Powerful Teaching Strategies Video

From viewing the Direct Instruction lesson plan video, I was very impressed by  the way  the three college students presented their social studies topic and went about with their direct instruction lesson plan. The way  that they engaged their fourth grade students  from start to finish is what made the lesson all the more powerful and all the more inspiring. I actually believed that were the teachers of the class when they were up there. Right from the  beginning of the lesson, they brought students into the lesson by asking them what the pictures on the screen were. Having visuals for students to look and make comments about makes the lesson all the more engaging and focuses them into the lesson right away. From there, the lesson was a powerful learning experience and as a viewer, educational and beneficial for me to watch.

The group's topic was on the thirteen colonies, which is what my group's topic is except our lesson will be aimed as a much younger grade. The one college student who stood out to me the most was Barbara. Even though all three of the students did a great job, it was her who my eyes were glued on the whole time. Instead of standing in front of the smart-board lecturing, she actually walked around the room. She was animated with  the students, she sounded enthusiastic about the topic on the stamp act and the French and Indian Wars. I like the way she expressed "I feel angry" when referring to the colonists because of the amount of enthusiasm she used, and when she spoke it did not sound rehearsed.

Dr. Smirnova showed us this video, or at least I can make a pretty clear assumption, in order to establish what makes a good direct lesson plan. It is not all about teachers standing up in the front of the classroom lecturing while the students sit in their desks and listening, but it is about presenting new information to students in creative and interactive needs that includes all students and adapts to all students needs. When Barbara taught she made sure to pick on all students. She incorporated all of these qualities into the lesson plan, and when viewing this classroom lesson, it really gets me thinking about how I want to teach my second graders about the thirteen colonies and the new world, and how I want to engage them. Even though there are so many ways to include students in the lessons, there are only so many ways to do it successfully. The group that I viewed did a great job, and I look to Barbara as an inspiration. When I teach I hope I show that much level of dedication and enthusiasm.

Entering the world of teaching and learning

The following week we met our second graders at Bishop Dunn Memorial School, an elementary school located right on campus. I consider our school very lucky because most colleges do not have primary schools located on campuses, and having one makes it convenient when it comes to fieldwork and getting fieldwork hours completed. So far we have only had two fieldwork sessions, and it is still Group 1's week to teach. The first fieldwork session was when we met the second grade students and Ms. Birnbryer. From meeting the students and talking to the teacher, there is a range of academic, social, and mental ability among members of the class. Two of the students, a girl and a boy have autism, there are members of the class with learning disabilities, there are members of the class with behavioral issues, there are members of the class who are not diagnosed, and there are members of the class who are typical in development. As a teacher it is crucial to make sure all of my planning and lesson plans are adapted in order to meet the needs of all of my students, and I know that it will be difficult to do, especially considering I have never had to plan for three days of full-class teaching before. I just hope that when it is my group's turn to teach I can get all of my students involved, no matter what disability or developmental level they are on. I am working with three other students and our social studies topic is thirteen colonies, one country. Luckily, I am working with three other people who are hard working and passionate about teaching, so planning these three lesson plans, direct, inquiry, and cooperative should (hopefully) not be that difficult, and I have two groups before me to look as a reference. 

So far we only had fieldwork session where the first group, Sara and Shannon,  taught their lesson, and they taught using the direct lesson plan model. The characteristics of a direct lesson plan include reading a book, displaying diagrams, and using real-life examples of the subject matter by using props or other material. For the first time teaching a direct lesson plan, I thought that they did a great job and followed the format of a direct lesson plan accurately. Their topic was on Native Americans and they presented a PowerPoint on the different tribes, shelters, and traditions. They had students use a thumbs up sign in order to clarify if something is a shelter or something is a tradition. Shannon and Sara also had students draw their own examples of traditions and shelters in order to help them connect the words to their daily lives. In addition to the presentations and the activities, Shannon and Sara also had students pronounce the Indian tribes and reinforced and retaught everything to make them understand the material better. As mentioned before, for the first time teaching a direct lesson plan they did very well. Of course there are improvements that they could have made which I have mentioned in my feedback, but I like to focus on the positive. In order to be a teacher, one must be positive and that is what I strive to be, a positive teacher, a positive role model, and a positive person! I am looking forward to seeing how their inquiry and cooperative lesson plans turn out next week. 

Virtual Classroom and New Experiences

This past week we had two snowstorms, one on Monday and one on Wednesday. Because of the snow, we had what I would like to call "A Virtual Classroom Experience." This means that instead of having class in the classroom, we had class on the computer, just another way that technology can be incorporated into classroom learning. To be honest, when I first went on e-class and read that  we were going to have a virtual class, I was not sure how to feel about it. I mean, I have never had class online before and I was not sure what to expect. However, I actually enjoyed  the experience. On Monday we talked about Cooperative Learning and the Social Interactive Model and what we learned about it. I defined cooperative  learning as something that is implemented by the teacher and encourages students to work with one another for academic and social purposes. There are five parts to cooperative learning and one of them is interpersonal and small group social skills. Students should be able to work with one another because learning should not only be an individual thing, it should also be based off of teamwork and interpersonal skills. I posted a video on what cooperative learning which is below: 

This video demonstrates elementary school students working with one another for academic and social purposes. 

On Wednesday we also had a virtual class because of the blizzard that hit and we talked about jigsaw, which is an element of cooperative learning. My topic was social skills and face to face interaction. Other members of my jigsaw group had another topic and when we discuss the projects we will connect all of the topics together, like a jigsaw puzzle!

This was the virtual class experience! I like the fact that Dr. Smirnova emphasizes that learning does not stop, even in bad weather. She has a good point because learning is and should be a never ending thing. 

Next Monday I start fieldwork. Even though it is not  my group's turn to teach, I am still nervous about  it all the same. It came closer than I thought. I hope it goes well!!! Good luck Group 1 :] 

So much to learn, so little time!

This week in class we learned about the importance of assessments. The three types of assessments we focused much of our time on was diagnostic assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment. 

When it comes to diagnostic assessments, the purpose is for the teacher to understand strengths and weaknesses of their students before they are taught any material for the upcoming lesson or unit. Teachers use diagnostic assessments in order to improve student learning. In addition, diagnostic assessments allows students to build on previous experiences. Diagnostic assessments can come in the form of a pretest, KWL chart, or observation, among others. 


                     



When it comes to formative assessments, the purpose is to accumulate as much information about a student as possible in order to improve student learning and teacher instruction. This type of assessment is continuous throughout the lesson and the teacher provides regular feedback. Formative assessments keep track of students progress, as well as check up on their progress. If students are struggling, teachers can adapt their instruction in order to adapt to students needs and abilities. These assessments can come in the form of journal entry, conference, or questioning, among others. 

                                   


When it comes to summative assessments, this is a way for teachers to determine students achievement for understanding skills or processes. These type of assessments could be tied to a final grade or report and may be a form of an alterna
tive assessment. Summative assessments could take place in the form of a test and are usually taken place at the end of an instructional unit or lesson. This type of assessment tests what students know and can take place in the form of a final project, a final exam, or even a final paper. 

                     


I made a graphic organizer in order to organize the three types of assessment. I also got to create my own assessment in order to test other students on how well they know assessments and the chapter we read! 

Here is the  link to access my test: 

https://docs.google.com/a/my.msmc.edu/forms/d/1MuGzR9Apa5nQ-pQvBpTVLAP3K0VfPKuP5cdM8YZNjmM/viewform

The Adventure Begins!

On January 22, 2014 I attended my first Social Studies Methods Course. Even though I have only had one class session so far, I can tell that it is going to be a lot of work and to be honest, I am already feeling overwhelmed. I just hope that I can keep up with the workload. However, I am excited about working with the Bishop Dunn students and learning about different types of technology to create lesson plans on. I am not really good with technology, and I am hoping that this class will teach me about how to use it in a classroom. We already got assigned a project, but it was a lot of fun to do. Every person in the class had to pick a different technological site to use and introduce themselves. As I was completing the assignment, I actually forgot I was doing homework. This project taught me that technology can be integrated in a lot of different ways. The technological site I used to introduce myself was Thinglink. This is an interactive site that allows you to post pictures of anything you want and then you can explain what the pictures mean. For each picture you can choose a different icon, which I had a lot of fun playing around with! I got to incorporate many pictures when I introduced myself, either taking photos from Facebook or the web. Here is the link to my project below:

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/482994533794054145

As I continue through this class, I hope that I learn a lot about how to use technology when teaching lessons and I hope I learn how to use social studies in order to teach students. I am looking forward to fieldwork during the next couple of weeks, but I am nervous too! This is the first semester where I have to teach a whole class. While it is an overwhelming feeling, I am excited as well. This will be a great experience!

Time for the Adventure to begin!Here are a few motivational words to end with!