She also mentioned the different ways to
integrate science and literacy, which includes writing centers, partner reads, and play centers.
When using these strategies students will develop their cognitive functions by activating prior
knowledge, establishing purpose and goals, making and reviewing predictions, drawing
inferences and conclusions, making connections and recognizing relationship. These strategies
help students learn to use the process of science inquiry to build up their comprehension and
engage on learning activities.
Science has never been my strongest subject, therefore I experience difficulty expressing
interest in the content. However, I now have to find ways in which Im able to deliver the
science lessons in interesting and engaging ways. My perspective about science has changed
because this class has helped me realize that science is not only about learning formulas,
dissecting, or even doing experiments but about engaging in scientific learning activities.
Throughout the length of this course I found how engaging and fun science can be, while
learning key scientific concepts. The experiment we did with the roller coaster taught us about
kinetic and potential energy. I learned how math concepts could be integrated in the experiment
by asking students to figure out the velocity of the ball from point A (the starting point of the
roller coaster) to point B (the first loop of the roller coaster). At the end as a class we discussed
how to find the velocity and what activities could improve their activity.
To conclude, I can say that I have grown as a student and as an educator. I look at
science with a different perspective. Now I can apply the different strategies I learned in this
course when teaching science to diverse learners. An important approach I will use in my

lessons is scaffolding, to build students previous knowledge. By using multiple levels of

teaching I can model, differentiate and use science inquiry to target student learning goals. In
addition, using modifications such as, visuals, manipulative, and auditory devices all can
improve instruction to ensure students meet the standards curriculum objectives and learning
level. Moreover, I have learned that science inquiry can also be used in other content areas.
Therefore, I will encourage my students to use inquiry to solve different tasks.