Earth Science Unit Teaching Reflective Summary

Teacher Candidate for Science Endorsement: Janice Belcher

School: Dowell Elementary School

Grade: 5th

Unit Topic: Erosion

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

How well were the units student performance objectives

attained? Were there opportunities for the students to develop
conceptual understanding through engaging in the learning cycle
(5Es)?

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.

Overall, this unit on Erosion was a success and the students had a
great time discovering for themselves how and why water, wind and
ice cause Erosion. The authenticity of engagement by the students,
however, made up for any missteps that took place throughout the
lesson. By giving my students the opportunity to explore the various
stations and learn by completing hands on activities was the highlight
of my unit. My students were fascinated and begin to develop a much
deeper understanding of the unit objectives. Going forward, I will
absolutely use these stations, however I will allow more time for
student exploration. Throughout the unit students were able to make
real world connections and understand that erosion can occur when
there are several variables at work. My student were able to research
landforms including the example Grand Canyon and began to discuss
other factors that could contribute to erosion there, which they realized
also involved wind blowing sand and rocks falling, which connected
back to our concoction of different materials. They became the
scientists and surprised themselves with their findings while working
together for a common purpose. I was amazed at the imagination and
inquiry occurring throughout the unit!
As I reflect on my Erosion unit, it has made me realize that this style of
teaching is what I feel the most comfortable with. I enjoy teaching
students in a way that allows them to have ownership and
responsibility of their learning while still staying on task with the

subject at hand. Allowing students to collaborate with each other, to

create conversations and discussions and to allow them to question
and discover appears to be what I consider successful teaching. The
lessons in this unit made me realize that as teachers, it is ok to not
necessarily have control over everything. Using probes to assess my
students understanding allowed me to correct any misconceptions
immediately. As thorough and prepared as I was in teaching my unit on
erosion, I felt like some of my lessons did not fit context of the
conversation that was occurring in that moment.
With all of this being said, the only thing I would change is to give the
students more time to explore their own ideas about erosion. From a
teachers perspective, however, I will work on a giving direction on a
given task.