Student Teaching Impact on student learningFrom March 19th –March 27th and on April 18th 2007, I taught a unit on Heredity
at a high school. The School has a student population of 2,189. The charts below display
the schools ethnic groups and students socioeconomic status.
Classroom Resources:
I was very fortunate to teach in an environment where I had so much to work with.
There were 2 dry erase boards, an LCD projector, and overhead projector, 3 computers,
and my favorite the smart board. If the students needed to do an online assignment they
would have to go to the library’s computer lab. However, there were 3 additional
computer labs throughout the school. There were 5 lab benches available in the back of
the classroom. There was a plethora of different measuring tools such as beakers, new
scales, and test tubes. Safety goggles, lab coats and gloves were also available in great
numbers in the classroom. The classroom was very organized and most of the labs took
place in the classroom, although there were 2 formal lab rooms available just across the
hall for messier labs like dissections. There were two pets in the classroom as well; four
crayfishes which eventually became just one crayfish and 1 mouse to which 3 more baby
mice were added at the end of the semester. Another great resource was my collaborating
teacher. She was always there to help me with anything I needed. She made copies,
graded papers, and helped me plan lessons. The best resource of the classroom was its
easy accessibility to other classrooms. There was only a stockroom in between the
classroom I was in and a veteran teacher, which came in handy if there was a problem too
big for my collaborating teacher and I to handle.
Student Diversity:
Age 14-17
Characteristic Black White Asian Hispanic Above On- Special
Repeaters ESOL Male Female
level
level Education
Number of
11
3
1
2
3
13
1
2
4
7
10
Students
Unit Outline
Gregor Mendel
 Biography
 Experiment
 P1, F1, and F2 generation
Genetics
 allele
Traits
 Dominant
 Recessive
 Homozygous
 Heterozygous
Instructional Objectives






Genotype and Phenotype
Punnett Square
 Monohybrid Cross
o Genotypic and Phenotypic ratios
 Dihybrid Cross
o Genotypic and Phenotypic ratios
Modes of Inheritance
 Dominance
 Recessive
 Incomplete Dominance
 Codominance
 Sex-Linked
Pedigrees
 Pedigree symbols






Outline Gregor Mendel’s
experiment.
Predict the F1and F2
generation given the P
generation.
Summarize Mendel’s two
laws.
Relate alleles to traits.
Tell the difference between
homozygous and
heterozygous.
Use a punnett square to
calculate the genotypic and
phenotypic ratios for a
monohybrid and dihybrid
cross.
Distinguish between the
modes of inheritance:
Dominance, Recessive,
Incomplete Dominance,
Codominance, and Sexlinked.
Give an example of a genetic
illness related to each type of
inheritance.
Discuss the importance of
pedigrees.
Analyze a pedigree and label
the family members with the
correct genotype.
Indicate the mode of
inheritance for a given
pedigree.
Construct a pedigree given a
family’s history.
Assessments
I used a combination of formal, informal, formative and summative assessments
for this unit. Formal assessments included quizzes and graded assignments. Informal
assessments were observations, participation and class discussions. Formative assessment
such as question and answering sessions let me know when and how to change my lesson
plans for a particular day. Summative assessments such as the unit quiz allowed me to
see how much the students actually retained since the beginning of the unit. This
semester I used an End of Course Test guide book to plan my lessons. The guide let me
know how in depth I needed to go into each topic and what questions they would need to
be able to answer by the end of the unit.
Purpose
Most of the assessments were started if not completed in class due to the lack of
students turning in homework. I used a sponge activity to review the previous day’s
concepts or introduce future concepts. The sponge activities were often questions that
allowed the students to relate the concepts we were learning to their personal lives. For
example, when we started the lesson on pedigrees, I asked if any student had a particular
trait or illness that ran in their family. I then used the student’s information to create a
pedigree of their family. The worksheets gave the students another format for
understanding a concept. For example, I would lecture about DNA and RNA the first
day, the next day the students would do a group project on DNA and RNA, then a
worksheet is given out for them practice the concepts they just learned.
Assessments and Whole Class Grade Sheet attached in email
Analysis: I used average grades and student feedback surveys as data to analyze.
Average Grade
100
100
80
98
60
Whole Class
96
Boys
94
Girls
40
20
0
92
90
99
98.5
98
97.5
97
96.5
96
95.5
95
94.5
100
99
Black
White
Hispanic
Asian
Student A
98
Student B
97
96
95
Rationale: I used the average grade from all of the assessments and tabulated the results
in a bar graph. I found this method the easiest way to compare groups, because of the
physical evidence the grade sheet provided me. I also looked at the student’s attitude and
survey results about my teaching skills. Here is an example of the survey used this
semester.
Findings:
Whole Group- The class average was 96.7
Subgroups- I divided the class by race and gender. Overall the Hispanic sub group had
the highest average, followed by a tie between the Caucasians and Asians and finally the
lowest average held by the African Americans. The females had a higher average than
the boys.
Two Individuals- Individual A was an African American female in the special education
program for behavior disorder. Individual B was also an African American female, but
she was above standard level. Individual B had a higher average than Individual A.
Interpretation of Data:
I found that the white students had the highest attendance rate out of all the students.
Even when one of the white girls was suspended, she had a friend come in everyday to
get her work. The only white male in the class was there everyday and was always eager
to answer questions. He was often picked on by his black counterparts for being smart.
The other white student was a foreign exchange student from Russia. Although she had
some difficulty understanding the language sometimes, all I had to do was work one on
one with her and she understood. She did not let language difference hinder her progress.
That idea also rang true for the one Asian in the class. She always used a Chinese to
English. I let her have more time to finish her work and tests as an accommodation.
Initially, I had some attendance issues with one of the Hispanic students. I didn’t even
know her name or face for the first month of class. She was failing with a 50 by the first
six weeks of school. However, after I giving her a packet of make-up work, she came
around and currently has a high B in the class. She has never missed a day since that
time. The other Hispanic student was in class everyday. She turned in all of her work in
on time and I had no discipline problems from her. The African-American students
caused the most discipline problems for the class. The African- American students also
had the highest amount of absences in the class. I received a lot of attitude and resistance
from the African-American girls in the beginning. They were trying to test my patience
and there were times where I almost lost my composure. There were initially 3 more
African –American students in the class who ended up dropping out of school or was
expelled. So the class climate could have been a lot worse. Most of the AfricanAmerican girls turned in their work but I had a lot of trouble getting the AfricanAmerican boys to turn in their work. They knew how to do the work; they just never
bothered to turn it in resulting in zeros and low grades. Overall, the girls in the class
asked most of the questions while the boys answered most of the questions. The girls
turned their work on time while most of the boys turned in work late if at all. I believe
that all of the students cared about their grades; however, the girls did not give up as
easily on assignments that didn’t come easy to them.
Student A had some difficulty understanding the material. She gave up very
easily especially when it came to tests or quizzes. I tried to reach out to her after viewing
her low test scores to see what I needed to do to help her pass. The student replied that
she does not take tests well. She indeed did well on everything except tests. Student A
gave me the most attitude initially and I had to call her parent often as was required in her
IEP. Towards the end of the semester, student A began to volunteer to come up to board
and work out problems as well as volunteering her personal experiences on certain topics.
Student B asked a lot of advanced questions and required little guidance from me.
She missed one day of class where the next class we had a unit test. She insisted on
taking the exam the same day as the rest of the students who knew about the test. She
took the test and got one of the highest scores in the class. Student B was very shy but,
self motivated. I had to beg her to come up and volunteer problems in front of the class.
And when I did ask her to come up front, many of the students had no idea who she was.
At one point in the semester, Student A and Student B sat in the same group in class.
Student B did not last long in the group and asked to be removed due to some students
wanting to copy her work.
Reflections
On teacher’s performance: As a teacher I always feel like there is more I can do to
improve my effectiveness as a teacher as well as improving student performance. I felt
like the students got off easy for this unit because there was only one quiz. I should have
given them more quizzes and a unit test. I also wish I knew how to use the smart board
sooner. It could have really helped work out some of the more difficult problems of the
mend-aliens worksheet.
On assessment instruments: According to the student surveys, the activities where we
used the smart board were their favorite. The smart board was a combination of a dry
erase board and a projection screen.. The smart board allowed me to stand facing the
class in the front of the room instead of having my back towards some of students if I
only had the projector to use. The assignment in the heredity unit that involved the smart
board was the pedigree PowerPoint. This was an informal assessment where the class
would label each family member in the pedigree by first making a punnett square to
figure out the possible genotypes. I especially liked this activity because it occurred 3
weeks after we initially discussed heredity. So when the students remembered what
genotype and phenotypes were and how to create a punnett square I felt like I actually did
something right. The other activity the students liked was the punnett strips activity. I
placed a student’s name on each strip randomly. Each student then had to come to me
when they thought they had the right answer. If the answer was wrong, they had to go
back to their seats and start over. I gave the students a quiz the next day and 99% of them
got an A or B on it. I think the strips prepared them for the quiz because they saw similar
problems on the quiz.
The least favorite activity for the students was the mend-aliens activity. The
students had to read and analyze word problems to come up with the correct answer. I’ve
found over this semester that students do not like to read and give up very easily when
they have to. We eventually got through the worksheet but it took the entire 90 minute
class period to do so.
Future Actions
Professional Development Goals: I will incorporate inquiry based activities in the
classroom as well as group activities that involve reading and interpreting information,
not matter how much students complain. I will also ask more questions, work harder and
engaging students and making concepts relevant by relating them to the real world.
Immediate Actions: I have to really get serious with time management. This paper is a
testament to my lack time management and procrastination. As a teacher I will have
deadlines that have to be met. I will need the help of friends, family, and myself to really
hold me accountable long before assignments or paperwork is due. I will use this
summer to gain as many resources for lessons I will have to teach my first year. Finally,
I will continue to seek the advice of veteran teachers and read as many education and
science manuals to aid in my journey to become an effective teacher.