Teaching my science unit and creating this worksample gave me the first realistic feel of what it will be like to be a teacher. It allowed me to see the meticulous work and care that goes into creating a unit to teach students to meet state standards. I feel like the steps of creating this worksample were very beneficial and by breaking it down into sections, I was able to see the many different components that go into teaching; such as, understanding the context of your students and community, creating specific goals and objectives, carefully planning your lessons, and formally and informally assessing your student's learning. I learned from teaching this unit that if a teacher can vary the activities and think of creative ways to teach concepts, the students will be excited and engaged. It was a joy to have my students ask me daily when it was time for science, or as what we were doing tomorrow in science.

This project for my MAT has been challenging, fun, exciting, and eye-opening. Most of all it has been rewarding and it is exciting to do a project like the worksample that I realize I genuinely enjoyed putting together. I will be utilizing many of the aspects for my next work sample and ultimately when I get a job as a teacher. For example, I understand that most teachers don't have time or energy to create a simple pre and post test for a unit of study, especially one that is "less important" than reading, math, and writing. However, my pre and post scores gave me such a concrete view of how my students did and what they learned that it was extremely valuable. It was exciting to visually see the data and realize that my students did absorb the knowledge that I wanted them to. My other eye-opener was my science journals. My students actually really enjoyed them and they were a great way for the students to be able to follow along with charts and note-taking on the board. This was a great way to incorporate literacy and allow for different learning styles.

Using Data

Of course, since I am no longer at my practicum site, I will not have an opportunity to use the data I have collected and analyzed on my students directly for future teaching. However, the data was given to their teacher and a science grade is on their report cards based on the data that was received from the pre/post test as well as the formative assessments. I will use this data more concretely in my future teaching by taking what I have analyzed and using that to make changes. For example, I was able to see that even though some of my students understood the concepts, they missed alot of the material as well because of being pulled out of the classroom. I can use this in future teaching by focusing more on these students and coming up with ways to better help them succeed.