Taylor Scruggs

Student and Classroom Narrative

The specific students that I will be teaching directly in the class
that I am working in are mainly freshman, as it is a Biology class. In
this class, there are several students that failed the first quarter, but
the majority passed. I believe that every student has the ability to
succeed if they are provided with the right resources and are
motivated. To be an effective teacher, it is important to get to know
your students. To do this, their prior knowledge, intellectual
development, cultural background, and experiences need to be
considered.
Every student in the class is different, and their abilities and
needs vary. There is one IEP student in the class that is present in
when possible, but is not able to complete any of the assigned work.
Besides her, there are not any students with specified accommodations
or modifications. There is a group of boys that are able to understand
the material, but lack the motivation to complete the assigned work.
These students are in the Voyager program for other classes to help
them get to the desired level in the areas that they struggle with. It
has been difficult for me to find ways to motivate these students, but I
have made some progress in building relationships with them. I have
connected with these students and found their interests in sports. A
few other students have interests in video games, which they are often
playing on their computers when there is a transition in class. These
students need to be provided with hands-on work to gain their interest.
The class culture is one of trust and encouragement, while
challenging students to excel. Students feel safe and comfortable in
the classroom, and they are willing to take risks and learn from their
mistakes. Opportunities are provided for students to improve previous
work, so that they can build upon their skills. Students are still
expected to do their best on the assignments and participate every
day. Respect is also part of the class culture and is modeled when
students present ideas and thoughts, so that they then learn this
behavior and demonstrate it to their peers.
The physical environment involves several group tables spaced
around the room. There is a smart board at the front of the classroom
and a white board on one of the sidewalls. The placement of the tables
allows for students to be able to view the content being shown from
their seats. Being seated in groups also allows for collaboration, as
they often do group activities and lab assignments. There are windows
along one wall above the cabinets and sinks. The blinds are normally
open to allow natural light into the classroom. A fish tank is present as
well as live plants to enhance the learning environment. Other
elements related to science, such as posters and skulls, are spaced
around the room to peak interest and provide visual stimulation.

The context of the learning environment constitutes the ability

for learners to connect ideas. In the class that I am working with,
students are provided with real life examples of what they observe to
provide meaning to what they are learning. The labs that they work
through involve items and concepts that they observe on a daily basis,
even if they arent aware of it Students often work in groups, so they
are able to build off of the ideas of their peers and learn from them.
The students in this class are provided with opportunities to interact
with the instructor throughout the learning experience, as the
instructor facilitates their activities. I constantly circulate around the
classroom so that students can ask me questions and I can hear their
thoughts. This also allows opportunities to gain insight into how the
student learns and their interests.
The demographics in this classroom are that there are 27
students. Of these students, 24 are freshman and 3 are upper
classmen. There are 15 boys and 12 girls in this classroom. There is
also a diversity of ethnicities in this class. Approximately 7% of the
total are African American, 14% are Hispanic, and 79% are Caucasian.
The class that I am working in has a diverse group of students,
and it is important to get to know each of them to provide them with
equal access to education and opportunities for success.

Diagram of Classroom

Taylor Scruggs
Topic and Rationale
For my second lesson, I will be teaching about the different
patterns of inheritance. The patterns of inheritance that I will cover
include autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive, and sex-linked.
Students have only just been introduced to the genetics unit. So far,
they have covered the basics of Mendelian genetics. A basic
understanding of genetics was provided to students, as well as
vocabulary including gene, allele, dominant, recessive, homozygous
and heterozygous. An introduction to how Punnett squares are used to
predict genotypes and phenotypes of offspring has also been covered.
Students did practice with Punnett squares, so they now understand
how to use them for Mendelian genetics problems.
I am going to cover several different patterns of inheritance, so
that students understand that genes can be inherited in different ways
and this can affect their prevalence in offspring. To teach this topic, I

will use a Case Study activity. Students will be provided with real-life
examples of four different inherited diseases. They will use this activity
to illustrate the probabilities of the diseases being inherited by
offspring. Students will be divided into pairs, and in each pair one
student will represent the genes of the mother and one student with
represent the genes of the father. Different colored poker chips will be
used to represent the genes for each of the four different cases. White
chips will represent normal, non-affected genes and red chips will
represent diseased genes. The four different diseases that will be
looked at are Huntingtons disease, Fragile X Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis,
and Marfans Syndrome. Huntingtons disease and Marfans syndrome
both follow a dominant pattern of inheritance, Fragile X Syndrome is
sex-linked, and Cystic Fibrosis is inherited through a recessive pattern
of inheritance. For each different case, two chips will be used to
represent each genotype of the parents for the disease gene. Then one
chip will be drawn from both the Mother and Father chips, and this will
represent the genotype of the offspring. This will be repeated 9 times
for each disease, and the disease will be recorded. Students will then
be able to calculate the probability of the disease being passed on
based on their results. Students will then complete questions to reflect
on the data gathered for each inherited disease and turn this in as an
assessment. As a concluding instructional strategy, students will thinkpair-share about their thoughts on the activity and any questions that
it brought up. They will also share about specific questions that I
provide, and several students will be called on to share the thoughts
presented to their partner with the whole class. I chose the
instructional strategy of case studies, as it gives student the change to
explore diseases that are prevalent in the world and understand how
they are inherited. This may allow them to understand the importance
of the content, and how it could relate to their life. I will give students a
chance to raise their hands if they know of someone with an
inheritable disease during the concluding discussion, and I hope that
this will enlighten them about the importance as well.