I have the privilege of teaching science to both eleventh and twelfth graders at New Haven Academy, a small magnet high school in New Haven, Connecticut. This setting allows not only for great diversity among the student body but a tight-knit community that exists between students and faculty. The class to which I expect to teach this unit next year is 67% female and 33% male. Of these students, 40% are black, 40% are Hispanic, and 20% are white. As a result of our small class sizes the students in this class are a close-knit group. While this leads to some excellent scientific conversations on some days, it can lead to excessive social conversations on others. The students continuously need to be kept on task and reminded of the objective that they are currently aiming to complete. They also need a variety of instructional modes during a class period. In my planning, my goal is to teach in a specific instructional mode for no longer than 20 minutes at a time to keep the students engaged as much as possible. Each class period is either 60 or 70 minutes at New Haven Academy; therefore, in each class period I attempt to use at least 2 modes of instruction to teach the main objectives of the lesson. In addition, the students are generally more interested and engaged when working together, therefore I try to incorporate pair or group work as often as possible.
Knowing the specific needs of my students is of great assistance to me in developing a curriculum unit. This unit is designed with the intentions of engaging and educating this specific group of students. In the future I will likely need to adjust the teaching methods and strategies as necessary to sufficiently address the needs of each particular group of students. I will also need to adjust the unit specifically for each student in my class as they all have different individual learning needs. While none of the students in my class are identified by an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) they all have different learning strategies and strengths. Some students work best individually while others are better served in a small-group setting; some need to be challenged while others need some hand-holding; some need guided questioning from me while others can form valid conclusions on their own. I am fortunate to have such small class sizes as it enables me to recognize these differences clearly and address them fully.
It is my hope that throughout this unit students will further develop their scientific inquiry and literacy skills. Students will be encouraged to speak, read, write, interpret, and present scientific information on a daily basis. I also look forward to challenging their analytical and creative thinking as they examine, predict, and describe the earthquakes and tsunamis that will be studied in this unit. I will also focus on the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and strive for students to improve their critical thinking skills through interpretation, investigation, analysis, comparative thinking, prediction, and persuasive writing.
