Lesson 2 Reflection

1. Instructional Decisions/Teaching (InTask Standard # 9): Discuss the implementation process and describe
• What went well and what didn't go well during the implementation of your lesson?

I think that the students were really engaged during the coloring portion of the activity. Since they were older students I think that they got done faster than expected, and I did not have anything prepared for them to be done sooner, so I had students play with google drawings and again create the shapes that they learned. Also, the smartboard was not working when my students came up to the front of the class, but it was working before! That was kind of frustrating,  but I just had students work off the computer application.

• How well was the alignment to objectives and standards maintained?

The objective was that students would be able to identify a square, triangle, and circle and I believe that they did exactly this. The standard asked that students be able to analyze different shapes, and I believe the students had to analyze the shapes to be able to identify the many different shapes within the mandala.

• Describe any modifications made during the implementation of the lesson

Since my students finished early I had them create a google drawing and also I had to change my use of the smartboard to a computer program instead.

2. Mechanics:
• What technologies did I use (for the teacher and the learner)?

I used the smartboard, which my students also used,  along with google drawings for my technology.

• How were the technologies used (by whom and in what manner)?

My students used google drawings as a form of assessment, and we all used the smartboard to work as a class during discussion to find out what a circle, triangle, and a square looks like.

• My lesson was within the correct time frame
• It was short because…

My lesson was definitely too short, but when the smartboard stopped working that cut off about 5 minutes of my time. Also the students are all obviously not kindergartners so it didn’t take a lot of time for them to finish the activity and they didn’t have to learn any of the material. This is why I implemented the google drawings portion as an additional assessment.

3. Assessment of Learning (InTask Standard # 6): Refer to Assessing Student Learning
• Include at least 2 digital artifacts that demonstrate what you or your students (peers) have created as a result of your lesson
• EMMA’s google drawingJanae’s Google Drawing
• Jamie’s Google drawing
• Describe your students' level of success in achieving the standards and objectives for your lesson based on your assessment

I believe that all of the students were able to identify each of the three shapes, and they had a good time coloring, while they were still using their minds to find the shapes.

• Describe the level of success you had in teaching the lesson
• How do your individual reflections support this?

I think that it would be a fabulous lesson for kindergartners, probably not for college aged students :). I feel like the kids were engaged, which is always good for classroom management. I also think that my pedagogy really showed through, because of the fact that I am a huge believer in cross-subject lessons.

• How do the comments from your classmates support this?

My peers had some good feedback. They noted that kindergartners probably would not have known what a ‘legend’ is, so I should have explained that.

4. What did you learn from designing and teaching this lesson and how will you use this in the creation of future lessons/learning activities.

Something that I wish I would have done, would be to have asked more questions of the students, and encouraged that they would have also asked more questions. I think that the material was just so easy for them to understand, that I forgot to treat them as students, and instead treated them as my peers. I will definitely use a self-motivated and cross-subject lesson format again, I thought that went really well. Next time I need to have a longer lesson prepared, or at least have a follow up activity that students can do if they finish earlier than I expect them to.