Instructional Activity #2

Topic: Qualitative & Quantitative Observations

Type: Re-teaching with struggling students

I worked with high school students in my internship at Chaparral High School on

Thursday, 9/2 to re-teach concepts to struggling students. My internship is in a Chemistry 1

classroom, working with mostly sophomores, but there were a few juniors and seniors. My

mentor teacher and I were following the one-teach, one-assist co-teaching model of instruction,

where he was teaching the content and I was circulating and providing one-on-one assistance as

needed. We followed this model for all five of his class sections. The students were completing a

lab wherein they were combining copper (II) chloride and aluminum foil, with the goal of

making at least 5 quantitative observations and at least 20 total observations (both quantitative

and qualitative).

In this activity, I observed an application of student-centered learning. Though my Lead

teacher gave instructions and led the students in the beginning of the class, the remainder of the

lab was focused on student learning. Students were given specific materials and were told that

they would eventually have to create an aqueous solution of copper (II) chloride, which they

would combine with the aluminum foil. However, the intermediate steps and observations that

students made along the way were entirely up to them. Students were given rulers and balances

to make many different quantitative observations, but they were also free to make any qualitative

observations as well, including noting colors, odors (by wafting), textures (by touching with

other materials, not with their bare hands), etc. Because students were free to choose their own

observations, they drove their own learning. This pedagogical skill of allowing students to lead
the inquiry process and determine their own procedures and measurements allowed them to be

more engaged and motivated to complete the lab.

While completing this activity, I observed my Lead teacher’s classroom management

skills, including his ability to establish clear expectations for his students. On the whiteboard, he

gave clear instructions for what the students’ write-ups should include. He also gave a verbal

explanation of these academic expectations, and he stressed the importance of proper safety

equipment (closed-toed shoes, aprons, goggles, and hair tied up). Based on the conversations that

I witnessed, it was evident that he had been reminding students about these safety protocols

throughout the week so that they came to class prepared on this day. In doing so, he modeled and

explicitly stated his behavioral expectations for students as they were completing the lab.

Moreover, as he was explaining the lab to the students, he demonstrated his safety expectations

by wearing his goggles and apron and giving students the verbal cue to notice these features.

Such classroom management skills are important in all classrooms, but especially in a chemistry

classroom where students could be working with hazardous materials and therefore must follow

strict safety guidelines.

A strength in this activity was that the co-teaching model enabled students to have greater

opportunity to have their questions answered when they were struggling. Since my Lead teacher

started with instruction and I was walking around giving assistance to help clarify confusing

concepts, there were multiple sources for struggling students. Additionally, having two teachers

in the lab was beneficial because it was the students’ first “real” lab - where they were actually

working with lab equipment and chemicals - so it was useful to have more guiding opportunities

for students. There was a lot of “first lab anxiety” of students questioning themselves/their use of
materials, so it was helpful to have multiple teachers clarifying concepts and re-teaching where

necessary.

One challenge of this activity was that it was semi-dependent on students’ direct

involvement. Though I was able to walk around and initiate interactions by asking the students

questions about what they were doing, there was some level of waiting until someone was

struggling so that I could be there to help them. However, I think students’ reluctance to ask

questions may have been due to the fact that I completed this instructional activity on my first

day of my internship, so they may have been hesitant to ask an unfamiliar person, which I

completely understood. In my own future classroom, I would have more time to introduce myself

and develop rapport with students so that they would not be intimidated to ask me questions.

Additionally, this experience helped me to practice having to initiate asking questions to gauge

understanding rather than waiting for students to come to me, because that will not always be the

case.

My Lead teacher told me that I did a good job walking around and talking to different

groups of students. He acknowledged that students were more hesitant to ask me questions, but

also agreed that as they became more familiar with me, that pattern would likely change.

Additionally, he encouraged me to ask leading questions and interact with students first, as I

started to do in later sections of the day. He discussed with me how some class periods are more

independent than others, which was another important consideration in my completion of this

activity.

If I could do this activity again, I would start with asking more questions in the first

period. As previously mentioned, in the first period, I more so waited for students to ask me

questions before giving assistance, rather than asking them questions that may lead to my giving
them assistance. I believe that I improved in this aspect as the day went on, but now I know that I

can use that approach early on in future labs. Asking students questions rather than waiting for

them to ask me questions could be beneficial so that I am showing them that I am engaged and

ready to help, and may encourage them to ask their own questions and tell me when they are

struggling. Similarly, asking them questions and being more involved could help to establish

greater rapport with students early on, which may enable them to feel more comfortable asking

me questions.