TWS 8

Reflection, Self-Evaluation, & Professional Development

Reflection on Showcase Lesson (Lesson 5) Whole class:

I taught my students using a story called Spookley the Square Pumpkin. The objective
was to have the students be able to understand the story and connect it to bullying. Many of
the students had prior knowledge on the subject of bullying, or have read the story before. The
students were able to make the connection between the story and their elementary schools
bullying policy. This allowed positive learning to occur in the classroom. In the end, most
students knowledge growth either stayed the same or grew.

Modifications Made During the Lesson:

During the read aloud portion of the lesson, I noticed that many students were getting
antsy and was ready to give their thoughts and ideas. Since there is not enough time for them
all to share, I allowed the students to turn and talk to their partners more than normal. The
student could share all their thoughts before we came together as a whole group. This allowed
students to more creative thoughts when it came time to work on their worksheets.

Modifications Made if I Teach the Lesson Again:

If I were to teach this lesson again I would change many aspects of it. I really liked that I
gave the students more chances to turn and talk to their partner, but I need to work on my
time management. It took me too long to listen in to each conversation and this allowed
student conversations to get off subject. If I provide more turn and talk opportunities, I need to
make them shorter in length. I also would explain my instructions better and all at once to the
students. I told the students as a whole class to write their name at the top of the paper, then
sign the pledge in the middle of the sheet. In the end, not all students understood why they
had to put their name on the paper twice. In the future I would explain what a pledge is and
why we sign them. After they signed the pledge I had the students write the three steps to stop
a bully. I then went one by one to students to check their papers and tell them to start on their
drawings. I was more concerned with the writing than the picture. Going to students one by
one became very time consuming and confused the students. If I was to teach this lesson again
I would have very clear instructions in the beginning and explain why it is important that we
write our steps before we draw.

Individual Student Reflection:

Most successful student: Sydnee is a very bright and intelligent student. She is always in
the classroom on time and does what is told of her. She completes her work in sufficient time
with little to no problems. When she does have problems with her work, she listens intently on
how she could improve her work. When she finishes her work early she always pulls out her
baggy books and begins to read. Sydnee enjoys talking to her peers. Turn and talk moments are
perfect for a student like her. She has time to talk to other students, but also stay on task. In
the future I could give Sydnee more challenging questions to get her to think more critically.

Average success student: Stariana is very creative and is able to explain any problem.
She is very playful and friendly, which is the leading cause of her success level. Instead of
getting work completed and making it neat, she would rather talk about the work with her
classmates. To help Stariana in the future I could have her sit in a separate area or with
students that are quiet during work time. I believe that if Stariana no longer had the chance to
speak to others, she would become very motivated to get her work done. Turn and talk
moments are not necessarily the best assessments for students such as Stariana. She got off
topic several times. She did work very well with the drawing portion of the final assessment.
She enjoyed drawing out her thoughts.

Least successful student: Kenya is a very funny and talkative student. Her emotions
tend to go up and down as the day goes on. When her emotions are down, she becomes
unmotivated to do any work. During the worksheet, Kenya began to say she was not smart
enough to finish writing the answers because she could not spell a certain word. To help Kenya
with her work, it would be best to place her next to happy and well behaved students. I also
believe that I should give daily oral motivations or leave motivating statements on her desk to
keep her spirits high. During lessons, I could spend a little extra time talking to her and see what
she is working on to encourage her good work habits. During turn and talk moments, students
such as Kenya should be paired with students who will keep her on task.

Additional Lesson Reflections and Analysis:

Lesson 1: Book Introduction

Students were working on a section of reading called Good Habits of a Good Reader. I
taught the last lesson of the section. I taught the students what a book introduction was and
then demonstrated it. The students then had the opportunity to use it on their books during
partner reading time. The students were actively engaged and participating the entire time. I do
believe that if I were to teach the lesson again, I would change one major thing. I would model
many times. Once students began their partner reading time, it seemed as though many
students forgot what the whole lesson was about. Many jumped right into reading and some
forgot several steps along the way. I would use my lesson time to go over and over the different
steps and quiz the students on what step went with what finger. This would help the students
remember the steps and to conduct the book introduction as a whole. Students worked better
the second day, because I went to the partners individually the first day to work with and re-
explain what was expected of them.

Lesson 2: True and False Statements in Math:

Students had been working on addition with numbers up to 10. I introduced what true
and false statements were and how we use them in math. Most students seemed to
understand what was expected of them during the whole class instruction. Once they went to
their desks to do work individually, they became confused about what they should be doing. I
believe that I should have reviewed what an equal sign was and how it is used to make both
sides the same number. I could have had more easy examples with pictures to help them
understand the concept before sending them to their desks to do the work alone. I went to
students who seemed to have difficulty and explained what they should do. Once I was able to
see what the individual student was doing to get the question wrong, it was easier to explain
how to fix the problem.

Lesson 3: Careers

I read a big book to the class and had them follow along and answer questions with their
turn and talk partners. Many of the students were fully engaged in the lesson. They loved giving
opinions about what they thought a career was and giving examples. If I were to teach the
lesson again, I would pick a different book to start the lesson with. The book I was provided
with was more about what a community is rather than about the careers in a community. This
gave me problems when it came to the post assessment quiz. Students knew the answers to
the questions about communities, government and what a community help is. Many could not
answer questions about the different careers because the book did not cover the different
careers individually. I believe that a different book would resolve the student confusion. One
thing that did go well was the conversations about the community. The book allowed many
students to begin to think more and more about what it means to be a community helper.
Students were about to begin their project based learning section on community helpers and
this gave them the perfect opportunity to start thinking about the community.

Lesson 4: Lets Go Rock Collecting

Students were closing up a project based learning section on rocks so this was the
perfect chance to do an experiment. I read a book called Lets Go Rock Collecting and had a
Smartboard Notebook slideshow to wrap up the main points of the book. The book focused on
three types of rocks and how they are formed. I believe this was my most successful lesson
taught because the students learned and were excited about learning because of the hands on
activity. Instead of just learning about rocks from a book, they were able to make a rock. They
made a metamorphic rock with just their hands and two Starbursts. The students were very
excited so they became loud. There was also a power outage during my lesson which caused
the students to be even more rambunctious. I was able to keep the lesson going and keep the
noise level down by telling the students they had to be quiet to do the experiment.

Reflection on possibilities for Professional Development:

Goal one: I would like to be able to work on time management. It is very easy to get caught up
in fun lesson or listening to every student thought. I would like to be able to manage time in my
lessons and have a designated time for each part. I will space future lessons enough to not have
to rush everything at the end of the lesson. I believe each part of a lesson is important and
should have appropriate time to be done. Setting and following through with daily goals and
lesson times will help me meet my time management goal.

Goal two: Better classroom management is a future goal of mine. I noticed that over time I
became more comfortable within the classroom and with the students. In the future I need to
quickly become comfortable with the students so that I can have more control over how the
class is run. I will work to improve my management on student voice control and off-task
behaviors.