I had a chance to use an online blog in a recent course at Kansas State University. It was in my Block A Science Methods class. We paired up with a class in Africa and shared answers to several prompts provided by our instructors. It was really neat to get to see how they felt about certain aspects of teaching and how they would incorporate and use certain methods in their classrooms. It was beneficial to see what they had to say about our strategies and perspectives and allowed me to reflect on my view points.
I think that a similar online activity like this would be successful in my future classroom. I plan to implement an educational blogging experience with my future students, in which they will communicate with other students from around the country. I think students would enjoy responding to comprehension and discussion questions with other students rather than just simply turning in responses to the teacher. This would give students a chance to see others perspectives while learning to communicate with others that come from different backgrounds or cultures. Concerning cultures in particular, it would be interesting for students to ponder questions put forth by those from other parts of the country and get to hear about things that other experience.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Learning Journal
Teaching requires constant reflection in order to grow as an educator. Here is one of my reflections from a lesson I taught throughout my time in Block B...
Name: Nicole Maupin School: Frank Bergman Elementary
Grade Level/Subject: 1st Grade/Reading Date of lesson: April 7th, 2009
(The following form is adapted from Danielson, 1996)
************************************************************************************************
1. a. What did you do to actively engage students in the learning process?
To actively engage the students in the learning process I referred back to spelling words that they were already familiar with. I would say the word, and then get them involved by having them say it back to me. Once their spelling words were reviewed, I then lead the students in a building words activity in which they have to replace or add letter cards in the pocket chart to make new words. I engaged the students during this activity by calling a variety of students. I paid close attention to who was paying attention and who was off task, and called on students who off task in order to bring their attention back towards the pocket chart activity. Our final activity was a page out of the students practice workbooks. To actively engage the students during this portion of the lesson I reviewed the word bank at the top of the page so that all students could join in on filling in the blank for each sentence. I read the sentence for the students and then called on a student who was politely raising their hand to answer. Each students was accountable for filling in their own workbook page.
b. Did your activities effectively engage the students? How do you know the students were or were not engaged?
It was evident that the students were engaged during the review of the spelling words because they were all active in repeating the spelling word list back to me. The students’ participation was evident during the pocket chart activity because they were all eager to come up with the correct letter to add or change to the starting word in order to make a new one. Students had their hands raised before I could even ask them what letter we needed to add or change. During the workbook page portion, it was evident that the students were engaged because they were all exerting effort to fill in their individual workbook pages. They were following along and filling in their blanks as we did the worksheet together as a class. Their engagement was also evident because I had them show me their pointer fingers and then use that finger to follow along as we reviewed the words in the word bank.
2. a. What did you want students to learn or know how to do?
During this lesson I wanted students be able to blend sounds into words and use common letter patterns to build and read words. I also wanted them to recognize words in print to help them fill in sentences.
b. Did you meet your goals? If so, how do you know the students did or did not meet your learning goals?
My goal was for students to participate in the pocket chart activity by responding to which letters needed to be changed or added to make new words. This goal was met because almost every student was able to give a suggestion for what letter should be change or added. Most of the time the students were focused and engaged. There were only a few times that I had to redirect students attention to the activity. The other goal I had for this lesson was for students to correctly recognize and fill in the five sentence blanks on their practice workbook page. This goal was met and evident by the student’s responses on their individual workbook pages. All of the students received a five out of five on the practice workbook page.
c. What evidence of critical thinking did you observe during the lesson?
Evidence of critical thinking can be seen in the pocket chart activity portion of this lesson. Here, students are analyzing the starting word in order to determine what letter or letters need to be changed and/or added the starting word in order to form the new word instructed by the teacher. Students have to recall their phonemic awareness skills in order to determine what letters need to be changed/added. For example, if the starting word were ice, and the students were asked to form the word nice, they would need to be able to hear and then distinguish that the /n/ sound is what changes the word ice to nice.
3. Did you find it necessary to alter the teaching strategies, activities, student groupings, or assessment as the lesson was taught? If so, what changes did you make made and why was it necessary to change?
The only part of the lesson that I felt necessary to adjust minimally was during the review of the spelling words. I first began by saying the word and then saying it again with the students. This made it difficult to hear that all students were participating in the repeating of the word. Instead I decided to say the word once and then point towards the students and have them repeat it back to me.
4. a. Which teaching strategies, materials, and activities did you find most effective?
I found the pocket chart to be very effective for the students. I pulled out enough letter cards to leave the starting word up after the students had added or changed the letters to make a new word. This allowed the students to see exactly how the adding or changing of letter effected the spelling each time. For instance, the starting word was ice, the students added an /n/ to make the word nice, so the word nice was constructed underneath the word ice in order for the students to see what each word looked like when constructed.
I also found it very effective to review the words in the word bank on the practice page before getting started on filling in the sentences. Students were confused and unfamiliar with several of the words, so before being asked to use them in a sentence I made sure that each word was defined for the students sake.
b. What is your evidence that this was effective?
The evidence that both of these were effective was seen in their ability to actively participate in the pocket chart activity and correctly fill in the blanks of the sentences on their practice pages. Although the worksheet was gone over as a class, the students were asked to use their knowledge of the words in order to put them into the context of a sentence. All of the students were successful at filling in the sentences accurately.
5. a. How did the classroom environment contribute to a positive, respectful culture for learning? If possible, address the following: student behavior, routines and procedures, student grouping, transitions, and physical arrangement of the classroom for this lesson.
My classroom teacher has created an incomparable learning environment in which all students are held to high standards and expected to be respectful during times of instruction. This prior behavioral set-up made it very easy for me to maintain student’s interest and attention. Students are expected to raise their hands if they have an answer or suggestion to provide and usually remain very respectful when their classmate or a teacher is talking. Having a large space of the front of the classroom designates a perfect spot for whole group or small group instruction. Having this space made it easy for all of the students to gather around the pocket chart and partake in the building words activity. To transition between activities, students are called up in small groups by a variety of ways. I chose to use the procedure of calling students up by colors they were wearing on their clothing. This made it a lot less chaotic then having all of the students come up to the front of the room or return to their desk at the same time.
6. a. What assessment did you use to measure your goals?
The assessment used to measure my goals was an observation checklist of student participation, as well as, a correct/incorrect scoring procedure on the practice workbook page.
b. Provide evidence of the effectiveness of this lesson based on student work, and/or evidence of student misunderstanding.
One hundred percent of the students met my goal of achieving a five out of five score on their practice workbook page. Every one of the students correctly filled in the blanks of the sentences. The work page was reviewed as a class, so students had a chance to correct any of their answers that they had misunderstood or filled in incorrectly.
c. Based on your assessment of the student work, what needs to be done next?
My assessment determined that the students are capable of filling in their practice book pages as a class, so in the future I think it would be beneficial to give students instruction on the worksheet, review the words, and then have them fill them out independently to see if they can apply the word recognition knowledge on their own.
7. Describe an instance in which your specific feedback positively affected a student’s learning.
Positive feedback affected one of my student’s learning during the practice workbook page. While we were filling in the sentences, I walked around the classroom to make sure that all of the students were following along and filling in the appropriate words in the blanks. If I saw that students were writing nicely I would say for the whole class to hear something like, “I like your nice and neat handwriting.” This would capture other students’ attention and make them want to write neatly as well.
8. If there was an opportunity to teach this lesson again, what should be done differently? Why?
If I were to teach this lesson again I would engaged the students further during the pocket chart activity by having the students come up and physically add or change the letter cards themselves, rather than them telling me and doing it for them. This would ensure that they were participating and would also involve the kinesthetic learners.
Block B
Reflections on a Single Lesson
Reflections on a Single Lesson
Name: Nicole Maupin School: Frank Bergman Elementary
Grade Level/Subject: 1st Grade/Reading Date of lesson: April 7th, 2009
(The following form is adapted from Danielson, 1996)
************************************************************************************************
1. a. What did you do to actively engage students in the learning process?
To actively engage the students in the learning process I referred back to spelling words that they were already familiar with. I would say the word, and then get them involved by having them say it back to me. Once their spelling words were reviewed, I then lead the students in a building words activity in which they have to replace or add letter cards in the pocket chart to make new words. I engaged the students during this activity by calling a variety of students. I paid close attention to who was paying attention and who was off task, and called on students who off task in order to bring their attention back towards the pocket chart activity. Our final activity was a page out of the students practice workbooks. To actively engage the students during this portion of the lesson I reviewed the word bank at the top of the page so that all students could join in on filling in the blank for each sentence. I read the sentence for the students and then called on a student who was politely raising their hand to answer. Each students was accountable for filling in their own workbook page.
b. Did your activities effectively engage the students? How do you know the students were or were not engaged?
It was evident that the students were engaged during the review of the spelling words because they were all active in repeating the spelling word list back to me. The students’ participation was evident during the pocket chart activity because they were all eager to come up with the correct letter to add or change to the starting word in order to make a new one. Students had their hands raised before I could even ask them what letter we needed to add or change. During the workbook page portion, it was evident that the students were engaged because they were all exerting effort to fill in their individual workbook pages. They were following along and filling in their blanks as we did the worksheet together as a class. Their engagement was also evident because I had them show me their pointer fingers and then use that finger to follow along as we reviewed the words in the word bank.
2. a. What did you want students to learn or know how to do?
During this lesson I wanted students be able to blend sounds into words and use common letter patterns to build and read words. I also wanted them to recognize words in print to help them fill in sentences.
b. Did you meet your goals? If so, how do you know the students did or did not meet your learning goals?
My goal was for students to participate in the pocket chart activity by responding to which letters needed to be changed or added to make new words. This goal was met because almost every student was able to give a suggestion for what letter should be change or added. Most of the time the students were focused and engaged. There were only a few times that I had to redirect students attention to the activity. The other goal I had for this lesson was for students to correctly recognize and fill in the five sentence blanks on their practice workbook page. This goal was met and evident by the student’s responses on their individual workbook pages. All of the students received a five out of five on the practice workbook page.
c. What evidence of critical thinking did you observe during the lesson?
Evidence of critical thinking can be seen in the pocket chart activity portion of this lesson. Here, students are analyzing the starting word in order to determine what letter or letters need to be changed and/or added the starting word in order to form the new word instructed by the teacher. Students have to recall their phonemic awareness skills in order to determine what letters need to be changed/added. For example, if the starting word were ice, and the students were asked to form the word nice, they would need to be able to hear and then distinguish that the /n/ sound is what changes the word ice to nice.
3. Did you find it necessary to alter the teaching strategies, activities, student groupings, or assessment as the lesson was taught? If so, what changes did you make made and why was it necessary to change?
The only part of the lesson that I felt necessary to adjust minimally was during the review of the spelling words. I first began by saying the word and then saying it again with the students. This made it difficult to hear that all students were participating in the repeating of the word. Instead I decided to say the word once and then point towards the students and have them repeat it back to me.
4. a. Which teaching strategies, materials, and activities did you find most effective?
I found the pocket chart to be very effective for the students. I pulled out enough letter cards to leave the starting word up after the students had added or changed the letters to make a new word. This allowed the students to see exactly how the adding or changing of letter effected the spelling each time. For instance, the starting word was ice, the students added an /n/ to make the word nice, so the word nice was constructed underneath the word ice in order for the students to see what each word looked like when constructed.
I also found it very effective to review the words in the word bank on the practice page before getting started on filling in the sentences. Students were confused and unfamiliar with several of the words, so before being asked to use them in a sentence I made sure that each word was defined for the students sake.
b. What is your evidence that this was effective?
The evidence that both of these were effective was seen in their ability to actively participate in the pocket chart activity and correctly fill in the blanks of the sentences on their practice pages. Although the worksheet was gone over as a class, the students were asked to use their knowledge of the words in order to put them into the context of a sentence. All of the students were successful at filling in the sentences accurately.
5. a. How did the classroom environment contribute to a positive, respectful culture for learning? If possible, address the following: student behavior, routines and procedures, student grouping, transitions, and physical arrangement of the classroom for this lesson.
My classroom teacher has created an incomparable learning environment in which all students are held to high standards and expected to be respectful during times of instruction. This prior behavioral set-up made it very easy for me to maintain student’s interest and attention. Students are expected to raise their hands if they have an answer or suggestion to provide and usually remain very respectful when their classmate or a teacher is talking. Having a large space of the front of the classroom designates a perfect spot for whole group or small group instruction. Having this space made it easy for all of the students to gather around the pocket chart and partake in the building words activity. To transition between activities, students are called up in small groups by a variety of ways. I chose to use the procedure of calling students up by colors they were wearing on their clothing. This made it a lot less chaotic then having all of the students come up to the front of the room or return to their desk at the same time.
6. a. What assessment did you use to measure your goals?
The assessment used to measure my goals was an observation checklist of student participation, as well as, a correct/incorrect scoring procedure on the practice workbook page.
b. Provide evidence of the effectiveness of this lesson based on student work, and/or evidence of student misunderstanding.
One hundred percent of the students met my goal of achieving a five out of five score on their practice workbook page. Every one of the students correctly filled in the blanks of the sentences. The work page was reviewed as a class, so students had a chance to correct any of their answers that they had misunderstood or filled in incorrectly.
c. Based on your assessment of the student work, what needs to be done next?
My assessment determined that the students are capable of filling in their practice book pages as a class, so in the future I think it would be beneficial to give students instruction on the worksheet, review the words, and then have them fill them out independently to see if they can apply the word recognition knowledge on their own.
7. Describe an instance in which your specific feedback positively affected a student’s learning.
Positive feedback affected one of my student’s learning during the practice workbook page. While we were filling in the sentences, I walked around the classroom to make sure that all of the students were following along and filling in the appropriate words in the blanks. If I saw that students were writing nicely I would say for the whole class to hear something like, “I like your nice and neat handwriting.” This would capture other students’ attention and make them want to write neatly as well.
8. If there was an opportunity to teach this lesson again, what should be done differently? Why?
If I were to teach this lesson again I would engaged the students further during the pocket chart activity by having the students come up and physically add or change the letter cards themselves, rather than them telling me and doing it for them. This would ensure that they were participating and would also involve the kinesthetic learners.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Personal Thoughts
I recently finished my last week in the first grade classroom for Block B. It has proved to be one of the more enlightening events of my educational career. I was placed in a classroom with a teacher who has taught first grade for almost 30 years. She has so much experience with this particular age range and she was able to teach both my partner and I so much in the 5 short weeks we were there. She also had a student teacher in the classroom which proved to be very helpful as well. The student teacher was in our very same shoes just last semester, so she was able to help us with anything and everything we needed. It was very helpful to have the support of both the cooperating teacher and the student teacher. I really enjoyed visiting and teaching the first grade classroom each day and am really going to miss being involved in the classroom atmosphere. I am excited to get my student teaching placement and can't wait to start with that adventure in the fall!
Links To My Life
Visit these interesting sites to learn more about what I have been involved in this past semester!
http://www.k-state.edu/- University Website
Frank V. Bergman Elementary School- Block B school
Wamego West Elementary- ESD instructor (place of employment)
http://www.k-state.edu/- University Website
Frank V. Bergman Elementary School- Block B school
Wamego West Elementary- ESD instructor (place of employment)
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