Georganna's Blog

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See You in the Classroom Podcast 1

Recently I recorded a podcast alongside 3 other future teachers reviewing a book called See You in The Cosmos by Jack Cheng.

Should I Use Book Clubs in the Science Classroom?

When I think of book clubs, I more often than not think of language arts classes exclusively reading classic literature such as The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men . When it comes to science classrooms I never think of reading as a part of the curriculum unless it has to do with textbooks, lab reports, or other traditional sources used in science classrooms. It wasn ’ t until this month that I realized that reading fiction (not science fiction) books that have strong elements of science would be incredibly beneficial for my classroom to build literacy skills, science skills, and potentially interest in both subjects. This got me thinking about what books would be good in the classroom that is both interesting for the students and informational with accurate scientific content. I found this list of books created by the American Library Association for elementary and middle school classrooms that are broken down by content areas within science as well as appropriate grade levels to ...

Book Clubs and Differentiation

I think book clubs, especially when each group is allowed to choose their own reading, are a fantastic way to allow differentiation in the classroom. It is so important to remember that each student in every classroom is their own individual person with unique interests and allowing them to explore those interests within specific guidelines of a beneficial curriculum is wonderful. Chapter 9 of Subjects Matter discusses how to get the most out of book clubs in the classroom through techniques such as giving each group member a designated role. This is my favorite strategy because it allows for students to hold themselves and each other accountable while offering an opportunity for every student to be engaged. This is essential in the classroom, especially for those students who might be quieter or shyer than other students. For instance, I was an extremely shy child, and to this day I am much quieter than most of my peers. I would have greatly appreciated having the role of illustra...

"Tearing Down the Wall: Literature and Science"

I have been tasked with reading and discussing the journal article Tearing Down the Wall: Literature and Science by Warren B. Westcott and J. Everett Spell. The authors discuss the benefits and difficulties of teaching across content areas, specifically when dealing with using literature to teach science. Obviously, the focus would be on literary technique, story, etc. in an ELA classroom, while the focus in a science classroom would be to engage students with a story associated with science while teaching them about science itself. The issue that arises, however, is that not all scientific nonfiction is good literature and not all scientific fiction is good science. The only way to ensure that you are getting the best of both worlds is to talk about the literature with teachers of the other subject. The issue with that, however, is that I think it could be taxing and time-consuming to have to read a book and critique it for another teacher's curriculum, though I think most teac...

Alternative Assessments

This essay by Stephanie King is a phenomenal source for those looking to challenge and test their students learning without adhering to traditional means, i.e. pencil and paper tests that often bore students and leave them uninterested in the topic at hand. The article articulates how we can determine what we want our assessments to tell us about our students and ourselves and what questions we need to answer in order to determine the best type of assessment for the material currently being covered. The article goes on to detail an assessment model created by the author, specifically for a social studies classroom, with moving parts you can customize to your own class. Each of the “ moving parts ” are suggestions for types of assessments like tasks you have to do (reading, writing, art, verbal and nonverbal), as well as vocational tasks (pretend to be a museum curator, criminologist, etc.). Then the author dives into one of her favorite assessments: having students create ninetee...

How to ~Effectively~ Use a Textbook

When I was in middle school, I despised having to go to any social studies classes I was taking, yet now I want to be a social studies teacher. I have had many people ask why I would want to teach such a boring subject and at first, I didn ’ t know how to respond. At this point in my life, I don ’ t find many aspects of social studies boring, but I do think that the way public schools often teach it can make the material seem lackluster and unnecessary, largely because students just don ’ t like reading textbooks. To this day I find myself not reading my textbook … in my History for History Teachers class. This chapter gave me some helpful ideas on how to combat this issue in a subject that is very heavily based on textbooks, ideas that have the potential to not only get students to absorb the material, but also to get excited about learning it. While many activities suggested were not considered “ fun ” in a traditional sense, each offered ways to allow for personal expression on ...