Hello everyone!! This is my second action post for my new cycle. In my last post, I reflected on my 3 core values through the values activity and discovered my 3 values included: risk, leadership, and family. Last post, I also briefly described my goals for this new action. I have decided to continue along with what I was doing last semester, however, I am adding some new things and creating new focusses which I am super excited for!!
In this post I will be going over my new cycle 2 action project plan by answering the following questions:
1.) Provide a summary of the action you are planning and how are you going to start.
In my first action, I focussed on leading nature walks and getting people more immersed in nature. Although I had a few challenges, I still did some pretty awesome stuff, some of which included going into Mundy Park a few times with students from Baker Drive Elementary and helping them explore and observe.
I still feel there is more I can do with this action, which is why I am altering it and adding some new things this semester! The main thing I am adding is an educational approach. My goal is to use my love for science and nature to educate others, as well as to continue with my nature walks and exploration. Because the nature walks will primarily stay quite similar to what I did last semester, in this post I am going to focus more on the new educational approach I am taking.
So last post, I received some amazing feedback from Alison and Ms. Stuart who both gave me the amazing idea to use my connection to Baker Drive Elementary and get more involved in their classroom environment. I immediately fell in love with this idea, and I was able to get Mrs. Lederer’s email (the teacher from Baker Drive) from Ms. Stuart to reach out to her.
In my email, I mentioned that I was interested in coming in and working with the students, as well as creating my own lesson I would teach to the class which would be tailored to the material they were already learning. Mrs. Lederer loved the idea and we are currently working out dates for when we can make this happen!!
With this exciting news, I have created a rough step by step plan that will look at what I need to accomplish to make this happen:
- Confirm the date for my first lesson and visit with Baker Drive Elementary School Students.
- Decide on the specific topic I will create a lesson and activity plan for.
- Mrs. Lederer actually mentioned to me that her class is currently looking at animal habitats, specifically beavers. They are also doing student experiments, where every week one student performs a simple science experiment to the class and they write and draw their observations. I have yet to decide what my lesson will cover, but I have tons of ideas to work with and I will definitely discuss the details of what I make my lesson/activity on in a later post!! (If you have any ideas, comment down below!!)
- Start creating my lesson and activities for the class
- I would like to do some really creative and engaging activities to teach the class, and make it something that will get them involved in their learning and fully engaged. I really look forward to planning this part after I decide on my topic.
- Share my lesson plan and activities with Mrs. Lederer prior to my lesson date
- I mentioned to Mrs. Lederer that I would confirm my lesson with her prior to coming in, just to make sure she thinks it is good for the class. I am really counting on her feedback, because I want to ensure my lesson is at the appropriate learning level for her class.
- Present my lesson on the date (TBD)!
- Finally, I want to write a reflection after I do my lesson, describing how it went, maybe some of the things I noticed/observed from the class, any challenges I might have faced, what went well, etc.!!
This plan above is only for the new educational teaching aspect I am incorporating into my action as a way to focus on the new sustainable development goal I chose for this cycle – Quality Education. But I will also focus on my previous goal from my last action, “Life on Land,” since I plan to teach the students material regarding nature.
What I didn’t mention in my plan above, is that I will still be leading some nature walks with students at our school to focus on “Life on Land” as well. As well, I will still be participating in nature walks with Baker Drive elementary every month too! I will provide more details on what’s happening in these nature walks throughout my posts while I am discussing my progress with my lesson planning as I prepare to visit with Mrs. Lederer’s class!!
2.) One lesson in the talk is that ‘Everything is complicated’. Can you explain some of the complexity that you will face in your action?
Some of you might remember from my last action that I came across some challenging struggles I had to overcome while trying to ensure I was successful last semester. This experience truly really showed that “Everything is complicated” and there will always be obstacles I will have to face.
Entering this new action, I know to expect struggles and challenges. More specifically, I think a great challenge and complexity for me will be finding ways to keep the class engaged in my lesson. I want to do something the kids are going to be super excited about and eager to do. To prepare, I am going to collect advice from other students on what keeps them engaged in class. I might even talk to some teachers and learn what tactics they use to grab the attention of their students!!
3.) Is this action sustainable? Provide some specific examples to support your reasoning.
*I am going to answer this question in terms of the new educational component I am adding to my action.*
I do not plan on continuing this action after graduation, meaning it is most likely I will not be doing lessons at Baker Drive Elementary while I am in university. However, I feel my action is quite sustainable in a different sense – one that will leave a lasting effect on me and my road to pursuing a career in teaching. This action will allow me to continue building up my experience teaching and working with students. This will be super beneficial because it allows me to start developing skills I can use in the far future. I also believe this action will be sustainable for the students I work with; I hope to connect with the students I teach in some way they will remember. This could be as simple as having a similar hobby/interest, or helping them understand something. I really want to expand the classroom environment and get the students involved in their learning. I think this is sustainable because it will make their learning experience during my lesson truly unforgettable, and hopefully it will leave a lasting impact on them.
4.) Is this action providing opportunity? How will you ensure you are making the positive impact that you intend?
I do believe this action is providing opportunity; it will produce learning opportunities for the students I work with. It will even create learning opportunities for me, as I learn how to teach a class and run one. Like I mentioned in the last question, my goal is to become a teacher in the future. For this reason, this action is providing me with the perfect opportunity to see into my future and get a sense of what it will be like to teach a class and connect with my students.
I am going to confide in people with experience in teaching in order to make the most of this action and create the positive impact I intend for. Mrs. Lederer and even teachers from my classes are going to be great resources and guides to helping me be the most effective teacher in the classroom.
Possible Mentors:
Similar to what I explained above, I think some great mentors for me will be teachers I know in my school as well as Mrs. Lederer. Mrs. Lederer is the teacher in the class I plan on visiting at Baker Drive elementary, and she has experience teaching students. I look forward to working with her and getting her feedback throughout my action!!
Thank you for reading! I am super excited to get going on my new action, which is thanks to the great feedback I received from comments in my last post. As always, comments are welcome and greatly appreciated on all my posts. You all have such great ideas and I love trying to implement them into my work in whatever ways I can. So please, feel free to leave comments, suggestions, feedback and questions down below! 🙂
