The artifact chosen for our class to reflect on was our second set of discussion questions: Science in the Primary Classroom. During these discussion questions, we were asked to plan a week of lessons with whole group instruction, small group instruction, and then a writing portion of the block. We planned for a third-grade classroom, so we have to integrate science content into the literacy blocks. I decided to create a slideshow showing how to plan for whole group instruction, small group instruction, writing instruction, how to use independent reading stations, an SOP example during the reading stations, and a sample literacy block shared vision. When looking at the Maine Common Core Teaching Standards (CCTS), I can see that Standard #7 Planning for Instruction aligns the most with this assignment – “The teacher draws upon knowledge of content areas, cross-disciplinary skills, learners, the community and pedagogy to plan instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals.”
As I created a full week of science content that would be integrated into the literacy block, I believe it has contributed to expanding my pedagogical knowledge and helping me become a metacognitive teacher. With that being said, I am now familiar with creating SOPs, a Shared Vision, whole group instruction, small group instruction, and writing instruction. Although I plan on becoming a middle school teacher, I can still use this knowledge of how to integrate science content into a literacy block/period. I will be able to use all of the material I have created to help improve my practice when I’m in my first clasrrom.
