Reflection on a Lesson Plan Taught

Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow

Intern Name: Aidan Tardif
Subject of Lesson: Social and Emotional Learning
Topic of Lesson: Friendship and relationships
Age/Grade of Students: 5th Grade
Date of Lesson: May 10, 2024
Time/Length of Lesson: 30-40 minutes

Before Teaching:
I determined the topic of my lesson because I noticed that the kids in my class love to be
creative and make bracelets so I wanted to incorporate them into my lesson. The first thing I
thought of when I thought of bracelets was a friendship bracelet, and then I thought that they
could probably use a lesson on friendship too. I started my lesson by going and getting the
supplies the students will need to make the bracelets and the supplies I needed to make
bracelets for them. I went through the steps of planning the lesson and making the slideshow,
as well as going and buying the supplies needed for the bracelets and then making the
bracelets and making the individual bags for each of the kids to make their own. I discussed my
lesson with my cooperating teacher, Ms, Free, my mom, and I even asked the students without
actually telling them what I was doing and how they would feel about the lesson. The only
feedback I was given was to make sure I had enough materials and make sure the bracelets
would be easy enough for the kids to make in the amount of time they will be given. I feel this
feedback has made me feel more comfortable and confident teaching my big lesson.

During Teaching:
While teaching my lesson all of the students were super engaged and excited that I got to be
their teacher. When I started my warmup I realized that a lot of the students wouldn't want to
share their word about friendship to the class, so I only let the kids who raised their hand and
wanted to share did. I did a very good job estimating the amount of time the lesson would take
and it took about 40 minutes. I had purchased the perfect amount of beads and strings for all
the kids to make at least two bracelets. Although the colored string that I got wasn't as
stretchy as we needed, we made it work perfectly. The students were very patient while I was
going through the little information I had on my slideshow, and they all cheered when I told them
we were going to make friendship bracelets. I can imagine a better way my lesson could have
gone, it was amazing.

After Teaching:
I learned that the less amount, but still enough for the students to understand, of information
the better to keep them engaged and excited. I believe this lesson was very successful, they all
worked together, shared their materials, and some even made bracelets to match each other.
Students also began to make bracelets for kids in other classes. The preparation I had for my
lesson helped so much, not only making the slides and knowing the information I was telling
them, but getting the materials and making each of them a bracelet beforehand made it so
much easier for me to help and teach them the best way to make them and tie the bracelets. If I
were to do this lesson again with my same kids I would probably separate all the beads by color
and let them pick what colors they wanted so it would be easier for them to get the color they
wanted. This lesson was amazing and super fun to do with my class, I couldn't have asked for a
better outcome. I can't wait to do more lessons like this in the future.