Step 2: Term 2 Integrated Assignment

Fast forwarding quite a bit from my previous post about the summer term, here in the Elementary/Middle Level cohort we are actually about to enter our final week of Term II. Although Penn GSE operates on a semester system and our courses generally follow this schedule, TEP's program is divided into five terms, each with a different focus. This term we focused on "Learners and Learning," and our culminating assignment is an inquiry-based examination of a single child in our student-teaching placement. Through observations as well as subject-specific interviews and activities we are attempting to develop an understanding of how this child makes sense of the world and the subjects he or she learns in school. My paper is due to five of my professors (field seminar, as well four methods courses) this week, so forgive me for keeping this post brief!

TEP curriculum grid

Although this paper is a long one by page count, I will admit that I am having quite a good time writing it. It is no secret that I have become very fond of "my student," and so analyzing our interactions and writing about him is really fun and rewarding. Today, for example, I was re-watching a video of an activity I did with him in which he predicted whether objects would sink or float, then dropped the objects in water to test his guesses; I found it so fascinating to see how he developed and adapted frameworks for his understanding given his limited knowledge of the properties of solids that make them float or sink. This project really invites us to use the luxury of spending a year as a student teacher to gain the skills and habits of a teacher researcher such that we can continue close observation and inquiry practices in our future classrooms even with the increased pressures that we will face when we are on our own.