Professional Growth Plan PSIII Intern: Taylor Smith Semester: Fall,

2017 School: Drumheller Valley Secondary School Mentor:

Wendy Olson

Goal #1: I want to increase student engagement during my Science 8 class.

Rational:

During my PSII, I discovered that I have a very traditional way of teaching and I rely heavily on
notes, and worksheets. During this practicum I would like to include more inquiry based projects
and lab days into my science classes. I hope that this will increase engagement and spark
scientific wonder into my students.

Strategies:

1. I will incorporate universal engagement strategies into my daily lesson. The main
strategies I would like to focus on are experimental learning, student choice, and personal
response opportunities.
Embed strategies into lesson plans daily.
Speak to the other three science teachers at DVSS regarding their universal
engagement strategies
On-going throughout the semester

2. I will adapt and implement an inquiry project based on the Scientific Method. Students
will use their knowledge of the scientific method to develop a fictional (or non fictional)
scientific experiment. Students will have a chance to express their scientific curiosities
and get excited about experiments.
Begin planning Aug 1
Submit to UC & TM for feedback Aug 21
Revise Aug 25-28 (depending on feedback)
Teach the first week of school (Sept 5-8)

3. In my Science 8 class, I would like to do Monday-Fundays. During these classes, I will

organize mini labs, demos and inquiry projects for the students will complete. Monday-
Funday will be a weekly opportunity for hands on learning and a chance for students to
make stronger connections with the course content.
Begin planning Aug 1
Submit to UC & TM for feedback Aug 21
Revise Aug 25-28 (depending on feedback)
Implement every Monday of the Semester (when school events schedule &
holidays allow)

Indicators of Success:

1. I will monitor student engagement throughout the semester. Using tools such as my
assessments, observations and students feedback I will gain an understanding of how
engaged the students are. Methods of student feedback will include student ratings, two
Stars and a Wish and exit slips.
Ongoing throughout the semester

Reflections/Updates:
Aug 14- I am very pleased with my planning of Monday-Fundays & the Scientific method
project. I am getting excited to teach these classes and I hope that my excitement will rub off on
my students.

Sept 13- Students were very excited about their Scientific methods projects. This project allowed
me to build relationships with my students because many of the projects reflected their personal
 Professional Growth Plan PSIII Intern: Taylor Smith Semester: Fall,
2017 School: Drumheller Valley Secondary School Mentor:
Wendy Olson

interests. This project also allowed me many opportunities to talk to the students one on one
about their projects and who they are. Overall the projects were very well done and I am
extremely happy with this project.

Sept 19: On Tuesday, I covered classifying matter with my grade 8s and after completing the
notes; I realized that I could have taught it in a way better way. I wish that I had given the
students a concept sort. Students would have received a bundle of cards with pictures of different
types of matter on them. Students would then have to sort the cards into categories based on their
properties. Students would have had to critically think in order to classify the matter on their
cards. This would then lead into the notes and discussion on how we classify matter.

October 15: This week we did the ramp test for viscosity. The students LOVED this activity. They
were so excited to be working in the lab and I witnessed so many smiles beaming from their
faces. Many of them asked when the next lab will be.. so I am assuming they loved the hands on
work

October 24: Today I showed the students a version of Galleios thermometer. I asked the students
how do you think this works? I received many educated guesses until we finally arrived at the
right answer DENSITY. Although this wasnt exactly what I would consider monday funday,
I do think that the students really enjoyed this short inquiry introduction. The students were
actively involved and extremely eager to speak. Id call this a success.

November 3: This week we were working on our Float Your Boat project and I think it went
AWESOME. Students were asked to make Captain Jack Sparrow a boat to allow him to take his
treasure from the open ocean into the fresh water harbour. It was a great success. The students
literally rushed to class every day, extremely eager to get working on their boat. One of our other
experienced teachers even borrowed my idea similarly in class. I was flattered. Haha!

November 21: We began our introduction to Light & optics today. Instead of jumping straight
into material, I decided to do a KWL chart with them to find out what they want to know about
light. After they filled out the first two columns, we watched Bill Nye on Light & Optics and the
students filled out their last column. Using their W column, we created a WONDERWALL
where I asked each student to write one question that have about light. Not only is it a super cute
decoration in our class, I can now tie each lesson to one of their questions!

November 28: I LOVE MY WONDERWALL. It is so easy to address their questions in class and
it instantly boost their engagement in the lesson. I am so happy I did this.

November 30: After marking the unit tests for Mix & Flow, I was pleasantly surprised with how
many students referred back to the various labs when answering the questions.

December 1: After learning about the different colours of light. I decided to do a color blind test
with the students. It was so fun! We discovered that 1 student in our class is colorblind, which
actually runs in his family. So we google some stats and I talked a little about how
colourblindness is passed down through genetics. The students were extremely excited and were
so well behaved this class.

Goal #2: Implement more technology in my Science 10 Class.

Rational:

I admit that I am not extremely comfortable with technology and with my past practicums I have
avoided it. However, with technology becoming a more important part of our lives every day, I
 Professional Growth Plan PSIII Intern: Taylor Smith Semester: Fall,
2017 School: Drumheller Valley Secondary School Mentor:
Wendy Olson

think it is important to involve technology in my lessons. Students are constantly connected and
while this can sometimes be seen as a negative attribute of todays youth, I would like to embrace
it. Technology can be a great way to view scientific concepts from a new and different
perspective.

Strategies:

1. Create an online classroom using Weebly. Here students can find lecture notes, practice
problems and helpful websites. This will allow students to easily access content that was
missed, print notes to help them following along in class and find extra practice
problems.

2. Speak to other teachers who use websites such as Google Classrooms and Edmodo. I will
ask to get a quick lesson in both and then chose one that is best for my tech abilities.

3. Incorporate at least 1 PhET simulations per unit if/when appropriate. This website has
tons of simulations that can easily be adapted for grade 10 curriculum.

Indicators of Success:
1. Updates to my classroom website on Sundays for the upcoming week. If I include it as
part of my Sunday routine, I feel that I will be much more successful.
2. I will monitor student engagement throughout the semester. Using tools such as my
assessments, observations and students feedback I will gain an understanding of how
engaged the students are. Methods of student feedback will include student ratings, two
Stars and a Wish and exit slips.
Ongoing throughout the semester

Reflection:

Aug 18: I have found 2 awesome PhET simulations. The coolest one is for balancing chemical
equations. I really think it will help my visual learners understand the concept of balancing
equations. It will also help solidify the concept for students who are more comfortable with the
material. I am super excited to have my students work with this!

Sept 13: I am sad to admit that I still have not set up a classroom website. Despite trying both
Google Classroom and Edmodo, I do not like either one of them. I have set a goal that I will sit
down and Youtube how to build a Google Classroom website and just do it.

October 23: The chemistry Phet for balancing equations went AMAZING. I received extremely
good feedback from the students saying that this program was an awesome way to visually
balance equations. I would definitely introduce this simulation again and recommend it to any
science 10 teacher.

October 31: Kahoot continues to be a great formative assessment for my students. I use it mainly
as a review tool and the students love a healthy competition. The fact that they each have to
participate ensure I have high engagement levels from all students. I love Kahoot.

November 14: To introduce the physics unit to my class I had them do a poster project on the
development of the engine. They were given two classes to use the computers to create their
timeline posters. They were asked to list at least 7 engines, including one modern engine and give
a brief summary of how it works. They were also asked to identify the benefits and disadvantages
 Professional Growth Plan PSIII Intern: Taylor Smith Semester: Fall,
2017 School: Drumheller Valley Secondary School Mentor:
Wendy Olson

of each engine. Students did an awesome job on this project and had a lot of fun creating their
work.