Josh Wells March 31,2016

Lesson Planning Assignment

1.

a) Lesson planning is absolutely imperative to success, especially for developing

educators. We enter a classroom hoping to engage the students, hoping they remember and are

able to apply what they learn there. Unfortunately, very little learning is possible when a teacher

is unprepared. Weve learned that there are nine different learning intelligences. It would be

virtually impossible to adequately engage more than a few ever with out intentionality.

Therefore, with out preparation a large percentage of any class is not being met where they are

and thus are likely disengaged.

Ive learned through this minute sliver of a glimpse into an educators everyday challenge

how much work is involved in reaching that full engagement goal. However, I have also learned

that with focused intentionality kids will follow you where your leading them. I observed

glimpses during both lessons of maximum student attention and interest. I hope with time I can

discover ways to maintain that level of success consistently.

b) Multimedia is a great tool. Students now a days are surrounded by an

entertainment driven culture. Therefore, media and technology should likely be a commonly

used tool in any educators tool box in an effort to meet students where they are.

Consequently, we used this tool for both lesson plans.

During our group lesson plan we used a video to encourage students to believe in their

limitless potential. It was an easy step from there to educate them on the importance of a well

written resume. During my individual math based lesson plan I used a silly mathematical rapping

video to inform students about division and multiplication of fractions. I pre-cursed the video by

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explaining how rhyming and rhythmic sounds can help with memorization, regardless of how

strange the source may be. When questioned about the key information given in the video I

observe strong classroom engagement, participation and understanding. I believe in both cases

the hook served its purpose well.

c. Our group decided to focus on resume writing as we knew our students

(college) would have a need for good information in this area for an upcoming assignment. We

tried to give relevant information in ways that would relate to them (now grade 9) where they

were (constructivism). An example of this was our mock resume that depicted a student of

similar age making good and bad decision during resume writing. We allowed the students to

discover the strengths and more obvious weaknesses laid out within the document. We

intentionally added humour to try and create more engaged conversation within our group work

time. We purposefully considered a balance of good information through direct teaching, group

work and personal reflection in hopes to promote deeper understanding.

My personal lesson plan for a grade 8 math class was less about what I wanted to teach

and more about what the students needed to learn. As discussed below in question 1-d. the

students showed a lack of understanding of fraction in general. I searched the library and online

to discover different methods to help teach the material in a way that could reach a wider range

of learners. I discovered a fantastic set of manipulatives in the library to help more tactile or

spatial learners. I found a video online that used music and rhythm to help students who learn

musically and visually. Additionally, I gave time for both intrapersonal introspection through

some Wait Time and Think, Pair, Share before questions and interpersonal learning time

through inquiry based group work. I did these things intentionally to involve multiple

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intelligences and from my limited assessment there was significant improvement on overall

understanding.

d. The general outcome for grade 8 students given by Alberta Education is to

develop number sense. Mathsolutions.com describes number sense as a students fluidity and

flexibility with numbers. I had the fortuitous circumstance of being in the class when a

substitute teacher was initially teaching the same fraction information to my students 2 weeks

prior to my lesson on the same exact concept that I was latter given the opportunity to teach. It

was apparent to me on the day she taught that many of the students were really struggling with

the concept of fractions being a part of a whole. The substitute later shared with me that indeed a

large portion of the class failed her quiz on fractions later that same week. Perhaps this is why

when my mentor teacher returned he asked me to give the students more instruction on the same

material.

All this to say I recognized that for the students to become fluid and flexible with these

types of numbers I needed a different approach. I believe that by demonstrating on the board

with circles that fractions represent a part of a whole unit and then having the class use

manipulatives depicting the same idea, they developed clearer understanding of fractions overall

and how they can be multiplied and divided. My assessment tool (worksheet) also seemed to

prove more comfortability with the material overall.

The general outcome given by Alberta Education for grade 9 students to manage and

explore life roles and career opportunities and challenges was broadly tackled in a variety of

ways with a focus on resume planning by our group. We first encouraged our students to achieve

their best in life with an inspirational video and then had the students brain storm a few

manageable measures of success in a more relatable and short term achievable scenario with our

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white board response to objects one may want to purchase. This led to the challenge and the

necessity of landing a job to purchase any of the above items. We then led the class in several

exercises that would help them design their very first effective resume.

Had we more time or successive classes with our students we would have assessed

their first drafts and given formative feedback on improvement strategies. After a final draft was

completed we had hoped to have students submit their resumes to mock interviewers from the

professional world and get realistic feedback. In this way the students would have truly explored

a real life challenge in preparation for a future career or job.

e. As mentioned above, with the group lesson on resumes, the intent was to give

student real life challenges that would better prepare them for the upcoming job landscape.

Hopefully through the multiple activities leading up to the final draft students would have been

able to ascertain what a more professional resume looks like. That paired with the teachers

formative and then summative assessment and the later mock interviews a student would feel

adequately prepared to give his/her resume to an actual employer.

Concerning my math lesson, due to time restraints and having only had the opportunity to

deliver my lesson last week, I have not been able to follow up on their learning. Based on the

worksheets I have graded; the students did show a significant improvement on understanding

over the previous aforementioned fractions quiz that their substitute administered. Had I more

time with the students I would continue to review the lessons learned in the weeks to come in an

effort to check for continued understanding of fractions. If understanding was still slow I would

review the video once again and have the students spend time using Think, Pair, Share to

discuss the main points of division and asking them to teach what they know to each other,

followed by another short worksheet. Lastly I would follow the unit with a summative test on

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multiplication, division, addition and subtraction of fractions before moving on to the next unit to

gauge complete knowledge.

2. During our group lesson we presented a video in hopes of motivating students to achieve

their potential. A few students mentioned that the video did not entirely fit the lesson. While I

still believe the video served a worthy purpose perhaps a lesson can be learned here that we as

educators need to place our selves in the shoes of our students when designing a lesson or

activity. Perhaps a more adequate explanation of the bridging from motivation to real life

application (resume writing) was needed. I believe that we as teachers need to meet students

where they are and build upon their past experiences and ideas to help them develop deeper

understanding.

We did receive several comments that our peers enjoyed the humour used in our

activities. It was nice to see that by adding humor to good information you are able to engage

learners more thoroughly. Humor breeds discussion and discussion leads to believing in

something or taking ownership of ideas. Both inherently lead to stronger learning as students

apply the new information to that which they already understand. Good conversation and

discussion in a classroom needs to be intentionally cultivated, therefore humour is likely a tool I

should use as often as possible.

3. My mentor teacher gave me a lot of feedback, both positive and notes on development.

He really liked the manipulatives and the activity that I did to facilitate visual understanding of

fractions. He did however give some ideas on prolonging the activity by getting students to rotate

around the room and learn from other groups completed activities (as all tables had a different

fractional circle set). He also encouraged me to leave the examples I had given on the board

throughout the entire lesson so that students may reference what I had explained.

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He also encouraged me to take more pauses during my direct instructional time. To allow

students to digest what they have been taught. Additionally, he suggested I use Think, Pair,

Share after each question posed to the class. He gave a number of reasons for doing this. The

first was so that slower students have time to formulate answers and not just the top

mathematical students, but also so that when a question is posed of an individual and they get it

wrong the owness is not simply on the one person but on the whole table; thus they do not feel

quite so singled out and are more willing to try again in the future.

After the first class my teacher mentioned that when instruction was given for the activity

the students did not know what to do when completed. I was occupied floating around to each

table ensuring they had discovered a correct solution but I should have made it clear that students

could create more than one problem and document it on the activity papers I had provided. When

I had the opportunity to teach the lesson again to the subsequent class, I made this adjustment

and the students maintained better engagement throughout the activity.

Lastly my mentor commented on the hook video. He liked that I introduced the video in a

humorous way and related it to my own learning style. He though it was valuable that I discussed

the ability of many students to memorize information musically and through rhythm. This set the

table for the video and helped students see its value as opposed to simply laughing at the rappers

silly antics. He did comment after though that instead of the teacher telling the students the key

points of the video (as I did) that they would gain deeper understanding if they had been given

the opportunity to discuss it in their pods first and then present what they though were the most

important pieces of information related through the video.

4. I think a key lesson I learned from both lessons is the importance of pacing. During our

group lesson we created a great number of activities to teach both the importance of resume

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writing and how to create one successfully. Given our time restraints some of the material we

wanted to cover unfortunately had to be glossed over.

During my practicum teaching experience I had a difficult time not rushing as I knew

there was a lot to cover in the hour I was provided. I wanted to review previous fractional

lessons, introduce a video, run a lengthy activity and have time to complete adequate assessment.

While I did somewhat successfully finish most of the above tasks I am not certain maximum

opportunity for deep learning was achieved during each step.

One of the larger pieces of advice my mentor had to give was to give the children time to

reflect. He said children need time to digest what you have taught them. Many students need to

apply each step in succession on their own before you move on. Allow each student time to think

about it. He is a big fan of Think, Pair, Share. He sees a lot of value in allowing children to

discuss the ideas just provided while trying to teach them to each other. I tend to agree.

I acknowledge some of my rushed nature during the practicum experience was due to

nerves and being observed, but perhaps I need to keep in mind that sometimes less instruction is

equal to deeper learning. This does not have to mean you remove important or intentionally well

crafted activities or ideas from your lessons, you may however need to extend the time you

thought it would require or integrate more cross curricular activities if overall time becomes an

issue.

Teacher need to be clever when approaching a new concept and flexible enough to allow

it the appropriate amount of class time. When doing the resume assignment, we discussed the

cross curricular applications to language arts. By creating projects or assignments that allow

completion of two major outcomes teachers have in essence doubled their allowable time to

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teach both. While I am slightly daunted by this task it does allow for great creativity and

ultimately great satisfaction when an activity with multiple cross curricular outcomes comes

together.