PhilWP Portfolio

During the Summer Institute, I was also working in a fly lab on campus with a veteran science teacher from Central High School. At the end of every session, I would walk over to the lab and we would chat about PhilWP for about 10-20 minutes before she left for the day. We talked a lot about culturally relevant pedagogies, social justice in the classroom, and how different this might look in a science classroom as compared to a history or english classroom. We also talked a lot about my hesitation to do a lot of the activities that involve class-sharing of personal stories, as I teach at a neighborhood high school with limited classroom management abilities. She suggested that I try to use “awesome science” to create this type of open classroom environment. Although I may not be able to incorporate social justice into the curriculum the same way an English teacher does, I can still create a classroom where respect for ideas and opinions matter. Crazy phenomena breeds questions, and

I feel like many of my students may be intimidated to write because they think that their words “sound dumb”. This problem becomes especially paralyzing in the Fall, when college applications are due and many of our seniors are stuck, unable to write their personal statement. They get caught up trying to pick words that make their essays flow best and that also make them “sound smart”. But at the end of the day, by trying to be fancy, their essays end up confusing and nonsensical. I get lost in their narratives, misunderstanding the points they are trying to make. What they really need to do, is keep it simple. Many of the readings this summer, especially this one, reminded me that it is the meaning behind the words that matter most, not the words themselves. Of course grammar and syntax are important, but the message of the personal statements are more valuable. When my seniors come asking for help on their personal statements this year, I think I might have them read the hig

Throughout institute, I often thought about how I might incorporate my student’s personal history into the science curriculum. I came up with a couple of ideas over the summer, but I haven’t developed a concrete plan to implement them or come up with any follow-up ideas since. Some of the ideas I had: (i) interviewing someone older than them about the environment/weather when they were growing up (ii) having the ESOL students list or draw characteristics of their home country and connecting that to the different biomes on Earth (iii) bringing in photos of family members and identifying physical features that have been passed down (as a hook into genetics). This story, and the notes I wrote while reading it, reminded me of the reasons why it’s so important for me to continue thinking about how to make this personal connection between the student and the mandated narrative. It’s a way to get students to feel like they matter, that their story is important, and that they belong.

NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) is pushing for students to be able to make statements in the following format: “Claim-Evidence-Reasoning”. I think Trey Smith’s idea of analyzing primary sources is a great way to introduce students to this style of written argument-making. It’s also a really fun way to hook students into a lesson. In the past, I’ve started my carbon cycle lessons by showing a clip from the Lion King where Mufasa teaches Simba about the cycle of life, but I think I’ll switch it up this year and instead introduce the topic by showing students pictures of recent natural disasters that scientists have linked to climate change (ie. Hurricane Harvey; Hurricane Irma; California's 5-year drought and then subsequent flooding episodes). From their analysis and discussion of the pictures, students will begin to wonder why this is all happening and hopefully ask questions that will guide the lesson forward.

There are a lot of changes happening at my school this year. Many of them I knew were coming, but I still didn’t mentally prepare myself for them. I’ve been struggling to figure healthy and productive ways to deal with all the changes, but my strategies haven’t worked out so well. As it turns out, hiding in a room alone and crying doesn’t do much but make your eyes puffy. When I read this journal entry again (my very first journal write from the Summer Institute), I remembered that I should write about everything that’s going on. Writing will help me think through all the changes and perhaps help me figure out why they’re bothering me so much/what I can do about it. Seems silly that I could forget about something so simple, but school has been so overwhelming and time-consuming that this concept of journaling and writing as therapy just slipped my mind.

Post #1: Why I write When I re-read my very first journal write of the summer, I was reminded that writing can help to organize my scattered thoughts Post #2: Trey Smith's Visit on 7/25 What I learned from Trey Smith's visit to our Summer Institute Post #3: Carmen's Unwritten Story My thoughts on how to incorporate my students' personal history into the science classroom Post #4: Writing the Personal Statement Things to keep in mind as I help my seniors navigate the college essay portion of their application Post #5: Social Justice in the Ninth-grade Science Classroom One strategy on how I will approach social justice in the science classroom this year Post #6: Character Silhouette How I will incorporate this activity into my lessons regarding human impact on the environment Post #7: Ebony Thomas's Visit on 7/26 What I learned from Ebony Thomas's visit to our Summer Institute Post #8: Take A Stand Why I will use this activity as an introd