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Assignment Four:

 

At the beginning of student teaching I was asked to write goals for my experience the goals I had were;

              Goal One: Learn something new everyday; from my cooperating teacher, from other teachers, supervisor, or the students.
Goal Two: Work my hardest and put as much effort into student teaching as I can.
Goal Three: Branch out and meet other teachers gain resources and mentors.
Goal Four: Enjoy these 12 weeks of learning and growing.

 

Looking back at these goals I surpassed all expectations that I had for this experience. My first goal to learn something new everyday was something that I felt very strongly about. I definitely learned (many) things EVERYDAY I taught. I learned how to be a more effective teacher from my teacher and other teachers, how to cooperate with other teachers. I learned from the students what they need from a teacher, how to motivate and inspire them. In my journal I had an on going theme of what I learned that day. Upon reviewing the journal it was so fun to see my growth and learning.

             

My second goal was not hard to accomplish. Student teaching is a lot of work but it is so worth all the time and effort put into it. In every aspect of student teaching I tried to go above and beyond what was expected of me to really make this experience as meaningful as it possibly could be.

             

Goal three was a fun and easy goal. Not only did I “click” with my cooperating teaching, I built relationships with other first grade teachers, and Para professionals and other staff in the building. Why I chose this as one of my goals because I think that it is vital for success of a teacher to be part of the school community. Not only do you need to have mentors, but also other teachers provide support and ideas for other teachers.

             

My last goal was something that wasn’t something I had to try very hard to accomplish. I loved every minute of 12 weeks. I learned too much and grew so much as a teacher over these last 12 weeks that I can’t believe it is over.  I had so many experiences that were beneficial to me as a teacher. Student teaching was the best part of my education.

 

              It is almost impossible to choose just one experience that was meaningful experience to me because I had so many. However, one that sticks out to me for a variety of reasons is the guided writing lesson I planned for St. Patrick’s Day. I had my brother who lives in Ireland could send me some blank postcards. I was going to have the students write a Minnesota post card to a leprechaun and then pretend to mail the postcards. They would then get a postcard back from a leprechaun from Ireland. The time and organization that it took to plan this lesson out was extensive. I had to plan in advance because I needed them to get sent from Ireland. The week before St. Patrick’s Day I had bought the Minnesota post card and did a guided writing lesson with my students. The postcards turned out great and the students loved the activity. Then the big problem arose the Ireland postcards were stuck in customs in NY. I was devastated, I had put so much in getting everything organized and ready. So I improvised, the night before I created post card templates and hand wrote a postcard to each of my students. This project took me four hours. It was stressful and not exactly what I wanted but it worked. The lesson was the best that I have ever taught. The principal of the school got involved and delivered them to our classroom. The students were so excited and engaged for the rest of the day. This lesson taught me a lot about myself, and teaching. I learned that I am up to a challenge and that I don’t give up even when things don’t go exactly my way. I also learned that as a teacher things don’t always go the way that you plan. As a teacher you have to be flexible for unexpected events. You must be able to roll with changes and make the most of every opportunity. This is a lesson that I will never forget. It portrays me as a teacher, that I want the best for my students and I will work to give them that.

How does your unit contribute to the ...

1. How does your unit contribute to the curriculum goals of your teaching

assignment? standards, content, student learning

- The unit was on weather for first grade students, I had to plan a variety of lessons that included hands on experiences, multi media work and a variety of other aspects. The Minnesota State standards for first grade include weather. Under the broad topic of weather there is storms and water cycle. My lesson met the standard completly when it was complete. It engaged the students in a variety of learning expereiences that allowed them to explore the topic in great length. I feel that this unit was an asset to their learning. It allowed them to explore, research, experience and develop what they already knew about weather.

2. Describe the learning expectations that you had for your lessons. What

aspects of the lesson were successful and why? What aspects of the lesson where not successful and why?

I had high expecations for my lessons. I wanted the students to expereice weather as hands on as they could. I also wanted to be able to clearly see what they wanted to learn so that I could teach them that. To do this I set up a research station ( part of stations already set) and had the students write a KWL chart to indicate the direction of my unit. This was benifical it allowed me to see where the gaps in learning were so I could fill those gaps. The experiements were the most successful parts of my lesson. They stretched the students to think beyond what they saw and really try to understand new concepts. To me there is nothing better then pushing students to higher level thinking. One aspect of the unit that I felt could have used more work was the technology aspect. The classroom I work in does not have the ability to show video clips on a screen. It would have been interesting for the students to see live footage or tapes of actual storms. However, I did get a chance to show some video in the computer lab one day, this was not part of the unit just an opportunity presented and taken.

3. Analyze one of your instructional materials and discuss its effectiveness.

            Again to bring it back to the experiements the rain lesson was so effective for students to truely see and example of the water cycle. They were able to see the condensation form and the precipitiaotion build and then the rain falling. This expereiment was meaningful and exciting for them. Although, it was more work for me it allowed the sudents to really delve into and challenge their thinking. Also, The pocket chart was a combination of music and science that taught the students the part of the water cycle before they truely understood its meaning. It goes like this:
                                                                                           Water travels in a cycle yes it does
                                                                                            Water travels in a cycle yes it does
                                                                                            It goes up as evaporation
                                                                                            Then forms clouds of condensation
                                                                                            And falls down as precipitation
                                                                                             Yes it does!




      4.Analyze the student work you provided. Describe why one example is an illustration of quality work and why one is not. Discuss what steps you took to support the student that did not produce quality work.
        (See actual examples of work in regards to this questions)

5. Provide an argument for why the assessment instrument that you developed was the best strategy for determining student achievement. Include a discussion of how the instrument addressed the lesson objectives and provided concrete evidence of student achievement.

    ( See assessment example in regards to this question.)

The unit on weather had many differen...

The unit on weather had many different components, one assessment I chose clearly demonstrated the students understanding of the water cycle. The water cycle or any life cycle is part of first grade standards. I attached one example to demonstrate what the students where required to do. We had discussed the water cycle in a variety of ways; through a pocket chart, stories, movement, and video. The students were then asked to pretend that they were a rain drop and explain what happened to them. This form of assessment really allowed me to see the depth of their understanding. Some students mentioned words that were briefly introduced but not required by standards. Such as; condensation, evaporation, precipitation. Others simply talked about rain and showed a low understanding of the cycle. I felt that this assessment was an appropriate assessment because it allowed students to demonstrate their knowledge in whatever way they chose. Some students turned the paper over and drew pictures. This was an acceptable form of assessment also. The assessment demonstrated that more then 78% of the students knew the water cycle and were even able to tell me the technical terms. The other students were all at least able to demonstrate a knowledge that the water travels and moves to different locations in a cycle; within varying degrees of understanding.

Here is one example:

Example of students work for lesson 2:

 

Example of students work for lesson 2:


The first example shown is a that of the student who excelled at the lesson and demonsted a clear understanding for the unit and lesson. She followed each direction and correctly labeled the map. The example was shown and the overhead, and student had the chance to correctly draw and label. This student correctly demonstrated an understanding of basic weather patterns as presented in the lesson.

The next example is a demonstration of a student who needed more support and guidance during the lesson. Although, it may be difficult to clearly see this student did not correctly label the storms in the key as was stated in objective, and also did not follow directions or examples when labeling different storms on map. THe difficulty with this is that they lesson had a visual ( overhead) example and also an audio ( my voice) guiding students to learn and understand. If the lesson had lacked an aspect that is something I could change for the future. This observation tells me that this student may need additional support to successfully complete and understand lessons.

Lesson One example of student work:

Lesson One example of student work:

The first example is that of the lower students work. I chose this for the lowest for a wariety of reasons. The students were asked to observe the experiement and then write about what they learned. We talked about the experiement as a class and disscussed what they had seen. All of the students were asked to write in complete sentences and to use proper sentence structure. The student is is struggling to form a complete thought. She did seem to grasp the general concept, but I felt that she could have used more guidance and support on my part.

The following example is that of one higher level work done by a student. She was observed the same experiment and participated in the same class discussion. She however, wrote in complete sentences and showed a clear concise understanding of the objectives.

Lesson One:

Lesson One:

Lesson: Science

 

Objective:

·         Students will understand where water comes from that falls as rain.

·         Students will understand what made the cloud turn to water.

 

Materials:

·         A teakettle

·         Water

·         Hot plate

·         Ice cubes

·         Pencil

·         Weather folder

 

Anticipatory Set:

·         Ask students what they know about rain.

·         Talk to students about how rain comes from the water vapor droplets in the air. Ask them if they remember the book we read about clouds.

·         Tell the students that I am going to make it rain in the classroom today.

 

Procedure:

·         Have all materials set up in the front of the classroom. Have students sit a safe distance away from me and the hot water. Explain to the my expectations:

o   Be very good listeners.

o   Sit criss cross.

o   Don’t move around at all because the water is hot.

·         Explain to them what I have gotten ready. I put water in the kettle and have ice in the tray.

·         As the water boils ask the students what they see. Direct them to understand that is a steam cloud forming.

·         Place the ice cubes in the pan and hold the pan over the kettle. As the water droplets are forming on the pan direct students to understand where the water droplets are coming from.

·         Let the students watch the rain.

·         Have them return to their desk and take out their weather folder.

·         Discuss the first question, “Where did the water come from?” Have the students talk about this and then write their response.

·         Next discuss the second question, “What made cloud turn to water?” Again having students write about what they saw.

Conclusion:

·         Have the students talk about what we learned.

o   Where did the water come from?

o   Why did it start to rain from the steam cloud?

o   What was your favorite part of this experiment?

Evaluation:

·         Student was able to write what the steam cloud was made of.

·         Student was able to write about where the water from the bottom of the pan came from.

 

Lesson Two:

Lesson Two:

Lesson: Storms

 

Objectives:

·         Students will be able to identify 4 main types of storms.

·         Students will be able to identify a key on a map.

·         Students will be able label different storms on a map.

 

Materials:

·         United States weather map.

·         Pencil

·         White board

·         Dry erase marker

·         Overhead

 

Anticipatory Set:

·         Read the story Thunder Cake to students.

·         Have students go to their desk and take out their white board, marker and a pencil.

·         Guide students to look at the key on the map.

·         Explain that they know about keys that unlock doors but this key will unlock their maps. Map keys explain different symbols on the map.

·         Ask them what they think the first symbol means ( lightning)

·         Demonstrate to students on overhead how to draw  the symbol. Invite them to practice on their white board.

·         Repeat process with the following three symbols; tornado, blizzard and hurricane.

 

 

Procedure:

·         Have students put away their white board and marker.

·         Have the students write in what each symbol means in the key.

·         Start with the first type of storm, read the first section about lightning guide the children to see the map on the overhead. Show them that most thunderstorms happen in Florida. Draw the symbol in Florida, guide the students to do the same.

·         Next read about blizzards, tell the students that most blizzards happened in Montanna, North Dakota, and Minnesota in the Northern part of each state. Demonstrate where to write the Blizzard sign.

·         Start reading about Tornados ask the students where they think Tornado alley is ( after reading the states names) Have volunteers to draw the tornado symbol on the map. Guide the children to indicate this on their own map.

·         Finally, read the information about hurricanes. Have students talk about why they think the hurricane is drawn the way that it is. Have another volunteer to draw the hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean waters.

 

Conclusion:

·         Ask the students what new storm they learned about. Listen to the variety of answers and facts.

·         Ask the students what a map key does?

·         Discuss how most maps have a key and they can use a key to help learn about the map.

 

Evaluation:

·         Review student’s weather map. Check to see if the students;

o    Successfully indicated each different storm.

o   Wrote each storm name in the key.