Sunday, February 28, 2016

The First Travelers

     For the past week, Group 2 has been exploring with Miss Pozzulo's second grade class. First, they learned about Native Americans from my group, and now they will be furthering their knowledge on "Our Country Long Ago." I thought that group two's overall teaching experience has been a good one. I think that overall the students enjoyed the activities that group two has implemented for them. Group two consists of Erin, Samantha, Lauren, Christina, Moira, and Paola. This group seemed to have work and flowed well together.
     To begin, group two started off last week on Thursday, because of Bishop Dunn's snow day on Tuesday. Group two started out strong. Their direct lesson plan was well rehearsed and the group transitioned well. A few things that stuck out of their first teaching experience was their attention to details. For example, group two included pictures and GIF's into their power point that signaled different actions that the students should look out for. For example, they had an old explorers hat which the children associated with "thinking caps." For me this was really brilliant because when the students saw this figurine/picture, they understood what was expected of them. Another part of their lesson that I really enjoyed was the matching activity, otherwise known as the guided practice. This was an interactive, yet direct form of practice for the students, and the students were beyond eager to participate in this activity. My last favorite part from group two's direct lesson plan was the teacher candidates ability to function as a group. A lot of times, groups cannot/do not act efficiently during presentations, especially when their rare so many students, so I really enjoyed their professionalism and group work. Some thing that I believe group two could work on is their understanding of the direct lesson plan. Group two did not show complete understanding of the direct lesson plan by their actions throughout the lesson. For example, group two asked for the student's input before they were taught the material. In direct/explicit lessons it is important to not ask the students questions without teaching them the knowledge. Also, in the beginning of the lesson I noticed that one of the student's in the class, who has been determined as a child who needs one on one help, was not being assisted. It is important for assistance to be provided for students who need it. Group two did eventually sit with this student; however, I felt that it was not okay for him to start the lesson without help. Overall, group two's direct lesson was very well organized and created.
   

     Group two's second and final day of teaching was today, Thursday. On Tuesday, Bishop Dunn had a early dismissal due to more weather problems. Group two their inquiry and cooperative learning lesson plans. To start off, group two started strong. Their review and way of activating prior knowledge for the kids was great and it got the students engaged right off the bat. I thought that group two also did really well in going through the steps of the inquiry process. Group two could have modeled the inquiry process for the students but I think that the time constraint on the groups makes it impossible to cover everything in the "30" minute window we have. Next, the teachers all split off into their groups for the inquiry process, and from what I noticed the teacher candidates let the students make all of the inferences and didn't help them. From my group, this was a step up because we helped the students make inferences. Group two then went straight into their Cooperative Learning lesson plan which was different, but I think for the time constraint it worked. the group did not really get to a closure in their Inquiry lesson; however, it would have been pointless for them to go over the same information twice. For their presentation for their CL they were presenting their information from the Inquiry, so personally it wouldn't have made sense for them to make the students present twice. ALSO there is not enough time. Overall, I know that group two had problems with time management, but as I have said over and over, it is almost impossible to cover everything that is deemed necessary, (by the rubrics,) in an hour for TWO lessons. Group two got to their closure in the CL lesson and they had each of the groups present their posters. 

     Overall, group two did a wonderful job with all three of their lesson plans. I think that they nailed the concept of each lesson as well. Speaking from experience, I think time management is a problem every group will have so I am happy that group two combined the last two lessons. Great job group 2! I am excited to see what the last two groups to present. 

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