Science #6: Engineering Lesson Reflection

Today, I taught my final lesson at Brigham Elementary School.  It was an engineering lesson that required the kindergarten students to think critically about the shape, purpose, and use of wheels.  We chose to use the standard K-2-ETS1-2: Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.  For this lesson we read a book about wheels, talked about circles, squares, and triangles as well as their attributes, let the students explore toys with different shaped wheels, and then had the students draw a picture of something that has wheels.  Overall, I believe that our lesson was very successful and the students took away a greater understanding of why all wheels are round.

I made two goals for myself to work on this semester during my time at Brigham Elementary School.  The first goal that I set was to work on learning some Spanish vocabulary that would help me in the classroom.  I am disappointed to say that I do not feel as though I successfully completed this goal.  One example from today’s lesson is when the students were working on their drawings, two of the students were talking to each other in Spanish.  It was clear to me that they were commenting on each others pictures, but I could not understand what they were saying.  I feel as though I missed out on a wonderful teaching opportunity because I was unable to interpret their conversation and make comments that they could have related to their learning.  I still hope to work on learning some Spanish phrases that would be useful in an early childhood classroom.  Some words that I think would be beneficial include restroom, pencil, walk, criss-cross, and desk.  These are words that I find myself saying constantly at my PDS site this semester and I’m sure I will continuously be using them throughout my teaching career.  Learning these words is just the first step in me continually working on improving my Spanish speaking skills.  Working through this semester and the struggles that I have felt when I’m unable to communicate with students has also made me decide to expand my language skills even further. After I graduate in May, I plan on taking classes either at Illinois State or Heartland Community College to learn ASL.  I have learned through my ISU courses that students truly benefit from teachers who incorporate signing into their lessons.  This will help English speaking students, ELL students, and students with hearing impairments alike. 

The second goal that I had set for myself this semester was to gain confidence when working with ELL students.  I feel as though I truly did gain an overall boost of confidence based on all of the different experiences that I had at Brigham.  I used to be afraid of teaching ELL students because I thought that they would look at me as if I were crazy, and that I would be unsuccessful in conveying any new information because of the language barrier.  However, I have learned some new strategies when teaching ELL students that helps relay information between myself and the students.  I have also learned that many children know Basic English by the time they reach school age.  This made it easier for me as a teacher this semester.  Although this was the case, I know that I will probably encounter some students who do not know much English at all.  It will be my job to prepare myself adequately in order to teach them successfully.

Science #5: Correcting Negative Behaviors

This week in TCH 276, I was in the kindergarten class helping Annie and Kelcey teach a lesson about the four seasons.  Because the kindergarten class was on a field trip last week, the kindergarten class was divided in half this week for two groups to teach.  Our group went into a different room and Samantha took pictures of the student’s work while Becca, Emily, and I took notes on student participation and level of understanding.  However, this group of kids was very excited and was constantly moving around, harming one another, and not listening to the girls teaching.  Eventually, I went and sat directly behind two of the more difficult kids and helped keep them seated.  I did so by continually pointing to where they were supposed to be sitting and saying “no” when they tried to move.  I also had to make two of the kids switch places because they kept bothering and distracting one another.  I couldn’t just sit and watch because I have been in situations in which I was in charge of a challenging group of kids and it was extremely stressful and I had wished that I had help at the time.  Annie and Kelcey had a very difficult group of kids to lead and I was very proud of how they handled them.

The two goals that I set for myself this semester was to learn some Spanish words and gain confidence when working with Spanish speaking students.  Although I did not learn any Spanish words this week, I do think that I gained some confidence.  I stuck with one of the boys for the rest of the time to make sure that he was not hurting anymore of his classmates and that he was listening.  I asked his a lot of questions and engaged him in conversation during his individual work time to make him feel more comfortable.  I quickly realized that he easily understood the English that was being asked of him, so perhaps he was being so difficult because he was bored, he had a bad morning, he isn’t interested in science, or many other reasons.  The reason for his misbehaviors is not what is important.  What is important is that the teacher realizes that some students misbehave and finding out how to change the negative behaviors.  The fact that this student was ELL did not change his response to me correcting his behaviors.  This gives me confidence because I am starting to learn that I can apply a lot of the same classroom management concepts that I have developed with English speaking students with ELL students. 

I have been able to apply these skills that I’m learning in my PDS site this semester.  There are several ELL students in my classroom and we have had a lot of difficulty with two of them having poor behavior.  At first, I always asked my CT how I should approach it because I didn’t want to correct their behavior if the language barrier was the reason that they were misbehaving.   She encouraged me to handle it exactly the same way that we would if it were an English-speaking student, just to explain why their behavior was wrong.  As I have been working with the students more and more, I have learned that they do understand which behaviors are acceptable and which are unacceptable and I have enjoyed seeing them correct their behaviors as they’ve been in school longer.

Science #4: Clinical Lesson

I planned and taught a lesson about magnets at my clinical site on Monday, November 10, 2014.  I am in a kindergarten class at Oakland Elementary School.  Prior to teaching this lesson, I spoke with my cooperating teacher to plan out when I would teach and what the focus of my lesson would be about.  We decided that this would be a great day for my lesson because it was the last day of their magnet unit.  My lesson was originally scheduled for Friday, November 7 but my CT had to stay home with her daughter who wasn’t feeling well.  The first section of my lesson was allowing the students to watch a Brain Pop Jr. video about magnets.  Then I let the students lead a sorting activity on the SMART Board in which they decided which objects were attracted to magnets and which were not attracted.  I did not influence their discussion at all so the students got to make the decisions based on their prior knowledge.  Finally, the students went to their desks and worked in groups to test all of the objects using a magnet.

I was very proud of this lesson and after discussing with my CT and careful reflection I have thought of a few strengths that I would like to share.  I made sure to activate the student’s prior knowledge at the beginning of the lesson.  This was important for me to do because I taught on a Monday and it can be difficult for some young students to recall information that they learned last week when they were home all weekend long.  I also made sure to ask them what new information they learned after watching the Brain Pop Jr. video, which turned out to be great because a lot of students pulled out subtle information from the video that I didn’t even think they would catch!

The way that I allowed the students to lead their predictions was also a strength of my lesson.  They were able to use their prior knowledge to the best of their abilities and combine it with some great assumptions to come to their conclusions.  For the most part, the students accurately sorted the objects or had solid arguments for why they believed it should go in the incorrect category.  I believe that many lessons should be student led because I want students to be in charge of their own learning.  This will make them more interested in the topics presented as well as more motivated to learn.  My CT also shared that she really liked that I used the word “predictions” in my lesson.  A lot of teachers use simple words and dumb-down their vocabulary when talking to kindergartners.  This is necessary at times, but it is also important to teach young children the correct meaning and usage of new terminology.  This will help expand their vocabulary and make them want to use their new words in their schoolwork or conversations with peers or other adults.

In order to make this lesson run smoothly, I laid out the worksheets, pencils, and objects that we tested on the desks while the students were watching the Brain Pop Jr. video on the rug.  This way, it did not take away time from their learning and they were not distracted.  I strategically planned which students were going to test each object.  I knew that some students would be extremely disappointed if they had an object that did not attract to a magnet so I made sure they had something that did attract.  I also remembered that some of our students have issues with putting small objects in their mouths.  Therefore, I made sure to give those students large objects like the blocks instead of the screws or coins.  This was both a safety and health precaution.

Finally, I feel as though I managed the magnet experiment portion of my lesson very well.  I made sure to hold the magnets until I was ready for the students to begin the testing.  I also gave clear directions for how to use the magnet.  I told them to set the object they were testing (for example a paperclip) in the middle of their table and to set the magnet on top.  Then, when they picked up the magnet the paperclip would either stick to the magnet if it was attracted or stay on the desk if it was not attracted.  One student at each group of desks had each object, so after each group tested their paperclip I took the magnets so the students were not distracted and could complete that portion of the worksheet.  Then when they were all ready to test the next object I passed the magnets back out.

Although my CT and I found many strengths within my lesson planning and implantation, we also discussed some suggestions that could make my lesson stronger if I were to teach it again in the future.  One suggestion my CT made was to make sure to keep my eyes on the students that are sitting on the carpet when one student is up at the SMART Board.  This is something that I can apply to my teaching throughout the day, not just in science.  I tend to watch the student who is working at the board so my back is to all of the rest of the class on the carpet.  This can lead to behavior issues, so it is important for me to keep my eyes on them in order to enforce the expectations of sitting on the carpet. 

We also thought of a possible change to the worksheet that we used.  A few of the students had trouble circling the correct word “yes” or “no,” so we thought that changing it to happy and sad faces might be easier.  This would also be a great way to differentiate the lesson if I knew I had some lower and some higher level students, much like my CT’s class.  The students who are more advanced readers could have the worksheets with the yes/no option, the emerging readers could have happy/sad faces that are labeled yes/no, and the struggling readers could only have happy/sad faces. 

We also had some ideas for how I could change the way that the students got the objects that would cause less distraction during the testing portion of the lesson. 

Overall, I had a really great time planning and implementing this lesson.  I am loving my experience with my kindergartners so far and am always excited when I get the opportunity to lead them in a new and exciting lesson that they enjoy like this one.

Science #3: Setback with My Goals

On Thursday, October 23^rd, I had the pleasure of going back into the preschool classroom and assisting a few classmates teach a lesson all about the sense of taste.  I was given the task of observing one specific student and taking notes about his behaviors, participation, and engagement in the lesson. 

Because of my limited engagement with the students in this lesson, it was very difficult for me to continue working on my goals.  The first goal I set for myself was to learn at least five words in Spanish.  I met this goal a few weeks ago after teaching my lesson about the sense of touch, however, I would like to continue working on this and learning more Spanish as the semester continues. 

My second goal I set was to gain confidence when working with English language learners.  Again, because I did not work a lot with the students during this lesson, it was difficult for me to gain any confidence.  In fact, if I had to say anything about my confidence I would regretfully say that I lost some confidence.  This is because there was once instance during small group work that Emily asked if I would take over her group so she could move to the computer and bring up their SMART Board activity.  Of course I said yes and I was very excited to get involved with the kids for a little bit of time.  However, as soon as I sat down and started talking to the kids, I realized that I was in over my head. 

I started talking to the kids about sweet foods and asked them if they could name anything sweet.  One little boy just stared at me and kept scooting further and further away.  I tried to make him feel comfortable but he did not speak English so he couldn’t respond to me.  This also made it difficult for me to know if he understood English.  So I just tried to use simple words and smile a lot to try and make him feel more comfortable with me.  The other little boy was also and English language learner and no matter what question I asked he responded with, “si!” even if it was an open-ended question.  I was glad that he was engaged in what I had to say and wanted to participate, but I was kicking myself for not knowing more Spanish!  I kept thinking, “if only I had taken Spanish in high school, both of these boys would get a lot more out of this lesson…”  Working with these two boys made me lose confidence in myself because I was at a loss with what to do or say.  I could make the questions simpler, but that didn’t mean that they understood.

Although I do not feel that I was successful in working towards my goals this week, I know that there are things that I can plan for my future classroom that will make it easier for me and help me work toward them in the future.  Working with ELL students requires a lot of labeling of items in both English and Spanish, or any language that’s present in your classroom.  This will help the students understand and it will give me a reference for the Spanish words when I need them.  A lot of visuals are also necessary when working with ELL students.  Pairing words with visuals helps the student gain a better understanding and internalize the information that you are presenting to them.  I hope to implement ideas like this in my future classroom.

Here is a link to a Pinterest board that is full of wonderful ideas to incorporate into a preschool ESL classroom!  A lot of the material from this board would be very helpful in building my confidence when working with ELL students.  http://www.pinterest.com/ei98srl/esl-preschool-teachers/

Exceeds:  Included link to Pinterest board with useful ideas to use with ELL preschool students.

Science: Brigham Teaching Reflection

Becca Loete and I planned a lesson using the 5E lesson-planning template to teach to a group of preschool students at Brigham Elementary School.  The week prior to us teaching, a group of ISU students did an overview lesson about the five senses.  When we taught, we narrowed it down and specifically focused on the sense of touch.  The four groups after us will be focusing on the remaining four senses; scent, taste, hear, and sight. 

There were several aspects that I thought went well throughout this lesson as well as some areas that did not and that I would change if I were to teach it again in the future.  One of the strengths of this lesson is that it was so well thought out.  We had every aspect planned out over two weeks prior to implementing it, which gave us a large amount of time to receive feedback from our instruction, reflect over potential problem areas that we could see, and memorize the different activities and information that we wanted our students to learn about.  I also thought that one of our lessons strengths was that we had the students doing a wide variety of engaging and interesting activities.  So often today, students learn either by being read to or doing worksheets.  While neither is a terrible teaching strategy when used in moderation, they are often two of the sole strategies that teachers use to teach new information.  We used a big book in our lesson and had our students interact multiple times throughout, we had them do an experiment in small groups, we led a discussion in which the students brainstormed items with different textures, they got to play a texture matching game, and they participated in a SMART board sorting activity.  We made sure to have an example of each item from the SMART board activity so that they had a hands-on opportunity to feel the textures we were asking them to know.

After teaching our lesson, I know that these were areas of strength based on a few pieces of evidence.  I know that our advanced planning benefitted us because I was not as nervous going in to teaching this lesson as I normally am when teaching at my clinical site.  This is because I had so much time to tweak the lesson plan, collect the materials, and memorize what I wanted to say.  I know that fitting in a wide variety of activities was a strength because of how engaged the students were throughout our entire lesson.  I could tell that the students were enjoying themselves because of how happy they all seemed.  I saw a lot of smiles, heard a lot of laughing during the experiment, and they students were constantly raising their hands or calling out answers.  I was glad to see how much our hard work in planning paid off.

Although I was mostly pleased with how our lesson went, I still think there were a couple areas that we can improve if we were to teach it again.  One of those is double-checking to make sure we had all of the materials.  We divided up the materials list between the two of us and there were a couple things that we thought we had but forgot to bring.  Even though this happened, it did not impact our lesson implementation.  Next time, Becca and I, or whoever I am teaching with, should make a more meaningful effort to locate our materials sooner and go shopping or change the plan if we do not have all we need.  Another item that I wish had been done differently was that we didn’t know the students prior to teaching them.  The first time we ever met the preschoolers was the day we taught them.  We could have catered more to their needs and interests if we had known them in advance.  Next time, I would hope that we could observe or help lead a lesson with the students before teaching our lesson so that we know their ability levels and could tailor more to their needs as learners. 

Like previously described, I certainly think that the students were highly interested throughout our lesson.  They seemed to really enjoy our hands on activities and constantly wanted to share ideas with us.  I think that because we incorporated some Spanish words into our lesson, it was more motivated to the native Spanish speakers in the classroom.

Because this is such a basic and general topic, I felt as though my knowledge of the content was sufficient when planning and implementing our lesson.  Becca and I made sure to explore the idea that people can use any part of their body to use the sense of touch but the most effective body part is our hands.  We explained that our hands make it easier to feel shapes and textures unlike our leg or our arm.  We also brainstormed a wide range of textures to use for this activity but narrowed it down to four that we really wanted the students to retain.  This topic might seem so simple to adults or older children, but young children need to be explicitly taught this information in order to successfully use and process information from the world around them through their sense of touch.

Throughout our lesson, it was clear which students truly understood the topic we were presenting because they were continuously giving us the correct answers to the questions we were asking.  However, it was difficult at first to know whether some of the quiet students were retaining the information.  After a while, I discovered that by posing questions to the whole group, the same two or three students will answer every time because they are not afraid of speaking in front of others.  However, when I got down on their level and asked questions to the quiet students specifically, more often then not they knew the correct answer.  Understanding the students that you are teaching and adapting your teaching to meet their needs is a very important skill to have as a teacher.

Finally, I want to address how I think I met my goals through the planning and implementation of this lesson.  My first goal was to learn at least five words in Spanish, which I definitely succeeded in doing.  I learned the phrase “Come siente?,” and the words frio, pegajoso, lleno de bultos, afilado, and suave.  It was really beneficial for me to learn these words because when I used them in the lesson, I saw certain students perk up and their eyes went back to where I was directing them.  I definitely think it benefitted some students in the classroom.  My second goal was to work on gaining confidence when working with students who speak English as a second language.  Although I do think having those Spanish words in my repertoire helped me work towards this, I definitely do not think that I have reached this goal yet.  I hope to continue working toward this goal throughout this semester and in my future teaching career. 

CHILDRENS BOOKS ABOUT TOUCH

The Sense of Touch by Elaine Landau

Sense of Touch by Mindy Matincic

Feeling Your Way: Discover Your Sense of Touch by Vicki Cobb

Hands Are For Holding by Katherine Hengel
I Touch by Helen Oxenbury

EXCEEDS: Planning: Printed out a copy of our lesson plan and gave it to the Brigham preschool teacher so she could use any of our ideas in the future if she wishes.  Reflection: Listed several children’s books that apply to our topic.