PDS Lesson

I taught my science lesson at Benjamin Elementary in my 2^nd grade PDS placement. Before I taught my lesson, the class has been learning about five of the animal classifications. Those were birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. When it was time for me to teach them they had learned about each of these classifications so it was time to wrap up the chapter. I took the students to the San Diego zoo website because it had great pictures and facts. I reviewed with them again the characteristics of each type of animal. I also emphasized the differences between amphibians and reptiles. After we reviewed each group and taught a few new facts I took the students to animal classification game. This is fairly easy for the students. They were engaged and all wanted a chance to pick with group the animal belonged in. I created a Smart board activity with multiple pictures of each animal group. I asked the students together to identify which group was what animal classification name. I created this activity to help with the aid in the next activity. I wanted to see what my students knew about each animal group and give them the opportunity to draw those animals as well. My cooperating teacher and I give them opportunities to be “published authors” and share what they have learned with the other grades. Before they began they knew what was expected of their work and that they needed to take their time. I created a flip book and each page had the animal classification group. They were to draw a picture of that type of animal and write two to three facts as well. I gave the students different resources to use while completing their flip book. We had books pulled from the library so I distributed those to each table and I provided pictures on the Smart board.

I think that I had many strengths from my lesson. All of my students were engaged in each and every activity that we did and they were excited as well. The students love going to different websites and playing games in our classroom. The websites that we went to were engaging and provided them with new information. I also did not have to keep getting the students attention. I had their full attention and was able to engage all of the students. I also used a strategy that I learned from TCH 277. I told the students to blow the answer into their hands and then let it go by whispering. This allowed for all of the students to answer the questions that had one answer to them and they all were able to participate. This group of students has difficulty following directions and asks a million questions after you have given them the directions. I decided to try writing all of the directions on the board for the flip book. If the students asked me questions after they were dismissed to work I told them to refer to the white board. This eliminated me repeating myself over and over.

There is one area of a weakness in my lesson that I know I need to improve on and this has been a goal for myself in my PDS placement and that is classroom management. I have struggled with from the start establishing my role as the students’ teacher in the classroom. I am improving on keeping their attention and managing the behaviors that occur in the classroom. The group of students that we have is very talkative and active. There are certain students who shout out and talk whenever they feel like it. This happened often during my lesson. I did my best to control those outbursts and gave out warnings to those students. I need to improve on following through with the consequences I have given them such as moving their clips or taking away dojo points. I did not follow through with these consequences and am improving on that. I think that it would have helped my lesson go more smoothly if I handled those behaviors better. I also have been working on transitioning the students in the classroom from one activity to the next or even within the activities. In this lesson I struggled with this and I think I could improve on this a lot. I need to have smoother transitions instead of directly moving into the next activity.

I feel as though my knowledge on the content was decent. I had read through their book and other resources to gain more knowledge about each animal classification. I think that my knowledge on amphibians and reptiles could be stronger. These two are easy to mix up and get confused. I also think I could be more knowledgeable about the specific animals from each category especially the amphibians and reptiles. Then I would be ready for questions from the students if they were not sure which category the animal was in. Other than those two animal classifications I am not sure what else I could more knowledgeable of.

I was able to observe how much the students knew and could tell if we needed to go back and review an animal classification during the game. However, this did not allow me to observe all of the students because only one student was answering at a time and not all of the students were able to participate. I was able to observe their understanding in the flip books. I was able to see if they drew the correct animal on the page and I was also able to see if they had the appropriate and correct facts on each page as well. Some of the students took it even further and labeled parts of the animals which showed even more understanding of the animal classifications!

I am happy with how my lesson went and it makes me happy to reflect on the lesson when I am really able to tell that the students are engaged and excited. I have learned more from this lesson on the ways I can improve on classroom management. I was able to reflect on the feedback I received from the cooperating teacher as well because she also commented on my classroom management and transition skills.

http://kids.sandiegozoo.org/animals

Game: http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/asset/lsps07_int_animalclass/

These are two pictures of the wall display of the flipbooks. This display was in the hallway for other classes to see.

Brigham Lesson Reflection

This past week Annie and I taught our lesson in Mrs. Silva’s Kindergarten classroom at Brigham Elementary School.  Our lesson was about the four seasons that our environment goes through.  We talked about what the trees look like, how the temperature feels like outside, and the type of clothes that we wear during that season.

I feel that we had many strengths in our lesson for the Kindergarteners with a few weaknesses as well.  One of the strengths in our lesson was the participation and engagement of the students. Anyone that was in the classroom with us and observing was able to see that most all of the students were very excited throughout our entire lesson and talking with us. The students were eager to participate in the activities and discussions that we provided for them. We did not struggle at all with trying to get answers from the students and their experiences. Most of the time throughout our lesson they were not prompted to share or were eager to share their answer. Even though it was difficult at times managing the students’ excitement I think that it benefitted us because we did not have to vary ways to ask the question. The students were ready with an answer! I think that another strength from our lesson on Thursday were the activities that we provided and engaged in with the students. We incorporated what we have learned from Dr. Husband’s lesson in TCH 274. Our lesson was structured as I do it, we do it, and then you do it. This allowed us to engage in discussions with the students, work with all of the students, and observe what they have taken from our lesson and seeing if they can apply their new knowledge. The beginning of our lesson with the book allowed us to build on and drawn in what the children have experienced and what they know about the seasons in our environment. This book sparked the students’ interest and it began using the vocabulary we wanted them to use throughout the lesson. They were able to hear and see the new vocabulary along with a real picture. I also am really glad that we included an anchor chart in our lesson. It gave the students a visual as well as allowed for the students to contribute to what words should go on our anchor chart.  We also had them participate in completing our anchor chart by adding the leaves for each season onto the trees.

Although I am happy with how our lesson went with the Kindergarteners at Brigham, there are different things that I would change and needed improvement. First of all, I am really happy that the students were so excited, happy, and eager to work with us and participate in our lesson. However, it became difficult when all of the students wanted to talk and did not raise their hand to wait to be called on. They were all so eager and wanted turns that they began talking when they wanted and grabbing for items that we had laid out on the floor. We tried using the attention getter that they have in their classroom, however they did not quiet down after they responded. One factor I think that affects this so much is that they do not see us often. This was only our second time working with the Kindergarteners and we had not been back there since the very first week we were at Brigham. We had a difficult time from the start getting the students to sit down all in a circle and it escalated from there. In order to make this go more smoothly I would have asked the teacher from the beginning what the attention getter was and begin using that with the students as soon as we were all together. I also would have asked the other teachers to come and join our circle to help us keep all of the students on task and help manage the behaviors. They would have been able to help us keep the students in their spots and not scoot closer to us and grab for the materials on the rug. It was difficult working with students you do not know at all and they do not know you as well. Also they were taken to a new room and I think this has an effect on everyone’s behavior. They are in a new environment with new teachers not all students adapt to this change. I think is much more practical and good practice to teach students that you are a little more familiar with. I also would change the way we did the anchor chart. We were unable to put the anchor chart on the board because we did not have the appropriate clips and magnets. So the chart was on the floor with us and the students. The leaves and cotton balls we had were also on the floor because we could not put it up on a surface away from the student’s reach. The students were constantly grabbing for the items and not paying attention to what we were doing. If I was able to change this for a future lesson I would change it into a Smart board activity. Then the students would not be able to grab at the materials and stay where they are seated as well. It would also give each of the students a chance to participate because I would make sure there were enough items for all the students to move on the activity. I would also add in the element of the clothes that are appropriate for the season. This would allow us all to discuss this together as well as incorporate it into an activity all together before they do it independently at their seats.

I am happy with how this lesson went overall. We worked with the situations and made them work for us and the students. I think that the students enjoyed all of the activities and learned something new as well!

Brigham PreK - Sense of Taste

Last Thursday, I was in the preschool room again at Brigham. I was in the room as an assistant and we were talking about the sense of taste. This was a difficult lesson to teach because there were a few foods we could not use because of allergies in the classroom. However, the teachers that day were very flexible and did a great job making the lesson work for the preschoolers! I had the opportunity to work towards my goal this day because I had a station by myself and work one on one with all of the students in this class. My goals were to become more confident when working with English Language Learners and learn accommodations to make for these students in the classroom.

During this lesson I was in charge of the station that had the pretzels. The students were testing out their sense of taste and exploring the taste of things that were salty. The goal was for them to choose salty when they had to pick a taste. I knew that many of the students would be familiar with pretzels and have most likely tasted them before.  When the students came to my station I thought of questions to try to target their prior knowledge. When the students came to my table I asked them all what the food was in the bag. I wanted to check what they knew before assuming they knew that the food was and if they were familiar with the food they would be able to categorize the taste easier. Most of them answered with “sticks” or just looked at me. I did not know what other names the students had for this food, so that was helpful when the first group called the pretzels, sticks. All of the students consistently called them sticks, so I knew it was something that was common for them to call pretzels. I tried asking the students if they had tasted anything similar to pretzels to see if they could relate the taste to other foods, more specifically salty foods. Most all of them were silent and did not answer me. When the students came back to my table, they had to choose between the four taste categories and they were supposed to choose salty at my station. There were a few of the students that knew right away. For other students I went through and named the category and related it to another food they were familiar with. Most of the students were able to write their name in the correct category.

After this lesson I think that I have gained more confidence when working with and teaching English Language Learners. I was able target their previous knowledge to learn about this new vocabulary and content. I was able to ask the students different questions to get them thinking about different foods and how they taste. I think that I am gaining more and more confidence each time I work with students at Brigham. However, I have not yet worked towards my goal of learning accommodations for English Language Learners. I think this is my next focus for when I do my lesson in Kindergarten soon.