CREDE standards and Culturally Responsive Teaching

I will address the last unit I have taught in my middle school science classroom and determine the level of success in meeting the standards set forth by CREDE and Dr. Eugine Garcia.

The student population I teach is 7th and 8th graders living in New York city. These students come from many backgrounds and bring a lot of different levels of knowledge to the classroom on a daily basis. My classes have approximately 30% special education students in them. A few receive special services for speech, English language development, and OT. Our school is a small middle school (225 students) located in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. The population of students varies widely from class to class containing different majority/minority demographics.

In this past unit I have worked with the students in preparing them with the skills they will need to complete this years science fair. I started by going over the requirements, goals, purpose of the science fair as I saw it with them to preface the whole unit. We then went into some scientific method review by putting different experiments they have learned about or done in the past into the correct order based on the sci meth. We then worked into learning about the two types of science fair projects they would be able to choose from; Field study and Controlled experiment. The controlled experiment they have ample experience with. For field study I used PowerPoint presentations and demonstrations (where I personally acted like a baboon) to create opportunities for the students to practice the different ways a scientist can observe an animal in its habitat. The students later went on a field trip to continue this practice at the NY aquarium while doing some background research on what animals they might want to study or use for their project. After the students did a think-pair-share activity about good and bad group member qualities. Students then selected their own group partners using a ballot request format. I ensured that all students were included in the groupings and set them off to researching their topics using computers, books, and magazines. The rest of the work will be driven by goals and deadlines. The groups will be required to meet before or after school to complete the project.

Areas where I feel I am meeting standards-
Connecting to students lives: Creating opportunities for students to participate and do science in the world around them rather than simply inside the classroom. This was done by taking all of the students to the NY aquarium where they got to practice using science skills needed for the science fair.
Developing literacy and language: Students spent time breaking down the words that describe the types of field study they would be using. For example, Zonal Ethogram: Zonal sounds a lot like zone and they brainstormed other words for ZONE and created a new definition using their knowledge that an ethogram is a list of animal behaviors and therefore a Zonal Ethogram must be a list of places or zones that animals behave within.
Responsive: letting students select their own groups. This allows students to use their own knowledge of who they get along with and who they could see themselves succeeding with to select their groups. This also Shows a level of Respect and trust in the students to take the knowledge from the group member qualities activities to make good decisions that will impact their over all project.
Engaging students with challenging work: the great part about science fair is that students will be able to self select topics of interest and design the project that will meet their needs and strengths. I have found that with the smallest amount of guidance most students will end up picking topics that are challenging for them. Some of the time it is hard to get students to back down from a project that is simply beyond their means.

Areas for improvement-
Emphasizing Dialogue over lecture: in the beginning of the unit there was too much direct instruction where I simply handed out information through lectures. From the expectations and reasons for science fair till the students started practicing their field study techniques the students mainly receive knowledge through lecture.
Teachers and Students working together: While this will happen now that the groups are set up there were not enough times during this unit where the students were working in small groups. They spent lots of time engaged in call and response with me as their teacher/leader. In this way I feel I could also work on being Resourceful as Dr. Garcia mentions, and use the students as a resource for input and direction while going through the unit.

While I feel that the students have done a very good job with this unit and are well prepared for the science fair and working in groups, I have a great many qualms with the way that this unit went. Even within the standards that I feel I am meeting there are definite areas for improvement. I think that I need to use tools like the CREDE assessment tool to look at my teacher theory. As Dr. Eugine Garcia said in a video I watched today, our preconceived notions will impact everything from our planning to the way we interact with students and peers on a day to day basis. I would like to look at what my notions are that keep leading me towards lecture and whole class instruction.