Day One:

1. How and why did you use funds of knowledge data in designing the unit?

When I began writing this lesson I took into consideration my student’s funds of

knowledge so that I could create a unit that would reach all my students and make the

information interesting to them. As I planned this lesson I made sure to think about what my

students like to learn. I observed that my students light up during our science block of the day. I

noticed that most of my students knew something interesting or new that I did not about a

specific science topic. Many of my students also spend lots of time outside playing so connecting

this to their learning was something that guided my unit plan as well. During the pre-assessment

for the unit, the students were asking questions and wanted to talk about the weather and the

water cycle. As we finished this pre-assessment I was so impressed by the amazing

conversations we had about the topic and how fascinated they were by the information already.

Using their funds of knowledge will allow me to tap into their skills and interests so that each

student feels seen in the classroom.

2. How and why did you use the research on context data you collected as you designed

your unit?

When I designed my unit plan I used my research on context data I collected to guide

what I would teach so that I could reach the student I interviewed and honor his background. The

student that I interviewed talked about how one of his favorite subjects is science. I wanted to

connect this into what I would be teaching in my unit so that he would feel his interests were

represented in the classroom. Along with these connections he also loves to ski and I knew that if

I did a unit on weather and the water cycle I could tie that right into skiing. The interview gave
me a better understanding of what type of learner he is so that I could incorporate different

activities into the lessons I planned. In this first lesson, I wanted to make it interactive for him

and the other students so I used a video to explain the seasons and a book read aloud. I chose this

because in my research on context interviews he talked about how he loves to watch videos when

we are in class. Keeping these important facts about my student in mind I wrote this unit plan to

draw him and my other students into the topic so that they would be involved and excited about

learning.

The research on context also helped me better prepare for what to expect from these

learners. This class is very inquisitive and loves to ask questions and make connections to things

in their life, knowing this helped me prepare for what they might ask throughout the unit. I did a

lot of research on the topic while trying to anticipate what they might ask so that I could prepare

to answer them well. For the questions that I got and did not understand, I wrote them down and

then I would research and try to come back to the question at the end of the lesson or the

beginning of the next one.

Day Two:
3. How and why did you use the pre-assessment data of students’ knowledge, abilities, and
interests as you designed your curriculum and made instructional decisions?

When designing the unit plan I wanted to connect the pre-assessment to what would be in

the unit plan I wrote. When I went through the pre-assessment I looked at what each student’s

learning preference was and noticed that many loved to watch videos and work in small groups. I

made sure that each of my lessons had one video to go with the information we were learning

about. This allowed me to address my student’s interests and adapt the lesson to fit all learner

needs. When looking through the pre-assessment I saw that many of my students said they liked

to work with a partner and having a low buzz in the room was great for their learning. Along
with this, I made sure to work in time for them to talk to their shoulder partner during lessons.

When I looked at the pre-assessment I looked for the areas where I could see students were not

understanding the concept and focused on that as well as making sure to include their interests

into that lesson. I wanted to allow my students the freedom during the lesson to have

conversations and make connections to their own lives.

4. How did you conduct formative assessment and make changes as you taught your lesson?
I conducted formative assessments at the end of each lesson by having students answer

questions at the end to check for understanding. As well as listening to the conversations that

students have with one another during discussions. When teaching I planned in time to allow

students to talk so that I could gauge their understanding and determine what questions I would

ask them going forward. Along with these formative assessments I also had students complete a

visual representation of what we were doing in the lesson for the day. For example, I had

students draw the 4 different types of precipitation and write a short description to go with the

image they drew. I also had students create their diagram of the water cycle with the definitions

for each step. After students created their diagram or drawing I asked them a specific question to

check for understanding. As I taught the lesson I adapted to what I noticed my students were

struggling with and made sure to go back and address questions or comments. I would also go

back and play a video or write down the vocabulary and definition to help clarify the information

for students.

Day Three:
5. What effective teaching strategies and technology did you use?

When teaching I used the smartboard to project images and videos so that both students

online and in-person could see the information. When using this technology the students that are
more visual learners could understand the topic through the commentary and discussion after. I

also wore a microphone when teaching so that my students with hearing impairments and those

without were able to hear me even if I had my back turned to them when writing on the board.

When teaching each lesson I made sure that students knew it was time to be a ‘3’, meaning they

were silent and listening to the teacher or their peer that was talking. Setting these behavior

expectations before each lesson helped it be a more productive learning environment for all

students. Along with this, I gave students specific expectations when working with partners or a

group so that each student felt comfortable. One of the really important strategies I used was

proximity, as I walked around the room I was able to monitor students’ behavior and make sure

everyone was on task.

6. Behavior: What were your concerns; what worked; what did not; challenges?

As I went through my first lesson with students my concerns about behavior were

students shouting out and not yielding to their peers. I was also worried that I would have

students off task when I had to sit behind the computer monitor for the online students to be able

to see and hear me more. Another concern that I had was the content and the way I was

delivering the lesson would not be engaging for all my students. When I was teaching the lesson

on precipitation our discussion went well and the information that students shared for the KLEW

chart was right on target. I then went to share the video to go along with our discussion and I had

students that were not paying attention and they were asking off-topic questions during our

discussion. This made it difficult for us to get back on topic and start working on the art project

to go along with the lesson. Another challenge I had was sitting and teaching behind my desk, I

had to for one lesson for the students online. Throughout the lesson, I felt very disconnected

from the students in the classroom and it leads to some confusion on what was expected for
students to be doing. Along with this when the students were working on creating their water

cycle diagrams they did a wonderful job of helping the 1st-grade students that needed more help

cutting out definitions and placing them on the diagram.

Day Four:

7.Academic: What were your concerns; what worked; what did not; challenges?

When designing this unit I was concerned that the lessons within it would be too simple

or not in-depth enough for all my students. To address this, I made sure to go beyond and add in

more information for the students that needed that extra work. I would specifically ask these

students more questions or see what they could tell me about the topic. Along with my more

advanced students, I had concerns about the students that could not write completely on their

own. To solve this I worked on giving them more guidance and by sitting with them one on one

and talking with them about what they needed to write or draw for the assignment. To further

help these students I made sure to put the important vocabulary words and definitions on the

board so all my students could see what was expected of them. I also made sure that when I was

going to have students write definitions I provided them with a template for the definitions.

Along with this, I made sure to be explicit with instructions so that all my students know how to

8.How would you describe student learning during the unit, based on pre-and post-assessment
data?

I gave my students a pre-assessment in the beginning of the lesson. This assessment was

done using multiple choice, fill in the blank and drawing/coloring. The pre-assessment I gave

showed that students understood basic facts of weather and the water cycle. Once I looked at

what each student's learning preferences were on the pre-assessment I was able to adapt the

lessons I had planned so that each student is included.

 After reading over each student's pre-assessment I released that many of them made the

same error on a question about what happens to a liquid when it becomes solid. Once I had the

chance to think about it I would have read the question aloud for students a few times to make

sure everyone heard me and then moved on. When taking the pre-assessment I tried to make it

very straightforward for every student but I did lose some towards the end of the assessment.

Next time I would give students more wait time so they can process what I am asking them to do.

Throughout my unit plan I had exit tickets to help me check students for understanding.

On one of the exit tickets I asked my students to draw the four types of precipitation. Many of

my students were very capable and could do this but I also ask them to describe snow and how it

formed more specifically. This was difficult for them because they knew I wanted it to be more

detailed. Upon further reflection, I realized that I should have given them a word bank to help

guide the students to use the appropriate vocabulary they learned in the lesson. This might have

helped students make the connections between the information they learned throughout the

lesson and use it for the exit ticket.

Day Five:
9. Take one lesson guide and discuss what would be the next steps for students who did not meet
your objectives.

During my second lesson, students were tasked with drawing and describing the 4

different types of precipitation. Students were able to talk with their table partners about what

each form of precipitation looks like and then we came back as a group to discuss. The students

were able to draw the images of snow, sleet, hail and rain very accurately but had difficulty

writing and connecting the definitions with the type of precipitation. Many of the students were

more focused on the drawing than on the definition of the form of precipitation. My next steps

for this lesson would be to first have the students write out definitions with their table group.
Then I would have them share these with the whole class so that we can all see different ways to

write them. Then I would release the students to write the definitions on the final paper and at the

very end draw the image of the type of precipitation to go with their definition. I think that this

would help because it would give students more scaffolding on the direction that I wanted the

answers to go.

10. What will you do the same and/or differently in the future in terms of assessing student
learning and using assessments to design curriculum?

I loved reading through the students’ pre-assessments and seeing what things they already

knew and what things they don’t know. This helped me plan my instruction so that I was not

re-teaching a concept or skipping over something that my students did not know. I think in the

future I will create a section on pre-assessment where the students can ask one to two questions

that they have about the weather or the water cycle. This could help me incorporate even more

material about different topics they are interested in to engage them in the unit. Along with this I

want to incorporate more interactive activities into my assessment. When I went back and looked

at my unit I saw that it would be really fun to have more games to assess students' knowledge.

Having them play a matching game with the types of clouds that go with it could be a fun way to

engage them and assess their understanding. I would also incorporate more questions that are

more true/false questions. I tried to design the pre-assessment so that it would be simple and less

stressful for students that get anxiety, but I feel that the design was too simple and I could have

incorporated more difficult questions.