![](http://www.weebly.com/weebly/images/file_icons/rtf.png)
dumas_lesson_plan_11-18.docx |
This lesson was all about heat energy and how it is transferred. The first video I showed was he song I mentioned, which didn’t seem to be too exciting to them (it was a little bit juvenile) so I know to not use another song like that again. They did not do the best job with following instructions with the graphic organizer (though this is something my CT and I have discussed and our class seems to have a hard time with this regardless of content or learning mode. They took notes in their science journals on a video about heat, which didn’t quite go according to plan as they took much longer to write than I anticipated, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that my focus group all stayed on-task for this even though it was lengthy. Next they performed an experiment, which turned out to be great for them. This was just the kind of activity needed to aid in my inquiry. Again, I was pleased to see that my focus group all loved he activity, had fun, and answered the questions on the activity sheet. I used that sheet to gauge understanding and plan lesson two accordingly. The next slides display my focus group’s activity sheets. ![]()
0 Comments
Pre-Assessment for Lesson One
Student Notes J Remembered the house picture from my CT’s lesson that they had to color for electrical energy (see next slide). Remained pretty quiet. A Was the one to answer that when a hot drink is left out, it gets cold. Remained pretty quiet. H Said he has seen a solar-powered speedometer but wasn’t too sure what that meant. Answered the question I asked R about what a solar panel on a house does. Said that it makes electricity. Spoke up a lot but did not answer much correctly. R Said he has seen solar panels on a house but wasn’t sure what that meant. Spoke up a lot but did not answer much correctly. F Answered what energy is and said that it is something powered by the sun (misconception that this is the only type of energy). Said he has seen “big fans in the country”. I asked what they are for and he said that heat can power them, which is not quite correct. When a lesson is geared towards a student’s preferred learning method, the more engaged he/she will be.
By adding in music, videos, hands-on activities, interaction with the Promethean board, and writing into a lesson, I observed my students paying attention and staying engaged. I taught a science lesson that included a song, which appealed to my audio learners; multiple videos, which appealed to my visual learners; and an experiment, which appealed to my hands-on learners. Since some mentioned enjoying writing, there was a small writing component to go along with the experiment, which also helped gauge understanding. The more engaged a student is, the more often he/she will raise his/her hand to participate. It is not uncommon for my class to have the same five or so hands constantly up in the air, eager to answer a question or read aloud. The correlation between engagement and participation is not always linked, but there is most definitely a correlation. I have noticed that some of my students simply do not like speaking up, even though they are constantly paying attention. Other times, however, it is obvious that those who know they are not paying attention do not want to participate because they do not know the answer and they afraid to sound incompetent. Therefore, planning lesson to meet students’ needs increases engagement which raises participation. When students have a say in the way they get to learn, they are more likely to be engaged in the lesson. When surveying my students, I made sure to find out their preferred learning styles because I wanted them to understand that I care about their likes and needs and want to make learning fun for them. Throughout my science journey, it has been easy to see that the students have been the most engaged and excited during the STEM Fair because not only do they get to work in a small group with me, but they are performing fun, hands-on experiments. They get excited trying to figure out what might happen. I let them choose which group they wanted to be in so as to get the most engagement knowing that they had a say in which they got to perform. Just like the lesson I did where I incorporated their preferred learning styles and they got a chance to tell me what they wanted to do.
This article suggests having students fill out learning style inventories to discover preferences. While I only surveyed students by asking specifically, “In which way do you learn best?” I believe “quizzing” them with an inventory that will formulate their learning style would be an interesting way to have more accurate results. It would not surprise me that, in third grade, self-professing what type of learning is best for them may not be as accurate as one would hope, simply because they are too young to comprehend what is actually best for them.
This week has been the first chance I've gotten to really start planning for the STEM Fair, meaning I decided on the five topics, had the students rank their top three projects, then grouped them based on their choices and who would work well together.
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_p025.shtml http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/BioChem_p027.shtml http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/PlantBio_p015.shtml http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_p013.shtml http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/MicroBio_p018.shtml I spent a lot of this week just planning for this first observation, making sure my lesson plan looked good/ gathering materials, and making copies. My lesson plan can be seen below. ![]()
I feel like it went pretty well and the students got very excited when they had the chance to come up and color on the smart board. After speaking with my supervisor about this lesson, she really solidified my inquiry topic choice by telling me I should incorporate more engaging activities that appeal to the students.
Now that I have a pretty clear understanding of my students' learning styles, I have spoken to my supervisor and came up with an inquiry topic: "How can I use students' preferred learning styles to increase performance/achievement in science?" I chose science since I am already doing Social Studies with them and I wanted to practice additional subjects. My CT also asked if I would take on the science fair.
Based on the responses I had received from the survey, the results I analyzed from other assessments, and other notes taken about behavior, participation in class, and who works well together, I formed my focus group for inquiry. Below are notes about these students. I tried to focus this week mostly on taking observational notes on my students to better understand them as people and learners. Below is the list I have ended up with at this point of my thoughts and wonderings. I also decided that, since I have started thinking about inquiry, I should survey my students so they can tell me their learning styles/preferences rather than do all the speculation based solely on observation. Here is what the survey looked like and a breakdown of my results. One of the things I really like that my CT does is have the students check their own homework. She puts up the answer key and tells them that they have to use a marker to mark their answers right or wrong. Then, they bring it up to me to get credit for completion. This not only teaches them accountability, but also gives them responsibility and allows them to see right away how they did on their homework by having the opportunity to see the correct answer.
This week, I was given a reading group of the six highest reading level students in the class. We have decided to read the book Up, adapted from the Dreamworks movie. The kids seem to love the book so I have high hopes. All of the students in this group have a reading level of 38, which is way above level, and read usually a chapter a day to themselves then answer questions with me in their notebooks. We set up the whole class with a reading log given their reading level and correlating book numbers they should read so they can keep track of those books and ensure they are reading a wide variety of genres. They also practiced science, which was pretty new to me since last year, I really never saw science in the classroom. Additionally, my CT asked me if I would take over Social Studies this year, which is another subject I never saw in the classroom previously. I started off this week just by introducing them to the book and allowing them to do the various “about me” activities in the front of the book. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2015
Categories |