ED223: Field Observation 3 15 Points

Your Name: Jess Beal Date of Observation: 10-23-17

Name of Center or Site: West Hempfield Elementary Type of Program: interview
Age of Children: N/A
Number Present: Teachers: 1
.
Observational Task: Teacher Interview
Complete an in-depth interview of a classroom teacher for grades Prek-4 focused on science
instruction. Questions should explore a variety of topics including: the teachers philosophy for
science instruction, the methods employed to teach science, the materials used, how students
are assessed, the teachers personal science experiences. Additional topics can be addressed at
your discretion. Type questions and responses. It is highly recommended that you record the
interview to transcribe later (with the teachers permission) If acceptable to the teacher,
podcasts of the interview will be accepted rather than a transcription.

I conducted this interview with Danielle Hoge, a fourth grade teacher at West Hempfield
Elementary School. I had previously observed a science lesson in her classroom and her
organization and strategies made a huge impression on me. Mrs. Hoge is a passionate teacher
that clearly loves what she does therefore I would respect her insight making her the ideal
candidate for this interview. I questioned her about concepts such as her philosophy for
teaching science, her methods she uses to teach it, types of materials she uses, assessment
strategies, stand out moments when teaching science, the best science experience she endured
when she was in school, her favorite unit of science to teach, and what she enjoys about
teaching science.
I began the interview with asking Mrs. Hoge about her philosophy for science
instruction. She explained that science instruction should be inquiry based. I feel that students
not only need time to manipulate and investigate in the science classroom, but they also need
to take time to reflect on what they have discovered. We take time to look at mistakes or
areas of investigations that didnt go exactly as planned. We discuss that true scientists not only
look for successes but they inspect where things go wrong in order to better prepare for
success. I admire this concept fully, no scientist has ever been successful on their first attempt.
Also I believe in the concept that we learn best from our mistakes. This can also be applied as a
life lesson to the students that they wont always succeed at first in some aspects of life. One
must learn from their mistakes and better their actions in the future.
Next I discussed with Mrs. Hoge some of the methods she uses to teach science. One
aspect that I found extremely interesting is that their curriculum comes with premade
worksheets for the students to complete throughout investigations. My first thought when
learning this is that the district is encouraging teachers to be average and do the bare minimum
to teach these concepts. This is especially sad since science is suppose to be one of the more
active, hands-on subjects. Luckily she knows better than to solely use worksheets to teach
science; she has her students keep science journals in which they respond to a focus question.
Theyll reflect upon the information and what they think the answer is to the question. This
question leads the learning throughout the entire lesson. Once the lesson is completed,
students are to use their learning to answer the focus question. From my previous observation,
the science journals were the first aspect that caught my eye. The use of journals is a fantastic
way for students to track their learning progress through out lessons and also serves as a great
reference to past information they have learned.
Next I wanted to cover some examples of materials they use during their units. They
conduct three units: electrical circuits, motion and design, and land and water. She uses science
kits through STC. They also keep a separate science journal for each unit. They are currently
finishing up their electrical circuits unit. Some materials used in the electrical unit consist of
batteries, wires, light bulbs, and various objects in which the students investigate if those
objects are conductors of electricity. When it comes to science, the more the students have to
work with the better. Students will learn the concepts of science best through actions therefore
teachers must provide a multitude of activities in which they can engage.
Then I asked Mrs. Hoge to talk about how she assesses her students. Its easy for a
teacher to hand their children a test however she says she would rather assess students by
what they keep in their science journals. Students are held to high expectations of their
responses in the journals. They must put a lot of thought into their answers and they know this.
I will provide feedback directly in their journals so they can make improvements. This is an
excellent form of assessment because teachers have a direct line of communication to the
students thoughts. Also with the teacher giving direct feedback this is extremely beneficial to
students. The teacher either encourages a students excelling work or gives suggestions on
where to strengthen it.
After that I wanted to know a stand out moment that has occurred while she was
teaching science. She immediately responded that incorporating the science books was the
biggest stand out moment for her. Students took pride and ownership of their notebooks.
They put much more thought into the notebooks than they did to filing out a worksheet. It also
integrates writing into science class. I think for so long each class was a separate entity, now the
use of notebooks allows us to integrate writing effectively into science class. I hope to
incorporate science journals in my future classroom because of the cross curricular
opportunities and because of how much they motivate the students. I remember for my 5 th
grade English class we kept journals in which we had a daily writing prompt. I took a lot of pride
in that mainly because I wanted to be able to look back on my work and see how far my writing
has come from the beginning of the year to the end. Im sure the students in Mrs. Hoges
science class have a similar outlook to their science journals.
Students tend to remember aspects of school that they are fully engaged in such as
hands on activities. A lot of these occur in science so I asked Mrs. Hoge to share any science
memories from when she was in grade school. She said she loved a lot of the chemistry
activities because she enjoyed seeing the different chemicals react. She was also able to
experiment a lot within this class. She remembers one activity in which her teacher gave them
various unknown substances and basically told them to figure out what the substances were.
Hearing this, I then asked what her favorite unit of science to teach is. She responded that she
loves teaching motion and design because like her old Chemistry class it has a lot of open ended
experimental opportunities. Students are able to experience trial and error when attempting to
build various models. For older grades I support the theory of giving students materials and
telling them to figure it out. This develops students problem solving skills and if they are
allowed to work in teams it will teach teamwork.
 Finally I asked Mrs. Hoge if she enjoys teaching science. She exclaims that she loves it
and believes it is one of the most rewarding subjects to teach. Although it is sometimes
frustrating for the students, the moment that something clicks for them and the smile that
lights up their face is priceless. It is also a place where we see our learning support students
excel. The pride that they exude being a leader within the science classroom makes it all
worthwhile. This inspires me to make science class a super fun and informative learning
experience for all students. Seeing students have that light bulb moment truly is priceless. I
always remembered elementary science classes to be the best. These classes should be full of
exciting experiments that students are able to fully engage in. My philosophy is to teach them
to love science at a young age before they have to learn formulas and no so fun properties of
physics. When students have these optimal learning experiences, they could fall in love with
science in which one-day theyll make a career out of it. Personally I would be honored if I
would teach and inspire the next Albert Einstein.
Interview questions with Mrs. Hoge
1. What is your philosophy for science instruction
a. I believe that science instruction should be inquiry based. I feel that students
not only need time to manipulate and investigate in the science classroom,
but they also need to take time to reflect on what they have discovered. We
also take time to look at mistakes or areas of investigations that didnt go
exactly as planned. We discuss that that true scientists not only look for
successes, but they inspect where things go wrong in order to better prepare
for success.
2. What types of methods do you use to teach science
. Our science curriculum comes with premade worksheets for the students to
complete throughout investigations. However, we have not been using those. We require
the students to keep a science notebook for each unit of study. In these notebooks,
students start each lesson with a focus question. This question leads the learning
throughout the lesson. After the lesson, students are expected to use their learning to
answer the question.
3. What materials will you use throughout your science unit
. We use science kits through STC. We do three throughout the year: Electrical
Circuits, Motion and Design, and Land and Water. A variety of materials come with each kit
in order to complete the investigations. Our students also use a 1-subject spiral notebook
for each unit.
4. How do you assess your students for science class
. Students are assessed through their science notebooks. They are expected to
include well thought out answers, reflections and data for each investigations. Lessons
typically last 3-4 days. Students are assessed every 3-4 lessons. Feedback is given so that
students can make improvements to their notebooks for the next check.
5. Has there been any stand out moments to you while teaching science?
. Incorporating the science notebooks - which Mrs. Campbell and I did 2 years ago -
was a stand out moment for me. Students took pride and ownership of their
notebooks. They put much more thought into the notebook than they did to filling out a
worksheet. It also integrates writing into science class. I think for so long each class was a
separate entity. Notebooking has allowed us to integrate writing effectively into the
science classroom.
6. What was the best science experience you had when you were in school?
. The best science experience that I had in school was in high school in Chemistry
class. We did a lot of inquiry based experiments. I loved the hands on nature of the course.
One specific experiment I remember was my teacher gave us a variety of chemicals and let
us explore how they react with each other.
7. Do you enjoy teaching science?
. I really enjoy teaching science class. Although it is sometimes frustrating for the
students, the moment that something clicks for them and the smile that lights up their face
is priceless. It is also a place where we see our learning support students excel. The pride
that they exude being a leader within the science classroom makes it all worthwhile.
 8. What is your favorite unit of science to teach?
. My favorite unit of science to teach is Motion and Design. The unit gives the
students a lot of opportunities to reflect and adapt based on the results of their
investigations.