ELA lesson reflection

          I think Alison and I effectively taught a sequenced ELA lesson with our first graders with the ever popular children's book Where the Wild Things Are.  With this literature lesson, I feel that I did have success in meeting most of the ADEPT standards.  I planned and used instruction that promoted active student involvement by giving them the opportunity to each write their own sentences and by having them repeat the directions before they even began working independently (APS 2, 5).  I also planned for efficient transitions from activity to activity by telling them to go back to their desks by calling each table by their “color” and having everybody raise their finished sentences in the air before coming back to the carpet (APS 2).  I believe that I made objectives relevant to previous and future learning by tying my activity into Alison’s lesson by activating their knowledge of the previous lesson (APS 4). 

Even though I again felt very comfortable with teaching this lesson, there are still areas for improvement.  For example, I could have used assessments that are appropriate for ability and developmental level of students by using a tool in the classroom to keep learners engaged and to check for understanding (APS 3).  I also could have improved on continually establishing high expectations for all students by thinking of ways to challenge the “higher” learners in the class.  I could have used a variety of formal instructional strategies in order to find out if the class can retell other stories or if they only knew how to retell Where the Wild things are because I guided them in doing so (APS 7).  All in all, I think I had good control of the class and planned an engaging lesson, but I needed to improve on meeting different learning abilities and developing more assessment strategies. 

Math lesson reflection

     Looking back on my lesson, I think I had many strenghts that made the lesson an overall success.  I provided clear instructions and expectations to students by beginning the lesson by setting behavioral expectations and modeling the activity.  I also implemented instruction that promoted active student involvement by planning a lesson that gave teh first grade students a hands-on experience by having them use teddy grahams as manipulatives to practice addition.  I also believe that I used observations, questions, and other appropriate techniques to monitor progress, because I continually rotated around the room while I was calling out the addition problems and asked questions about how we could get to the correct answer if a student answered incorrectly. 
     Although I felt very pleased with my lesson, I did have some weaknesses that I could improve on in my future lesson planning.  I feel that I ended my lesson rather quickly because it was time for recess for the class, but I need to make sure to conclude lessons appropriately by summarizing what was learned and hear student's feedback.  I also could have differentiated my instruction by providing extra challenge to those hwo needed it or remediation to those who needed it.  In conclusion, teaching this lesson helped me realize my potential for teaching a first grade math lesson, but there are still areas that I would like to improve.

Classroom Management

     I think my cooperating teacher at Newington does extremely well with classroom management.  We observe mostly during large group instruction on the carpet and she has each student sit in an assigned spot on the carpet each time.  The children are supposed to sit criss-cross apple sauce and always face the teacher when she is talking.  If a child is not sitting the way they are supposed to or being very wiggly, she sends them to their desk because they will "learn better" from there without the distractions on the carpet.  She keeps the attention of the kids because she uses interactive games and noises on the smart board and has a very animated and positive attitude when teaching.  Also, every once in a while, she will have the students stand up and sing or dance along with a song or just simply stand to keep from sitting in one area for too long.  I think this is very appropriate, because young children cannot fully learn if they are sitting for long periods of time.  They need physical activity to keep them engaged in the lesson.  If there is a peer conflict, the teacher will encourage the students to work it out themselves.  For example, last week a student kept poking the student sitting next to him.  The student complained to the teacher and she replied with "well why don't you tell him that it hurts you when he pokes you and you would like him to stop doing so."  I think this method is very effective, because it shows the students that some problems should be worked out among themselves instead of just resorting to tattling to the teacher.  
     I would not necessarily change any of her classroom management methods because to me, they seem to work very well with her students.  The teacher concentrates more on reinforcing good behavior instead of calling out bad behavior.  For example, if the teacher sees a student following directions and being good, she will call attention to that particular student and say "I like the way ___ is following my directions", so in that case other students will model that particular student's behavior.  She also does a positive class behavior reinforcement by putting a marble in a jar if a student is exhibiting good behavior and at the end of the day, if there is a certain number of marbles in the jar, the whole class gets a jar.  This motivates the students to follow directions and encourage their classmates to follow directions because their "prize" depends on everybody's behavior.

First Teaching Experience

     I taught my first science lesson this past Wednesday in my first grade classroom.  Overall, I feel my lesson went very well and I felt successful with the class by the end of the lesson.  I was a little nervous about not having control with the kids, especially with a science hands-on activitiy involving water, but when I was teaching I was very confident that I kept control the entire time.  At the beginning of the lesson, I provided clear instructions and expectations for students by making sure that we reviewed the rules of the classroom and the rules of the lesson.  During group time at the beginning of the lesson, the students were very engaged and really enjoyed that I used volunteers to demonstrate what they would be doing with their own objects and with their observation sheets.  I feel that I used instructional strategies in a logical sequence because i spent 10 minutes for the pre lesson (talking and showing kids what they would be doing), 10 minutes for them to try the activity on their own and in groups, and 10 minutes conclusion, (although I could have used a little more time) where we made a graph as a whole group and talked about our observations.  I also used appropriate questioning techniques because I asked them a lot of questions on what the rules were and if they explain to me why we were doing the activity and their findings.
       The things that I would have improved on were explaining more rules about not splashing the water or dropping their objects from a high height because it would splash water onto their desks.  Also, I would have put more emphasis on the conclusion part and describing the objects and why they did/didnt float, but near the end, I was running out of time.  Also, I walked around and observed during their small group experiments, but I wasnt able to devote much time to each student.  Being my first formal lesson in a classroom, though, I felt very confident and really enjoyed the student's reactions!