Life in a Science Classroom

I always enjoy being able to interact with other teachers in our building at Kennard-Dale.

I had the great opportunity to observe a science classroom with Mr. Rupp one of our science teachers. Mr. Rupp is one that I met early on at Kennard-Dale as he is a teacher that Ms. Smith and I eat lunch with.

I observed Mr. Rupp's first period AP Biology class. This was a great class to observe because Mr. Rupp was teaching about growth populations, which is something I remember from my own science experience.

As class began, Mr. Rupp lead his student in a warm up activity which was a sample population problem in which the students were given variable that they had to explain the growth pattern using an exponential population formula. I though this was a great way to begin class as it allowed Mr. Rupp to see how his students understood the information that he taught the previous day. As well as connect material from the previous day to the current lesson.

Once the warm up was over, Mr. Rupp lead his students in short discussion of populations and factors that determine the growth rate of animal populations. After the discussion Mr. Rupp showed a short 12 minute video which gave an overview of animal populations and emphasized some key words such as carrying capacity, R-value, and K-value.

So key observations I took while in Mr. Rupp's class is his personality. He is very funny and I enjoyed seeing him carrying that into his classroom. He also has a great rapport with his students. In addition, Mr. Rupp has a great ability to move around the classroom and ensure all his students are engaged.

One take away I had from Mr. Rupp's classroom was his white board that offered food for though quotes. I felt this was just a simple way to give some advice and wisdom to students.

My class period with Mr. Rupp was very enjoyable and allowed me to expand my knowledge on animal growth populations.

~Ms. Timmons