Engineering Lesson

Today we taught an engineering lesson at Brigham using the standard: 

K-2-ETS1-1. Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

We decided our simple problem would be crossing a river or body of water with a car.  We prompted the students to building a bridge and read a book about bridges. We then made bridges out of different materials and talked about what types of materials worked best. Then the students drew their own bridges and last we had them individually make their own bridges. We used the theory of the zone of proximal development to influence our lesson. We met students where we were at and related the topic to student’s experience so that they were able to take their own ideas and thoughts and apply it to new information. We challenged the students and helped them design their own structures off of experience. My goal was to work with diverse students to gain experience especially working with ELL students. We worked with students who are in an ELL classroom but these students were fluent in English so I did not work as much towards the ELL aspect of my goal. Its especially hard not knowing the students we are going to be teaching so we can’t fully engage the students because we don't know the student’s interests or academic levels. This semester has definitely helped me be quicker on my feet. This class also really helped me work on my classroom management because I had to have control with these students especially since I didn't know the students. It is still hard to plan for student’s you don't know and I don't think that will ever be any easier. I found a quote by Dr. Kevin Maxwell that says, “Our job is to teach the students we have. Not the ones we would like to have. Not the ones we used to have. Those we have right now. All of them.” I find this quote inspiring especially for this class because despite how frustrating it can be to plan lessons for students you don't really spend time with, you still have to try and do your best because these kids deserve that kind of education. This whole experience has taught me that even if I was not always comfortable with the students and the lessons that the students still deserve to learn and have an awesome learning experience. This class taught me to learn how to teach on my feet and I think this is the best lesson I have learned so far and will help me and continue to develop in the future. Below I have included pictures of the student’s work on their bridges. I also took video during the lesson of the students working on their bridges and testing them in the building process. I also have pictures of the students drawings of their bridges as well.

PDS Reflection

I taught my lesson at in my 2^nd grade PDS site classroom on how people grow or change. We are currently on a chapter that talks about plants and people and how both grow and change. In this lesson we first read from the textbook and had a group discussion on growth, I then transitioned to having the students go through my pictures and help me recognize how we change. We had the students bring in two pictures of themselves, one younger picture and an older picture. The students them compared the two pictures on a poster and they are going up in the hallway.

The strength of my lesson was engagement. My students all day were asking me when we were going to teach science and when we would get to do an activity with the pictures we brought in. The students were ready for my lesson when I finally called them to the living room or circle time area with their textbooks. My students also were very excited to look through my old photos and getting to compare those. I think it this was a great way to engage the students because they are just as excited to see something you have as they are for their own photos. This lesson also was easily relatable to the students. I had no trouble coming up with questions to ask the students during the lesson.

An area of improvement that I am overall working on in PDS and during this lesson was classroom management. This includes classroom behaviors, transitions to and from activities and within the lesson, and clear directions for the independent part of the activity. I did ok with managing student behavior. There weren’t many problem behaviors besides chatting during the individual part, which we were ok with as long as the students were still being productive. We use class dojo in our room for positive and negative behaviors as the PBIS in our building. We are also working as a class on transition between subjects so I used that when we transitioned to the carpet and back to our seats afterwards. I feel that classroom management was something that we haven’t fully taught and explored as soon to be teachers and I have heard from a lot of different people that it is something that we are all focusing on as student teachers because we don't want their to be a gap in that area during our first year of teaching especially because it is going to help us get through that first year. I have been working on this by using class dojo more often and finding other ways to get points in the class and work towards a certain goal together. Another way I want to improve this is by exploring different means of classroom management. I want to work on giving more clear directions during my activity. I don't mind answering questions from students while they are doing individual work but I noticed that I was getting the same questions over and over and had to get the whole classes attention again and restate or give new directions which I know isn’t bad I just want to lessen the frequency of those instances. The best way to do this is to include those steps and think about questions the students might ask and put those in my lesson plans, which will again get better in time. Overall, my classroom management just needs some more experience to grow.

My students were very interested and motivated during this lesson. We asked the students to bring in their pictures and work hard on their final products so that the finished products could be hung in the hallway. We also copied some of the student’s pictures so that they wouldn't ruin some of the pictures with glue if the parents wanted their children’s photos back. As I said before the students were asking all morning when we were going to do science because they wanted to share their photos. I knew that students would want to share their photos with the people next to them so I included a time in my lesson where the students would share their project with another student before turning it in. I think I would also let students show their friends in the first few minutes of class so that the temptation to take out the photos and get distracted by them is taken away. Another reason I thought my students were particularly interested is because when I told students we were going to do a practice one first with my pictures several of the students gasped and got excited that I was going to show them some of my own photos. My teacher thought this was a good idea too and said she wished she had brought in her own photos too. I think sharing your personal life can sometimes really help the students relate to you and open up communication in the classroom. Overall the motivation and the interest in the lesson were very high.

I’d say my knowledge on the topic was decent. I read the passage in the book prior to lesson planning and I designed the lesson around the pages in the book. I could’ve researched more and done more as far as in the future what it would look like for students, but I believe that could also be a lesson extension. I think it was hard for students to come up with different ways that they have changed. I think my organization was good for this lesson because I created a lesson plan and then re-wrote it before teaching it to ensure that I was thinking on track and knew what part of my book was coming next. I find that this really helps me think through my lesson and remember what is really important for me to remember and for the students to know before I go on teaching the lesson.

Lastly, I think the students met my objectives perfectly and the checklist I made for the finished student products and all the students were checked off in the major categories. I think the students also were able to really explore the different types of changes in their own lives ,which made the overall concept of growth more exciting and relatable.

Exceed: I exceeded the word limit and included personal goals from PDS.

Brigham Lesson Reflection

            For our lesson at Brigham Elementary School we taught the four seasons to Mrs. Silva’s kindergarten class. We went over what the four seasons were, what a tree looks like in that season, what the temperature of that season is, and lastly what to wear in each of those seasons.
            I believe the strengths of this lesson were that there were a lot of engaging activities provided for the students. We provided a diverse set of activities where students were participating in teacher led discussion, a group anchor chart, and finally an independent flipbook. In order to encourage student participation we wanted to use the three tools we are taught in our education classes, which are I-do-it, we-do-it, you-do-it. This provided students with different levels on instruction and also helped guide students from one activity to the next. Another strength of our lesson was student participation. It was clear if you were watching our lesson that the students were eager to participate. The students were all volunteering for each question we asked and had something to share for each page that we turned in our book. The students were excited about each part of the lesson that we taught and we tried to bring the student’s excitement level down.

            The first area that needed improvement in our lesson was classroom management in our lesson. Kelcey and I tried our best to reign in our students almost every two minutes. I forgot to ask the teacher about the attention getter she used for her classroom. This would have ensured that the lesson went more smoothly. Also because we did not know the students and the students were not in their regular classroom I students were quite fidgety and chatty. We used this, however, to our best advantage. It was hard to get our students into a seated circle for the beginning of our lesson but once we pulled the interactive anchor chart out it seemed like madness ensued. We struggled with getting the children to scoot back and still sit in the circle as well as getting students to sit quietly with their hands in their laps. I would fix this in the future by knowing the attention getter for the children. I would also have asked the other teachers in the classroom at the time to come and join our circle. This would have enabled our circle to be a bit bigger so that the students could not reach the materials for the anchor chart. This also would allow for more teachers to encourage positive behavior and engagement in the lesson. Another improvement, could have been to stay in the original classroom and also as a whole class but this was not an option due to extenuating circumstances. I think being in a comfortable environment is a known factor when teaching. It was hard taking new students to a new room because there is always going to be a guessing game going on between the teachers and the students. I would say the best way to change this situation is to teach in a class where you know the students.

            As I have mentioned before in this reflection, our student participation and involvement was almost off the charts. Our students were very quick to raise their hands and volunteer information. I love working with kindergartners too because I have noticed at a younger age that children are more open to sharing their answers. In the older grades some students tend to hold back because their self confidence is evolving. The students in our lesson were saying answers regardless of whether or not they thought they were going to be right and if they were wrong were eager to hear the correct response from the teacher. The students also seemed interested in having new teachers in their class. The enthusiasm was palpable if you were in our classroom at the time of the lesson. I did not see a student without a smile on their face throughout the entire time we were teaching. The students seemed readily motivated for our lesson and were always interested in whatever activity we were moving on to next.

            This lesson was about seasons and how students dress during those seasons. I would say that I knew a lot about this topic because I have taught this topic at a daycare center to preschool children. We always discussed what they weather was and what the season was. I had to come up with more interactive and challenging activities for the kindergartners. We wanted to relate the season to the students to help students understand how the seasons are different so we chose to focus on how trees look in each season and how students dress in each season. I think we did a good job keeping organized during the lesson and after it. We went over the lesson in detail and talked in out several times to ensure when we were actually teaching it we would not have to fumble to find something or not have something to completely teach the lesson. The only way I would have improved organization was to make the anchor chart for the smart board so there weren’t as many small objects to keep track of. I also think the smart board would have helped the students with attention as well. Next I would’ve kept an example of the flap book the students made by my side so that while explaining it I had it right there. Luckily for me one of the other teachers was there to hand it to me while I was explaining so I could show it to the students.

            Based on the formative assessments that we did with our students, I would say that our students had an adequate understanding throughout the lesson. I would ask the student to repeat the information I was telling them back to me. After a few more discussion points I would ask students a question that would force students to remember the sentence I told them to repeat. We also did thumbs up and thumb’s down and question checks for the students.

            Overall I think this lesson went pretty well considering the circumstances and I’d like to see how it would go if it was taught in a classroom where the students are familiar with the teachers.

Exceeds: I went above the word limit and connected this lesson to my own previous experiences.

Observation #2

This past week I was in the preschool room at Brigham Elementary. The students focused on the sense of taste. This lesson was a little difficult with the small groups since students were not able to taste some of the food due to allergies in the classroom. I think the teachers did an awesome job of being flexible. I worked towards my goal of interacting with diverse learners this week when I led a small group on cocoa powder. The students were not able to taste the cocoa powder so I had the students describe the powder instead. I provided the students with words too to help describe it and then we had a conversation on what the powder might be. A lot of the children said chocolate which I said was correct because without being able to taste it the kids did not know it was bitter. I explained further that it was something that is put inside chocolate. This small group really helped me think on my toes and come up with some out of the box ways to relate this object to the kids. I had to kind of reach and find out where their knowledge was at and see how I could relate it back and make it relevant to the object they were tasting. I think this is a skill that we as teachers will continue developing as we go along but it was extremely helpful to practice it. I think this really helped me move further in my goal because although I may not have had to speak a different language with these students I was still able to come up with diverse topics and sentences to keep the students engaged. One thing I will say that makes this goal rather difficult to work towards is that fact that we are not in the classroom on a regular basis. We have been teaching in pre-k twice and now we are going to move into the kindergarten classroom where kelcey and I have to teach our lesson and we do not know any of the kids. I think a huge part of what makes lesson successful is knowing the learners you are trying to reach with that lesson. I think most teachers in our class are frustrated with this as well. Its hard to know what the kids already know when you barely know the kids yourself. Then you are trying to make sure everyone is doing something in the lesson so that can at least take one thing away from the lesson before we have to leave. I think that although this goal is challenging, it is not impossible. We will use these skills that we are learning now throughout our career and life. This is a skill that will develop throughout our entire lives so it is ok to only have taken baby steps in the long run. I think its just hard to convince ourselves that these baby steps are ok because we really just want to have great improvement.

Exceeds: Over word limit.

Observing/Goal reflection

This past week I was in the Preschool room with Becca and Kacie teaching. There were some challenges but I think the teachers really pulled through the best they could without ever having met the students before. It’s really hard to plan a lesson for a group of students with whom you have never met and it really keeps you on your toes. I worked more towards my goal this past week of working more students of diverse backgrounds and students who are English language learners. The students Kelcey and I took into our small groups were able to fluently speak English. The students, one in particular, was very forthcoming with answer to our questions and very eager to participate. The students were also very engaged with the activities that were planned. I think this really helped keep me on my toes and try to think of interesting new things for the students to concentrate on or answer new questions. I really want to continue working on this goal but the struggle I am having with it right now is that I am not in control of whom I am working with during the school day. It’s hard to try and interact with as many students as possible when you are not the teacher teaching. The students also are not interacting with the other teachers as much but you can tell they are eager to talk to new people. I think the more we teach in the classrooms the easier it will be. For now, I have not had much practice speaking in Spanish with the students or really bringing any of their culture in the classroom and it is starting to make me wonder if I will be able to interact with the students in that way. The students are really awesome during the activities and have gone above and beyond my expectations. I think another thing I have learned from my goals is that we cannot always expect our students to be that different from us. I think we all knew we were going into a school that has a lot of ELL students. So to me I may have stereotyped or assumed that all the students were going to be harder to teach and they were all going to speak in different languages but that is not always the case. I think it’s really important that I saw this assumption now. If I kept these assumptions up I would be assuming way too much during my lesson that I would not really be planning for the actual students. I really enjoy a quote about students that I found on pinterest. “No matter how excellent a teacher you become, you will reach only about 80% of your students. Don’t ever become so arrogant as to think you know who the 20% will be. You will be wrong every time.” By Dr. Lenny Curtis. I love this quote because it reminds me that we do not know exactly who is taking in what we are teaching despite what appearances may be. This is a constant reminder to me to think about my students to try and make sure to accommodate each and every one of them.

Exceed: Over the word requirement and favorite quote integrated.