Kolb ECED 429 Spring 2014 Lesson 5 Reflection Lesson Five: March 27, 2014 and April 1, 2014/

1:20 p.m. (Regional Areas and Johnny Appleseed) Whole Class Part A: For this particular lesson, I had to divide it into two days because everything I had planned for it. For the first day, I did the assessment part of the lesson and the folklore and regional areas of Johnny Appleseed or John Chapman. For most part, only a little of the bit of students knew who Johnny Appleseed was from previous grades who have done the celebration of Johnny Appleseed. In the beginning of lesson, I introduced how ideas and cultures of stories and songs get around in different regional areas of the United States. I thought the students would be more engaged if I gave an example of a tradition or culture of another state like Louisiana. The students were really excited to hear that I was from that area and wanted to know more about it. During the lesson, I put a map on the Smart Board so the students would have a visual reference of the United States. At this time, the students do not have knowledge of the geography of the United States but I did introduce where states that we were going to be talking about were located. To get the students more engaged, I had some come to the board to show how far the states that Johnny Appleseed traveled to and how far they were from South Carolina. Unforunatley the lesson itself was very long so the students were just learning about Johnny Appleseed and the regional area so I only got to do the pre, during, and post assessment. For the last part of the lesson of March 27, the students did a line of learning where they had to tell me something they learned about Johnny Appleseed. The students got in a line after they were finished to show me what they learned. I even had time to teach them how to do a cursive capital L which was not part of the lesson but I thought it would be a good idea to introduce the idea of cursive writing. For the second part of the lesson, I did one of the activities which involved painting apples to make color patterns. The assessment part of the lesson went so well with the whole class so I figured the activity part would have been fine. Turns out that the basic rules of instruction went out the door. My instructions were not as well thought out as I was hoping they would be. I did not have the students sitting on the floor during the story of the star of the apple and plus the materials for the art activity was not ready either. My cooperating teacher had to help me to get the things prepared before I could actually start the lesson. Pertaining to the learning domains, students were able to be creative and use their hands to make something fun with paint. B. During the lesson, the Johnny Appleseed part went really well because I already had an idea of how it was going to turn out. I only had one student crying because he was not listening to some facts of Johnny Appleseed. Another way my lesson could have gotten better was if I had

the students sitting on the carpet during the story of the star on the apple. I was losing the students during the story because they were sitting in their desks. It also would have caused less distraction because the students would have not been playing with the materials as well. During the instruction of the apple activity, it would have went a lot smoother if I went over the rules of using the materials by keeping the paint on the paper plates. I had students getting paint on their desks. Three Individual Students: Low Student: My low student had tough time with the lesson because he did not have his glasses for the first part of the lesson but he did for the second lesson. He was able to do the apple activity with no problem. He loves to create and illustrate things so this activity was perfect for him. For the assessment part of the lesson, he was not able to answer my pre questions because I also realized they have not been working on regional areas as much as they should have had. But during the lesson and after the lesson, he was listening and he wrote what he learned about Johnny Appleseed and I could actually read what he was saying. He has improved from lesson to lesson. Medium Student: My middle student has progressed with recalling information. He was able to give me one fact that he learned about Johnny Appleseed. I believe this lesson did really well with him but I would probably give him more things that would really make him think. For the most part, he has been up and down with the previous lessons but he did really well with this one. He has been improving and being able to recall information needed. High Student: My high student has been keeping steady throughout every lesson. She has exemplified what is expected. She even offered to help me by taking pictures of the lines of learning for my post assessment. She wrote down her fact that he moved from place to place. During the apple activity, she was one of the very few who listened and did not get paint on her desk. I would most likely give her more challenging things to really see what she can do in regards to the lessons. Reflection on Lesson: What instructional decisions did you make before and during the lesson and why? Before the lesson, I tried to ask pre questions about some of the regional areas and it did not work so I introduced the idea of how ideas and stories travel across the country. This pre-assessment kept the students engaged and wanting to know more about these areas as well. During the lesson, I had the students to get up from the carpet to do the map and reasoning was because the students did have to sit down the whole time. Based upon student performance, discuss the instructional decisions for the next or future lesson? Since student performance went better than I thought it would, I think I

would need to work instructional directions and getting materials ready for the activity before my cooperating teacher was asked to do so. How did you engage or motivate the students successfully? At the first part of the lesson that was taught in March, I asked the students questions if they knew about Johnny Appleseed and what states he traveled to were in which region. Only one student knew so it told me that they have not gone over the unit as much as they should have had. Instead I introduced the idea of how stories and songs get around in the country. For the second part of the lesson that was taught in April was to ask them what they remembered about Johnny Appleseed which went exceptionally well that they remembered some things about him. What instructional mode was employed? For the both parts of the lesson, it was more whole group instruction because of the content. How effectively did you use instructional aids? For the most part, I used the Smart Board for the during assessment so the students could visually see the states Johnny Appleseed traveled to. I also used the computer to pull up websites about Johnny Appleseed and the story of the star on the apple. Were the students actively engaged or passively involved? During the first part of the lesson, students were actively engaged by doing the map and the line of learning. During the second part of the lesson, I lost the students during the story because they were seated in their desks. But they were engaged during the apple activity because they got to use paint. Did you present the information in a clear and logical manner? For the lesson, I had to do research myself about Johnny Appleseed before I could teach the students about him. Another part of the lesson was that the information was presented to them that they were able to recall it back but my directions could have been clearer for them too. How effective were the materials and resources you selected for the lesson? The materials and resources were able to back up the lesson about the regional areas and Johnny Appleseed. The painting gave the students a more creative touch to Johnny Appleseed and to help the students learn the significance of the apple and why it was important in the United States. Were you able to or could you relate the lesson content to the lives of the students? During the lesson, I was able to relate it back to places and regional areas that have something special about them. I also told the students that when they go on vacation to a different regional area to take notice of what is special or what they have a lot of. Describe any discipline or classroom management techniques used during the lesson. Were the techniques effective or would you employ a different technique the next time? For the first part of the lesson, I had the students seated on the carpet to learn about Johnny Appleseed. They were more engaged and I did not lose them during instruction. However, the second part of the lesson, I did the complete opposite and had them seated at their desks and I ended up losing them during the story. Another technique I could work on is do discipline before my teacher does. She corrected the behavior problem before I did.

Reflect on your interaction with the students. Would you describe your treatment of the students being fair, respectful, and ethical? Well during the lesson, I had the same student for both parts of the lesson cry because he was either not listening during instruction or he was not paying attention during the directions of the apple activity. When he was upset, I tried to calm him down and tell him that it was okay. I went in a slower pace of doing the instructions so he would not miss anything. For the first part of the lesson, I retaught the lesson to him in a short amount of time. Were you able to summarize the lesson and relate it to the following lesson or homework assignment? Well the second part of the lesson, they were able to tell me something they learned about Johnny Appleseed from the first part of the lesson. I was not able to close the lesson properly for the second part of the lesson. Was your estimated time allocation for this lesson as noted in your lesson plan accurate? If your time varied, what factors contributed to this variance? Since my lesson had a lot of information and activities for the students to do, I had to split it into two separate days so we could cover everything. I was still not able to do one of the activities because the painting of the apple took so long to do for them.