Audrey Mahaffey

Journal Reflection
540-900

Journal Entry #1: Week of January 10th

Today my mentor teacher was not here so I was able to work with a substitute teacher. My
mentor teacher gave me her lesson plans and instructions and I was able to run today’s lesson
with the students. We began by reviewing genotype, phenotype, dominant, recessive,
homozygous, and heterozygous terms. We completed an example of the “Dragon Genetics”
activity together. I called on multiple students throughout the class in order to check in to see if
they had an understanding before we began the activity. Students were given a chart to complete
on their dragon baby (offspring). Then they were given a small plastic egg with a tail (father
sperm cell) and a large plastic egg (mother egg cell). Each egg contained 4 chromosomes that
would be placed together to determine the genotype and phenotype of the offspring. Students
matched the chromosomes from the mother and father and completed the chart. Students also
had to note whether or not the genotype was homozygous or heterozygous. Tomorrow students
will cut out the parts of their baby dragon and color them to represent the specific phenotypes in
the chart. This was a great experience again for me to get to know the students and get in front of
the classroom. The students were very respectful and they all seemed to understand how to
complete their genetic dragon chart and everyone understood why their dragons may have
different genotypes, which would lead to different looking dragons.

Students began to build their genetic dragons. They used all the information they gathered from
the sperm and egg cells from the parent chromosomes and were able to determine what traits
their baby dragon would have. They colored the parts according to the characteristics on the
chart and cut them out. Then they pasted them on a piece of construction paper. Students were
able to understand how traits can be passed down from parents to their offspring.

Students presented their dragons to the class. They described how they knew if it was a male or
female and what phenotypes they displayed. This was a good way for students to gain confidence
in front of the class and also to show that they understood why they completed this
activity. Students were then introduced to Punnett Squares in order to determine probability that
an offspring will have a certain trait. I was able to lead this lesson and used the I do, We do, You
do methods to gradually release them to working independently on these Punnett Squares. Some
students seemed to forget the difference between heterozygous and homozygous, so we took a
moment to review these terms before we moved along. Students were assigned 2 different
Punnett Squares for homework and were asked to determine the probability that the offspring
would have certain traits.

Students were split into pre-planned groups (based on how well they work together) and sent to
one of 5 different stations. Each station had different traits and genotypes to designate which was
dominant and which was recessive. Students worked on large white boards and dry erase
markers to draw the Punnett square for the mother and father to determine the probability that
their offspring would exhibit a specific trait. Each time they moved to a new station students
would change who wrote on the whiteboard. After students worked through each station, they
were handed the dragons they created. They were asked to use the genotypes for their dragon and
their partners in order to create a Punnett square for their potential offspring (dragon
grandchildren!) The students worked through each genotype and then used a coin to flip to
determine whether their baby would be a male or a female.

Journal Entry #2: Week of February 7th

Food Pyramid project. Students were assigned an ecosystem and were given information on what
was expected at each level of the food pyramid. Students labeled and drew the producers,
primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, and apex predators on their food
pyramid. Students were able to label the energy that was transferred from one level to the next.
The students then presented their ecosystems to the classroom. I have noticed that the students
are becoming more comfortable with each time that they talk in front of the classroom.

I introduced the students to a new topic within the ecosystems on predator and prey relationships
and competition for resources. The students began by answering a few questions in order for me
to determine if they had any prior knowledge on this topic. We watched a video on generation
genius that introduced the topic and gave students visuals of animals competing in their
ecosystems for food and resources to live. After the video we discussed what animals need in
order to survive and how the energy pyramid we created yesterday relates to the number of
producers and consumers competing in an ecosystem. 
The students read a scientific article about wolves and moose that have a predator prey
relationship on Isle Royale, an island, on Lake Superior. This article will be the driving board of
the simulation activity we will complete during tomorrow’s lesson. This article will provide the
students with evidence and background information to drive their thinking during the activity.

Today’s lesson was a recorded lesson on predator/prey relationships. The students were engaged
at the beginning of the lesson with a short video showing the patterns in predator tactics and the
choices the prey have to either hide or dodge. This rolled into the wolves and moose relationship
that scientists are studying on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Students were able to determine
from the article we read that studying this predator prey relationship would be beneficial to
scientists because the island provides seclusion and no interference by humans. The goal of this
lesson was to help students create a graph based on moose and wolf populations and determine
what type of relationship these populations had on each other. The students partnered to
complete the simulation where they could change the beginning population of each species, their
life span, number of babies they have, and the size of the space in which they live. The students'
partnerships were great in that both students were engaged and participating at all times. They
had to discuss their thoughts with each other to determine what the graphs were indicating and
why they thought this was happening. Many students were even able to make predictions about
what would happen before they changed the parameters in each scenario. It was great to hear
their discussions and the way their minds were thinking. This will help in preparing lessons in
the future.
Competition for resources within an ecosystem. Today students completed an activity to
demonstrate how animals within an ecosystem have to compete with one another for the
resources they need to live. Students began by listing the resources animals need to survive.
Then they recalled the meanings of the following vocabulary words, herbivore, omnivore,
carnivore, and scavenger. Students chose one of the animals (deer, rabbit, elk, fox, or turkey
buzzard) and then went to the marked off area in order to hunt for “food” which was different
colored fruit loops. Once students collected all the loops into their baggies, they went back to
their seats and separated them based on their colors. Then students were told that; green = plants,
red = predator meat, orange = scavenger meat, blue = water, yellow = shelter, and purple =
pollution. Students who were herbivores had to put away the red and orange loops as they had no
use for meat. Turkey buzzards put green and red away because they have no use for predator
meats. Then students were told different factors that could affect their ecosystem. Pollution
contaminated the food and water source, so for every purple loop they had to remove one food or
water loop. We kept moving through each scenario until the animals started dying off. Turkey
buzzards were allowed to take scavenger meat from the dead animals because they are
scavengers. Foxes are omnivores so they were able to be sustained longer due to their different
food sources. 

The students really enjoyed this activity and were able to use the information they learned to
write an explanation of what happened to them from the perspective of the animal they had
chosen. They used the information from this activity to determine how competition for resources
in the wild takes place. I would use this activity again, as it got students moving and everyone
was engaged and participating the entire time. ‘

Journal Entry #3: Week of February 22nd

We began a new topic about the impacts that humans can have on the environment. Students
were given a pre-assessment in order to determine how much background information they have
on the topic. After the pre-assessment, students watched a video about how humans can impact
our environment.

As we began discussing human impacts on the environment yesterday, students were engaged in
a hands-on laboratory activity where they became forensic scientists and used a map of different
sites where groundwater was taken in order to determine the source of contamination near a
farm. There are several places, including a fertilizer plant and a chemical company that could be
the source. There are 30 different places where “samples” were taken from on the map and
students choose 3 places, to begin, that they believe may be the source of contamination. They
test each sample by adding it to their well and then adding an indicator solution and as they add
the testing solution, they count how many drops are needed until the solution turns from yellow
to purple. The more drops it takes to turn the solution, the more parts per billion of the
contaminants is present. 

I would do this activity with 7th grade again for sure. They all caught on to proper usage of a
pipette and really enjoyed being in the driver's seat in making decisions about where the
contamination is coming from. EVERY single group was able to determine where the source was
correctly. After they tested 3 sites they went back and picked 3 more. This allowed them to
determine the area around the site and to see how far the contaminant traveled. Students were
great during cleanup and are really good at respecting the lab equipment and using chemicals.
The time needed to complete and cleanup worked perfectly for our 38-minute class period.

Today students were continuing to investigate how humans can impact the environment. I began
engaging them with images of marine debris that was littered in the ocean and then showed a
devastating effect of this with a picture of an albatross with its stomach filled with plastic marine
debris that was fed to it by its parents. Then students watched a video to give them more
background information on how humans negatively impact the environment. The video was
stopped multiple times in order to ask and engage students in discussion about what they were
learning in the video. After the video, students were broken into predetermined groups and given
the research task of finding 3-5 ways that humans negatively impact the environment. Then they
were asked to find 3-5 ways humans can positively impact the environment. Each student was
asked to pick one negative and one positive to share with the class. We created a chalkboard
splash, allowing students to get up and move and write their findings on the board. Then students
were given time to share what they found with the whole group. Finally, they were given
individual exit tickets in order to assess their understanding of the topic and determine if I had
met the objectives of the lesson. This lesson was a great way to get all the students involved and
the movement in the lesson seemed to help with their confidence in sharing their findings with
the class.

Journal Entry #4: Reflection

I really enjoyed reading through my previous journal entries and reliving those lessons that were
taught during those weeks. As I read through the first journal entry, which was only my second
week in my student teaching placement, I could feel the nerves and pressure that came with
teaching that first lesson. That week I taught my first lesson as my mentor teacher was absent. I
have grown so much since that first lesson and my focus is no longer on my comfort in front of
the group, but on the growth and learning success of my students. I have learned from previous
lessons, where I stood in front of the classroom and taught, that some students dominate the
discussion, hindering others from participating. This has been another area of growth, where I’ve
learned how to incorporate total participation techniques into my lessons in order to engage all
students. From simple think, pair, share activities, to larger projects where students research
certain topics in groups and then share out to the class. My students have also grown in their
confidence level as far as sharing goes. This is an area where I wanted to focus my teaching in
order to help students feel more confident speaking in front of the group. I have noticed through
the paired activities that my students are much more likely to share after they have bounced their
ideas off of their partners and actively listened to their partners point of view as well. Lastly, as I
read through my earlier journal entries, I realized that I have developed in my ability to reflect on
my teaching as well. This is an area where I want to continue to develop and hope to be better
able to use these reflections to adapt and adjust future lessons based on the feedback I’m getting
from my students.