Reflection for Lesson One

I am an auxiliary highschool teacher in Marbella, Spain and one of the subjects that I teach
is Biology. The purpose of my job, in this class, is to introduce the main vocabulary for their biology
class, in English. I often achieve this goal by teaching a mini-lesson each week that last one class
period. I have found that rote memorization is the least effective way for my students to recall their
vocabulary. When creating a sample lesson for this class, I wanted to incorporate my students interests,
the subject, and a realistic lesson for a non-native speaker who is only just beginning to learn English. I
find myself using pictures to represent words in every class, but especially in Biology. What better way
to talk about an animal then to show them what it looks like in real life? This inspired me to want to
design a unit that incorporated Art. The lesson that I will be teaching my students is about ecosystems.
The CCSS that best meets the needs of the students for this lesson is: “CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-
10.1.C

Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current
discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify,
verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions” (National Governors Association Center 2019 p.9).

My first lesson is all about incorporating the ideas of STEAM. I will be asking my students
to create their own ecosystem by designing a park. I will expect them to use their vocabulary (in
English) and artistic ability to creatively think about the characteristics of a park and how they have
their own mini ecosystem.This will meet the expectations of my first objective:demonstrate their
understanding of small- and large-scale ecosystem by creating their own mini-ecosystem.As suggested
by Wilkey Oh (2017) “a fantastic way to support English language learners both academically and
emotionally is to integrate creativity and arts-based projects into your teaching (p.1). For my class, this
creativity can be found in a gallery showing were each student will stand by their piece of art and share
its story.The second objective for this class is for students to apply their knowledge of unit 5s
vocabulary by writing a schema of a park and sharing it with their group for feedback. Wilkey oh
(2017), goes on to write that “Art projects can help lower kids' affective filters, giving them more
confidence to break out of their shells and get talking (p.1).