Teaching Strategies
Students will look up the words and their meanings on the internet. Then they will memorize the meanings of the vocabulary words. I will lead a discussion on the meanings of the vocabulary words to ensure that students build some background knowledge. We will then engage in an open discussion about the CA town of Gilroy, and what it is known for. This will allow students to make a local connection with the unit.
For the section on the History of Agriculture in California, I will engage students in an inquiry-based learning model. Students will learn how to read the information given in a table. They will learn about rows and columns in a table. Students will read, analyze, make connection, and draw a conclusion about California’s Agricultural Development from the information given in Table 1. From Figure 1, they will be able to learn the location of the x-axis (always the horizontal line in the graph), and the y-axis (always the vertical line in the graph). They will be able to read the dates which are along the x-axis and learn that the dates are increasing in about 10 years increments, and the acres for cropland harvested along the y-axis, are increasing in increments of 1000 acres. Students will be able to identify how each of the crop’s production has changed over time.
While teaching the section on the History of Increased Temperatures in California, students will engage in an inquiry-based learning model and identify the geographic location of the Southwest states, and the regions where temperatures have increased the most, in each state from Figure 2.
I will be engaging in direct instruction when I am teaching students the sections on the approaches for addressing water scarcity, approaches for irrigating crops during water scarcity, and growing less water intensive crops.
Students will conduct two hands on experiments to learn about how water impacts a plants growth and fruit production, and how the soil impacts the growth and production of a plant. I will create, share, and discuss the two presentations. Students will follow the directions included in the slides, while conducting the two experiments. This presentation will be a guideline for students to follow while conducting the experiments in the classroom. The presentation will include information about the amount of soil needed in each pot, guidelines to follow while potting a plant in soil, and watering instructions. The first experiment will help students learn about the importance of water for plant growth, and the second experiment is designed to help students learn the benefits of compost for plant growth and soil water retention. In addition, I will be giving direct instructions as we work on conducting the experiments in class.
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