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SYNTHESIS                                                                                                                                    (Watch Video)

The Expeditionary Learning experience within Ms. Dowless’ sixth grade Science class at Maury River Middle School was one that I’ll remember forever. Before this adventure, I had never thought I’d be in an educator position within a classroom setting. This led me to have some uneasy feeling when entering the field, as I didn’t want to fail the students. Quickly I learned that the relationship between teacher and student wasn’t hard to develop. I learned that being genuine and personable with the students was something they were craving. When my partner and I were given freedom to lead our own presentation, we wanted to think of things we might have appreciated while in middle school. We developed a public speaking presentation with the interactive qualities of expeditionary learning and combined it with fun practices that the students would enjoy. From being able to talk with students and eventually lead our own lesson, I have gained a quality experience that I’ll cherish.

-Tyren

My time in Maury River Middle school within the realm of Mrs. Dowless 6th grade classroom was short lived. Even though it was short lived, I believe that through the semester I learned a lot of valuable things and it has shaped me into the man I am today. I believe that through the course when I first enrolled, I had a very small conception of Rockbridge schools systems. I believed that the school system was primarily filled with well upstanding students of the upper echelon. But after arriving and finally seeing MRS. Dowless class I was relieved. They had students that resemble the same background as me, coming from all works of life. I was nervous about how the kids would react to me being from VMI. They gladly welcomed my partner and I with welcoming arms. I arrived at the school to observe PBL learning activities displayed here in Rockbridge County. We were tasked with helping the kids learn public speaking skills and we used the “Design and Pan ” from chapter 2 of project-based learning, also it was part of one of my field journals. We decided to make a powerpoint and allow the students to practice PBL skills by engaging them and allowing them to demonstrate examples of public speaking skills. The second notion of PBL learning in the environment was that of positive posters to promote learning. These were examples of encouraging students to strive for greatness and absolve to be whatever they wanted to be. Overall this course allowed me to fully immerse myself in a role that I never would have taken. It allowed me to bond with the students and understand them a lot more. I enjoyed the time spent in Maury river Middle and with Mrs. Dowless.

-Chris

 

CLASSROOM PORTRAIT

When first going into Ms.Dowless’ sixth grade science class, our priority was to focus on the classroom environment. We wanted to see how the learning process worked and connected it to our own experience of middle school. When we first were able to converse and interact with the students, it seemed like they were your normal middle schoolers. It can be easy for instructors to just do their job and teach their lesson plans, but will this be meaningful? Over our years within academia, we have been able to realize the teachers who had a more personable connection seemed to get more of our effort and attention. But in order to develop this personable connection, instructors must understand who they are teaching. Rockbridge county is very different than where we are from: Richmond, VA and Aberdeen, NC.

Well, at least that’s what we thought as we observed the landscape and demographic around us. Before doing research on Rockbridge county, we had an objective view that it was just a rural agricultural area, filled with a majority Caucasian demographic. By seeing a majority of Caucasians, we assumed the county had to be decently well off. After reading data from the U.S. Census and the Virginia Department of Education, we now know there isn’t that big of a difference between where we grew up and Rockbridge. The area including Lexington, Rockbridge, and Buena Vista have a median income significantly lower than the other parts of Virginia. In the city of Lexington, around 17% of the population receives food stamps from the government. Within the school system itself, almost 70% of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch and almost half are eligible for free or reduced breakfast. We are glad to have discovered this information because if we ever go into the classroom again in the future, there will be a different approach. We would talk to the students and ask about their lives outside of school. We would try and develop a relationship that shows we care if they’re experiencing hardships at home.  This is important to us because realistically students spend more time with teachers than their families. The connection between students and teachers is key, and it starts by teachers understanding where their students come from.

 

Model of Excellence Card

 

FINAL PROPOSAL

Introduction

For Ms. Dowless’ sixth grade Science class, we are going to engage further on their knowledge of the animal kingdom. This will be an appropriate continuation of their last project since they learned about the classification of life. Simultaneously, we will further scaffold the characteristics of being an efficient public speaker previously introduced in our presentation. Moreover, our two disciplinary domains of focus are Science and English. Science will be focused on the discovery of insects within the school ecosystem. This involves planning, searching, and capturing the different insect species available. Additionally, the students will review different anchor texts from National Geographic and Smithsonian to gain some base knowledge of insects. The English aspect will be centered on researching what insects they’ve found and presenting their findings in a suitable manner for their audience. Along with the presentation, students have to use creativity in properly displaying their insects. To assist in presentation skills, the class will participate in a Teach-In based on an anchor text The Importance of Communication and Public-Speaking Skills. Lastly, the students will display their insects and fun facts along the school hallways for other students to observe and learn. Overall, the majority of this project is focused on student ownership by allowing the students to manage how their groups operate. 

Driving Questions

How can students plan their own discovery of the natural world?

How can we use research skills to present information from an experiment?

How to effectively manage many different tasks within a time constraint?

Principles 

The three main EL principles that will be of focus are: the natural world, the responsibility for learning, and collaboration & competition. The natural world teaches the important ideas of recurring cycles and cause & effect. This principle will be reflected as the students research the insects they captured and learn about it’s impact on the environment. The responsibility for learning encourages children to become increasingly responsible for directing their own personal and collective learning. By first providing anchor texts such as Without Bugs, We all might be Dead, then allowing them to take charge of the project, the students will gain responsibility for navigating their milestones. The collaboration and competition aspect encourages students to compete with their own personal bests and the other groups. Creating a reward for the best presentation of their final product can influence the students to work diligently. 

Content

The Virginia Department of Education focal points of sixth grade Science that we selected are life processes & living systems. For life processes, students will investigate and understand that organisms perform life processes that are essential for the survival and perpetuation of the species. For living systems, students will investigate and understand that organisms depend on other organisms and the nonliving components of the environment. Both of these will imply the tasks of observing, classifying, and researching.

Anchor texts

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/08/insect-bug-medicine-food-macneal/

This article from National Geographic provides students with an understanding of the importance of insects. This includes what their roles are and how life would be without them. It also gives a general background behind the types of insect species that exist.

https://www.si.edu/spotlight/buginfo/default 

This article from Smithsonian provides students with a general background of information dealing with insects. The website allows students to discover many different things from the amount of insect species that exist, to diseases caused by insects. It then goes on to display and name a variety of different insects that exist today.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40190264 

This article from Dr. Parvis provides students with varying strategies to use while practicing public speaking. This source allows for students to be reminded of the tools to kind in mind while they are preparing their research presentations.

Learning Activities 

Activity Scaffold: The class will be engaged in a powerpoint presentation regarding public speaking skills following up a previous presentation. In this Teach-In, the students as a class will review the anchor text The Importance of Communication and Public-Speaking Skills in order to gain insight from a professional. After discussing the characteristics of a good public speaker, the class will practice with three different scenarios. After each scenario, students will analyze which skills were used and what were missing.

Activity Immersive: The classroom will be split into groups of four and they will be introduced to the project with a National Geographic video. Next, they will be assigned with the project goals and expectations via a rubric. With their rubric, they will also be given a Smithsonian article to read as a group to get a basic knowledge on insect species. Next, the students will explore the realms of the school and discover at least five different insects. They will capture these insects and store them away in a plastic bag. A cotton ball with rubbing alcohol will be placed within the bag to expedite the process of killing the insect. The groups will then research what type of insect they have collected and answer a variety of questions (animal species, predators, food source, environment, life span). Once research has been completed, students will find a way to creatively display their insects to the class. After the insects have been displayed and the information has been gathered, the students will present what they have discovered. To conclude the project, the displays will be placed in the school hallways along with three facts for the rest of the school to observe. 

REFLECTION

The ride of 411 Fieldwork has been one worth remembering, and we are grateful for the experience. Growing up with our mothers being educators, we always had a slight curiosity of what it’ll be like to teach one day. Never had we thought that this hidden ambition would be satisfied in our college years. Nonetheless, through expeditionary learning we have discovered new ideas of the education system we haven’t yet had. In a personal view, we appreciate being able to be up close and personal with students in the classroom to see if their experience is the same as ours was. Being able to understand the true thoughts of students and knowing what they’re going through is way more important than just making sure they pass.

In an academic sense, the biggest insight that we’ve taken away from this time is the importance of flexibility and technology. In life there will always be an obstacle a student and teacher will face. During this time, the obstacle of COVID-19 was one that was unforeseen. Being able to transition from a face-to-face learning environment to strictly online is a major change. That being said, for teachers in Rockbridge County to swiftly make this change is amazing. Those teacher along with thousands of other across the country were flexible enough to not let their obstacle hinder their production. With the numerous technological advances that we didn’t have growing up, it’s exciting to know the many opportunities for students available. This sudden change of learning is a great reminder for the future that plan A might not always work and a plan B must be in your back pocket.

For a civic view, we think expeditionary learning is vital for producing citizens that will take charge rather than sitting back and watching things happen. The different character traits developed through this type of learning can range from teamwork and initiative to time management and creativity. This is important for developing leaders within our local communities. Without them even knowing, these students are being steadily groomed to stand up and take charge and control their own destiny.