Sandra Roberts
Resource List
December 16, 2009
Part 1. Science Resources Available in the District
A. Instructional Materials available in the Reverend Brown building:
-Text books. Each grade level has text books in each subject taught at school. Textbooks for science and math are available to students online, with audio components and interactive materials. Teachers also have access to CD/DVDs of additional virtual labs, multimedia, Powerpoint presentations, interactive textbooks, worksheets and test generators all aligned with the textbook.
- Science Lab. The science lab has available a large assortment of supplemental materials in both book and video form for grades K-8 science.
- Computer Lab. There are 35 computers that have access to the Internet and Power School Programs. There are also different video games and office programs to which the students have access to help build their literacy and comprehension skills as well as build content knowledge.
- School Library Resources. The library hosts a wide variety of text of science topics, especially life science and weather topics for K-5. There are also available biographies of scientists. The science resources for 6-8 are under review and are being increased. The library also has a selection of science videos.
- Content Reading Guides. The Science, English and History classes have weekly current event articles and summaries to develop reading comprehension and literacy.
- Personal collections. I have my own personal collection, which I keep at school, of science books with a wide variety of activities for K-8 students. The other middle school science teacher with whom I work keeps a similar collection to which I have access. Several others teachers K-5 have also shared personal materials.
B. Instructional Materials available in the district
- Materials in part one from Rev. Brown School
- Pope John Computer Lab. Rev. Brown School has access to the computer lab and its programs. The Kurzweil Program assists in Literacy at the the Junior High and High School Level. They also have access to the Internet and Power School.
- Pope John Library. A huge selection of Resource materials (Books, magazines and Newspaper articles, and books on tapes) that provide information on science in all different areas.
- Pope John Text Books. Pope John also has a variety of text books that Rev. Brown has access to use in all subject areas.
-Pope John Tutoring Program. Pope John has students from their school come to Rev. Brown to help tutor children in different academic areas.
- St. Joseph’s Library. A selection of resource materials.
- Immaculate Conception’s Library. A selection of resource materials.
C. Resource people available in our school and in district:
- Catherine Duncan. The Principal of Rev. Brown School. Has special interest in increasing the hands-on science education of students, especially on the K-2 level.
- Susan Santore. Assistant Principal of Rev. Brown School and middle school math teacher. A former engineer with continued connections in the field and to her college.
- Nancy Hanson. Head of Computer technological resources. Develops all computer units and maintains computer lab. Responsible for adding Internet and computer resources.
- Tricia Quinn. Middle School Science teacher of 23 years at Rev. Brown School. Helped to develop the current curriculm for grades 6-8. Serves on the Professional Development Committee.
- Marian Velivis. Rev. Brown Librarian. Knowledgable about all the resources available through the library. Helpful when adding to the stacks.
- Jim Rutzler Jr. Academic Supervisor for Math and Science for Pope John XXIII and the Sussex County Academy of Catholic Schools. Many years as a science teacher and administrator. Developed science curriculmn presently in use.
- Alyssa Olsen. Grades 4-8 Science teacher at St. Joseph’s Regional School. A new teacher as well. Using the same curriula and textbook.
- Bill McGowan. Grades 5-8 Science teacher at Immaculate Conception. Veteren teacher and coordinator of annual robotics competition. Using the same curriula and textbook.
- Linda Stengel. Third grade teacher. My mentor.
- Marilyn C. Hatzelis. Rev. Brown School 5th Grade Science teacher. Instrumental in planning and coorindating 5th to 6th grade transition for science curriculmn.
D. Technological Resources:
- Textbook online. Students can access the complete textbook online from school or home. Additional multimedia materials are also provided. Worksheets can be downloaded from the online book, as directed by the teacher.
- Textbook audio. The entire textbook is available online as streaming audio or mp3 download. (I personally like to download the textbook materials and listen to them on my iPod on the way to work to refresh my memory as needed.)
- Internet access. Websites that pertain to information on science as well as webquests, demonstrations, video clips and other materials.
- Power School. Program that helps aid teachers in all subject areas.
- Diocese of Paterson Intraweb. Online bulletin boards about a variety of school related topics.
- Polyvision/Smart boards. Allow interactive demonstrations and a variety of multimedia to be used in the classroom. I also have a projector and laptop on a cart to use when I am not in the science lab.
- Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Office programs for word processing, spreadsheets and graphing and presentation creation. Students make use of these programs, often in the computer lab, when preparing projects for class.
- Educational Technology Training Center at Sussex County Community College. Rev. Brown is a member, so professional development classes on a wide range of technological issues are free to teachers.
- My Access computer program. Software gives students a prompt then automatically grades them based on organization of the writing, vocabulary level, etc. It is used regularly by the Rev. Brown language arts department. New science prompts provide an integrated way to explore both science and literacy for middle school students.
E. Community Resources
- Wallkill Watershed – We cover watersheds as part of the 6th grade Earth Science program. Visits to the area or speakers from the watershed can supplement the class. The lakes and rivers of the watershed can be helpful for Life Science in 7th grade when we study microscopic creatures.
- Franklin Mineral Museum and Sterling Hill Mining Museum – both useful for geological students in grades 5-6.
- Schering Plough – Rev. Brown maintains a relationship with Schering Plough in Lafayette, NJ.
- Waste Management Corporation – a local recycling plant with ties to the school. Sparta, NJ.
- Space Farms – A local zoo in Sussex, NJ.
Part 2. Paragraph about the NJCCS and NCLB Act in your classroom
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is a federal mandate that is meant to increase academic success, increase school accountability and improve the learning environment for children of all ages. Every student is expected to perform above the standards our government sets. Though often thought of in terms of standardized testing, NCLB also includes rules concerning funding, research-based teaching and parents rights, especially in low-income school districts.
Each state is required to have benchmark assessments to keep learning occurring at a consistent standard. In, NJ the assessments are based on the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards (NJCCCS). Students must meet or exceed these standards. The science NJCCCS have recently been revised, with the new revisions to be officially implemented in 2011. As part of the Paterson Diocese, Rev. Brown also has in place Diocesan Science Curriculum Guidelines, which closely mimic the current NJCCCS.
The newest NJCCCS is designed to increase scientific literacy and strives to create an active environment in which science is learned. I am working to institute its principles in all of my classes K-3 and 6-8. However, we still follow the 2004 standards in practice, and my lesson plans must include reference to the current standards. The 2004 NJCCCS is divided 10 standards, each of which has a number of identified strands. The 10 standards are Scientific Processes, Science and Society, Mathematical Operations, Nature and Process of Technology, Life Science, Physical Science – Chemistry, Physical Science –Physics, Earth Science, Astronomy and Space Science and Environmental Science. However, the 2011 NJCCCS are arranged differently, with Science Practices, Life Science, Physical Science and Earth Science as its four standards. As I plan for this year and future years, I do so with the awareness of these changing standards.
I must also be aware of the Terranova testing that covers reading, math, science and social studies and is given to students each year between 1st and 7th grades. Additionally, students take the COOP high school entrance exam early in their 8th grade year. Midterms and finals are also coordinated between schools within the Sussex County Academy of Schools, with 50% of the test standardized.
Together these constraints guide my teaching, by requiring that I not only meet the content needs as described, but that they are covered in a specific order to ensure that students are adequately prepared for testing at their stage. It is also important to coordinate with the math department regularly to ensure that concepts such as graphing, SI units and metric conversion, scientific notation, probability, etc. are covered adequately and naturally between our two classes.
Part 3. Standardized assessment instruments used in your school
- Pre-K reading readiness test, Pre-K
- Terra Nova Test Assessment, G 1-7, 9-10
- Cooperative Admissions Exam (COOP), G 8
- Writing Test Assessment, G 4-7
- Writing Roadmap, G 10
- PSAT, G 10-11
- ACT, G 9
- SAT, SAT II, AP as needed, G 12
- Cognitive abilities test, as needed
- Midterms and final exams, G 6-12
Part 4. Associations
National Science Teachers Associations. 2009. Retrieved December 14, 2009 from http://www.nsta.org/middleschool/.
National Middle Level Science Teacher Association. Retrieved December 14, 2009 from
http://www.nmlsta.org/
National Middle School Association. 2009. Retrieved December 14, 2009 from http://www.nmsa.org/
New Jersey Science Teachers Association. 2009. Retrieved December 14, 2009 from http://www.njsta.org/index.html
New Jersey Biotechnology Educators Consortium. 2007. Retrieved December 14, 2009 from http://bio-one.org/content/njbec/index.html
Part 5. Articles
“Science and literacy: Making connections through writing”
In the article the author details how he uses Open-ended Questions (OEQ) as writing prompts in a middle school science class. The writing samples that the students work on over the course of the unit are graded by both the English teacher and the Science teacher, using a checklist. The author explains the way the OEQ concept is presented to students and describes how students build on their skills to develop three different writing
styles: description, fiction, and persuasion. Teaching strategies and sample writing directions are given, in addition to resources for more information about OEQs.
The reason I selected this article is because I want to increase my students’ ability to write about science. Their skills are lacking and many seem to think that their English skills do not apply outside of that classroom. I recently began exploring ways that the Language Arts department and Science department can work together to bridge the gap for middle school students at Rev. Brown. This article provides specific advice and roadmap that we can use to build our program.
“Comparison of Student Learning Outcomes in Middle School Science Classes with an STS Approach and a Typical Textbook Dominated Approach”
The article explains the 9 principles of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) learning then goes on to compare it to more traditional textbook led teaching. The authors explain their belief that STS learning is particularly useful in middle school situations and stress that constructivist learning techniques are helpful at this stage of science education because it encourages students to initiate questions, participate in discussions, research actions, and practice decision making. The authors explain that an STS approach emphasizes current issues, local situations, and personal relevance. Based on one study, the authors conclude that the STS approach provided equivalent, if not better, instruction as the traditional method.
I read this article in response to the 2011 NJCCCS. It stresses the creation of authentic, active science learning. But how does one actually do that? The STS approach may provide answers, because it pushes the students to think and it relates the material directly to the students’ lives. However, in my school environment it would be difficult to implement such an approach on the middle school level in an all-encompassing way, due to constraints of the system. I hope to incorporate at least some of these ideas into the classroom next year.