Monday 10/14/13:
During today's class, we reflected as a class on our lessons. First, Group 1 discussed each step of our lesson: introduction (reflection of last class/Tagxedo), exploratory introduction (Google presentation), inquiry (artifact bag exploration), expansion (recording sheets), closure (sharing findings with the class), elaboration (independent practice homework worksheet). We discussed what we did during each part and critiqued ourselves. I pointed out that I did not transition properly from the introduction to James's exploratory introduction section.
Overall, our classmates enjoyed our lesson. They thought that the use of the Tagxedo presentation was useful to assess prior knowledge and to transition into the new topic of artifacts. Other students said that the modeling of the artifact bags was most effective. A suggestion was to model an error or show hesitation to make sure students understood that it is okay to make mistakes or to be unsure during their explorations of the artifact bags.
Smirnova's Critique:
-Tagxedo- Use contrast to make the words on the Tagxedo more clear.
-Always allow time for students to answer. If students are not answering, rephrase the question and pause to allow time to think.
-Inquiry Steps: Split up list onto different slides. This would make this section of the lesson more engaging and more time for question/answer.
-Give each student in the group a job. Assigning roles will save time.
Wednesday 10/16/13:
During today's class, three of my classmates presented a mini lesson. Their presentation was focused around an article regarding the current government shut down. The rest of us took on the persona of fourth grade students. To begin the activity, we read the article. After this reading, we completed a graphic organizer that contained boxes for the five "W's:" who, what, when, where, and why. We each filled in information from the article that correlated with one of the five "W's." Once this portion of the lesson was completed, we switched papers with a classmate. Then, we were instructed to write a paragraph from the information our partners had filled in on their five "W's" graphic organizer. Finally, we shared our answers with the class.
I thought that this activity would be extremely valuable within my future classroom. This activity would allow me to incorporate current events into the classroom each day, without taking away too much class time. The presenters suggested that we could instruct students to look up and write about different articles and then have partners summarize based on the five "W's" graphic organizers. This would allow students to have more exposure to a wider variety of current events in a shorter amount of time.
Friday 10/18/13:
Today was my last day teaching a lesson at Bishop Dunn for Social Studies Methods. For this rest of my fieldwork sessions, I will be observing groups three and four. Because this was our last session, the other members of Group One and I did everything that we could to make this final lesson enjoyable, engaging and informative for our students.
To begin our lesson, we played a vocabulary game. Students were divided into groups of three to four students. Each student in the group was given a number between 1 and 3 or 1 and 4. We passed out different index cards with vocabulary words (artisan, merchant, manor, apprentice) on them. Students were instructed to put their heads together to come up with a definition for the word. We encouraged students to make sure that every group member understood and could explain the definition. Then we called on students randomly to share their definitions. We checked understanding by having the other students agree or disagree by a show of thumbs up or thumbs down.
We transitioned to the social skills portion of the lesson by reflecting on the process of working together. We asked students if it was easy or hard to work with other students. We asked if there was anything in particular they did to make working together more effective. We then explained that the students had been using their social skills, and moved on to a powerpoint presentation slide with helpful hints regarding how to effectively interact with one another.
After the students reviewed the helpful hints, we moved on to our "secret presentations." Each group was assigned a creative task (skit, advertisement, song, or acrostic poem) to complete. I worked with the groups that created advertisements. The first group was a rowdy group of boys. First they suggest that we advertise drugs, then weapons. I suggested that they explain why they would want to sell either, to which one student replied "To support the Revolutionary War. DUH!" I believed that this was a strong explanation and encouraged the students to prepare an advertisement about colonial weapons to support the revolution. The students quickly named different weaponry, created a mailing address, and a catchy slogan. The boys excitedly presented their project. The second group was much more serious about their task. They brainstormed ideas about what was useful during colonial times. The group finally settled on selling tea. They offered a variety of flavors, provided a picture and an address of where they could be found. Both groups were extremely successful in self-monitoring their group work. I was able to keep track of their individual achievements through use of a rubric sheet.
The students were asked at the end of class to complete a group and self-evaluation feedback form. This allowed students to reflect on their work as a group and on their individual achievements during this lesson. The students were also asked to write a brief letter describing their project and how the experience of working in a group to complete a creative task was.
Overall, this lesson went very well! My group worked hard to create engaging lessons, and it paid off! I am very sad that this will be my last time teaching for Social Studies Methods.
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