Reflection of Classmates’ Lessons

Michael & Michael had overheads with pictures that aided visual learners while we played bingo with pinto beans (or jelly beans for those “allergic”). It was a fun activity and got to learn interesting facts about the Civil War. The seating arrangement in a circle was successful for class management since they took turns with teaching the concepts and walking around the class; a very successful lesson. Robert Frost's Home Burial is a great poem and the youtube video made by LeighAnn was just fantastic. The lesson was impressive and it really showed they were motivated. Nifah continued to write up the names on the board for detentions as an attempt to manage the class that became extremely chaotic. Stephanie’s comment "We have 3 eyes on you" and then she pushed Matt was definitely hilarious. Definitely agree that it became a mess by the end, but you all managed the best you could; marvelous lesson! Dean wrote the word “Jungle” on the board in BIG artistic bubble letters as his anticipatory set which were definitely an attention grabber. Dean’s and Diana’s lesson was well planned. He carried himself out with confidence and was able to manage the class well. I enjoyed the jokes made on the reading because those made everyone participate. It was a pleasant lesson. Aimen and Iria used a great innovative anticipatory set by using colorful shape costumes that made for a fun lesson that was paired with an effective podcast. They used powerpoint for the lesson by introducing concept of angle and length size through a short review and then going over it by asking questions after every concept; they also used SmartBoard in their lesson to answer questions with us. I liked the youtube video from the kids that performed the shape song. They used index cards at the end of the lesson as feedback for questions from students about what was not clear; it was a wonderful lesson! Andrew, Luiz, & Matt used a quick write in a KWL-chart as their anticipatory set which worked well in engaging the students discussions of what each knew. I thought this group was well prepared; due to some technical problems they did not use the podcast during the lesson, but I listened to the podcast and thought it was the best of all in voice clarity and volume as well as length. Using pictures of maps and cartoons to aid comprehension allowed even more people to get involved in the discussion: Terrific lesson! Marisa, Sandra, & Meredith had the great advantage of going last and preparing to deal with areas that other lessons did not cover. They were the only ones to implement rules which they printed out through the resourceful idea cell phone box is a that I will borrow when teaching. The whole gothic scene with music and light to enhance the mood was very ideal for gothic literature lesson. The youtube video was too long but it was effective that you stopped and asked what was going on as a motivator for students to pay attention to know what’s going on. The game activity at the end of the lesson was fun. Great lesson! My deepest apologies to Chris, Tariq, Brandon, and Anthony whose lessons I was unable to attend. I heard good things about the lessons, but cannot reflect on the methods that were used. Finally, behavior management is an issue that we all need to develop a strategy for and this experiences not only in teaching but learning from others in their ways of dealing with it was extremely valuable. I enjoyed every lesson and the methods that I was able to see implemented in the lessons. The majority used the effective question/answer strategy amongst the many others. Overall, everyone did a great job in preparing for the lesson and dealt to the best of their abilities with the disruptions. GREAT JOB!

Reflection of the Podcast

My partner and I decided to use the podcast we prepared of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of Red Death” as the anticipatory set to our lesson. When we did the podcast of the full reading, it took about 16 minutes. Dr. Luongo suggested that we summarize the reading and incorporate an important quote from the poem. We had already decided to use the podcast in our lesson, so we tried hard and with a summary brought it down to 4 minutes and 36 seconds. This seemed perfect for the lesson so we were confident that the clarity of the podcast and an appropriate graphic representation of the poem would be effective. However, during the lesson, once the first minute passed, I realized that it was still too long. It only seemed shorter probably due to the fact that I kept hearing it over and over again. The students started to look bored after a while. That was not good! I thought about turning it off early, but I let it play since a very important quote was amongst the last lines. I think that it would have been better to summarize the summary and make it to 2 minutes maximum to execute the lesson more effectively. The idea of using podcast was unbeknownst to me, but I realize now that it is very productive. Through its use, one can both emphasize the reading instruction and at the same time be able to watch the students' reactions to the podcast. This helps a lot with class management since reading during the lesson limits student observation time. To improve future lessons when using a podcast it would be essential that the time be shortened to about 2 minutes. This would improve the use of podcast and allow students to maintain focus throughout the podcast and be more productive during the lesson. I really enjoyed using podomatic for my podcast and will continue to use it once I start teaching. CAN'T WAIT!!!

Reflection of the Lesson

On April 9th, Michael and I had an amazing experience. For the first time, I was able to be in front of the class and practice teaching. The lesson that we prepared was extremely helpful in allowing us to follow a procedure and know well what we were going to teach. Off course, life is full of surprises and the classmates who were given cards with disruptive behaviors were somewhat hard to manage. As I said in class, there were 19 students in the class and inadvertently Michael and I split the class management between the two of us. As I was teaching, thoughts came to my mind of whether I would be able to deal with many disruptions throughout the period. This concern was alleviated when Dr. Luongo said “good job” and reassured me that I will be able to handle it just fine. This gave me comfort and helped me to realize that my way of teaching needs to be more assertive, but that it is effective.
The websites enchantedlearning.com and readwritethink.org contain a lot of activity graphic features for lessons in a wide variety of subjects. I know that I will be using these websites once I start teaching. Plot chart and T-chart were used to improve reading comprehension and I was glad to find that it was effective. To prepare the lesson plan, I recalled the discussion Dr. Luongo had about making a lesson that anyone would be able to follow; procedures for science lab protocols are the same; thus, the lesson was done with this in mind. The objectives had to be clear and the lesson had to flow by effectively incorporating them in such a way that should a substitute be present the lesson objectives for the day would still be met.
The lesson objective was to effectively use graphic features as a way to evaluate literary works which was assessed by a short quiz. The purpose of the assessment was to measure comprehension through application of the graphic features as a tool. The lesson plan parts were executed as planned: the story, the plot chart, T-chart, and the quiz. However, the quiz was meant to be done applying the think-pair-share method which was not done because Michael improvised and decided to do the quiz together. I realized that no matter how carefully a lesson plan is made there is need for improvisation to maintain focus of the students. The most important thing I attempted to teach for this lesson is organizing the parts of the story into charts that help to condense the material as a tool to better comprehension and analysis of the story. I was pleased with the feedback after the lesson was done. I heard from someone that said, “Wow, I really did learn something today” which surprised me and motivated me at the same time. Most likely, the lessons won’t all be appraised, but it is very rewarding to hear this. I realized that I really like teaching.
I am very grateful with everyone who participated, especially those with the disruptive behaviors because being exposed to these different scenarios helped me to think what needs to be done in each particular case. I realized the importance of this exercise and feel that it is the most important lesson I learned. The only thing that I would change in the lesson is to apply the think-pair-share method form the beginning of the lesson by asking them to pair up with someone not sitting around them. This would help them keep more focus throughout the lesson to make it even more effective. I would also be a little more prepared to handle the misbehaviors: if anyone walks out always call the office, if I need a volunteer tell them instead of asking, etc. I need to improve being more assertive in teaching so that I could properly guide students and not allow them to overpower me. This will also help to improve the efficacy of the lesson, so that they come ready to be taught.

Blog evaluation

Definitely did not work well, I kept messing up even more than the first time and I was not able to do the podcast. I tried five times and now decided to use Mike's recording for the lesson. I will ask if I could come back and try this again because it is frustrating that it didn't work out. I just want to do it even if we don't use it because that way I will feel better. I really like using computer in this class and know that it will be as fun for the students when I incorporate it into lessons. I am not good with a lot of software and feel that now I can at least give it a try and continue using this blog to learn more. My partner, Mike, and I have decided to break up the lesson plan; I will be doing the first part!!!!!

Blog evaluation for today

I have a lot of work to be done. There are a lot of things that I want to accomplish today. I have to do the reading and hope it comes out right this time. I want to add a picture to the podcast so hopefully I will be able to do that. It is very exciting to be finishing up with the reading and looking forward to hearing all the lesson plans. I don't know if I will be done with it all today, but I will try to work quickly today. With all the snow days, as fun as they are, I get a little out of it when I come back so I feel as though this was my first day here in the lab all over. I also realized that I don't have the podcast link on this blog. Something went wrong and it didn't load so I have to do it again.

Snow Day

Today I was researching how I can improve my blog. The podcasting in plain English video was interesting. I came up with more ideas for my next lesson plan. I don't know exactly what I am going to do. It is very exciting with all the possibilities. It is snowing a lot and I plan to go out later to play with my 6 year old sister in the snow. She loves going out to play in the snow and since the snow is so abundant today. Why not? Well, hope everyone enjoys today!

today's reflections

I realized today that my reading is long and takes 16 minutes. I will have to come earlier on Friday to record me reading it so that it can have a better flow. Also, I plan to print the poem so that I don't loose my place while reading. I kind of know which pictures I want to put up for the recording; so once I get the recording right, I will be putting the picture to go with it. There is a lot that I have to learn with using the podcast, but the software is so simple to use that I feel I could do it with ease. My questions were also posted before this so I feel that it is going well.