Unit Reflective Summary

Teacher Candidate for Science Endorsement: __Ariel Jackson___________

Instructor: ___Ariel Jackson_______________________________________________

School: _Green Acres Elementary_____ Grade: __3rd_____________________

Unit Topic: ____Rocks and Minerals__________________________________________

Write a 1-2 page summary of your experiences teaching this unit, addressing the
following questions:

 How well were the unit’s student performance objectives attained? Were there
opportunities for the students to develop conceptual understanding through
engaging in the learning cycle (5E’s)?

 How did you use formative assessments to inform instructional decisions during
the unit?

 Were the lessons/tasks scientifically worthwhile for all students? Were there
students that had difficulty achieving the goals of the unit?

 Was there evidence of a classroom culture that honors inquiry, wrong answers,
personal challenge, collaboration, and disequilibrium as opportunities for new
learning by all students?

 When you have the opportunity to re-teach this unit, what will you do differently
(strategies, teaching tools, assessments, etc.) to improve student learning for all
students?

Use this page as a cover sheet for your summary.

 How well were the unit’s student performance objectives attained? Were there
opportunities for the students to develop conceptual understanding through
engaging in the learning cycle (5E’s)?
Many of the students were able to perform the unit objectives on grade
level. There were many opportunities for students to develop conceptual
understanding through engaging in the learning cycle. I ensured that at least
one of the 5 E’s was implemented into each lesson.

How did you use formative assessments to inform instructional decisions during the
unit?
I used the irespond system to have students respond to a few questions about
rocks and minerals throughout the unit to check for understanding. The formative
assessments revealed that many students did not understand how to use the Mohs
hardness scale. From this data, I went back and conducted a lesson solely focused
on understanding how to read and use the Mohs Hardness Scale. The second time
around I found viewing a video of a teacher testing 10 minerals on the scale was
very helpful for students.

Were the lessons/tasks scientifically worthwhile for all students? Were there
students that had difficulty achieving the goals of the unit?
Overall, the lessons and tasks were worthwhile for all of my students. There
were a few students who had difficulty achieving the goal of meeting the standard
but the majority of the class mastered the understanding of the material.

Were evidence of a classroom culture that honors inquiry, wrong answers, personal
challenge, collaboration, and disequilibrium as opportunities for new learning by all
students?
There was evidence of a classroom culture that honored inquiry, wrong answers,
personal challenge, collaboration, and disequilibrium as opportunities for new
learning by all students. My students felt they were in a safe place to ask questions
during whole group instruction or even to pose questions. During the Mineral Case
Stem Challenge, students worked very well together with designing and using trial
and error to build their mineral cases. All students were able to work together to
complete the task.

When you have the opportunity to re-teach this unit, what will you do differently
(strategies, teaching tools, assessments, etc.) to improve student learning for all
students?
When given the opportunity to re-teach this unit, I would start with a
phenomena and not reveal information about it until the end. I would do this to allow
for student inquiry throughout the unit about the phenomena. I would begin with a
more formal assessment about what they know about rocks in addition to the rock
survey I used. I would have more checkpoints for understanding that would require
students to explain “how do you know” about the specific lesson focus or learning
target for that lesson. I would also like to show more videos just to give students a
different look at rocks. I would also like to figure out how to incorporate more
technology into my unit.