As an educator, some of the many hats I will have to wear are learning facilitator, mentor, and most importantly learner. It is my duty to facilitate learning. By this I do not mean simply standing in front of the classroom and feeding facts to learners. I mean providing them with opportunities and experiences that allow them to make meaning of the science concepts and their world in ways that are meaningful and lead to curiosity and learning. As a mentor, I will need to be a role model. Many learners may view me as a scientist and so for them my behavior, actions, and attitude reflect what a scientist is and what a scientist does. To have learners view science and scientists in a way that makes them want to identify with science and maybe want to study science further someday, I need to give them a positive example. Being a learner is the most important hat I will have to wear. To provide younger learners with experiences that are relevant and up to date information, I will need to develop a habit of lifelong learning. We are living in a time of constantly changing technology and information, so I will need to stay up to date on how to keep learners engaged.  

The role of learner was not apparent to me before field experience. I remember learning about the atomic model, but we stopped at protons and neutrons. I was faced with leading a lesson that included quarks which I had never heard of before. Another lesson was on the periodic table. I remember learning the periodic table and there being several elements with Uu-names toward the bottom, but now they’re filled in! I realized that I was not up to date on my science knowledge and that topics need to be constantly revisited for up to date information. As I progress I will take with me the idea that I too am a learner. So many moments in my field experience the younger learners enjoyed simply researching information on their Chromebook because I did not know the answer. They seemed to respond well to me saying “You know, I’m not sure. Can you look it up for me?”

Some positive aspects of my experience have been getting to know the learners and learning how to navigate parent-teacher conferences. I enjoyed the few fun moments like the Halloween Demo Day and getting to show them my personality a little. One somewhat negative moment was during my PKA lesson. One class got a little out of hand when my cooperating teacher left the room, but I was able to bring the class back in by using the “quick timeout” method I learned from industry. Sometimes people just get really excited and there is just a lot going on, but having everyone take a few seconds to just stop and wait really brings everyone together.

To be successful, I will have to really stay on top of the information I will be teaching and constantly remind myself that I am a facilitator not a lecturer. One way I plan to make this happen is to try to provide learners with student-centered activities and opportunities as often as possible. I will work to really limit lecturing time.