TWS 8

Allison Taylor Lawrence

Whole Class Reflection

One of my instructional decisions was to use as much hands-on

whole group and small group activities as I could. I believe that
this impacted the social, behavioral, and summative
assessments of my whole class. Students were able to learn how
to communicate effectively as a group in order to learn the
objectives at hand. For example during one of my lessons I
paired students up into groups of two to discuss snow using their
senses. Students had to learn to take turns feeling the snow, and
listening to their partners observations. They formed two-way
discussions. One big modification I implemented was during a
lesson. I was teaching about rain gauges, in my lesson plan I
planed to have students make their own rain gauge. Although,
during instruction I discovered that the measurements that I
were using to teach them were not used in their standards. I had
to re-visit my lesson plan and adapt to a different measurement.
This allowed students to focus on what a rain gauge was and

what it was used for instead of how to make one.

In my long-range plan I determined that I would need to spend a
day on each season. Although based on the students responses
in whole-group discussion on winter, I concluded that they had a
vast amount of prior-information gained on this objective than I

expected. I determined that I should focus more on my other

objectives and spend less time on this objective. I also
determined that I could go into more depth with this topic by
addressing the affect each season has on animals, plants, and
human interactions. I thought that focusing more on vocabulary
would improve their test score, because after looking at the final

exam I determined vocabulary as a major part of the score.

I did a variety of motivation techniques. I did a lot of positive
reinforcement such as giving out candy to students who were on
task and answering questions thoughtfully. I was not focused
with correct answers during many of my pre-assessments
because much of the knowledge gained was new knowledge. I
focused instead on students participation. I tried negative
reinforcement for certain students by given students strikes for
disruptive behavior. I did however give students a chance always

to have a better day tomorrow.

I implemented all modes of instruction.
o Lecture: I did a KWL chart with them during a lecture to
monitor instructional gain
o Small group: I did many experiments in small groups such
as making thunderstorms with shaving cream and blue
food coloring, discovering snow with their senses, and
using fine arts skills when depicting the trees of each
season.

o Demonstration: I took students out on a school field trip

outside of another class to let them see what a
anemometer and a wind vane looked like. I demonstrated
how to draw them and label them, so that they could do
the same in their notebooks.
o Experiment: I did a lot of experimentation for this lesson.
We determined what rain sounded like, we determined

what seasons would feel like and why that was important.
My students were actively involved. Every lesson plan had some
form of movement, even formative assessments. I had students
up doing experiments, discussions (whole and small group), and
dancing or stretching during breaks between assessments.
Students were also involved actively using their minds. I made
sure that ever student got a chance to answer a question or give
a prediction for each lesson to make sure they were

understanding and following along.

I was able to relate a lot of the contents of the lesson plans to
the students lives. We discussed why recording temperature was
important to them. How weather would affect their activities
outside and what you could do differently in each season. We
discussed how dangerous weather affected them inside and
outside of the classroom.

Three (3) individual Students

Most successful: Middle Level Student-This students attendance

really played a huge factor in her performance. She was absent
at least once per-week. She is a very bright student, but it is hard
for anyone to keep up with make-up work and study for the
material that is being taught at the moment. Quantitative data
was up and down. She received a 70 and an 80 on objectives
three and four. I believe this is because she was absent and did
not get to turn in her work completed correctly, even with oneon-one assistance. Qualitative data shows a 100%, I believe this
is because when she is in school she is focused and ready to
learn. The one factor that intrigued me was she raised her pretest up by 43 points. I believe that my instructional planning
played a big part in this. Because she was not here all of the time
I was made a point work one-on-one with her almost everyday to
make sure that she was caught up and understood the content of
the lesson she missed. Also, because I worked one-on-one with
her I saw what areas she was struggling with most and was able
to adjust my original lesson plan to focus more attention on that

specific part of the lesson plan.

Least successful: Low-level Student- This student suffers from a
lot of emotional factors. Although, this is not under my control I
did implement many behavioral monitoring skills in the class. I
talked with him one-on-one and gave him smiles if he had a

positive day. He received a prize when he got a smiley face. I

believe his behavior played a big factor in his qualitative data.
He gets frustrated easily and gives up often, so his performance
and participation grades suffer. He received non-responsive on a
lot of objectives that were graded on discussion. Quantitative
data shows some of the same results, he did not complete his
work because he became frustrated and his grades showed him
giving up a lot of the time. One modification I would continue to
do for this student is more one-on-one reading. I believe if he
could read independently at a 2nd grade level his confidence
would improve and overall improving his performance. I did read
over some of his reading test with him, but had to stop due to

my cooperating teachers suggestion.

Average preforming Student: High-level Student: This student is
very skilled in all areas of instruction. He made an A average on
every part of the lessons objectives, relating to quantitative data.
Qualitative data he made a 100%. He received this grade
because I believe that it was instilled in him to care about his
grades, it shows in his focus and participation. The one factor
that I am still unsure about is why he dropped three points on his
final test than his pre-test. I believe that this might have been
because the format of review was different than he was originally
used to completing. I placed this student in the average
preforming section because I believe I could of done better

implementing more advanced instruction for him to grow more

as a learner. I also believe that I should of implemented more
peer based instruction so that he felt like he was able to share
his knowledge with other students in a positive environment.

One major modification: I believe that my many active

modification for my low-levels students behavior affected his
performance as well as the classs overall demeanor. Specifically
during my seasons lesson this student became infuriated with
me because I did not allow him to not draw his seasons in pencil.
I wanted him to show that he knew what each season would look
like using a variety of colors. He became verbally and physically
upset and as a result the class had to stop what they were doing.
Instead of reacting negatively to his behavior I asked to speak
with him outside of the class. I allowed him to draw in pencil, but
only for homework. I told him that I would put up his pictures on
my wall if he showed me he tried his best in color. This sparked
his interest in the lesson because he was being rewarded. As a
result the entire class tried their best to get their picture on my
wall.
Reflection on possibilities for Professional Development
Over this course I was introduced to the wonderful suggestion to
think about what I am teaching and why I am teaching it,

specifically based on standards. I never really sat down and

thought about what I wanted my students to gain after each part
of my lesson plans. I just focused on the end result. A goal for
me was to sit down with the standards and my lessons plans and
write out what I wanted from my students on each part of the
lesson. This opened my eyes up to why I teach and have my
students do certain activities in the classroom. I plan on
continuing to do this with my own lesson plans when I get my
own job. I also plan on sitting down with a high, middle, and low
level student and discussing with them what part of the lesson

was their favorite and why.

The second goal I am going to have for myself will be to have
options during instruction for the different ranges of students. I
struggled with adapting my lesson plans for my high level
learners. I did not give them an alternate assignment that was
more advanced to promote higher-level thinking till towards the
end of my experience. To help me achieve this goal I plan on
having more projects for this students, so that they can explore
a topic in detail and explore parts of a topic that interest them
the most.