Classroom Observation

I arrived on the 27th of April to observe Ms. Duncan's 9th grade mathematics class. The classroom is located on the campus of Coppin State University here in Baltimore. The class had mostly girls about 15 to 5 boys. All in the classroom was African Americans except one boy who was Hispanic. I observed students interacting with the teacher as she explained how to find the slope of a linear equation. The teacher had given the students handouts, key words, and definitions for students to follow. Literacy was used to connect students to problem solving in mathematics. When the teacher called on students to answer questions the students were asked to read the problem "aloud" for all to hear. Then the teacher would ask them to solve the equation step by step as instructed from posted signs on the wall. The walls of the class had many processing steps that the student could read (literacy). The teacher used lecture and literacy but would let the students independently workout their own solutions and ideas.

Science Unit Plan

I got very into this lesson plan because I saw some interesting topics that I have not seen in years. I really liked the fact that biology was my first major in college so I had to revisit some topics I wanted to include in my unit and lesson plan. Another interesting aspect of biology is that I found some interesting topics that connect literacy with not only biology but culture, family, and traits. A topic I picked to connect Biology to literacy was on a web site that discussed the affects of alcohol on Indians. In the PDF document it stated some misconceptions about the affects of alcohol on Indians. It says that there is no evidence that any particular race genes are susceptible to alcohol. Meaning that we are all equally susceptible to the affects of alcohol no mater what color. I think that this a fine example of critical reading in biology because the students can explore outside of the classroom things that are real and covers what is important about issues and concerns of students. Content is important but ethical concerns must be covered as well so students can widen their perspective and scope of the learning process. The learning process should include reality, morals, and civil rights. Other issues that covers biology are AIDS research and genetic engineering. Teachers in Science can connect mountains of topics dealing with or connecting biology to critical reading skills. Science can in addition to this use multiply teaching strategies because science is all around us- space, the environment- oceans and lands, etc. I think that cloning is a major concern, so I included it in a lesson where students are to answer questions about ethics when science can or seems to overstep it boundaries. The teacher directs the students to answer questions in the first person so that their responses is natural and flows. Improved cognitive development can result if critical literacy and content are connected because the students will remember things that interest them most. I feel that for students success in school we must re-address what we are teaching to match how we test them- there is a gap between student's success verses students'assessment criteria. Critical reading text along with content knowledge can bridge the gap because students are already engaged in issues and concerns of society; and schools using these concerns of students to cover content is important.

Mathematics Unit Plan

This is my subject so I was excited about this particular Unit. Like before I got the curriculum from Ms. Duncan, 9th grade math teacher, and I am still using the Inspiration 9 software. These things made it easy for me to develop and complete my unit plan and three lessons. The subject I chose to do my unit plan and lesson plan is Algebra I. I like algebra because of all mathematics subjects Algebra is easy to figure out when you master the basic concepts or rules. I can move on to more complex algebra problem. Polynomials was the topics of the three lessons. I wanted to have fun with the titles so I named my lessons- Polite Paula Poly, You Got to FOIL Them, and All in The family. Some really connect to what the lesson is about. Like FOIL is the acronym for First, Outer, Inner, Last when multiplying polynomials reminding students to do sequences of steps to get the product. Next title I like very much was from the 70s TV show with Archie Bunker, All in The Family. Combining like terms with the theme that families with the same name (say for instant x is a last name and y is a last name now lets put integers in front of them. We now have 4x, 7y. Can we combine them? No, they do not have the same last names but 4x, 2x can be combined. This theme can really connect the students to the learning process because it is common knowledge to all learners about families and last names. I connected chapter 4 of the textbook, Rethinking Mathematics, that deals with Historical, Cultural, Social Implications of Mathematics. I picked this topic because lots of African Americans think that blacks did not play a significant part in the development of mathematics but this chapter explains in detail how all ethnic groups developed their own system of mathematics but it was to be downplayed or credited to whites. I would like to connect the history of mathematics to the black societies in Africa who made great contributions when I develop my lessons to engage not just the minority students but all the students. With Mr. Prezbo students I asked my hypothetical students questions about what opportunities do mathematics bring when a student need money for the summer or cloths verses seeking unhealthy means like the boy betting in a dice game with some street corner boys. This is very dangerous and we should address to the students in our classes the importance of ethics. Every teacher should connect good ethical practice in their classrooms.

Social Studies Unit Plan

I got support for this Unit Plan from my undergraduate mentor teacher Ms. Duncan at Coppin Academy. She is the 9th grade mathematics teacher. She knows and has access to the Baltimore City school curriculum. I not only got information about mathematics for 9th graders but for Social Science 9th grade as well. I forgot about the Science Unit Plan so I may need to get the Science curriculum for Baltimore 9th grade. I like the Inspiration 9 software that I purchased last week so all I have to do is cut/paste my objectives into the software saving me time. I put Howard Zinn Project into my unit plan as well as the three lessons we were to create with our unit plan. Students can use critical literacy to support Social Studies curriculum assigned with Howard Zinn Project. I also used information that I am learning about the brain in graduate course REED 504- Processes and Acquisition of reading Skills for Professional Development. I found out that I do not need this course but I am glade that I took it. Knowledge about the brain is very important because teachers can use this knowledge to support the multiply ways that they can teach students. Memory and Recall of information is what teachers aim for and teachers understanding how, when, and why students can and cannot recall information is essential for lesson planning and teaching strategies. Knowledge about the brain benefits both teacher and students alike. I included terms like procedural memory when I have students create political cartoons for one unit lesson; priming is another theory used in brain research. Priming is when teachers want to give cues so that students will start recalling information that lay deep in the students mind, and to obtain memory that will last in a student’s long time memory instead of their short time memory teachers must connect or reconnect information to what the students already know and build upon it. All this I got from the textbook for REED 504. The Social Studies curriculum for History started around the end of the civil war and began with the Reconstruction Period (1897), then cover 1898 until 1929 when the US faced many difficult challenges, and then covered the middle of the century (1929 until 1945) when crises rose on the home front.

Music Unit Plan

My unit plan subject is Music. I was really excited about the Inspiration 9 software that I purchased it. This was from the Youtube video hyperlink in our Assignment tab. So I create my unit plan from the Inspiration software and it was a wonderful experience. The applications are easy to follow and I immediately produced my unit plan within an hour. I followed the Maryland State Volunteer Curriculum (VSC) for Music as I created my main topic, objective, narrative objective, material list, assessment, etc. For my lesson plan I chose in the Book “Teaching for Joy and Justice” by Linda Christensen chapter 5- Language and Power. What draw my attention to this particular chapter were the many facts about certain ethnic groups who experienced language genocide and how they struggled due to the denial of their native dialect yet and how fighting for their right to their native language they could established their identity which gave them power and saved their language. In Oregon, the author explains, is the hot bed of language death. One particular old woman knows of the old Oregon dialect that is rarely spoken because locals resent this type of talk. A man about 50 years old is the youngest person who speaks the dialect. Now he teaches it in a school for children to understand their language. This is of one story of many that depicts this same type of narrative. The teacher in this lesson combine the stories, it is referred to as Tea Party, where the students are asked in a first person account their thoughts about certain characters and circumstances of each story. The objective of the lesson is to show that language and power are unique and that inclusive, not exclusive, right to your native language is essential for identity, unity, and productivity which will fortify your nationality building power from within each culture. My professional development I used in this unit plan was to infuse technology. I have used Power Point slides before but never have I used the Inspiration 9 software. This to me is an up-grade from just using Power Point slides. I could cut/paste objectives to my lessons I created from the unit plan. I can present graphics and objects other then words in my work better and faster with my new software.