Lesson 3 Phase II: Reflections on Lessons Implementation

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 really liked the story for a launch activity. The story, “Sandwich Shop” was presented in 2D drawings with a lovely narrator who changed her voices per each character. All the students were engaged in the video which set me up to have an even better lesson. Students were excited to find out more about other cultures, and everyone chose a different area of the world, which I thought was pretty cool! One thing that could have been better would have been if I had known about the Google research tool where you type “kids” at the end of your search. This was students can find things on the internet that are appropriate and easier to comprehend. I’m really glad I learned about this tool during my lesson. Goes to show how much you can learn from your fellow colleagues.

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

The Kindergarten standard that I chose was: “Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas : 4. Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.” I believe that my students were able to describe familiar people, places, things and events within their own description of their personal cultures.

The objective that I wrote reads, “After independant research, students will create a Venn Diagram comparing their culture, to that of another culture giving at least three examples of differences of each culture, and three examples of similarities between the two.” Every student was able to independently research, and create a Venn Diagram, where each of them gave three examples and three similarities between their own culture and that of another.

• Describe any modifications made during the implementation of the lesson

When I first tried to play the story book video on my computer, the sound was not working, so I instead played the video on one of the student’s computers so that they would still be able to watch the story and everyone could see and hear.

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

I played the storybook video on a computer.

Students used their computers, the internet and Kidspiration.

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

I used the computer to play the storybook video on youtube.

Students used their computers to log onto the internet and look up different aspects of another culture. They then used Kidspiration to create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the cultures.

• My lesson was within the correct time frame

The lesson was within the correct time frame because students had enough time to listen to the story, research a different culture, and create a Venn Diagram comparing the cultures.

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 Venn Diagram:

Janae’s Venn Diagram:

Jamie’s Venn Diagram:

• Describe your students' level of success in achieving the standards and objectives for your lesson based on your assessment

Since I was assessing students based on the following rubric which was created off of my standard and objective, I think that every student would receive full credit for their Venn Diagrams. Every student was able to give 3 similarities between the two cultures, 3 differences in their culture and another culture.

Rubric:

4	3	2	1
Student gave 3 similarities between the two cultures.	Student gave 2 similarities between the two cultures.	Students gave 1 similarity between the two cultures.	Student gave no similarities between the two cultures.
Student gave 3 examples of differences in their culture.	Student gave 2 examples of differences in their culture.	Student gave 1 examples of differences in their culture.	Student gave no examples of differences in their culture.
Student gave 3 examples of differences in their chosen culture.	Student gave 2 examples of differences in their chosen culture.	Student gave 1 examples of differences in their chosen culture.	Student gave no examples of differences in their chosen culture.

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

Since all of the students received full credit for this lesson, I really feel that I did a good job in teaching this lesson. These students achieved everything that my objective asked of them... which is always good news.

• How do the comments from your classmates support this?

When asked “What could have been described and developed more?“ one student answered, “nothing.. it was the greatest lesson plan EVER”. I feel like this was probably my best lesson plan to date. I was also very happy that Jamie told me about the Google Kids tool. I really appreciated that she was willing to help me.

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.

I was definitely excited to learn about the Google tool “kids” while teaching this lesson. This is actually a super useful bit of information to have as a teacher. It can really help kids with their researching skills in the beginning years.

While I was creating this lesson plan I found a lot of video’s on youtube of read-aloud books. It was like adding thousands of stories to your own personal library. It is nice to know that when I become a teacher, I can easily find books online that engage students.