Lesson Plans
Vocabulary - Be A Mind Reader
be_a_mind_reader.docx | |
File Size: | 14 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Reflection on Lesson
My lesson on vocabulary was focused on the strategy of being a Mind Reader and an Exit Ticket. Overall, I felt like this lesson went pretty well. I thought the best part of this lesson by far was the focus and engagement that I received because of the fact that the students really enjoyed the strategy of Mind Reader. They loved the idea of this being like a game instead of it being like a monotonous study of vocabulary. I think that one of the key things that happened was that they really believed that it would be a fun lesson. The material seemed well suited to the age group. However, if I were to teach this lesson differently, I would probably focus on giving more sentence starters or example sentences. My teacher mentioned that many times the more difficult questions I asked were difficult for struggling students, especially those that were LEP, because they understood the question but were unable to formulate a response back. When I gave them hints then about it by starting the sentence for them, they were able to answer more clearly. I think these sentence starters also might be helpful when students are writing their conclusions on the Exit Ticket. I stated that you will begin, “I learned that” but did not write it on the board, which I believe might have been more beneficial and a more efficient way of modeling.
When determining the instructional model for this lesson, I started to prep by trying to pinpoint what strategy would work best for a vocabulary lesson. After seeing the Mind Reader strategy modeled in class, this seemed the best because it was highly engaging and was easily adaptable to different subjects and age ranges. I think that it was one of the best for vocabulary because it provided a creative way of reviewing information that they had already learned without making it simply a recitation from rote memory. I think that I accomplished my objectives for this lesson because my objectives were largely focused on simply reviewing and identifying the vocabulary words more fully. I checked for understanding to assure that I had met my objectives by using the strategy of an Exit Ticket as they were leaving, which helped me see what the students understood and what was out of reach. This seemed like an easy transition as students simply used one conclusion or one thing they learned. It seemed that most students understood the concepts when they gave clear examples of material taught in class as what they learned on their Exit Ticket.
I was also able to actively engage the students in learning by rotating rows and asking for student volunteers all throughout the lesson. It also seemed to motivate the group that I would use whole group, single volunteers, visual agreement (thumbs up, thumbs down), and partners. This variety of methods of engaging students seemed to help the activity not become simply an individual event, but a whole class working together. If I were to do this in the future, I would focus even more on this because I believe it not only helps with engagement but also lesson pacing because students can pair-share quickly and then move on instead of needing to share several answers with the whole class. Lesson pacing seemed to go much better this time, because I was able to adapt my lesson more easily than the previous lesson that I did. I also seemed to cover a more manageable amount of material instead of attempting to do far too much. This lesson seemed more manageable because there were not nearly as many concepts to cover. The lesson ended on time and I was even able to use the time they spent lining up to continue quizzing them about what they learned.
Classroom management seemed to go quite well throughout this lesson as well, once again seeming easier than the first time I taught this year. I was circulating around asking students questions, which seemed to help. The one problem with classroom management that I experienced was that many of the students were not writing down the answers beforehand, but simply waiting until we had agreed on a correct response. To resolve this in the future, I would probably model this beforehand on the board and then keep reminding students throughout that they needed to be writing down their answers continually, not just at the end. I was able to account for individual differences by asking students to help out the students who were struggling. Then I would try to go back to each student, giving them a chance to show why they thought they had the correct response initially and then why the correct answer was right. This seemed to be also helped by the discussion provided as students answered the reason behind each of their answers and why or why not they felt the answer was correct. Frequently this helped me as well not to ask yes or no questions. I have found that frequently it is easy to fall into one or two word responses so asking why seemed to help students more. If I were to do this lesson again, I would focus on this even more, because while it felt strange and new, it did seem helpful. As well, I would want to focus on asking why questions more often because I felt like I had planned to ask for understanding more than actually occurred during the lesson. Overall though, I feel that this lesson went pretty well, but as always, there is room for improvement and growth.
When determining the instructional model for this lesson, I started to prep by trying to pinpoint what strategy would work best for a vocabulary lesson. After seeing the Mind Reader strategy modeled in class, this seemed the best because it was highly engaging and was easily adaptable to different subjects and age ranges. I think that it was one of the best for vocabulary because it provided a creative way of reviewing information that they had already learned without making it simply a recitation from rote memory. I think that I accomplished my objectives for this lesson because my objectives were largely focused on simply reviewing and identifying the vocabulary words more fully. I checked for understanding to assure that I had met my objectives by using the strategy of an Exit Ticket as they were leaving, which helped me see what the students understood and what was out of reach. This seemed like an easy transition as students simply used one conclusion or one thing they learned. It seemed that most students understood the concepts when they gave clear examples of material taught in class as what they learned on their Exit Ticket.
I was also able to actively engage the students in learning by rotating rows and asking for student volunteers all throughout the lesson. It also seemed to motivate the group that I would use whole group, single volunteers, visual agreement (thumbs up, thumbs down), and partners. This variety of methods of engaging students seemed to help the activity not become simply an individual event, but a whole class working together. If I were to do this in the future, I would focus even more on this because I believe it not only helps with engagement but also lesson pacing because students can pair-share quickly and then move on instead of needing to share several answers with the whole class. Lesson pacing seemed to go much better this time, because I was able to adapt my lesson more easily than the previous lesson that I did. I also seemed to cover a more manageable amount of material instead of attempting to do far too much. This lesson seemed more manageable because there were not nearly as many concepts to cover. The lesson ended on time and I was even able to use the time they spent lining up to continue quizzing them about what they learned.
Classroom management seemed to go quite well throughout this lesson as well, once again seeming easier than the first time I taught this year. I was circulating around asking students questions, which seemed to help. The one problem with classroom management that I experienced was that many of the students were not writing down the answers beforehand, but simply waiting until we had agreed on a correct response. To resolve this in the future, I would probably model this beforehand on the board and then keep reminding students throughout that they needed to be writing down their answers continually, not just at the end. I was able to account for individual differences by asking students to help out the students who were struggling. Then I would try to go back to each student, giving them a chance to show why they thought they had the correct response initially and then why the correct answer was right. This seemed to be also helped by the discussion provided as students answered the reason behind each of their answers and why or why not they felt the answer was correct. Frequently this helped me as well not to ask yes or no questions. I have found that frequently it is easy to fall into one or two word responses so asking why seemed to help students more. If I were to do this lesson again, I would focus on this even more, because while it felt strange and new, it did seem helpful. As well, I would want to focus on asking why questions more often because I felt like I had planned to ask for understanding more than actually occurred during the lesson. Overall though, I feel that this lesson went pretty well, but as always, there is room for improvement and growth.
Writing - Tall Tales
tall_tales.docx | |
File Size: | 576 kb |
File Type: | docx |
I have used this lesson plan twice now. Overall, the results were extremely positive. Students were enthusiastic and did well on the rubric provided. In the future, I would use this lesson plan again with fourth grade students to compliment the Open Court Reading Story "McBroom and The Big Wind" or to introduce or expand on the idea of tall tales. This was an excellent writing piece to use for publishing the students' stories in a free publishing program that was done at the school I was teaching at.
Math - Geometry Unit
geometry_unit.xlsx | |
File Size: | 10 kb |
File Type: | xlsx |
geometry_unit.docx | |
File Size: | 607 kb |
File Type: | docx |
geometry_stations.docx | |
File Size: | 10 kb |
File Type: | docx |
geometryreviewjeopardy.ppt | |
File Size: | 1622 kb |
File Type: | ppt |
These are several examples from the Geometry unit I taught this last semester. It integrated multiple approaches to understanding Geometry as well as building upon past knowledge. The initial pages of the word document details the state standards that the unit covered, as well as the Common Core Standards in the last few pages of the word document. Students showed a tremendous amount of growth, with an average mean growth of 53% from the initial test to the post test. Median growth also demonstrated growth with an average growth of 60%. This growth was also reinforced by informal assessment that showed student progress and motivation.
Art and Math - Geometric Shapes
lesson_plan_art_geometric_shapes.docx | |
File Size: | 1183 kb |
File Type: | docx |