Reilly Medzadourian

Culture Reflection

Please answer the following question about your virtual culture lesson.  Please be specific
and provide examples where necessary.

 Since the culture lesson was in a virtual environment, what was your biggest
challenge while planning the lesson?

The biggest challenge of planning the lesson in a virtual environment was how to make the
lesson engaging. Instead of having students just reading text off slides, we wanted them to be
engaging and interacting with the material. It was also hard to create the lesson because we
did not want it to be similar to a presentation. Furthermore, it was difficult to address
different types of learners in the virtual environment.

 In the planning the lesson, how did you accommodate for students since they
were going to complete the lesson independently?

Since students were going to complete the lesson independently, we used a collaborative
pinboard so students could still collaborate with one and another. The pinboard asked students to
share any information they knew about Russia before the lesson. Students saw their peers’
responses and could respond to them and bounce off ideas their peers’ posts. The lesson was
designed so students could complete it entirely independently and therefore they could pace
themselves at a time that would work for them. Also, since every student was working on this
independently, we had to incorporate all learning styles. We included videos, pictures, texts,
virtual reality environments, and real-life applications. What are some advantages to having a
lesson in a virtual environment?  Disadvantages?

 How different would your lesson have been if it was taught live in the
classroom?  What is at least one aspect that would have been completely
different?

My lesson would have been very different if it was taught to a live classroom. We used Nearpod
as the main interactive format for the lesson because it is a reliable online learning environment.
While the lesson demonstration would have been different live in the classroom, the content
would still be the same. One aspect that would have been completely different in this lesson
would be the activities. Instead of having students read off the screen about activities to do in
Russia, the class would have performed activities such as ice skating and ballet dancing in
groups and discussed them with partners.

 If you were to plan this lesson again for a virtual environment, what is one thing
you would do differently?  Why?

If I were to plan a lesson again for a virtual environment, I would create more opportunities for
student collaboration. One thing that is great about in-person classrooms is that students can
communicate with, learn from, and collaborate with their peers. While we did have one
collaboration pinboard in the lesson, I think more chances for peer-to-peer involvement would
keep students engaged and expand their learning.

 Did you achieve your objectives?  How can you be sure?  Looking back, was
your assessment effective?  What is one thing you would do differently with
assessment if you had another opportunity to teach this lesson virtually?

When students completed the assessment for my lesson, I was able to see that I achieved my
objectives for this lesson. Every student answered the quizzes correctly and provided feedback
on our question, “what is something new you learned about Russia?” Looking back, I think my
assessment was effective because it enabled students to critically think about what they had
learned and discerned from what they already had known. The short quizzes also helped students
to monitor their comprehension of the lesson. One thing I would do differently with the
assessment if I had another opportunity to teach this lesson virtually is to make our last
assessment question a bit more challenging. We asked students to state one new thing that they
learned about Russia, but next time I think I would want to ask a more specific question. I think I
would ask students to describe the education system in Russia and contrast it from their
experience in the United States.