This week was another short week. We were only in the classroom for two days. However, this was also the week that we got to do our first lesson for lesson study. We were in a a 5th grade class and taught our lesson on making inferences. I was observing the first lesson. The lesson was interesting. We certainly have a lot of room for improvement, which is perfect because that is exactly why we are doing a lesson study. The fifth grade team was able to meet up later in the day and debrief. We did not have the input of any administrators, however, the teacher whose class we did the lesson study in was more than helpful. She actually provided us with great input that we are using to fix up the lesson.
The first issue that was apparent was that we ran out of time. The stories that we have picked out were way too long. We decided that we would cut these up and shorten them for the second lesson. We like the idea of having students read mystery stories so we wanted to keep that genre. Next, we decided, with the teacher's input, to switch up our pre-assessment. We originally had a worksheet that students were given right before the lesson. There were a few multiple choice questions on the worksheet about inference. However, this was dry and boring for the kids. It did not get them excited or talking. We decided to change up the way we assess them and go with something more exciting. For the second lesson, we will be doing skits at the beginning of the class, where one of the teachers actually acts our a scenario and students are asked to infer what is happening. This is a more interactive and fun way to see what they might already know and to activate their prior knowledge. Lastly, we decided to change the way we present. We had an anchor chart for the first lesson. The second the interns taped the chart to the board, I noticed that it was impossible to read and see from way back in the room. Most of the students were sitting in the back! After talking with the teacher, she suggested that we use the overhead projector and make some type of a presentation. This is what we have decided to do for the second lesson. We will be making a PowerPoint presentation with all the necessary information so all of the students can see. With the technology we are also easily able to interact with the information and transition quicker.
We look forward to teaching our second lesson next Thursday!
Friday, February 22, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Sixth Week
This week was busier due to the lesson study planning. My group met a few times in order to prepare our lesson. We will be teaching a lesson on making inferences. We decided to teach this comprehension strategy because it is a strategy that students can use across subjects and content. We are also teaching our lesson to fifth graders during their reading block and comprehension is highly emphasized in the upper grades. We decided to use mystery stories in order for students to use inferences to solve the mysteries. We had some trouble finding mystery stories, but eventually decided on Encyclopedia Brown. We had to adapt some of the stories to fit our lesson, especially to fit the time allotted for the lesson. I believe that the stories as well as the activities will be exciting for students.
During seminar we began our initial wondering for our inquiry. My co-teaching partner and I are working together on a wondering. Our mentor teacher has been letting us teach writing lessons more and more and with Florida Writes coming up soon, we wanted to focus on improving student writing. There are a few students in particular who are having trouble during writing: organizing their stories, elaborating and adding details, and using varied sentence structures and vocabulary. Even though Florida Writes is coming up in a few weeks and we probably will not get to start our research prior to the test, we still believe that all students can use frequent mini-lessons to improve their writing. We would be working with the 4th graders and this help will be beneficial when they get to 5th grade as well. For this reason, we decided to focus on writing.
More specifically, we want to see how planning helps improve our students' writing. During the past six weeks in the classroom, we have not seen our students actually use any type of planning sheets or organizers. They are given a prompt and asked to write about it in 60 minutes. This is the practice that they are getting for the Florida Writes. However, we believe that they need to be taught how to plan before they begin writing down on paper. This is not a skill that will only be helpful for the Florida Writes, but it will be beneficial throughout their educational career and life. I am looking forward to seeing how the inquiry research turns out.
During seminar we began our initial wondering for our inquiry. My co-teaching partner and I are working together on a wondering. Our mentor teacher has been letting us teach writing lessons more and more and with Florida Writes coming up soon, we wanted to focus on improving student writing. There are a few students in particular who are having trouble during writing: organizing their stories, elaborating and adding details, and using varied sentence structures and vocabulary. Even though Florida Writes is coming up in a few weeks and we probably will not get to start our research prior to the test, we still believe that all students can use frequent mini-lessons to improve their writing. We would be working with the 4th graders and this help will be beneficial when they get to 5th grade as well. For this reason, we decided to focus on writing.
More specifically, we want to see how planning helps improve our students' writing. During the past six weeks in the classroom, we have not seen our students actually use any type of planning sheets or organizers. They are given a prompt and asked to write about it in 60 minutes. This is the practice that they are getting for the Florida Writes. However, we believe that they need to be taught how to plan before they begin writing down on paper. This is not a skill that will only be helpful for the Florida Writes, but it will be beneficial throughout their educational career and life. I am looking forward to seeing how the inquiry research turns out.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Fifth Week
This week my co-teaching partner and I planned and taught out Pathwise lesson. We talked with our mentor teacher and decided to do our lesson during math. The topic was prime and composite numbers. The teacher usually uses the assigned math workbooks to teach out of, however, after previewing the lesson, my partner and I decided to make our own lesson from scratch, using the workbook only as guidance. The workbook explanations and examples were extremely confusing and out of order. We thought that our students would not be able to grasp and follow along with the book. For this reason, we planned our own lesson. We were able to discuss the lesson with the mentor as we planned it and were able to get some really good feedback.
We taught the lesson today with the 5th grade students. We planned the lesson following the gradual release of responsibility model. During "I do," we introduced, defined, and provided examples of prime and composite numbers. During "we do," we went over additional examples with students' input and students also completed a number sorting activity in groups. Finally, for independent practice we provided the students with a worksheet with problems that were very similar to the ones we practiced during the lesson. Once students had enough time to work on the worksheet, we went over it with the whole class.
I believe that the lesson was successful. I was pleased with the input from the students throughout the lesson. A few of the students would continuously raise their hands showing us that they were understanding the topic. Others would occasionally share their answers, after having a light bulb go off. This is what I enjoy seeing the most. I loved when they became extremely excited, waving their hands in the air enthusiastically. Even a few students who usually struggle in math would share their answers. Of course, there were also a few students who needed some extra scaffolding and guidance. We made sure to walk around during the activity and the independent practice to provide the students with the necessary guidance. Overall, I was happy with the way the lesson turned out. I certainly see a lot of room for improvement with the lesson that I would address if I taught it again, however, it being our first pathwise lesson, I was happy with the results.
We taught the lesson today with the 5th grade students. We planned the lesson following the gradual release of responsibility model. During "I do," we introduced, defined, and provided examples of prime and composite numbers. During "we do," we went over additional examples with students' input and students also completed a number sorting activity in groups. Finally, for independent practice we provided the students with a worksheet with problems that were very similar to the ones we practiced during the lesson. Once students had enough time to work on the worksheet, we went over it with the whole class.
I believe that the lesson was successful. I was pleased with the input from the students throughout the lesson. A few of the students would continuously raise their hands showing us that they were understanding the topic. Others would occasionally share their answers, after having a light bulb go off. This is what I enjoy seeing the most. I loved when they became extremely excited, waving their hands in the air enthusiastically. Even a few students who usually struggle in math would share their answers. Of course, there were also a few students who needed some extra scaffolding and guidance. We made sure to walk around during the activity and the independent practice to provide the students with the necessary guidance. Overall, I was happy with the way the lesson turned out. I certainly see a lot of room for improvement with the lesson that I would address if I taught it again, however, it being our first pathwise lesson, I was happy with the results.
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