Lesson Reflections: TWS 8 Lesson Reflection # 3 (showcase) My lesson connected to students lives by using real life examples throughout

the lesson. Students were learning about sound and how sound is made. I used real instruments in this lesson to maximize learning. Students all knew what a drum was and they knew in order for it to make sound it must be hit. I then went into detail explaining that the particles in matter must touch and pass energy. This causes vibration to happen which produces sound. The lesson reflected prior knowledge by recapping on states of matter. We discussed that all matter is made up of particles. After this was discussed I began to explain that particles must touch for sound to be produced. While explaining the concept of sound I had students pluck the strings of the guitar and also hit the center of the drum. We then discussed being in a band or seeing a band in a parade. Almost every student was able to say they have seen a band play in a parade. I held this discussion to point out students background knowledge. I tried to connect examples to students real life. Some of the connections that worked were the band in the parade and hearing drums during music class. During this lesson I did not have to alter my instructional plan. I believe this was because students were introduced to sound and how it was made. As students were sent back to their seats to do independent work I walked around and observed. Two of my ESOL students were struggling with understanding what the questions were asking. I talked to my clinical teacher after the lesson and she recommended that I read the questions to the whole class as they are completing independent work. She said this is an accommodation for ESOL students. During this lesson some modifications that could have been made to better support the diverse learners in my class are to read the independent work to the students or place struggling students in a group to work with me. Also using more examples that could connect to students lives would have made the lesson run smother. Students learning goals were met in this lesson. The learning goals were for students to understand that in order for sound to be made the object must vibrate and for students to be able to explain how a guitar makes sound using the words vibrate and string. Evidence that I have to support my claim are the class discussion we had after the lesson and the independent work I took up and graded. Almost 95% of my students responded correctly. The students who did not respond correctly did not follow directions. My students behavior did show engagement. Students were quiet while I was giving instruction and were answering questions during discussion. Students were very engaged when I brought out the guitar and the drum. They all were making comments during the discussion of sound and wanting to learn more. During this lesson I could have managed time better. I took up most of the lessons time explaining the concept. This gave the students a shorter amount of time to engage in independent work and discussion. As I was teaching this lesson I learned that this group of students really enjoy to be fully engaged throughout the entire lesson. The students really enjoy prompts. The students seem to be able to develop a clearer understanding if what we are discussing is in front of them. I learned that reading the independent work to the students really will help the ESOL students understand what is being asked. If I were to teach this lesson

again I would set up a time bracket. I would use this to make sure I stayed on time throughout the lesson so everything was able to be covered. This was my first lesson during immersion week. When I went to teach the lesson I realized that my PowerPoint for this lesson did not send through my email. I then had to modify my lesson. I realized that having an outline written out is always a good thing to have in case something goes wrong.

Lesson Reflection # 4 (showcase) My lesson connected to students lives by having students actively engaged themselves in the lesson. Students were learning about pitch. Students were asked to place their fingers on their throat and talk in a high pitched voice and a low pitched voice. The students were able to feel the vibration change. Students did not learn about pitch in previous grades so this lesson was just introduced the first time in my lesson. We discussed different instruments and how they produced high and low pitches to enhance students back ground information and learning. The main concept I was trying to have students understand is that pitch is affected with the speed of vibration. Having students talk and change pitches of their voice while touching their throat was a connection that seemed to really work. Also using the guitar and hitting different strings that change the pitch worked also. Students seemed to understand how pitch is affected the best through these two examples. During this lesson I did have to alter my instructional plan. I planned to teach pitch and volume during the same day. ESOL students and two students with learning disabilities were not understanding pitch as well as I would have liked them to. I altered my lesson and just focused on pitch that day. When I had students go back to their seat to complete their independent work a larger number of students struggled. Even after I read the questions out loud the students still had a hard time. The question asked students to explain what pitch affected in a sound and how to change the pitch of a drum. Students were not clearly answering that pitch is how high or low a sound is. Students also did not clearly answer how to change the pitch of a drum. I decided to answer these questions as a whole class and show the students how to change the pitch of a drum again. Pulling students in groups and having them work together may have supported the students learning needs better. These students enjoy working together and really helped one another. If I could teach this lesson again I would have students work together on the work at the end of the lesson. Another modification I would make if I was to teach this lesson again would be to have students test out different objects that make sound and change their pitches. This would have students engaged in the lesson and would give students more than two examples of pitches being changed. The learning goals for pitch were met. The overall lesson had students develop a clear understanding of pitch and volume. Since I had to modify the lesson students did not learn about volume this lesson. Students did however develop a clear understanding of pitch. The students were able to explain what pitch affected and how to change pitch. Since the independent work was switched to whole class work I gave an exit slip to students at the end of the lesson. Students were asked to explain what pitch affected and how to change the pitch of a

drum. Students were able to answer both questions a lot clearer than before. This is my evidence of student learning. This lesson I had an outline with how much time I would spend on each thing. This really seemed to help with my time management. I was also able to have two post assessments and still have extra time at the end of the lesson to help students who still struggled. I learned with this group of students not to think a concept will be easy for them to understand. Explaining concepts thoroughly should be done before trying to actively engage students in a lesson. I will from now on explain the concepts before having students do any sort of work with the new concepts. If I was to teach this lesson again I would have two different lessons on pitch and volume. This would make me more organized for the lesson. I would also have students work in groups and observe different pitches by having them make the pitches change.

Lesson Reflection # 5 (showcase) My lesson connected to students prior knowledge by reviewing what was previously learned. This was the last lesson taught for the topic Sound. I reviewed what was previously learned throughout the week. Before we learned new material I asked students questions that had to deal with pitch and sound in general. I used Popsicle sticks with the students names on them to ask the questions. To connect to students lives I used examples for volume that students would recognize. We talked about changing the volume of our stereo system and our TV. Students really seemed to understand volume when I used the example of the TV. We talked about when you couldnt hear the TV what did you do. Or if you were far away would the TVs sound be loud or soft? During this lesson I did not alter my instructional plan. I believe out of the weeks lessons this lesson went as planned. Students grasped volume and how it affects sound at the very beginning of the lesson. Some of my ESOL students were mixing up sound and pitch. I think this is because pitch is how low and high a sound is and students sometimes say the sound is high rather than saying it is low. One thing I could have done to help these students understand better is to place these students in a small group. The learning goals for pitch were met. The overall lesson had students develop a clear understanding of volume. Students were asked to have a student led discussion. I observed students as they were discussing. I also had students answer questions in their Science Journals. I walked around and looked at their responses. Students completed an exit slip and I took these up for a grade. All students in the class scored 100% on their exit slip. Students seemed to be engaged during this lesson. I do not to believe students had ever had a student led discussion so they all wanted to participate. Students did really well and I was very proud of them. The students would add one to what was said by their peers and give feedback when they agreed or did not agree to what was said. My time during procedures was planned out well. I did not go over time and I had extra time to review what we learned. I learned today that these students are capable of so much more than people think. When I told my teacher I was having a student led instruction she seemed worried. The students did a great job and really benefited from what their

peer had to say. I also learned that cooperative learning should be done daily with this group of students. They learn so much from one another. It is awesome to watch! If I was to teach this lesson again I would have students work in pairs the whole lesson. I would give the students an outline of what we would be doing and let them lead their selves some. I would also let students generate questions to be asked. I enjoyed this week so much. I loved teaching the whole science block for the week and getting to see students progress!

Section 2- Reflection on showcase lesson individual students: Most successful student: Student number five was the most successful during my showcase lessons. This student scored a 59 on the pre-assessment and by the post assessment scored a 96. This student started out in ESOL at the beginning of the year and now no longer had to attend ESOL. This student during the showcase lesson was always fully engaged in the class discussion and answered questions when called upon. I believe this student was the most successful because of the questions they asked during the showcase lesson. As I was demonstrating, pitch and volume this student asked some really great questions that seemed to benefit his learning of the topics. I also think that this student being fully engaged during the lesson was another reason they increased greatly from the pre-assessment to the post-assessment. This student is also considered a higher level learner. For future lessons I would push this student even more by having this student lead a classroom discussion. I would also have this student generate questions through buddy study to ask their partner. Least successful student: Student number nineteen was the least successful. This student scored a 72 on the preassessment and a 60 on the post-assessment. I believe this student was least successful because during class discussion and class activities this student did not stay engaged. This student consistently talked out when asked not to. This student has an IEP of having ADHD but the parents of this child refuse to medicate him. I believe this student could achieve so much more than they are if they were able to focus. This student understands the material. I know this by having discussion with this student throughout the lesson. During the pre-assessment this student took it at the kidney shaped table because he was moved for behavior. I believe this student performed better on the pre-assessment because he was sitting alone with no distraction. The student took the post-assessment in his pod and the student rushed through the assessment. If I was to give this student the test again I would make sure to place this student by their selves. Average performing student: Student number thirteen did not show any growth throughout the lesson. This student scored a 77 on the pre-assessment and a 77 on the post assessment. During the discussion this student did not engage in any discussion. When called upon this student did not want to answer any questions regarding to the lesson. This student is pulled out for ESOL. I accommodated for this ESOL student by reading out assessments and any other class work. I believe I read too fast

for this student to keep up with during the post-assessment. If I was to teach this lesson again I would pull the ESOL students to the kidney shaped table and read the test to them as a small group. Even though this student did not like answering questions in front of the class. They would always get the answer right. I believe the language barrier on the test is what caused this student to no perform to their best ability. If I was to teach this lesson again I would let the ESOL students take the test to their ESOL teach to go over it with them one more time after I had them in small group. Could you modify the tests so it had visuals to accompany the words?

Lesson Reflection # 1 My lesson accurately connected to students lives because when discussing the three states of matter examples were used that students could relate to. My lesson accurately connected to students prior knowledge by reviewing what was learned in second grade. Students learned about solids and liquids. We reviewed these terms as a whole class. I used the students responses to determine how in depth I needed to review the material. The connection to a solid being their desk seemed to help the students grasp that particles in a solid do not move. The students were able to touch their desk and I think this connected the two concepts. Another connection that seemed to work was showing the students different liquids in a variety of bottles. This helped connect that liquids take the shape of their container. During this lesson I did not have to alter my instructional plans. I think because this was a review for the students they grasped the material quicker. Two of my ESOL students struggled with explaining gas in their own words. The students were able to explain what gas was orally but when asked to write down their responses I believe if I would have let students discuss as a whole group more times during the lesson, these students would have had a better understanding. I also believe if I would have pulled the struggling students together as a group and worked with them while the other students were doing their independent work these students would have grasped the material sooner. Another modification I could have was during the whole class reading instead of me reading to the students I could have had specific students read a paragraph. Another modification I could have made during the whole class reading could have been to read the text to the students and have them fill in words I leave out. The learning goals for this lesson were met. The states of matter chart that the students filled out was almost 100% correct for the whole class average. The students participation during the whole class discussion was very impressive and the students were fully engaged. The students behaviors showed that they were fully engaged. During the class discussion the students were responding to me and also to one another. I believe having students discuss solids, liquids and gases that they know and stating their own personal examples contributed to the engagement. The students wanted to share examples for the state of matter when they thought of ones that they knew believe I did not manage my time during this lesson so that instructional time was maximized. I believe too much time was spend using the text and not enough discussion. Next time I will pull examples from the text that I feel are important rather than reading the whole text.

I learned that this group of students are better engaged when they are able participate in an open discussion rather than having to raise their hands. The students did not yell out when one of their peers was talking and they waited their turn to answer out. I will now know that a review should be implemented prior to the lesson for my ESOL students. The concepts should be printed out and given to each ESOL students. If I was to teach this lesson again I would use more manipulatives during the lesson. I would bring more examples of the states of matter rather than the class just discussing them. I would use more group work during this lesson. I would have students observe different examples of the states of matter with a partner and write down their observations. I would then have students explain the three states of matter using their observations for an exit slip.

Lesson Reflection # 2 My lesson accurately reflected to students lives by using real life examples throughout both of my lessons. An example I used was taking a shower and the condensation that forms on the mirror. Students prior knowledge was connected to this lesson by recapping on the three states of matter that was learned in second grade. Students filled in a chart with a brief description of solid, liquid and gas. Some connections that worked for this lesson was connecting condensation on the bathroom mirror. When I used that example all of the students were able to agree that they have seen condensation form on their mirror after taking a shower. Another connection that worked during this lesson was connecting solids to the desk in our classroom. Students could feel their desk and know that it is unchangeable. A solid has a definite shape. This also helped with the understanding of the particles in a solid. The strategies I used for this lesson seemed to really benefit the students. Having students write the definition of different terms in their own words and then us reviewing them seemed to help students. I used examples that related to the students life which seemed to push the understanding of the lesson. The resources I used for this lesson were from my clinical teacher. I took time to ask her the best ways to teach this group of students. The teaching strategies I used seemed to make connections to previous lessons taught. My knowledge of the content helped the students achieve the planned learning goals because I was able to use examples that students were able to understand. As I was explaining different concepts I was able to make other connections that may have come up when students were responding did have to alter my instructional plan during this lesson. When explaining condensation students were having a hard time understanding the concept. This was because the students cups with ice water were not developing water droplets on the side. I pulled up a picture of a container of food that was placed in a refrigerator overnight and had condensed. We then discussed the picture and talked about our cups and over time they would have condensation on them. I had a few students who struggled during the assessment at the end of the lesson. The students were asked to describe freezing in their own words. Most of the students were able to do this but three students were not. The student could explain the process to me but them having to write it down in their own words is where they were having the hardest time. I noticed these students were not writing anything down. I modified my lesson by working one on one with them and having them explain the process to me. This seemed to really benefit

these students. I took it even farther and had these students explain the process to the class when I called students to answer out loud. These learning goals were met during this lesson. The evidence I have that the goals were met is the students Science Notebooks where they had to fill in a chart on the different phase changes. I looked over these to make sure students had a clear understanding of the material. I observed students during our class discussion also. The students behaviors did show me they were engaged. All of the students were observing the cups of ice water and the frozen popsicles. They were all making predications and handling the cups and popsicles. The students were discussing with peers and myself about their predications. The students were sharing other examples of condensing that they have experienced. I learned that this group of students really benefit from group work. They have not been introduced to group work as much as I would have liked for them to. I will know to review what I expect out of students while working in groups prior to my next lesson. I have also learned that this group of students works their best with manipulatives. Having the students observe different materials and then writing their responses seemed to really encourage critical thinking. If I was to teach this lesson again the one thing I would change was the assessment. I think rather than the assessment just being them explain freezing in their own words I would have students explain all of the phase changes. This would be very brief but it would give me an idea on if I need to review the phase changes again.

Professional Development: Change the font so the whole document is in the same font. Goal 1: My first professional development goal is to be able to push higher performing students during lessons. This third grade class that I was in was 80% low learning students. I believe I spent most of my time trying to write lessons that would benefit them and I did not think about the higher level learners. I believe this student needs to be pushed just as much or even more than the low learning students. Some steps I am going to take before student teach is to research different units that I will be teaching. I will use support documents to see what students should know and what students should be assessed on. I will then look for activities that higher level students can do if they have gained knowledge of the material needed to know for the standard. Another strategy I could use for higher level students could be to place them in small groups if they are done with work and have them read ahead. This would allow them to stay on task but not get bored and distracted.

Goal 2: My second professional development goal is to using more direct instruction while teaching. I believe I want students to answer questions and come up with answers by themselves that I forget sometimes students just need to be able to know what a certain term means. Some ways I will work on this is to use PowerPoints or Weebly to lay out my lesson for that day. I will state what we are learning and use direct instruction first. I will then let students come up with answers and use critical thinking. This does not have to always be the case. Some lessons I will be able to let students critically think about the topic before I explain it. The lessons that were taught this showcase lesson were topics that were just

getting introduced. I believe I should have used direct instruction at the beginning of each lesson. I also think using direct instruction is way to accommodate for ESOL students.