Reflection of your Lesson:
My partner and I had all the basics, such as the handouts, materials, and PowerPoint slides all completed a few weeks before our teaching date. The night before I made a list of how many copies of each handout will be needed for our lesson. In the morning my partner and I met in the library to print out everything, however the printers were not working properly. We had to run around a lot trying to find a working printer, but fortunately, in the end everything worked out.
Explain the objective and assessment measures of your lesson.
Our lesson plan consisted of four instructional objectives as follows,
- Students will be able to recall prior knowledge of angles and vectors.
- Students will be able to define the different types of triangles through a PowerPoint presentation.
- Students will be able to use the PowerPoint presentation slides in a printed format to identify the different types of triangles.
- The students will be able to take a written assessment on the different types of triangles.
Our assessments measured our objectives. Our formative assessment included teachers asking informal questions and observing the students’ reactions throughout the PowerPoint presentation and the Handout 4: “Shapes” by Shel Silverstein. The summative assessment included Handout 2 for homework. The students were expected to get at least 90% of the worksheet correct.
Was your lesson plan executed exactly as it was written?
My partner and I followed our lesson plan as it was written. Our lesson plan was very structured so it was easy to follow from the anticipatory set, to the podcast, the PowerPoint slides, the handouts, and the closure exercise.
The most important thing of the lesson was the PowerPoint slides. It was the core of the lesson. The PowerPoint slides were printed for the students to use as notes during and after the lesson.
I think that overall our lesson went well, despite the exaggerated behavioral issues. During the lesson, there were a few moments that my partner and I had the students’ attention for more than five minutes where they were participating and filling in their worksheets. . The only complaint I personally had was when someone started passing “a personal item” around. I thought that was completely inappropriate for a fifth grade level. Also, when someone did act up, my partner took care of the problem, while I continued teaching and vice versa.
What did you learn from your students?
I learned that despite the fact that teachers have a lesson completely planned, anything can happen to change it within a second, including behavioral issues. Regardless how out of hand a lesson gets, teachers have to bring their students back into the lesson.
What would you have done differently?
My partner and I should have put the picture on the SmartBoard as the students were completing Handout 4 “Shapes” by Shel Silverstein. I noticed many of them were complaining and using the picture being too small on the handout as an excuse not to complete the worksheet.
How could you have made the lesson even more effective?
My partner and I should have considered moving around the "trouble makers" in the class so that they are not sitting together.
What do you think you need to improve or do differently?
I think that before the class my partner and I should have randomly chosen students to act out the podcast poem. Maybe have a hat or bowl with every student’s name on a piece of paper and have the helper of the week pick out three names, one for each shape.
Reflection of Podcast:
How did you and your partner plan to use the podcast in your lesson?
At first, my partner and I were not completely sure of how to incorporate the podcast into our lesson plan. Eventually, we decided to use the podcast as an anticipatory set, along with a handout. In addition, the podcast poem was used as an introduction to a whole unit instead of just one lesson that we taught.
Yes, we used the podcast during the class lesson. Since the podcast was an anticipatory set, the students for the most part had no choice but to pay attention.
How did your students react to the podcast?
I think the students enjoyed the podcast because it was acted out with bright colored shaped that went hand-in-hand with the poem.
How do you think it went?
Our podcast was short and to the point since a was just a poem. I think students enjoyed it because it was role-played. Also, because of the length of the podcast, my partner and I did not lose the students’ attention.
What could you have done to infuse the podcast into the lesson more effectively?
Honestly, I liked how the podcast was infused into our lesson plan and its follow up handout was a perfect introduction for a unit on shapes.
Do you have any other ideas of how you would use podcasting in your lesson or future lessons?
It would be very neat if students were to record their own podcast songs similar to “The Triangle Song” YouTube video that was shown at the end of our lesson.
Reflection of Other Classmates' Lessons:
Please write a short 2-3 paragraph reflection of your classmates’ lessons. Include critiques or any methods you learned when participating in these lessons.
Despite the fact that all of us had taught in other education class, this was the first time for many of us to team-teach. I was somewhat worried about the team- teaching, but lucky for me, my partner and I were friends so we work well together. It was also my first time using the behavior cards. All of us obviously exaggerated our task on the cards, but I think the teachers handled the situations quite well. For example, the teachers walked around, moved students, and took them outside of the classroom to have a word with them. The behavior cards gave us all an insight of how high school students might and probably will behave.
I liked the anticipatory sets the teachers had in their lessons. For example, Sandra, Meredith, and Marisa’s group had a very good anticipatory set. The whole dark Gothic atmosphere was very clever. All the teacher teams used technology. I loved the fact that Dr. Luongo introduced us to a variety of new technological techniques and tips. Seeing her students applying them within their lessons is just wonderful. For me, the past few weeks consisted of many new experiences, which will definitely help me as a future teacher.
