WEEK 7
Today was the first official day that groups started teaching in 4th grade at Bishop Dunn Memorial School. Groups 1 & 2 presented their direct instruction lessons. The topic for Group 1 was "Colonial New York". The topic for Group 2 was "The American Revolution".
Group 1: James, Madison, Erika, Alex, and Lindsay were in this group. They first started off their lesson by pre assessing the students. The group presented vocabulary words based on their topic. The technology that the group used was the SMARTBoard and used the software, Prezi, to present their content. The lesson included how people migrated to NY, the difference between indent servant and slave. James asked the students if they knew what kind of government we have. The answer was a democracy, but back in this time they called government an "assembly". The group also talked about the schooling back in this time and how it is different from schools today. The students were asked if they would prefer going to school at that time or now. The teachers also let students watch a video based on the clothing that was worn during this time. They asked the students to compare and contrast the clothing differences from then and now. The group used an activity with the vocabulary words. The students had to correctly match the word to the proper definition by dragging it in the SMARTBoard. For independent practice, the group gave a worksheet to the students to complete for homework.
Evaluation: I thought group 1 had a very organized and straightforward lesson. The students enjoyed comparing and contrasting how life was back then for students than it is now. I liked how Erika got the students' attention by telling them to put their hands on their heads when they would transition to the next slide. She also gave students certain thumb signals to tell her if they understand or if they did not understand. For the other members of the group, my suggestion was to speak more loudly and clearer. The beginning of the lesson could have been more structured and organized. However, this was due to technical issues. The direct lesson in general went well. I think the teachers had the students engaged throughout the lesson. The closure could have went differently. Due to time constraints, the closure was not as clear. A suggestion that this group can do differently is not call on students names who can not be video taped. Otherwise, the group did well for their first time teaching for a direct lesson.
Group 2: The teachers in this group were: Courtney, Christina, Brittni, Liz, and Kristen. They started their lesson on the American Revolution by showing a video from School House Rock. They then asked students to listen or look for things in the video they might know of. The teachers showed pictures and asked the students of what they think these pictures might be. The pictures showed war during the American Revolution. After each slide, the group had check for understanding questions. The teachers asked the students: who were colonists? What were things that were getting taxed at this time? During the lesson, the teachers gave students a formative assessment. Students has to fill out a worksheet based on the content that was being presented during the lesson. The teachers then talked about the Boston Tea Party. They then talked about the revolution. Liz described what happened during the battle at Lexington and Concord. Liz had everyone respond as a class when she asked a question. The teachers used a SMARTBoard activity. In this activity, the students had to correctly identify content that pertained to loyalist and that contained to the patriots. The teachers provided a flag to each student. On one side, the loyalists flag was shown, and on the other side, the patriot's flag was shown. When the students would answer the question, they would hold up the side of the flag of what they thought the answer was. For independent practice, students had to complete a mini quiz for homework.
Evaluation: I liked how creative group 2 was. I could see they took a lot of time and effort into making the flags for the students. There was also a lot of effort put in the PowerPoint I think Christina did a great job managing the technology and keeping the students in track. Liz and Courtney had a very clear and loud voice when they were presenting. I liked how Kristen addressed the questions to the students. The questions were clear and understandable. The beginning of the lesson was well structured with the video that was presented. It grabbed the students' attention. The direct instruction was well organized because of the review questions. The students were forced to pay attention because they had to fill out the worksheet that was given to them. For this group, I could not identify what the closure was. So my suggestion is to give more of a closure to the lesson.
Class: 10/9/13
Today in class was more of a review day. Dr.Smirnova gave groups 1 & 2 feedback and advice for their next lesson. We watched the recording of group 2 and provided feedback on what went well and what did not go well. As for our group, we got the opportunity to work on our direct lesson plan.
Class: 10/11/13
We were back at Bishop Dunn for fieldwork. Today, groups 1 & 2 presented their inquiry lesson plans.
Group 1: Group 1 was continuing their topic on Colonial New York. They started off by asking students if they remember what strategy they used last time to show if they understood something. The students responded with: "thumbs up and thumbs down". The teachers pre-assessed students by asking them if they remembered what they learned last class. They also asked students if they knew what an artifact is. The students responded, and the teachers gave them a general definition of an artifact. Their inquiry lesson was doing artifact bags. They gave each group a bag filled with various objects pertaining to the lesson. The teachers also demonstrated on how to do the lesson. They also provided the students with worksheets with questions to answer as they were making their discoveries. Each teacher went around and guided the groups. They asked them questions such as: "what artifacts did you find?" and "Where do you think these artifacts came from?". For closure, the teachers asked the students to say out loud some things they found out during their discovery. For independent practice, the teachers gave students a worksheet to complete for homework.
Evaluation: I think group 1 did a good job organizing the artifact bag activity. I liked how they demonstrated how the students should be doing the activity. I think the teachers did a good job splitting up and using guided practice by going to each group. This gave students a chance to interact and socialize with the teachers. I could see the students really enjoyed this activity. The activity was organized and fun. The beginning was great, the teachers pre-assessed the students' knowledge and refreshed their memories. The inquiry part was very organized. The teachers did a good job preparing the materials for the students in order to save time. The students were engaged throughout the whole inquiry process. The students were interested in finding the clues to help them solve the mystery of their artifacts. The closure was great as well. The teachers came back and were able to grab all the students' attention by asking students what they found in their artifact bags. Something that could be done differently is that some teachers should have more of a voice in the group. Erika leads the lesson majority of the time, which is good, but I think the other teachers should have more say in the lesson.
Group 2: Group 2 started off their inquiry lesson by asking students: "what is a historian?". Students gave the teachers various answers on what a historian is. The teachers followed up to their answers by saying that historians solve problems. The teachers presented to the students on their powerpoint presentation steps to solving a problem. The teachers also used the software, voki. They made a George Washington Voki. The voki gave the students directions to their treasure hunt activity. The teachers handed out students a sheet to fill out during their treasure hunt. The students were using iPads, and the app, QR Reader. The scanner would scan and give the students clues. The students had to find the answer to these clues by researching on the computer. The teachers used guided practice and helped each group try to solve their mysteries The students were looking up people who were involved in the American Revolution. After time was up, each group presented their research and findings. The teachers asked students if they knew what a hypothesis was. They asked students if the hypothesis they made in the beginning of their lesson was right or wrong by the end when they completed their research. The teachers closed their lesson by asking students if they enjoyed the activity and learned about a new person.
Evaluation:I think group 2 did a great job with their introduction and pre assessment piece. They reviewed what the students learned last time and bridged it to what they were going to teach in their new lesson. I liked that they used a "voki" because this grabbed the kids attention. In the development part, I thought it was good how Liz explained to the students that the iPads needed to be handled with care. The suggestion I would give if the teachers had more time was to explain how to use the iPad and explain why they are using this app. I saw that the teachers were the ones who were scanning the folders. This is okay because of time restraints, but the students should get a chance to use the technology hands on. Students were having fun, but I could tell they were getting frustrated at some points. It was good that the teachers were each with group because it helped the students stay on track. The students were rushing, trying to find information as if they were competing for something. I think the teachers could have explained to the students that they did not have to rush because it was not a competition. I think the teachers did a good job with the closure. I like how the groups came up and presented the information they found on a special person. The teachers were able to wrap up the lesson by saying how the students were historians during the lesson.My suggestion for this group is that each teacher should have equal time in the lesson to talk. What could have been done better-explaining to the students why they are using the technology, what its purpose is, and how it will help them find clues. Over all, I thought this was a well constructed activity. I wish there could have been more time so it didnt have to be rushed for the students or the teachers!
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