Lauren Sammon

Multicultural Lesson Reflection

1st Grade
4/3/14
I taught my multicultural lesson Friday, March 28, 2014, to Mrs. Campbells first grade
class at Bellwood Elementary. This was the first time I planned my own lesson and taught it to an
entire class! Overall, it was a great experience and furthered my certainty of purpose in pursuing
an education career.
Since Language Arts instruction is scheduled at the beginning of the day, I volunteered to
direct the days morning meeting. My multicultural lesson focused on Russian themes, so for the
morning greeting, I taught the kids how to say hello in Russian: pree-vyet. Then I called on
student volunteers to each read a line of the morning message, which Mrs. Campbell had
previously prepared on the promethean board. To introduce my lesson, I asked the kids for a
volunteer to find Russia on the globe and then to find the United States. I included a large map
on the promethean board during this process, and explained how far Russia is from the United
States; about 5,000 miles. Then I used the Google-Earth app on my Ipad to show the kids St.
Basils Cathedral in Russia as a segue to introduce the book Rechenkas Eggs by Patricia
Polacco. I explained that this building would be found in the book and to look out for it!
Next, I put up a graphic organizer for predicting up on the promethean board. I asked
volunteers to share predictions for each section of the graphic organizer. Before class, I had
prepared four words on four small slips of paper and hid in them inside four dolls of a
matryoshka doll set. Three of the four words were Russian words. I took four volunteers to come
up, open a matryoshka doll, find the word inside, and share with the class. When a word was
shared, I asked the students to guess what the word meant. After they guessed, I showed a large
image of what each word was on the promethean board and explained the definition of each

word. For example, for the word dacha I showed an image of a small house in a field, and
explained that in Russian, dacha means small house in the country. Then I wrote in these words
in the final section of the graphic organizer, labeled Words to look out for.
After this activity, I read the story out loud. I paused a few times in the story to ask for
student predictions. I also paused when any of the words to look out for were read and when
the book included an illustration of St. Basils Cathedral. When I read a Russian word in the
story, which we had not gone over previously, I asked the students to guess what it meant before
I told them. When we finished the book, I explained to the students I had an activity for them. I
told them to think about one of the predictions they made, either before or during the story. I
showed them the worksheet, instructed them to write their predictions on the top, and include a
check-mark if their prediction came true and an x-mark their prediction did not come true. Then I
directed them to color in the egg outline with decorations as if they were the babushka in the
story competing in the egg festival. I made sure they knew they were to write their predictions
first, before they began coloring. Then I showed the students two examples I had made; one with
a prediction that came true and one with a prediction that did not come true. While the students
were working, I walked around and gave individual feedback.
The lesson time flew by. I was astonished at how quickly my 45 minutes vanished! That
was one of the big eye-openers for me in conducting my first lesson. My lesson went over the
time I had planned for. This experience really made the time-constraints teachers face apparent to
me. Luckily, Mrs. Campbell was relaxed, explained that I could take my time and that her
schedule was flexible. Though overall I felt my lesson went great, I did not feel fully prepared,
and I experienced some surprises.

First and foremost, I had planned to start my lesson by going over the classroom rules
with the students. I planned to do this in advance because I thought it might help me deal with
possible management issues. However, I volunteered to direct morning meeting on impulse, and
then, in the heat of the moment, going over the class rules completely slipped my mind. The
students were very excited to have a lesson from Mrs. Sammon; so excited, they could barely
contain themselves! Everyone wanted to talk. Also, because I have been such an approachable
figure in the classroom the past couple months, the students all felt they could speak out directly
to me whenever they wanted. This was my fault fin not establishing my expectations of their
behavior before starting the lesson. I may be exaggerating a bit, but when I sat in the hot seat,
it felt like a million little hands and little voices were shouting at the same time, and it was hard
to keep sight of what I needed to do next. I had not anticipated how excited they would all be to
engage in my lesson! If I were to do it over, I would have definitely started by establishing my
behavior expectations clearly, and taken the time to go over the classroom rules. I ended up
pausing in the middle of my lesson to address the class rule of raising your hand to speak. I
believe if I had addressed this before the lesson, I would not have needed to pause in the middle
to do so.
On the same note, because it was my first lesson, I think I may have incorporated too
many different items into my lesson. I included so much in order that I might keep the lesson
engaging, but it turns out, (not to sound conceited), just having Mrs. Sammon teaching the
lesson, kept the students all engaged! I had originally wanted to use a map on the Promethean
board, but Mrs. Campbell suggested using the class globe (which was hidden on the top of a tall
storage container). I excitedly said yes, and stationed the globe in front of the class. The kids
could not stop touching it, asking about every different country they saw, and trying to show me

every country/landmark they could pinpoint! It was suddenly clear why the globe had been
hidden on top of the storage container. I had my matryoshka dolls set up right next to the globe,
and they could barely keep their hands off the dolls as well! I also had Google-Earth on the Ipad.
All of these features were things the kids do not experience every day, and thus, it was all a bit
too exciting for them to stay focused on the lesson. From this experience, Ive discovered there is
a fine line between engaged, and too engaged! Next time, I will not include so many new
features in a single lesson.
I did not feel confident of the transitions between different parts of my lesson. I had not
really thought about transitions very much while planning, but as I actually executed the lesson, I
realized how important transition points are. I had never noticed Mrs. Campbells transitions
because she is an experienced teacher and everything she does seems seamless. However, when I
was in charge, I realized those transition moments are important to practice. I got a slight anxious
feeling when figuring out what to say to move to the next part of the lesson. In the moment, I
improvised, and those improvisations worked out fine. However, in the future, I will definitely
think about the transitions in advance and rehearse them before presenting a lesson.
I believe I could have improved my managing of student responses throughout the
lesson. A lot of my lesson involved student participation, so I relied heavily on their
responses. There were a couple times their responses did not fully answer my question, or were
not adequate. My personal philosophy about teaching is to always accept participation, even
when students are wrong, so they are not afraid to attempt new things and take
risks. However, I had not given much thought to how to respond when a student is
wrong. Mrs. Campbell left me a great response in my grows section concerning this
topic. She said, when kids predict words that arent meaningful or are in the title, suggest they

think more deeply. I have actually observed her doing this in previous lessons, and in retrospect,
wish I had taken advantage of having applying that technique, as the kids were already familiar
with it. When a student would respond with an answer not fitting the topic the topic, Mrs.
Campbell would calmly address the mistake, and pleasantly ask they try a new angle, giving
them a thinking stem, or helping them with a hint. Unfortunately, when I gave my lesson, the
students were so excited that when one student was answering, at least six to eight others were
eagerly reaching their hands out, trying to take over the conversation, and speaking out of
turn. This caused me to move on more quickly than if the students had been participating
calmly. I believe if I had properly addressed the management in the beginning, and had
incorporated fewer stimulating new features, I would have been able to give more leeway and
time to students in answering the questions I posed.
Another comment Mrs. Campbell included in my grows section, was allowing the
students to write their predictions on the worksheets before we did the graphic organizer, and
before we read the book. Initially, this is what I had thought to do. However, I decided against it
because Mrs. Campbells read-alouds seemed always to be followed by an activity. I thought the
kids would relate with the activity better if it was structured in a familiar way. Also, I wasnt sure
I would be able to manage the time to have the entire class sit on the rug, then hand out papers,
instruct them to write responses, then return them to the rug with sufficient time to do the graphic
organizer activity and read aloud. I was also worried the kids would eagerly start drawing in their
eggs if I allowed them to write predictions before the lesson. Instead of talking to Mrs. Campbell
about my apprehensions, I molded my lesson to fit how I had seen her run the class. In
retrospect, I would have definitely discussed this with her, asked for management advice, and
had the kids write out their predictions before the other parts of the lesson.

I wrote my reflection on the areas of the lesson I experienced some trouble, but only
because I had a lot to say about my mistakes. I am self-critical and somewhat of a perfectionist
by nature, so I had a lot to say about how I might have done better. However, the lesson was a
wonderful experience. The kids were ecstatic, and their engagement made me feel awesome! I
felt I was able to reinforce important themes the students had been working on, while also
showing them some things they hadnt experienced before. I got so much joy out of seeing all of
those little hands raised to contribute, even as it stressed me out a bit! Mrs. Campbell made the
experience so much better, as she completely handed over her class without a worry, and
basically gave me free reign for my lesson time. She provided great support and awesome
feedback. I really feel as though this was a defining moment in my education experience, and I
cannot wait to teach another lesson.