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.