My school does not ability group, so the classes are mixed level but this course is designed for ninth graders. Ninth grade has some unique challenges at the moment, because a number of my students did not have a science teacher last year, and quite a few didn’t have one for at least 2 years! I expect this trend to continue, at least for the short term, as we as a nation face a teacher shortage and many middle schools in New Haven do not have adequate science staff to teach all of their students. This means that in addition to teaching students in a mixed ability group, I also have to account for significant differences in background knowledge about everything! This is about scientific information but also has to do with skills we associate with a science classroom, even up to and including using a ruler, which I had to teach to multiple students this fall.
I applied to this program mostly with the intent to build interest and buy in into a unit on environmental science, because talking about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is interesting to a few, while talking about a place they have actually been is interesting to many more students. Add in a discussion related to race and socioeconomic status, and many of my students sit up and listen! As I said earlier, the end product I am aiming for has changed, but my intent to build interest has not.