Brittany Brown ELED 300 Cikanek April 24, 2013 Reflection Paper When I first walked into Mrs.

Waldrips room the first thing I noticed was the immense amount of purple in the classroom. Purple is her favorite color and she shows it well with her decorations. On the walls are lab safety cartoons, famous scientists such as Albert Einstein and Curie, science jokes, the bell schedule, and lots of Pride posters supporting school extracurricular activities. When standing at the front of the room, the students sit in pairs, 3 rows and 3 columns of pairs of desks. Behind the desks are lab tables that seat 4 students, each with a separate work station. Lining the walls are shelves, cabinets, and counters; a drying rack for the beakers, goggle station, the emergency shower and eye wash station, and the fire blanket. Mrs. Waldrip has projects from previous students hanging from the ceiling miniature solar systems and constellation models. On the shelves are bins for students to turn in homework and assignments, a missed work folder, and bins for their daily notebooks. Mrs. Waldrip has 4 class periods of 12th grade Earth and Space Science, and 1 class period of Integrated Physics and Chemistry composed of 9th and 10th graders. There are approximately 12 students in each class. She has one period of 8 boys. She is blessed with great diversity in each class. Multiple ethnicities, gender, and personalities show within the students. The students tend to group primarily by ethnicity and then by gender, with exception of her all boy class. For a small school, these students seem to be very accepting of each other. There are only a few students who sit aside by themselves and seem to be left out. The discipline management plan is posted in large laminated letters on the wall. It lists her expectations and then notifies the students of the consequences of their violation. First, they will receive a warning. Second, she provides consequences within the classroom. Third strike results in a pink slip and phone call to the principals office. Instead of sending the students to the office, Teague

High School has a policy where the teacher contacts the principals directly - whether it be a text, email, or phone call and the principal personally escorts that student out of the classroom. The science department does not work together when deciding on what is taught in the classroom. Each teacher is asked to follow the TEKS for that grade and class and is allowed to determine their own lesson plans. Mrs. Waldrips class is not a tested class, therefore, she has a lot more freedom than the other science courses. Chemistry, Biology, and Physics teachers are all required to schedule their plans at the beginning of the year, specifying how much time they will spend on each topic and which TEKS it covers. This plan is to be sent to the Superintendent to review and he is to be notified of any changes throughout the year. Mrs. Waldrip is a very passive teacher. Personally, a more Authoritative approach would suit me better with these students. Sometimes, while observing I felt that she enabled the students too much. This allows them to take advantage of her. This group of seniors is extremely lazy, over half of them had failing grades at progress reports, simply from not turning in their assignments. For the most part, the students respect Mrs. Waldrip, as she does them. There was only one serious discipline issue while I was observing and it was a minor issue. Overall, the student and teacher relationship was admirable and respectful. Mrs. Waldrip has a very caring and compassionate composition with each student and successfully motivates them. I observed lessons over the atmospheres, weather conditions, momentum, velocity, and mass. She teaches two subjects. For the majority of the day she teaches the same lesson all day long to her Earth and Space Science seniors. She has one class of Integrated Physics and Chemistry which is the only change in her schedule all day. The results of the lesson vary by class. Mrs. Waldrip uses the same method every class period, but spends more time with some classes attempting to motivate the students into doing their work. The issue with teaching seniors is that they no longer care about their school work and are only striving to reach June when they can graduate and get out of Dodge.

Technology isnt something Mrs. Waldrip is strong with, however, she uses the smart board daily when lecturing to the students. Other forms of technology used in the classroom include calculators and google chrome books the students use for assignments. Mrs. Waldrip does her best to utilize the internet and other sources in the classroom technology is just not something she is good with. I really like the use of composition books as daily notebooks. These are kept in the classroom and aids the students in organizing their notes. It is an easy grade for them and is something readily accessible for them in the classroom. All of the teachers in the science department have adopted the daily notebooks in their classroom. Mr. Huff does something really interesting that I really liked, he gives his tests online on laptops in the classroom. The grades go directly to a website (saves grading time) and the students can log in from home and see exactly what areas they missed. This also allows him to see what areas he needs to reteach and areas that the students are well versed in. One of the main things I would change about Mrs. Waldrips classroom is that I would apply more pressure to the students. As seniors, I feel they should have more responsibility and be held accountable for their actions to prepare for life outside of high school. I would also try to do more outside of the classroom. Science is an awesome subject to go outside and to incorporate at a community level. I would like to create projects that the students could do that would better their community and help them realize the importance of science in their everyday lives.