As a first year teacher, my
immediate focus has been attempting to master classroom management and lesson
plans. I have had difficulty seeing the connection between a well-behaved class
and well-planned instructional activities. As a participant in the Project MAST,
I have been provided UBD lessons with student materials and equipment kits,
allowing me to focus more on the true understanding of my students. The
participating instructors have provided me with plenty of additional resources,
ideas, and activities that can be implemented with ease in my classroom. This eliminates
a lot of internal pressure because it ensures that the focus remains on the academic
achievement of my students. I now have strong and meaningful support from fellow
science teachers which makes a world of difference.
At Project MAST, many of us middle
school science teachers have transitioned from the teachers to the students. We
have worked through several experiments that we can take back to our classrooms
and use with our students. This hands-on approach allows us to try experiments
ourselves in hopes of gaining true understanding to be able to teach it later
in the classroom. (I can explain it more easily to my students if I've already
done it!) In education, we are required to increase the rigor of the means by
which we teach. This is a way to help us come up with great projects to get our
students more involved in the classroom. The best thing is that these experiments
involve simple materials that we use in our everyday life! We have been using
common items to do science and make it applicable for our students. I believe
that our number one goal is to give students more opportunities to problem solve
and grow. Most participating professors emphasize the importance of post-lab
discussions, which help students better understand what just happened. These discussions
can cover elements the students didn't understand, reasons different groups got
different results or why things happened as they did…Brilliant! So far, this
program has been helpful in getting ideas for new experiments to use in class.
Now with these new ideas, it helps us to be able to better use our time.
