Brigham Teaching Reflection

            Laura and I recently planned and implemented a lesson using the 5E template to teach a preschool classroom at Brigham Elementary School. In the two weeks prior to us teaching out lesson, there were other groups of ISU students that did an overview of the five senses and taught a lesson about the sense of touch. For our lesson, we narrowed it down and taught about the sense of smell. The groups after us will then cover the other senses: taste, hear, and sight!

            I think that were a lot of things that well throughout this lesson and areas that we could have improved on and that I would change if I would teach the lesson again. One of the strengths of this lesson is that Laura and I worked really hard on the lesson plan. We struggled a little bit with the 5E format but we pulled through and really thought about every aspect of our lesson. I believe that it was a strong idea and good activity! I think that the book that we read to the students was a good fit and developmentally appropriate for them. It had few words and a lot of big pictures. And for the most part, it was relatable to the students. They had examples of things that you smell like flowers, hamburgers, and fresh cut grass. It was evident that the students liked the book and were relating to it when they would shout out things they smell and the places they have smelled them. The students were excited to relay to us everything that they have every smelled.

            Although I think that this lesson plan was good, there is always room for improvement. There are several things that I would do differently if I were to teach this lesson again. This includes: using another or a different video, more interaction with the video and/or book, more interaction with all of the students instead of just working with one group, and more instruction on what to do in the activity.

            I liked the video that we used about smelling with the students. We had them tap their nose to the beat during the song. I would have liked more interaction with it though. Maybe Laura and I could have come up with some fun dance moves that the students could have had fun with and learned at the same time. Another change that I would make is working with all of the students. In our lesson plan, Laura and I did not specify if we would be working with both of the groups or just one of the groups. And during our lesson, we ended up just staying with one group and working with them. At the beginning and end of our lesson we were in a large group on the carpet but we also had them in small groups and we only got to work with half of the class this way. Laura stayed with her group and I stayed with mine. I think that this happened because were both just preoccupied with trying to make our lesson run smoothly that we were not thinking about interacting with both of the groups. The last change that I would make is giving more instruction to the students before they started their activity. I explained that they would be smelling bottles and then they would be circling on the worksheet the smiley face if they liked the smell and the frown face if they did not like the smell. I modeled how to smell and I showed them the worksheet that they would be doing but I feel like I could have done more instruction. For example, telling the students that we are only smelling what is inside the bottle, not trying to look inside of them or dump any of the bottles out onto the table. One of the students that I was working with in my group decided to try and squeeze out the substance in one of the bottles and honey went all over the table. But I quickly redirected the student and gave him better instructions on what to do. Also, most of the students circled both the smiley and frown face and just drew all over their paper. So then at the end of the lesson while we were reviewing, they did not know whether they liked the scent in a bottle or not.

            I think that mine and Laura’s knowledge of the topic was strong. We did research on smelling while writing the lesson plan. Because of that, we were able to better explain to the students how smelling works and answer any of their questions. Our organization during the lesson was good but could have improved. I think that we could have had smoother transitions. But something that contributed to this was not being familiar with their classroom. We wanted to divide the students up but were not sure if they sat a certain seat at a table or were already in groups. So we simply asked the students and they divided themselves into two groups.

            Overall, I think that the students understood the basic concept of this lesson. They know what it means to smell and what we use to smell. They also gave examples of things that they smell with a little bit of prompting. Some example of things that they said they smell include: flowers, their dog, hot dogs, and grape. Although there was one student that I worked with when I asked him what he thought was in the bottle, he said hot dog. And then he said hot dog for every scent the he smelled in the bottles. There was little bit of a language issue for the English Language Learners but they understood the basic concept we were teaching. I could tell that they were because when I would ask the class questions like, “Do you think this girl likes that smell?” or “Have any of you been to McDonalds before and can smell their hamburgers or French fries?” they would shake their head yes or no. I think that this lesson was successful and the students understood most of it.

Exceeds: Went over required word count 

Clinical Lesson Reflection

            The science lesson that I taught in my first grade PDS classroom was about camouflage. The students had already learned the vocabulary word and written the definition in their science dictionary books. But my cooperating teacher wanted me to go more in depth with the meaning and make the lesson fun and hands on.

            I started out my lesson by reading Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle. Eric Carle is an amazing illustrator. In the book, he does a really good job of camouflaging animals in the pages. The students were really engaged while I was reading it. I knew that they were because they have not ever paid that much attention to me and stayed quiet for that long. They even verbally expressed they liked the book with “ooh” and “ah”. After reading the book, I explained to them the activity that they were going to be doing. For this lesson I gave each of them a paper with an outline of a butterfly. I gave them directions to color in the butterfly with crayons to camouflage it somewhere in the room. Then they also needed to cut it out. I had already done an example and hidden my own somewhere in the room. They found it quickly once I told them to look for it. Before they went back to their seats from the carpet, I told them to look around the room and think about where they wanted to put their butterfly and what colors they would need to use and the patterns that they would need to draw.

            One strength of the lesson was that it was really engaging and hands on. The students were really understanding the concept when it came to camouflaging their butterfly. I noticed a couple of students who would go to put their butterfly somewhere and then say, “This doesn’t blend in, it needs to be darker.” And they would color in their butterfly darker. It really showed that they were understanding the concept. I also noticed that some of them got really upset because the colors they had were not matching with the colors that they were trying to camouflage with. This was an unavoidable problem because I could not supply them with all of the colors that they wanted. They only had the crayons available to them in their desks. When this happened, I tried to brainstorm with them if they could blend in with somewhere else in the room. I had them walk around with me and look for a different spot that would match with their color more.

            Something that I could have improved on is explaining the book more. My lesson was towards the end of the day and I did not have a lot of time to go over everything that I wanted to before it was time to go home. I would have liked to stop more throughout the book I was reading to ask questions and point out how the animals in the book were camouflaged in their surroundings. I would have really liked for more time to explore the book. The book also talked about how seahorses have their babies. This is very different from the way any other animal has their babies. I think it would have been beneficial if I had more time to talk about the way that seahorses reproduce. Another thing that I could have improved on is explaining more about why I used a butterfly. I would have explained more about how a butterfly is an insect that camouflages very well into its surroundings. I would have also liked to read a book about butterflies but I knew that I would not have time to do so. I would have explained to the students that there are many different animals and insects that use camouflage to survive every day. I think that it would have also been really interesting if I showed the students a video about camouflage. But the factor of time played a big role in my planning and implementation.

            Another thing that I could have improved on is grouping the students. I had them in a large group while reading the book to them. Then I had them work at their desks to camouflage their butterflies. I would have liked to also have them in small groups. From what we have been learning in our courses, it is always beneficial to have the students in large group, small group, and working individually throughout a lesson. But I could not think of a fun way to have them in a small group for this lesson. I had them working individually because I thought it would be fun for them to make sure no one else saw how they were coloring their butterfly so they could hide it somewhere without it being noticed.

            I felt that I was very knowledgeable throughout the lesson. I made sure to review the definition of camouflage as the students had learned it so there was no confusion or differences in the definition when I discussed it. The students had first learned about camouflage on a day that I was not at the site.

            My cooperating teacher and I discussed the lesson after I had implemented it. She had the same concerns as me when it came to the time constraints and expanding on the book more. Her suggestions were to spend more time throughout the book to stop and ask questions. I also could have spent more time just discussing more with the students about camouflage and using their prior knowledge. Since they had already went over the vocabulary word in the day prior, they should have had a lot to contribute. But overall, my cooperating teacher enjoyed my lesson and she said that it would be something that the students would remember, which is important to me. The butterflies are still camouflaged throughout our classroom and I feel like I am still finding some that I had not seen before!