Week 1 Reflection

The first week is always the most nerve-racking. Walking in I was extremely nervous and

worried that everything could go wrong, however, this was not the case. The first week went

smooth and were a lot of fun. The first two classes are Anatomy. These classes are full of juniors

and seniors who took the class as an elective. They had just finished a unit and are starting a unit

on the skeletal system. The other three classes are prep biology. Prep biology is typically for

freshmen, with a few sophomores and juniors sprinkled in. When looking at the ages of the

students, I was surprised to find how many juniors were in a freshman class. This causes the

older students to feel superior and they become disruptive within the classroom. My master

teacher has shown great persistence with these students through continuous communication with

these students and reminders of the classroom rules when necessary. With the end of the

semester coming and a lot of juniors in the class, my master teacher has taught me that

persistence matters and that I need to keep reminding students of dates and assignments.

The biology classes are in the middle of photosynthesis and by the end of the week

moved on to cellular respiration. When observing the classes for this week I had found that my

master teacher likes to do a lot of labs that allow the students to go at their own pace. She

instructs in the beginning, going over the purpose of the lab and helping students develop their

hypothesis before allowing the students to do the rest themselves. I like this method of teaching

biology because this allows students to take the approach of a scientist and learning the subject

with real-life experience.

Biology is a class that many do not like because it is very technical, new vocabulary, and

concepts that students might not have learned before. This causes the students to become

uninterested and unwilling to participate in the class. Using labs that connect students to the real
world allows them to feel connected to the subject and become interested in what they are

learning. When I become a teacher I would also like to implement these types of lessons within

my classroom. Talking with the students, I had learned that many of the students within the class

are in sports or participate in clubs. This is important to know because these students'

experiences can be connected directly to their biology class. Currently, they are learning about

cellular respiration and having a lab or lesson that talks about how supports affect airflow and

other processes within the body can help the students better understand what is happening when

they are playing sports and help encourage students to participate in class.

I have started to learn the student's names in the classrooms. I have found that students

get excited when you know their name. I was passing papers out, since passing papers out helps

me learn students names faster, and many of the students were surprised to find that I

remembered their name. My goal within the next few weeks is to learn all of the student's names

and start building a connection with them. I had a student ask me if I “knew biology” and after

replying and helping her with her questions more students started asking me questions when

needed. Being able to build this relationship of trust makes this experience exciting and I am

going to work hard to keep building a connection with these students.