Monday 11/4/13:
I had the opportunity to observe Groups 3 and 4 again. Both groups taught a cooperative learning lesson to the fourth grade class. Both lessons explained the social skills necessary for effective group work. The approaches to teaching cooperative learning for Groups 3 and 4 were different; Group 3 had students create their own Declaration of Independence, while Group 4 had students engage in a debate. I will presenting my notes on my classmates lesson's in a "3 plus and 1 wish" format.
Group 3:
- Your group improved on time management during this lesson. The direct instruction powerpoint presentation portion of your lesson was streamlined, making information more clear and concise. I especially liked how Anne explained PIGS, in a quick and easy way for the students to understand and use during the lesson. The timer on the SmartBoard also allowed students to manage their own time during the time allotted for them to write their Declaration of Independence.
- I loved your activity! The writing of a Declaration of Independence from the perspective of students. I think that it was a smart idea to divide the aspects of the declaration so that each group wrote a different part under a common theme. I liked that each group had an opportunity to present its section and that the class listened respectfully.
- I like how you built on the teachings from previous groups. This made the transition from one group to another more seamless.
- I wish that you had posted what the parts of the Declaration of Independence were on the SmartBoard. This would have eliminated questioning from students and using valuable class time for excess explanation. The slide could have been used as a reference for the students throughout the activity.
Group 4:
- I liked that throughout the lesson you probed answers from students. You waited for an appropriate amount of time for student responses, and when the students did not answer you made sure to rephrase the question or restate it. I like that you intentionally called on different students or asking to see new hands in order to be sure that everyone was engaged and participating throughout your lesson plan.
- It was smart to go over the vocabulary words that you planned on using during your debate activity. During this section of your lesson, I liked that you paused and waited to see if students knew the words or could make guesses about their definitions before showing the correct definition on your PowerPoint slides.
- I think that the debate was a smart choice of an activity! It was engaging and a way to get all the students involved. It is also a relevant topic across all subject areas, as well as in real life application. Students will need to learn how to formulate and express their opinions, while still respecting and attempting to understand the opinions of others.
- Although you all always do a fantastic job implementing the lesson, I wish you had switched up the order of who talks when during the lesson. Each of you as teachers will need to be able to do the introduction, implementation, and closing sections of a lesson plan, so this fieldwork time would have been a good time to practice!
Wednesday 11/6/13:
Today was our final day of fieldwork at Bishop Dunn Memorial School! I am so thankful for all of the experiences I have had: the most important being working with Group 1! I feel that we were successful as a group because we worked collaboratively throughout the entire fieldwork experience. We were in constant contact, whether it be through Googledocs, text messages or emails. We each made a conscious effort to stay in touch with one another. We always respected each others ideas and opinions. We worked for ourselves and our students, and in the end, we did a great job teaching our fourth grade class.
Hooray for group one! I also feel that this experience strengthened the bond I have with my friends here on campus. This semester, we branched out from only seeing each other during school functions and during classes, to meeting on weekends to work on our lessons. Although we would set aside an hour or so to work, we would end up spending half of our Sundays together in a classroom watching YouTube videos, chatting and sharing coffee. I am honestly so grateful for the friendships I have formed with these lovely ladies!
And of course, a thank you to Dr. Smirnova. Thank you for constantly editing our lesson plans late at night and providing thoughtful, helpful resources and comments that helped improve our teaching! We really do appreciate all of your guidance. Thank you for making me more tech-savvy as well!
For our final day together at Bishop Dunn Memorial School, we, as a class, designed a post-test for the students to complete. Each group created 3-5 questions that wrapped up what had been taught during our three lesson blocks. Before the students took the test, each grouped reviewed information about the lessons. The students were asked to complete the test on the computers, with an allotted time of 10 minutes. Upon the completion of the post-test, we all shared things that we had learned during our time with the fourth grade class. Each of us shared how much we enjoyed working with such a wonderfully smart class, and bits about things that we had learned from them.
After we had all shared, the groups prepared for our closing ceremony. Each group had created a certificate for the students for completing fieldwork. Students were called individually by name to receive their certificates, while their fellow classmates clapped and offered words of praise. During this time, we congratulated the students. As a final closing, we participated in a round of fireworks!
Overall, this experience at Bishop Dunn has been incredible. I enjoyed working collaboratively with my peers and implementing lessons in a co-teaching way. I'm happy that I had the opportunity to practice this type of teaching before going into the field on my own.
Friday 11/8/13:
Today we reflected as a class on our fieldwork experiences as whole class! We each individually shared our feelings about the experience and what we had learned. My classmate, Courtney, shared that the most important part was actually implementing an entire lesson plan in front of a classroom. We have always been writing our lesson plans in the Mount Saint Mary College lesson plan format, but we have never experienced actually acting out the entire lesson plan. Now that we have done so, I have realized the importance of having an introduction and a conclusion. Without them, students will feel lost in regards to what content will be taught or what was learned during the lesson plan.
I shared that it is important to give students control during lessons. I know that this can be challenging for me, because I like to have control and for things to work out the way I had planned. Some of the best activities were the ones that students had the most control, such as the cooperative learning activities (skit, song, advertisement, acrostic poem, Declaration of Independence). I also shared that I loved working with my group and that collaboration was very important.
After we had reflected on our experiences, we created a LiveBinder account.
LiveBinder is an online portfolio for work that we have completed throughout the semester. The portfolio includes sections about me, my philosophy of education, my blog, professional organizations, social studies projects, my unit plan, and edTPA tasks.
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