In order to support students as best they can in the classroom, educators need to understand the content, curriculum, and methodologies of the subjects they teach. Personally, I am passionate about both of my chosen subject areas of English and Biology. I love what each discipline has to offer in terms of worldview, perspectives, skills, and fascinating content knowledge. Yet I also recognize that my students don’t always share that same interest and passion. Thus, my goal as an educator is to ensure my students have the necessary support and methodology assignments in place to give them opportunities to be successful, regardless of their interest in it. 

Artifact #1: Gummy bear lab data analysis demonstration

See here for my demonstration video.

Despite pandemic conditions and time constraints, my Biology SA and I wanted to incorporate at least one lab data analysis opportunity into the 10-week Anatomy & Physiology course. We started the course in the blended learning space, so I knew my students needed to practice these skills in the online school format. For this purpose, I designed a simple gummy bear osmosis lab, which I completed on my own as a lab demonstration to provide my students with raw data to manipulate, graph, and analyze in a simple lab. This lab data analysis demonstration is one way I supported my students’ learning: most students had never learned how to use Excel or Google Sheets to make calculations or graph data, so my demonstration video (with falsified data) was helpful to guide them through the steps they needed to complete on their own. Despite the strange online format, most of my students were very successful in this activity and were able to practice data analysis for themselves. This is an important skill in the Sciences that will prepare my students well for their university careers.

Artifact #2: Class connections between English texts

I used this Venn diagram to visualize a think-pair-share discussion with my English class. We read a new text, “Walking the Territory,” and then compared different details from it to video clips we’d watched of the film Cast Away. Students shared their compare/contrast items, and I was able to put them on the board for everyone to visualize. The activity was a wonderful success, giving the class a reference point for future literary analysis writing and speaking pieces, where I asked them to make connections between texts to answer a guiding question. The use of Venn diagrams was a powerful tool I used in both the English and Biology classroom to extend students’ grasp of big ideas by requiring them to make connections.

Conclusion

Teaching subject knowledge in a way that is accessible to students often poses a unique challenge for teachers, especially when we are passionate about our subject areas and enjoy the challenge of the discipline. However, the role of the teacher is to understand how to scaffold understanding of subject concepts and skills in a way that makes it accessible to students and incorporate pedagogies and thinking patterns that will help students access deeper understandings in a comprehensible way. As an educator, my goal is to continue looking for thinking routines, concept maps, and alternate pedagogies to engage my students in the disciplines I teach, to foster their own love for and ability to engage in learning.