Interest Approach: Using Macroinvertebrates to Assess Water Quality


Interest Approach: Using Macroinvertebrates to Assess Water Quality

This week’s assignment was pretty fun to set up. I set up an activity that I felt would be a good way to introduce students to macroinvertebrates in a safe and clean manner. While also introducing them to how biologist use macroinvertebrates to assess the quality of a water body. My classmates also seemed to enjoy this activity. However, there were a few things that I noticed about this activity that I would need to fix and am in the process of fixing.


The first is that I was not clear on the directions right off the bat. This could lead to confusion amongst my students. As it also confused me, because I wasn’t quite sure what I had already told them. To fix this issue I will be putting the instructions into the presentation, as well as verbally giving them to my students before the activity starts. By doing so I hope to alleviate confusion for both myself and my students. The second thing I would like to fix goes right along with the first. In my original worksheets for my interest approach, I had the description of how to find the water quality at the end of the table. So, students would have to go to the end to read the instructions before flipping back through the worksheet. I have already adjusted this so that the instructions now come before the table. As I look over the lesson plan and the video of my presentation of it, I may find additional areas that need to be adjusted but those were the main ones I noticed for now.
This relates well to what I have learned so far about planning for lessons. You could have a lesson planned out that you think is perfect. Then while you are giving the lesson you realize that you should have switched two parts around and the lesson would flow better. Until you get the hang of it lesson planning is a bit of trial and error. You work hard to create the best lesson possible for your students and in doing so you end up finding ways to improve it either for the next class or the following year. By continuously working to improve my lesson planning abilities I may be able to diagnose what needs to be changed in my lessons before I even present it.


I plan to edit this lesson so that it fits well with the lessons before and after it during my student teaching. I want my lessons to flow well together and one thing that I have learned from this experience is as I have already stated, there is always room for improvement. I will continue to work on this lesson and other lessons to improve them so that they all come together nicely in the end. I hope to continue this practice once I am an Agriscience teacher, making edits and additions to my lessons to make them the best I possibly can.




What are some ways I can improve my lesson planning methods?

Any tips on how you would edit a lesson plan?

Comments

  1. Mary WurzbachSeptember 26, 2019 at 10:27 AM

    Abbie, I really enjoyed the activity you created. The idea and concepts behind using the pans to find what macro invertebrates contribute in different situations were great! In your reflection, you mentioned a few adaptations to be made for the next time. I agree with them! If I were you, I would explicitly teach students how to use the equation in determining the water quality. This equation could also be placed on the board. Overall, the interest approach really had students involved and interested in what we were learning. With a few quick changes, this could be an amazing lesson to share with many other teachers! -Mary Wurzbach

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  2. Kaitlin LiszkaSeptember 26, 2019 at 10:49 AM

    I'm glad that were able to see how you could switch the worksheet around to make the directions clearer for the students. I really loved your activity, but I was honestly a little confused when I started the activity and I think that change will really help.

    It's also good to remember that we are always learning and can find ways to improve our lessons so that we don't get discouraged while we are teaching!

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  3. Jessica BarnhartSeptember 29, 2019 at 7:11 AM

    Hi Abbie,

    When I watched your lesson on Edthena, I was in love with it! Such a cool way to get students "in the stream" without having an actual stream to go to! I also appreciated your honesty in your blog and that you are making connections to how you want to develop your lesson further to what you've identified in your class.

    Just remember that we all have these things in our lessons that we want to change and are all progressing forward! I couldn't love your lesson more! Great work!

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