CT Observation 1 Reflection

*Discuss student learning. What did students learn? Provide evidence for this learning (discuss student work, observation data, video, etc.). How do you know that students learned?

During this hands-on science lesson about sound, my students learned how to distinguish between different sounds and they were able to take their knowledge about vibration and apply it to this exploration activity. I know they were learning because they used domain-specific words that we learned in science that week such as soft, hard, quiet, loud, light, and heavy. For example, at 18:10, one student said, “This object feels light.” I said, “Why do you think it feels light?” and he said, “It feels like there’s nothing in it.” After looking at student work, I could also tell that my students were listening well and trying to distinguish these sounds, because one of my students guessed “beads” in one of the canisters correctly.

*Select several questions from the USF lesson plan reflection sheet based on content.

If you were going to teach this lesson to the same group of students, what would you do differently? Why? What would you do the same? Why?

If I taught this same lesson to the same group of students, I would add to my expectations discussion before the lesson began. When I said the girls and boys would take turns shaking the canisters, I made it very clear they could not touch if it wasn’t their turn. However, I would have emphasized the importance of discussing the sounds with the people shaking the canisters, and tell them that they are allowed to interact with the people at their table with the canisters. I would say this because some students just sat there and waited their turn, instead of engaging in a discussion with their peers. I also would have clarified how to put their guess for each number in the corresponding area on their worksheet. Some students had trouble with this, but eventually figured it out. I would also exclude the area where we all wrote in the correct answer on the worksheet. The students became disengaged at the end during this part, so next time I would just pour out the ingredients without the writing part. I would keep the 10 canisters with items the same, because they were very interested and they learned a lot through this exploration.

Describe an instance or particular encounter that comes to mind. Why did you pick that instance? What is so perplexing about that particular moment?

One particular encounter that comes to mind is at 42:43, when one of my students broke down. This is a student who I have never seen cry, so this immediately perplexed me and made me pause the lesson. He was distraught that he didn’t get to finish writing one of the words before we moved on to the next item. At this moment, I realized that the writing portion of this activity wasn’t necessary and caused more problems than learning. This encounter opened my eyes to something I would change for the next lesson.

Identify an individual or group of students who had difficulty in today's lesson. How do you account for this performance? How will you help this (these) student(s) achieve the learning objectives?

There was a group of students at the blue table during the lesson that had some difficulty answering the items on their worksheet. I believe they had difficulty following along with the lesson due to their disruptive behavior. This has been an ongoing problem, and I plan to address this in my inquiry in order to help my students achieve the learning objectives. In the meantime, I will continue to ask them questions throughout the lessons to keep them on track with the rest of the class.

*What did you learn from engaging in this lesson?

While teaching a hands-on lesson, I need to be very explicit with my instructions and repeat the steps multiple times. I also learned that my students start to become disengaged after about 30 minutes; they lack the stamina needed for a one-hour lesson, which I didn’t think about due to my experience teaching older students last semester. I also learned that my students benefit from hands-on lessons, so I would love to continue these experiences for them this semester.

*What are some of your goals based on what you learned from this lesson?

One goal that I learned from this lesson will be to provide very clear instructions before sending them off to independent work and asking them to retell the instructions back to me so that I know they understand. Another goal is to find different strategies to help manage behaviors throughout lessons, which I will be working on in my inquiry this semester.

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