Phase III: Comprehensive Reflection

Standard 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

1. How your understandings of the standards changed based on your experiences of designing lessons, teaching lesson, assessing student (peer) artifacts?

I definitely have learned that "less is more" as one of my enthusiastic classmates told me. I tried to put wayyyy to much information within my lesson and it caused me to not have enough time to assess my students or give them an opportunity to take a break. So definitely when I'm creating a lesson, I'm going to try it out first and see what kinks are in it because the kinks that I thought were there.....weren't but other ones were. Also when I teach a lesson, I will take more time and SLOWWWW down because I should be cognizant of the time but I shouldn't let it rule the learning opportunities in my classroom.

2. What you learned about preparation and teaching from your peers through lessons and feedback from classmates?

I learned that I need to spend more time total on preparation. I spent a ton of time on finding the correct information and it didn't leave me a lot of time to really think of how I could create a hands-on activity for my students. I really need to look at the main points that I'm trying to teach, see how I could assess those points and THEN create a hands on activity. I also learned that there is no harm in spacing information out and that is why assessment is so important. As you are spacing information out, you need ways to make sure that everyone is on board with you. I definitely see the benefits in using a journal so they can write about what they learned before they leave your classroom so you can know whether or not to do a mini lesson the next day. Once again I learned that I definitely need to practice out my lessons before I step into the classroom. 

3. How your experiences might impact your future teaching experiences?

 I WILL most definitely think more about what I want to teach and HOW I want to teach it. Seems nutty because I feel that I already put a ton of thought into things but the lesson I did in class shows that I didn't put enough. So its true - teachers have no lives. I also think that my experiences are going to impact my future teaching experiences by making me do unit plans. I see the benefit in lining everything up and creating ways to assess in betweeen so you make sure that no child is left behind in the information.

Standard 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

1. How your understandings of the standards changed based on your experiences of designing lessons, teaching lesson, assessing student (peer) artifacts?

I see now that there is a lot of technology out there for us to use as teachers. I also see how you can use technology all you want in your classroom but that doesn't mean you are using it effectively or creating an impact with it. You can use technology to assesss by creating review questions but if the questions you create aren't pertinent or they are too easy - you didn't learn anything. It gives you a false idea that what you are teaching is "reaching the children" and that they will be able to access that information later. Technology is AMAZING but you definitely got to use it right.

Some tools are also great but other tools can create a headache. You need to make sure the hardware and software works before integrating it into your lesson. Even if it does work, have a backup lesson (teaching the same stuff) just without technology in case the network decides to die on you that day.

2.  What you learned about preparation and teaching from your peers through lessons and feedback from classmates?

I learned that I need to test drive my lessons! BAH! They also told me that it was too much information all at once. They suggested that I split my lesson into two and have separate assessments for each lesson. Which when I think about it, totally makes sense. The human brain can only process so much information at once. Its more beneficial to split it up so it is much more manageable.

I also realize that you need to make sure that your age group can use the technology. Maybe test it out and see how they do with it. If they can't use it, they're not going to be able to learn from it because they will be too focused on the use of the tool than focusing on what they're able to do with it.

3. How your experiences might impact your future teaching experiences?

I think that my experiences have taught me to really think about the technology I'm using and see if I can effectively use it. I need to spend time looking at what steps I should take to ensure that my students can use the technology! If it means a 10 minute lesson and then the actual lesson or if it means that I introduce it to them slowly and in short bursts. I also see asking the students before school what types of technology they have at home. Depending on their answers, I can introduce students to new stuff or if they already have lots of experience I can make sure that I show them new ways to use that technology.

Standard 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

1. How your understandings of the standards changed based on your experiences of designing lessons, teaching lesson, assessing student (peer) artifacts?

I see now that using technology to help me design my lessons is really helpful. As I use them though I need to be vigilant to cite things and keep track of the websites that I use. I need to model this for my students and talk about it with them so they can see that this is something that everybody does. This will help reinforce the importance of it so they will be more motivated to do it. Modeling digital-age work is really crucial because I can show them examples of what I'm looking for so they know what my expectations are. This way they won't give me a piece of work that is just not worth my time looking at.

2.  What you learned about preparation and teaching from your peers through lessons and feedback from classmates?

Watching my classmates do their lessons I saw that I need to re-think how to teach things. My classmates just put forth a few ideas and allowed lots of time for students to explore the ideas and tools to help them. I saw the teaching process very step by step and "first you need to give information, then see if they got it, then let them play" and in reality I needed to let the students find their information and write it down. I needed to let them DISCOVER what things meant instead of me telling them.

 3. How your experiences might impact your future teaching experiences?

In the future, I'm going to create activities and find/create websites where the students find information and fill in notes. I want them to talk to their buddy next to them and ask for clarification and if they can't get it from them, then they can come talk to me. I heard of the "Talk to 3, Before Me" rule where teachers tell their students to talk to three of their classmates about their question and if they still haven't found the answer then they go to the teacher. Granted hopefully, one of my students will be on top of stuff and incorrect information won't get spread around. 

Standard 4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

1. How your understandings of the standards changed based on your experiences of designing lessons, teaching lesson, assessing student (peer) artifacts?

I see that I need to talk to kids about my own processes when I put presentations or lessons together. When I tell them to cite things, I could show them how to do it but also talk to them about how I did it. Students need to see that we do things too! We're not exempt! I have learned that you really need to create a classroom community because a lot of students could use some technology to cheat or to give their classmates the wrong information. I need to show my students that technology is much more than something that you use, it is something that should be respected and valued. I need to show them that technology is a resource and that resource is there to help them but at the same time they need to help themselves.

2. What you learned about preparation and teaching from your peers through lessons and feedback from classmates?

I learned that you can have too much preparation and that technology can overwhelm you! I also saw that it is very easy to use something and forget to give credit. I need to show students simple ways to organize their thoughts when they are planning something. Students need to see what tools there are for projects and assignments. I also need to think of other tools to present information than just a powerpoint.

3. How your experiences might impact your future teaching experiences?

Well I see that I need to help children see that technology is something awesome instead of something they just use because their parents are fed up or because they are bored. I need to show them how technology should be used and tell them what it was originally made for. They need to see that some technology tools were created for other purposes and that the way how they use it is just one way. I need to show my students how to properly use technology and explain why thats so. I think I would show them a world without technology and show them how people lived in those times. I would have reminders on how to cite things properly around the classroom.

 

Phase II: Reflections on Micro Lessons Implementation - 2. Assessment of Learning

Because I ran out of time, I don't know how well they actually learned the material. They seemed engaged and in their feedback on my lesson, many mentioned how they had learned something new. Here was one exuberant reaction to the information I presented. 

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  I personally enjoy the "...you will be an amazing teacher!!" comment. Thank you to whoever that was. I definitely appreciate the suggestions on how to split up the powerpoint and create smaller lessons. I definitely agree with the fact that I had too much content. It was just too much!!! 

 What I think was still great was the notetaking. I think for a fourth grade class, having that as part of the assessment so you can see how they are taking notes and whether or not they understand the importance of note taking. I think this is really important for a teacher to be aware of and to be ready to teach their students if it turns out that they still need that skill. I think that when it became apparent that I needed to teach them this skill, I would take my time with it. Then I would reinforce it with other assignments so they can see how it is applicable to many different aspects of school.



When I ran out of time, I hadn't even gotten to the review session with the "students". This leads me pretty clueless as to what they actually learned. I only had time to get them to answer one question using pollanywhere.com. My "student's" seemed to like the novelty of the assessment. It was something new that I don't think they had seen before. Here is a snapshot of the one question they were able to answer.

Of course there was 7 "student's" and only three of them decided to answer. I really enjoyed using this even if it wasn't my first choice. I wish I had gotten them to do all of the review questions and then design their own creature in its own habitat. I think the student's would get a lot out of being able to create an animal and then its habitat because they would have to refer to their notes, ask their partners questions, and all of it is applying what they just learned to the assignment which is really an assessment. I wouldn't be assessing how they created their picture, how straight the lines are. I would just be assessing their explanation of the animal, of the adaptations they gave it and why these adaptations would help this animal in its habitat that they chose. It also adds some fun to the lesson! Who doesn't like drawing or painting? I was really bummed out that the end part didn't happen.

So in a concise manner, if I were to use this lesson in the future:

1. I would break it down into two lessons. One would be about the habitats first, and the other would be the adaptations
2. I WILL test each one out on a group of friends so I can see how long it takes or what kinks to work...again....
3. I would have it where the students would explore the presentations at their leisure (maybe each group does 1 habitat and then each group does a different adaptation and we all regroup for them to tell us about it and fill in our notes)
4. I would keep the note taking! 
5. At the end of habitats I would have them choose one and create a drawing of it. When we then learn about adaptations, they will create an animal that would "survive" in their habitat. They will write an explanation of why those adaptations will work.
6. Perhaps for the clickers, I would use that as review for like the day after.

Phase II: Reflections of the Micro Lesson Implementation 1. Instructional Descisions/Teaching

Oh boy...Ok let me start off by saying that I did NOT do enough thinking on what I wanted to teach and how I should teach it. If anything....I re-learned that I need to listen to my gut feeling. My gut told me that "it was too much information, I was over-thinking it, it should be more hands on". My brain though was like "you have to make sure the information is correct!!! it has to be intense!!" Don't ask why...thats just what my brain did. It was ridiculous. I spent more time looking for information than just going with my gut! GAH! That should have been my first indicator of the doom that was going to befall me.....

Anyways, I think my lesson was pretty good. People found it entertaining....they learned a whole bunch, or at least thats what they said. They were laughing at what I was saying...or it was probably more at me...but that don't matter.

What I basically did was what I outlined in my lesson plan on Taskstream... here is my link if you want to check out how I officially wrote it up Animal Adaptations for ETC 447 Summer 2012. The only thing that I added was I explained a little bit about Whole Brain Teaching (I put links up in my previous posts) because I wanted to use it during my lesson to help me cue the "students". I really like it - the key to it is that you have to explain it and TRY it with the students that you are with before you just do it. Otherwise they look at you like you're nuts.

I also added, last minute - probably a bad idea, that my "students" would take two separate types of notes that they "would use later in the class" for a quiz review. Because I was watching the doomsday timer and realizing that I was quickly losing time, I went through their notetaking process really fast! Which I know not to do and I never would do if it was actual students. It was mentioned a few times in my peer feedback forms to slowwwww down. I know! Why didn't I do it?! BAH!

When I was done, I hadn't finished and the "student's" hadn't gotten the chance to create their own creatures. I felt okay being done. But I knew that I could have done MUCH better. I should've gone with my gut. My gut kept going back to this activity that I had found where it was E-Safaris and the kids go through the information on their own and fill out worksheets and then the groups review their information together. That would have been so MUCH BETTERRRR! GAH! BAH!

If I were to keep working with the powerpoint...because I don't think the powerpoint was bad...I just think there was too much information ALL AT ONCE. So I think I would break it up the adaptations into their own powerpoint and the habitats into their own powerpoint. If I were to do this again, I would have the habitats one day with a week's worth of activities and then the next week would be adaptations with its own weeks worth of activities that tie the two together.

My lesson was still aligned with the standards! That is one good thing....right? I still gave the "student's" experience with different animals and how they all adapt so they can survive in their habitat.
The assessment part was a little weird because the clickers that I wanted to use were having issues with the hardware in the lab. So I used an online poll system called pollanywhere.com. Its awesome! Its free! and with the fact that many students bring in their cell phones.....totally use it. My "student's" seemed to really enjoy it.

For individual modifications I should have created it where the students could open the powerpoint at their own computers. That way I could have the option of still saying, "Ok go through the powerpoint and fill out the information as you go" and they could go at their own pace and if a student had a aide, they could do the activity still but in a separate room, if NEED be. I want all of my students together but thats not how it usually happens. Again, I would go through everything much more smoothly and slowly. Now that I think about it my information is awesome!

4. Planning Assessment

I will use two assessments to determine if the students understand the concepts presented.

The first will be by asking them questions that they will answer with electronic clickers. If the majority of my class answers correctly, then I know that my lesson presented the information so they could understand it. If only a few answer correctly, then either my lesson was not engaging enough or I presented the information in too complex of a format. Seeing these as possible explanations, I can create a whole new activity and present it in smaller chunks to ensure my students understand the information.

With the clickers, each student gets a clicker assigned and I will write down their number. Upon reviewing the information, if a particular number didn't answer correctly for the majority of the questions, I will know which student I need to review the information with. The students who understand it, their numbers will reflect this by indicating they sent the correct answer.

The end assessment that I will use is for the students to create their own animal in a habitat of their choosing. They will have to explain what they did to adapt their animal, and why it will help their animal adapt within the habitat. This will show me if they truly understand what an adaptation is, what adaptations there are, and how it helps animals. All of this information would have been present and available within my lesson. If they cannot explain what they did and why, then it shows they do not understand the concepts.

This assessment also links with the standards because the information is necessary for their state testing.

3. Designing Instruction

My lesson plan is organized such that first we talk about the different habitats that animals live in, and the characteristics of each habitat. I then go through each type of physical adaptation with an example animal that uses that type of adaptation to survive. I tell the students where the animal lives and using the information from the habitats I then ask the students how that adaptation helps them survive in their habitat. The lesson then takes us through a set of review questions.

Throughout my lesson I will use Whole brain teaching strategies to help students to process the information more fully and to discuss it with their partners. Here are some YouTube videos to watch so you get a better idea of what they are. Whole Brain teaching: The basics or Whole Brain teaching: Kindergarten (Expanded!)
With the whole brain teaching strategies, I am hoping that it will give them multiple times to process the information and to then explain it.

Everything within my powerpoint and that I use, has been properly cited and referenced.

I realize that I haven't properly aligned my lesson with research based methods on integrating technology. My lesson needs to be more hands on and interactive. I should create it so the students do the research on an animal and they identify what adaptations it uses. I could have created Electronic Safaris that the students go through and find information on an animal.

2. Plans instruction

"Students will gain experience and knowledge about the different habitats that we have on our planet. They will learn some facts about some animals and how they have adapted to live in their habitats. They will also learn about the four physical adaptations that animals use: camouflage, mimicry, chemical defense and body coverings or parts. Students will also be shown the world and how there are similar animals in various parts of the world." This has been copied and pasted from my original lesson plan on Taskstream.

My objectives, created for a fourth grade class, are clearly stated because I explain what we will be doing in the lesson, and what they should know afterwards. I do not use "stuff", "things", "maybe" within the description which is important because those words are not explicit with what they are describing.

These objectives are age appropriate because fourth graders are capable of comprehending the information that I presented. The goals of the lesson are not out of reach of the children in the classroom. The ideas that are presented are ideas that the students begin to experience and even ask about.

The objectives are directly aligned with the state standards for Texas. In fourth grade this information is what they will be expected to know and learn about in order to pass their state tests.

1. Assessing Prior Knowledge

Ok so when I was thinking of animal adaptations and whether or not it would be feasible for Kindergarteners to sit through the lesson, I realized something. They wouldn't be able to! I was giving way too much information and making them sit for too long. I double checked the standards for Texas and realized that animal adaptations are taught in 4th grade! So I changed my lesson accordingly - I added them taking notes on the topics.

I looked around on google to see how other teachers have taught this. I found worksheets and powerpoints! Free powerpoints on Animal Adaptations!

I saved them in a word doc with the link and a short description of what is contained on the webpage (for future reference).

To assess prior knowledge, I thought that doing a KWL chart would be really great! If you don't know a KWL charts here is a good example!  They are super fantastic for assessing prior knowledge. K is for what the students KNOW, W is for what the students WANT to know, and L is for what the students LEARNED. Depending on grade level you can have the students fill out their own, or you can write it out on the board with them. Typically, you just do the K column and the W column at the start of a lesson or unit. At the end of a lesson or unit, you finish the L part of the chart.

I was hoping to learn what the students already knew about adaptations or even if they were familiar with them. I was also hoping for excitement on the topic of animals.

Knowing what my students already knew (or by the lack of information, what they don't know) I would be able to plan activities that would make sure the students learned the information, aiming to not bore them with information that they have already shown that they know. It would also give me insight into their interests or disinterests. I would aim to keep it information or to make it interesting for them.     

The beginning stages of tech lesson 1...

Ok....so I have to create a lesson plan for my tech class that focuses on a core subject (math, science, social studies, language arts). The question is always....what should I teach? There is SOOOO much that we HAVE to teach and then there are the things that you WANT to teach. I sometimes feel that the talented Teach goes with something that they want to teach and make it encompass the concepts that they have to teach.

Unknowingly, this is how my idea for the lesson plan blossomed. This gets a little lengthy..sorry but I have to be honest to my thought process...even if its convoluted....

So first thing you should know is that I have a new kitten named Shadow. She's 20-something weeks old and black! Like midnight black...its amazing. Anyways, in hopes to have a "nice feline" instead of the typical feline that pops into everyone's heads when someone mentions that they have a cat, I've been doing my research on how to train, groom, and play with cats. Whenever a concept or idea that relates to cat ownership comes up, I google the heck out of it! I want to know, man! (I'm going to get back to lesson planning soon....I think....) Ok, so, when the weather in Flag became warmer than usual I started to think of how Shadow was going to contend with the warmer climate. Will she be okay? Is there something I should know so I don't come home to a heat-stroked kitty thats half dead? I don't want to hurt her due to negligence in the form of ignorance.

So I was hypothesizing how cats adapt to hot weather.

• Do they sweat? 
• Do they pant like dogs? 
• I know rabbits release heat through their ears, thats why their ears are so big - do cats do the same thing? Probably not...her ears are far too small.

Literally - those were my thoughts.

THEN it came to me....how about I teach science and talk about how cats sweat? Eureka! I'm on the trail to a good lesson. Maybe. Perhaps.

I always do "research" when planning a lesson. By "research" I mean googling the topic to see what other people have done. ** If I use any part of the lesson, I ALWAYS give credit. ALWAYS. ** There are so many teachers who are on the front lines and have been for awhile that I figure that a good way of teaching something has to already exist. My teachers tell me that if you find something that already works, use it.

My first search showed me that I was far too specific. I got results for random things and none of it was science related. So I decided to look through my science text from ECI 306 with Jeffrey Bloom. In one of his textbooks he gives brief, but informative, chapters/sections on all things elementary science. Its mainly a resource book. Here is a link to Amazon where you can buy it. Its titled The Really Useful Elementary Science Book, by Jeffrey Bloom. I found the sections on animals and kept seeing the word adaptations. Then it dawned on me....I could expand this idea to "How do animals adapt to warm climates?" It was broader and gave me more options. To test to see if that was true, I googled it and added "+ lesson plans for kindergarten". BAM! So muchhhhhh came up!

Continued on May 24th, 2012.....

Ok so my lesson plan kept going around in circles. When I got into class yesterday, it dawned on me that I hadn't done enough planning or thinking about the concept. My ideas were everywhere and I kept changing my mind. It was bad and infuriating. Today when I did my lesson in front of my peers.....I don't think it went very well. For one, I ran out of time. For two, because I was first I got to sit through everyone elses and see how my lesson was just lame in comparison. Their lessons were much more hands on and interactive. They were all also within their time limits. I should've spent much more time on the planning. Ugh.

Lets start things off...

When thinking about technology and integrating into the classroom, there are some ideas that we need to acknowledge before we do so. There are four that I will first look at:

• Safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology
• Digital etiquette and responsible social interactions
• Meeting diverse needs of learners through learner-centered strategies and equitable access
• Global awareness and digital-age communication
  The main reason I'm looking at these ideas is because they are necessary pieces of information that a teacher needs to help them combat issues that arise in a classroom: plagiarism, copyright, cyber bullying, ensure that everyone in the classroom has the tools to learn, understand how technology has changed, why technology has changed, and understand that the material you put online is there for the whole world to see.

The first is Safe, Legal, and Ethical use of digital information and techology. 

This is hugely important because it is so easy to use information found on the web and not give proper credit! I do it all the time by accident! I have to put so many reminders to copy websites and get the information to cite them in my work. Here is a good website that defines what each term means and how not to get in trouble! 
 Copyright Law and Fair Use

It is also very important to teach our students about this because they need to learn to respect other people's work, other people's time and effort. They need to know that using pictures and websites without giving proper credit is the same as stealing out of someone's backpack. This goes back to having high expectations and wanting our children to respect themselves, us and their classmates.

The next idea is Digital etiquette and responsible social interactions.

 I remember back to my days of AIM and you got done with homework by 7:30pm because that was when EVERYBODY was online chatting. If you didn't get on the next day, everybody was like "Hey! Where were you last night?! We had a really funny conversation about Mrs. Turner!" There was so many little nuances to what to type, how to type (font, bold, size) and when to type. When your friends were in a rant, you didn't post in between because they wouldn't read it and then you'd feel ignored because they didn't respond to your idea. Guy friends would send you inappropriate stuff and that equaled them being blocked on your AIM board. Oh yeah..and being blocked was like the worst consequence ever! When you found out someone got blocked it was hot gossip.

There was also the not so good things I remember, like when some random dude asked me to meet with him at his house. I was so freaked out I told my mom and she said to tell the guy my Dad is a cop. He signed off and I never saw his AIM name again. Children need to be aware of the dangers of online social interaction and who they can talk to if they end up in a situation like that. They need to know how to be safe, and that they have the power to keep themselves safe. With the rise of cyber-bullying and more students ending their lives because of it, we need to combat the issue by showing children the impact their "actions" can have on the internet.

As teachers we need to be aware of the social trends and how it is impacting our students. We can use that information to educate our students and let them know that there are boundaries to digital interactions and what to do when someone crosses that boundary.

Here is a Slideshare on digital etiquette and digital citizenship

Other resources for Netiquette --> check out BrainPop Spotlight: Digital Citizenship

Third idea is Meeting diverse needs of learners through learner-centered strategies and equitable access. For a definition of Equitable Access and Use. 

In our schools there are "inequities" based on location of the school, population of the school, and types of schools. There has been a lot of thinking on how do we "level" the playing field. Technology is a tool that many schools use to "level the playing field". They bring in many applications and new computers for students to use so that we can make sure that we can support a child at their level and help them be successful. Here is a good link to more indepth information NCREL.org website

Within our classroom we will have a broad spectrum of learning abilities and within specific content, skill levels. We need to know what tools are out there and use them effectively to teach our children. This is important because a school may have the best technology available but if they don't use it in a meaningful, effective way all of it is useless! There are new strategies coming out everyday that we can implement within our classroom to help a student when they need the help! We don't have to wait and leave the student to flounder.

The fourth idea, but not the last to explore on my own, is Global awareness and digital-age communication.  

This is the idea that as teachers we need to take student's awareness to the next level and show them how things are connected globally! We can have them discuss topics with a school in another country using skype! Student's need to learn that lots of issues don't only affect their schools but can also affect global issues that are under scrutiny. Students need to also be exposed to problems or issues in other countries. They need to know what is going in other places of the world. 

Below is a link where one school did a global awareness project! 
 Timber Lane Elementary School

Here is a guy who has done a whole overview on all of the information I just talked about! Check it out --> Promote and Model Responsibility