Rational for Wisconsin Teacher Development and Licensure Standard One

As a Broadfield Science and Biology double major I have had the opportunity to take many classes that help to build my understanding of scientific language, frameworks, theories, practices, experimental techniques, and general concepts. With each new class I am challenged in a variety of ways and therefore must problem solve and communicate like a professional in that discipline. This parallels the philosophy that I believe in for teaching science in my classroom: Students must actually do science in order to learn. In order for this to occur I must have a deep understanding in the content that I am teaching and I must be able to effectively and clearly communicate that in a variety of ways. This means that I must be able to model for my students what it is to apply the concepts to advanced analysis and problem solving, and expect that they practice doing that on their own. I have selected the feedback that I received on the assessments that I took in Cell Biology to demonstrate my depth and breadth as an educator as well as Wisconsin Teacher Development and Licensure Standard One. This standard states that a teacher should understand the content that she is teaching well enough that she may teach and explain content in a variety of ways so that students will be engaged and see its value in the world. If I, as the educator, cannot model what it is to communicate and think like a scientist, then I am truly doing a disservice to my students. We must give students many opportunities to grow and demonstrate their thinking and learning in a variety of ways so they can begin to understand their role and importance in learning the content. This has to start with the teacher being well learned in the subject.

The Alverno Education Department Outcome of the Major of Coordination is also demonstrated through my understanding of the content in my coursework. Coordination comes into play when a teacher connects the classroom environment to the students other environments and makes those connections relevant. When students get frustrated in what they are learning and do not see the relevance in what they are doing, they are closed off to learning and ask for the reason that the content needs to be learned. A successful teacher will make the connection between the science class and the real world explicit through applications and hands on discovery based or inquiry based science. Once students see the connection to the real world, they can see the relevance of learning and doing the science. In conceptualization, a teacher integrates a variety of educational frameworks to drive her instruction. If I am expecting that my students actually do science like a scientist would, I must be able to do this in many different ways.