Burlington High School / UVM
Student Teacher Observation
Student: Lisanne Velez
Class: Biology 1, 21 students, 9th grade
Teacher: Dick Falkenbush
Date: 1/23/03
Lisanne walks around the room with a basket filled with artificial and real plants….”Yesterday I went to Mars and brought this back… and I’m trying to figure out if it’s alive.. how might I figure this out? Passes basket around Lisanne facilitates discussion…water, smell….If it grows, turns brown…. What else? Photosynthesis, see if it releases carbon dioxide…. Ok I need three volunteers….. all you need to do is breath into a straw… who wants to be our guinea pig? I need our three volunteers to get goggles and an apron….
Lisanne has three test tubes and passes them out… this is an irritant that is why I have you wear goggles and an apron…. Show everyone that test tube at your table….What color is it? Blue. I want you to put the tip of the straw in and blow gently….what’s happening to it? What color is it tuning… its turning green, yellow….. “cool”…. What were you putting in there?
What would happen if I put a plant in here? It would turn blue. Why? The plan breathes carbon dioxide. What I’m going to do is put a water plant in here and see if it turns over the course of the class.
By the end of this class you will be acting out the process of photosynthesis.. so I will give you the information you need to do this.
Everyone have their notes out? All set? Ladies and gentlemen, may I have you attention please… Lisanne writes photosynthesis on board… as you know from yesterday. Lisanne talks as the writes on board….
So….what’s one of the things a plant needs for photosynthesis? Oxygen or another gas? Lisanne writes chemical equation on board:
CO2 + light energy+H20 ------C6H12(sugar)+O2+ H20
Plants have organs…..draws leaf on board, cells, cell walls…what are the little green things floating around in there?
Student asks why Lisanne is writing another definition of photosynthesis, different from what he wrote down yesterday.
9:47 Lisanne continues to create illustration on the board, talking and illustrating photosynthesis. What does photo mean?
Lisanne has student move their seat. “Any questions so far?” Lisanne notices some students are having trouble seeing writing on board.
Now at this point you should start thinking about the role you want to play…so we’ll need the light, some electrons… the light is going to come down and excite the electrons…
Who’s played hot potato? What happens as you pass it around.. releases heat….
Lisanne describes “roles” students will play as she writes out the steps of photosynthesis.
We’ve done the photo part, what’s the other part? Synthesis… you’re putting stuff together. Questons…..
Ok, who wants to be the light? Now we need some electrons to get excited… all you have to do is move up and down a little bit…..I need some ATP…. You have to be tagged by the electons… I need two hydrogens and an oxygen.. and we need one more person…students move to the front of the class to act out photosynthesis….we need an enzyme…. Carbon dioxide…the rest of you will be the Calvin Cycle…. Link arms.. eventually everyone will come into your circle..Lisanne guides them through their roles….
Students act out photosynthesis and explain what they are doing. I want you take a few minutes to think about what would happen if you were not present during this cycle? I want you to write briefly…think about your personal role and what would happen if you were not present. Lisanne passes out paper.
10:30 Lisanne collect papers. All right… how we all doing? Lets take a two minutes stretch break and then we’re going to do the cycle again, without my help
10:40 Students repeat the cycle. Lisanne has the students take on new roles. Great conversations between students about their roles…..
10:45 Ok.. one more time….thank you and well done! Ok, have a seat…now you have an image in your head of how this works. Now folks I want you to be aware there will be quiz on photosynthesis next class.. a fill in the blank, their will be a word bank. Do we have homework? Who can look that up for me? Students tell homework.
Ok, I want you to each write a quiz question and one of these quiz questions will end up on the quiz. Lisanne passes out paper….please put the answer there too….
Do you think of I asked you next class you would be able to do the skit again? Lisanne gets test tube with plant and shows to students…. It’s turning a little bit green…. So by tomorrow it will probably be blue again.. using up the CO2 / Great “set”!
Great engagement; movement around the room
This worked beautifully! – they arrived at photosynthesis!
Nice setup for why they take notes…
Connects to yesterday’s learning – good relevant definition of photosynthesis
Might have student summarize their notes…..
Good observing of class response
Good timing- starting to let them know how they will act this out….
Nice break after notetaking.. good planning
Interesting – reluctance to link arms! – maybe giving the a piece of yarn to make a circle with…..
Tell them it counts as a quiz grade/homework.- sometimes this will help to get them focused
Great sequence of activity…
Summary:
· Great “set” – opening with basket from Mars!
· Good reference to prior learning
· Illustrations on board while talking
· Great student interactions, questioning strategies
· Great sequence of activities – writing, ,moving, speaking, etc…to reinforce learning
· Nice attention to closure
Mary Lou Razza
UVM Supervisor