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NT

BOPPPS – PARTICIPATORY L

Observa?ons - Concepts

HIGHLIGHT RELEVANT QUESTIONS

LESSON




Concepts - Synthesis

BOPPPS – POST-ASSESSMEN

How will you know if objec?ves have
been met?

•  Reuse Socra?ve app to give a post-

lesson quiz over material
•  Restate that quiz is not for a grade
•  Emphasis improvements in

understanding by showing before/aeer
results

NT

BOPPPS – SUMMARY


•  At the end of the lesson, recap the following:
•  Earth’s features are interrelated
•  Plate tectonics unifies land/ocean feature
•  Plate boundaries are “where the ac?on is”
•  Plates come together (convergent mar
•  Plates go away from each other (diver
margins)
•  Plates slide past one another (transfor
margins)

•  Future focus is on ocean-ocean plate boundar
•  Incorporate the following:
•  Mineralogy
•  Igneous and Sedimentary Rocks
•  Pressure-Temperature Regimes
•  Structural Styles

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Personal ReflecAon on My A

•  Frustra?ng at ?mes
•  Fun to learn new technology
•  Will lead to higher-level Bloom que
•  Pushes us to get out of our comfor

•  Explore learning opportuni?es
•  Try out new technology
•  Enrich student learning

•  Will incorporate learnings in future

ACP Experience


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What value / knowledge / insights have you gained from the Adjunct Certification
Program?

VALUE: The main value that I have gotten from this program is that it is important
to establish a student-centered learning environment with my students. It allows the
students to directly/indirectly have ownership in what they are learning. What I mean by
directly is that by putting them into group learning projects, the students become the
teachers by sharing their knowledge with other group members. Discussing their findings
and defending their results causes them to learn the subject material at a higher Bloom’s
level and this helps them with knowledge retention. Indirectly, they have ownership in
following along with the chapter readings from the online textbook. They see the reading
just as something they need for a grade, but the pop-up questions that accompany the
reading pushes them to read with a purpose instead of just blindly reading through the
text. Those that have pre-read the chapters are more prepared for the teacher-centered
portion of the class – the lectures are directly tied to the reading and it allows me as the
teacher to step outside of the teaching soap box and present the material in a more
relativistic sense. A good example is describing the differences between northern Gulf
Coast and South Texas beaches versus Galveston’s beaches. They won’t find the answer in
the readings, but by demonstrating some of the geologic processes associated with the
Mississippi delta and coastal currents, it becomes apparent to them that clays and silts
being transported by the river eventually end up along north Texas coastlines; hence no
white sand beaches for Galveston! This personalization of material during impromptu
discussions initiated by the students allows for higher learning in a hybrid teacher-
/student-centered learning environment.

KNOWLEDGE: One challenge that I have is getting the students to know that they
come to the class with more knowledge about the subject material than they realize. They
may have learned something in intermediate science class, but haven’t been able to
connect the “what you know” with the “how does this relate to what I am studying”
interrelationship. This is where the teacher becomes the key to unlocking the answer
through asking thought-provoking questions, leading questions, and creating an “I want to
know more about this” mindset. Having students sending me emails of something they
came across on a website that is related to something we just studied is very rewarding. It
acknowledges that you have gotten through to at least one student!

INSIGHTS: Just like anything prescripted, what looks good on paper may not
necessarily be successful. A rigid lesson plan could be setting the teacher up for failure if
he follows it to strictly. Classrooms are organic and not being able to go in the direction
the students are leaning towards can miss an excellent learning opportunity. Yes, you
need to be able to rear them back in if they stray too far off topic.

How have you incorporated the knowledge gained into your classroom?

Probably the most important knowledge gained from the program is the importance
of lesson plans. By establishing teaching goals and a strategy for achievement, I feel that I
can become a more effective instructor. As I mentioned in the previous reflection on
insights, however, don’t be averse to branching off script. Being able to effectively read
the pulse of the classroom is critical. If you continue on script and students do not fully
understand, they can and will tune out and not want to learn. At that point, it might be
better to shift the focus to something else, such as lab or problem-solving exercise.

One of the other things that I have incorporated into my classroom is to try and
limit my straight up lecturing. I now try to make it more interactive by interjecting a
number of questions to the students on the subject matter (randomly, but making sure to
call on all students). I also like the introduction of some technology applications –
especially the socrative exit question. It allows me to adapt my next day’s plans according
to how well the students are learning.

How has this program made you a more effective instructor?
This program has made me a more effective instructor by providing me with a

number of technological applications that can be incorporated into my classroom that will
play off of today’s student’s embrace of new technology. Much like Twitter, Snapchat, and
Facebook are the engines of social media, a number of these applications are known by
students. Socrative, Kahoots, and crossword-making apps. I am thinking of adding some
crossword applications at the start of a new chapter to help with learning the new
vocabulary. Being a science class, the students embrace problem solving, so this should go
over well with them.

What suggestions do you have for further professional development opportunities?

A few things that I would suggest is that I felt the face-to-face meetings were very
informative and would have liked to have them weekly. I know this places additional prep
work on the instructor and for some students presents additional travel time. But it was
good to hear teaching perspectives from the non-science classes. It would be nice to
incorporate some of their writing exercises into my classes. I incorporated a number of
oral presentations in my curriculum, but the students need experience writing. Switching
one presentation from an oral to written would help them enhance their writing skills and
help them with higher education classes in the future.
Concerning additional professional development opportunities, I was invited by the
publisher of our textbook to attend a round table discussion on enhanced learning using
online textbooks. Being new to the adjunct faculty ranks, I wasn’t sure of what the
school’s/department’s policy was for attending these events. These seem to be excellent
opportunities to meet and discuss with other faculty at similar community
college/undergraduate colleges what is working/not working. These external professional
development opportunities are also being done at the local level. Last spring, we had a
meeting of the geoscience faculty from the Lone Star and North Harris colleges with the
author of our textbook. He discussed learning methods that have been successful at his

school where they offer the same class in many formats: large lecture classes only along
with face-to-face, hybrid, and online classes. We should keep holding this one day
symposiums to stay abreast of current curriculum teaching methods.