Reflection 3: Observational Reflection

For this reflection, I observed my mentor teacher, Melynda Stewart, teach her first grade class a lesson on writing a nonfiction book. As a class, the students are writing a nonfiction book about animals. Each group of three students created a page on one type of animal. The objective of this particular lesson was brainstorming ideas and introducing the entire project. Throughout this lesson, Mrs. Stewart used many of the principles we have discussed in the class.

First of all, she used Vygotsky’s principle of scaffolding in the lesson. First, Melynda demonstrated what they were going to be doing. In order to do this, she chose two students, Bracken and Kenia, to be part of her “group.” With this group, Melynda modeled how to select an animal for the group. She guided the group, thereby showing the rest of the class how to choose an animal they all agreed on by working together. Once they chose an animal, Sharks, they started out by writing facts down that they knew about it. Melynda demonstrated how they would use other nonfiction books on chosen animals to research additional facts. She then showed them how they would select the 3 favorite facts. Throughout the entire lesson, she emphasized working together for the students. After she had finished her demonstration, Melynda removed her scaffolding and influence and allowed the students to work individually in their small groups.

During this lesson, Melynda also used different principles of Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory. In her lesson, she did not focus on one type of intelligence. Rather, she allowed groups to use linguistic intelligence through writing and research, visual-spatial intelligence through drawing and designing the page, and interpersonal through group work.

The different concepts and principles that Melynda used in her teaching of this lesson are ones that I try to incorporate in my own lessons. After having watched this specific lesson of Melynda’s and many others throughout the practicum, I have seen how well the use of these ideas helps in teaching young students, particularly first graders.

During this lesson, the students were highly focused and excited to begin the project. They paid close attention to the modeling and later worked well in their groups. As I observed each group working on their own projects, I was able to see how much they had learned about brainstorming and researching. The various groups were all engrossed in various nonfiction books to learn as much about their animal as they could. It was a really neat experience to watch Melynda work with this group of students to teach them how to brainstorm and research in order to create a class book about animals!

My Technology-Enhanced Lesson

For my technology-enhanced lesson, I reviewed the parts of plants with my first grade class using I-Clickers. Prior to the lesson, I designed a review in the CPS program for clickers that Deerfield elementary uses. Some of the questions I entered only had 3 choices. Others had 4. Three of the fifteen questions were left without pictures, but the majority of the questions had a picture illustrating the concept I was quizzing at that moment. The formatting and set-up of each question was slightly different too maintain interest from all of my students. In order to do this, I placed the picture in a different spot when compared to the question base and the answer choices. For the actual lesson, each student was given an I-clicker. I used an LCD projector to project the questions onto the screen so that all students could see it. I read each question to the class with the options. After the question was read, the students were able to select which answer they thought was correct, then set down their controller on their desk to show they were ready and remove the tempation to continue pushing buttons. After all students had answered, I ended the question, showed the class the correct answer and the number who answered it correctly. This allowed each student to monitor their own progress and knowledge/understanding. If there were a large number who got the answer wrong, I explained the correct answer and why that was the right answer. At the end of the lesson, students brought their clicker back up to the front of the room to be put away.
Prior to this activity with the class, I tested out the system to make sure it worked. This turned out to be a great idea since my mentor teacher's computer (which I was using for the activity) was not recognizing the response system. After several attempts to get this to work, I ended up emailing the file to the facilitator's computer to use during the lesson. During my first attempt of the lesson with the students, the pictures would not work from the faciliators computer. For this reason, I only did the questions without pictures that day and downloaded the files onto that computer as well and then completed the rest of the questions the following day with the class. All in all it was a great success and the students really enjoyed it!

Technology-Enhanced Lesson

I have a couple of ideas that I might use for my technology-enhanced lesson during my first practicum. One idea I am planning on using in the future (and have done already) is to use a PowerPoint. Since our school has projectors, it is easy to create a PowerPoint that the students will enjoy and learn from. Although this is a relatively simple idea, technology is used so rarely in the first grade classroom I am working in that the students would absolutely love it.

Another idea I am planning on using will come after I have finished teaching my class about the different parts of a plant. I am planning on creating an I-Clicker review for the students. This would be completely new for them and let them actually become involved in the technological activity as well.

Classroom Technology Inventory

I am completing my first practicum at Deerfield Elementary in a first grade classroom. I was surprised to notice that while this is a really nice school that places a lot of emphasis on the education of the students, there is not a lot of technology involved in the classroom. This is the case at least for the first grade.
In the classroom there is one computer. This is the teacher's personal computer which most students do not get to use. One student, an ELL student who is still learning the alphabet gets to use Starfall.com to practice and work with the alphabet. There is not any specialty software downloaded onto my mentor teacher's computer. The first grade at Deerfield got a projector this year to share between 5 classrooms. Since this is a new feature for the classrooms, most of the teachers do not use the projector very much. The students have scheduled opportunities in the computer lab with a 3 month cycle. The computers in this lab have Kidspiration and Google Earth downloaded onto them for students to use. At this point in the cycle, my class has P.E. and does not get to use computers very often. This means that very little technology is used in their education.
I was impressed that the teachers in the first grade classrooms have microphones to use in the classroom. (Talking with other cohort students at this school who are in other grades, I was able to learn that not all of the grades have this equipment.) The fifth grade got Smartboards for their classrooms this year. Over the next few years, all of the classrooms will be getting this equipment. All the classrooms also have access to I-Clickers.
It is interesting how little technology is used in the classroom with all of the different resources that are available. Hopefully, I will be able to pull a little bit more technology into use with my class.

Pre-Revolutionary War Events Tour

Here is the link to my Google Earth Tour of the Pre-Revolutionary War Events.

Modules 27-30 Quiz Questions

Determine if the statement is true or false and circle the correct  answer (T or F). 

1. T or F   Billy demonstrates extrinsic motivation when he finds the activity to be rewarding.

2. T or F   Mrs Jones class is planning a party for their families. In math she gives them authentic tasks by assigning them problems to help determine the number of cookies they need to make. 

3. T or F   Fannie sets mastery goals in her math class because she wants to learn and understand long division.  

4. T or F   Mr. Steel's class is intrinsically motivated so he provides various rewards and incentives.

5. T or F   An incentive  is an attractive object or event given as a consequence for behavior.

Answers: 1-F, 2-T, 3-T, 4-F, 5-F

Google Earth Tour Plan and TPACK Questions

Here are the plans for a Google Earth Tour of the Key Events in the Revolutionary War.

Location	Activity	Google Earth Content
1.Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: French and Indian War	Write down 3 facts about George Washington's involvement in the French and Indian War. How do you think this impacted the Revolutionary War? How do you think the American Revolution might have been different if the French and Indian War hadn't occurred?	Wikipedia Link, Picture of George Washington
2.Great Britain: Stamp Act	Imagine that you are part of the British Parliament. You are assigned to design the stamp that will be placed on all of the products in the New World. Draw what your design would look like. Feel free to add a little bit of color to your design!	Wikipedia Link
3.Boston Massachusetts: Boston Tea Party	The year is 1773 and the Boston Tea Party has just occured. You are a journalist for the Boston Tribune assigned to cover this exciting event. Write a newspaper article about the Boston Tea Party. Include accounts from witnesses, the sailors, Sons of Liberty, and government officials.	Wikipedia Link
4.Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Common Sense and Declaration of Independence	The year is 1776. You are now a citizen in the colonial city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Thomas Paine has recently published his pamphlet, Common Sense, and the Continental Congress is meeting. The fervor for independence from Britain is mounting. Thomas Jefferson is writing the Declaration of Independence. See how much you know about your new country and the events that have been occurring around you by completing the quiz at http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/road.html.	Wikipedia Link, Link to PBS's Quiz: Road to Revolution
Details of image overlay / path / polygon:	I will be using a picture overlay to help represent the events at that specific location. In this way, I will help bring those events to life for the students. I will also use a polygon overlay to map out pictures of Independence Hall so that students can see what it looks like today.

TPACK Questions:

The content I am using for this lesson comes from the Utah State Core Curriculum for 5th Grade Standard 2, Objective 1, Indicator a. This indicator states: "Explain the role of events that led to declaring independence (e.g., French and Indian War, Stamp Act, Boston Tea Party)." During this lesson, students will be learning about the key factors that led to the American Revolution by examining the locations and history of four different events leading to the American Revolution. The pedagogy for this lesson will include various activities that will challenge students to gain a deep understanding of these specific events. These activities will be designed to help students placce themselves in the shoes of the early American Revolutionary citizens. The technology used in this lesson will be Google Earth. Through Google Earth, students will be able to see the location of the events and have access to the different activities corresponding to that event. Google Earth will also allow the students to read about the specific details of the event.