Lesson Planning Assignment Reflection:

1.a) I learned that although lesson planning may seem to take a long amount of time, creativity
and knowing your students, the subject content is not that much of a worry. I learned that lesson
planning is not simply one lesson for one specific time slot in a day but is instead often a two or
three day lesson continued on. If you dont know how your lesson is to work, neither will your
students. Detail and clarification will help lead a lesson to success because all aspects are
carefully looked at and developed. Lastly I learned that the integration of various outcomes can
be accomplished by one lesson as well as easily blended cross-curricular outcomes.
b) The anticipatory hook sets students up for interest and motivation, if a hook is dry and dull,
the students will bring a lack of energy to begin the lesson with. The more interesting the hook,
the more likely the students will feel the urgency to contribute later on. In my group lesson we
used a short jeopardy to introduce Canadian rivers, capital cities and landforms to spark
knowledge and interest in our social studies topic, this helped the students later on when they
were to answer questions (by showing on their Alberta map) about the same things as our hook
presented. The curiosity and competitive natures of the students was brought to light in our hook
which was transferred when they performed our lesson. In my classroom practicum experience,
the students were exposed to an environment of laughter, listening and new perspective in the
story I read them, this later was seen when they worked together on my lesson. The students
relied on their listening experience of the book to then share with their group to form their
character change in their own story. Because students were interested in the book, their
understanding of this concept grew when applying it to other stories, furthermore this created
engagement and deep learning (which the students were unaware of at the time).

c) For my group lesson plan we decided on what subject was of interest to all of us and how to
create an engaging assignment on a topic often found dry by students. Our guiding thoughts were
that we wanted students to have a hands on experience by physically showing the knowledge
they gained previously and are gaining throughout this lesson. Our goal was for students to show
their information rather than simply just know it. When planning this we had trouble decided
how much detail the students were to show on their maps as well as if they should have other
resources available to them for this process. Other considerations we had included creating this
into a multi-day lesson which would include further research completed by students, we also
considered having other books and artifacts on Alberta to add dimensions to the research for
labeling the map. We considered making the jeopardy longer to help refresh students, use of
technology and to have students each complete their own map. We wanted for students to work
together to achieve the map but have a solid individual basis of knowledge. For my individual
lesson plan my teacher told me the subject she wanted for me to teach as well as quite traditional
lessons such as reading a book then having them answer questions and a journal entry. I chose to
do an assignment similar to one I had done in grade four about perspective and interpreting a
story through creativity. A goal of mine was to engage the students and have them question
themselves and push each other to go further. I also figured that the students would like a group
aspect to encourage their thoughts which I hoped would lead to deep reflection on an exit slip
paper. Other considerations I had were to include four questions on the exit slip paper rather than
just one but I did not think time would permit. I also considered having the students read their
own stories rather than me reading one and having them have previous knowledge on the books
they were given.

d) For my group lesson we determined it was successful by examining the participation, attitude
and engagement of the students throughout. The overall experience was deemed successful in
regards to how students were interacting, the outcome of the Alberta map and the exit slip
answer. The students achieved the outcomes by having a hands on experience looking through
the atlas and discussion to produce a creative looking project as a result. I determined my lesson
was successful in the learning of the students because they followed directions, asked questions,
my hook sparked curiosity and creativity in regards to their group activity answers as well as the
exit slip question and the concentration taken place. When talking to my teacher she said she saw
one hundred percent engagement however I could have included more questions and increased
the vocabulary used. The students were able to complete the task as well as many started to do
another story once they completed everything due to enjoyment and participation. Through the
reading of the story, use of creativity through group involvement in the activity and individual
reflection time, students were able to directly meet the goals of the program of studies. By
having various approaches to the same topic, students were able to achieve goals through
different actions (listening, group work and individual reflection) to help achieve the goals.
e) The closure for my group lesson invited students to all answer uniquely but lacked questioning
for a deep understanding which showed improvement, new found knowledge and interest. The
closure should have had use of closure discussion concluding findings as well as showing
improvement when answering the exit slip. In my personal lesson plan students werent expected
to finish so quickly so the question was fairly easy to answer, however the gained knowledge
could be easily assessed when looking at the answer to the exit slip. By instead including more
questions in both exit slips and a quick debriefing class conclusion students would be able to
have clarity on the lesson learned.

2. In the sharing stage other peers suggested to have jeopardy be short so the students would
have their brains thinking about Alberta then to use the majority of the time for students to work
on the map assignment giving them the ability to fully engage and complete all the questions in
depth. Peers also suggested to have more structure in the exact answers the students were to find,
but my group decided we wanted to students to be creative as well as have different looking
maps as a result. In the presentation stage peers suggested to assign each group member certain
questions to answer individually to create equal work for all, another recommendation was to
clearly differentiate national and provincial parks from each other to avoid confusion among
students. By having this activity hands on in a group environment peers thought this would help
engage and excite students. Jeopardy as a hook and having students use atlases instead of
technology to find information were told to be valuable and out of the box for this lesson.
3. Through my students feedback I realized the need for clarification on what the exit slip was
and to clarify the meaning of the question. The students were also confused to who they were
able to complete the exit slip with although it had been an individual assignment. I learned from
my mentor teacher that the students needed more complicated language to help them further their
vocabulary as well as to include more questions on the exit group assignment sheet in order to
push students to reflect and apply knowledge. She recommended that the exit slip have more
questions to help keep students on task when others are working slower and that the completion
of all the exit slip questions are then not expected to be completed.
4. From my group lesson plan I found that the most important idea to take forward is the need for
detail and clarification in the lessons for it will help guide me and my students toward the goal
efficiently. When gaps in the lesson lacked clarity, it not only wasted time but had my group step
back and search up our answers to the students. By creating hands on activities students are able

to have the different multiple intelligences and learning styles included as well as a visual for
students to see the progression of their learning. The idea of assigning students particular tasks
within their groups helps add responsibility and equality of learning to the students, which will
likely create more productivity within the classroom. In the future I think having a rough
example of what the product is to look like would deem helpful to the students throughout the
process as well as for myself to catch flaws or possible confusion that may occur within the
lesson. Somethings I would take forward in the future are cross curricular lessons because often
interest is sparked within the majority of students. From my personal teaching experience I found
that by having more questions and quiet tasks for students it will create a more quiet and
productive atmosphere for students still working to complete the original task. I found this when
some students would be reading books out loud with other students or not on task which
increased volume for other students. Something I learned was that when a lesson is a variety of
different sections (reading a book, group work and individual work) all students will stay on task
to a greater extent due to variety. By creating a lesson into a fun experience students are able to
pull more ideas out and apply them to their own work rather then look for it in a book. By using
increasing language in students questions and assignments the improvement will happen
gradually and their familiarity with vocabulary will increase along with it. In the future I would
like to include a variety of activities in a lesson as well as the ability to collaborate as well as
complete the task individually. On the other hand the use of detail, clarity and specific tasks for
students is of importance of what I would like to improve in future lessons.