Mary Redden
Domain 3 Reflection
Instruction
Year 2
Showing relatable content and real world application of Biology skills and knowledge helps tremendously with student comprehension. Technology has really helped in this area by bringing short videos and sound bites, and extensive visuals of difficult abstract concepts into the classroom. Students are better able to make connections between life and the regents living environment curriculum.
One thing I began to implement this year are animated videos by the Amoeba Sisters. For each topic within this curriculum, there is an Amoeba Sisters animated video which shows a short well-explained description of the topic. For each new topic I begin,I have the students watch the video which in my opinion is a better description and animation than Kahn Academy Videos. I make sure to include links of all videos as well as other helpful resources to my Eboard and review twice a month how to find these resources when studying independently.
In addition, I differentiate tasks when necessary so that all students are engaged regardless of their ability levels and vary my questioning techniques to produce independent thinkers. This class has a curriculum that is flexible in the amount of time one can spend on a topic relative to other classes. I like to utilize test analysis to determine topics of difficulty and then plan my instruction based on those numbers. I recently spent another week on Mitosis vs Meiosis because I was not happy with quiz grades. I also just created a "Midterm Cleanup" quiz which consisted of first analyzing midterm questions, determining which topics students struggled with the most, created another test on those topics only gave this week.
This year I made it my goal to be more consistent with Tiered Instructional Approach to student learning and I feel it's paid off well. We have a very predictable schedule in this classroom which calls for weekly quizzes at the end of each week. This model works well with our ICT students as it never gives them a chance to get lazy and each student knows exactly what's being covered and what they are expected to know for each quiz. There are ten quizzes a quarter, and the quizzes all consist of regents level questions. Using these formative assessments, after each quiz I would culminate a list of test questions that proved to be the trickiest for students. Using this list, I would then pull small groups 9th period Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the following week and utilize Tier 2 instruction for these specific questions/topics. This worked very well as I would then add five or six similar questions to the following week's quiz, testing for student mastery. I made sure this was done each week, and I made the support schedule telling which students were to be pulled from support and on what day grouping them homogeneously determined by missed questions. This system proved beneficial in comparison to last year, as last year I allowed students who needed help to come down 9th when needed.