Tenth Week

     We finally completed our final lesson for our lesson study.  I am extremely happy about the student learning that occurred as a result of the final and improved lesson.  After reviewing the worksheets that students completed independently during the lesson, I was very pleased with the work that students did.  Most of the students, many more than during the first lesson, understood what the strategy was about and what each piece of the puzzle was asking.  I was most concerned with the distinction between background and personal experiences, however, student work suggested that most of the students understood the difference.  This was something that our team, the fifth grade team, really worked on because most of the students were struggling to tell the difference between the two.  I also believe that using non-examples and inappropriate examples was tremendously helpful for students.  This was actually helpful for all of the puzzle pieces because students got to see what was expected from them and what was not expected.
     There are certainly a few parts that I would change if I was to teach this lesson again.  The group discussion is certainly one.  Although I love having students work in groups to help each other out, I also think that our group work was too time consuming.  Some of the groups got off task when they finished discussing their puzzle piece and we should have designated specific time for each part of the group work.  Furthermore, we asked students to sit on the ground because the mentor teacher suggested this set-up.  She stated that her students were most comfortable in that setting and that that would be the best way to organize the groups.  Therefore, we went with that set-up.  However, our observers noticed a lot of off-task behavior and this is something that definitely needs to be prevented for next time.    
     Overall, I believe that students got what they needed to out of the lesson.  Their work in groups and their independent work showed that they were able to distinguish between the four different puzzle pieces as well as between appropriate and inappropriate examples.  I was very impressed with the work that they did, however, I think that the next time I teach this type of lesson, I would like it to go a little smoother.   
     Furthermore, this week my partner and I got to continue teaching our social studies lesson.  We have been working with students on Florida history, the beginning of Florida state to be exact.  We started working on the lesson last week and students began writing plays in their groups.  We continued working with students on their scripts as well as props.  I was extremely impressed with the work that students did during their preparation for the plays.  There were a few students who had trouble working in groups and staying on task.   On Tuesday, I had to specifically talk to one of the students one-on-one.  He kept being obnoxious and was not contributing to his group.  I had to explain to him what it means to effectively work in a group and that his input matters.  He also explained to me that he felt as though he was not being heard by his group members and that this created a rift between him and his group.  Therefore, we had a chat with all of his group members and they were able to continue working on their script without any major incidents.  Students performed their plays today and I gave them a few minutes to prepare their materials as well as do a run-through of their play.  Many of the students were extremely rowdy today.  I believe that this might have been due to the excitement of performing their plays in front of the whole class.  I had some trouble keeping them on task and focused on what they were doing.  Many of them kept jumping and running around, not being able to prepare in a timely and organized manner.  I even had to threaten them that we would not be able to do any more fun activities if they were not going to act appropriately.  I think this helped, because I noticed that I did not have to tell them to settle down as much after that threat.  This also led me to try and figure out ways to get students to settle down when they got too excited.  This happens a lot with the fourth graders and this is something that I would like to improve upon as I prepare for my internship year.