Literacy is very important in Biology. People may not connect literacy and Biology but that is only because they are not involved in the field. I have learned that planning lessons around comprehension instruction or vocabulary or anything else only gives an added element to a lesson. It doesn't detract from the information I am trying to teach. The only thing it does is help the students better understand what I am trying to teach. I think there are many skills that I can incorporate into my lessons such as multiple vocabulary encounters, before, during, and after support, and think alouds that will really help my students.
I will be reading a lot in my classroom and I will also have them writing. If I can support the students so they try these skills in a classroom, other than English classes, and they succeed I will feel like I have met my teaching goals. I also think that incorporating digital literacy into my classroom but having students create glogs, post on a wiki, or simply search the internet will be very helpful. The students will enjoy it more and it will be something that they will remember.
Lastly, I loved creating a text set for my future classroom. Students need to have multiple experiences with fun aspects of science. They need to see there is more to science than learning big words that they have never heard before. I think it will be a great way to help my classroom management as well. When they have nothing to do I can send them back there to retrieve a book and then they can read instead of messing around.
This has been one of my favorite classes at USU. Thanks Amy!
