Last week was an absolute rush teaching at Bishop Dunn. Now that we were out of the "hot seat" it was now time for the third to teach. The teacher candidates who were in this group included: Alyssa, Amanda, and Kelly. They were in charge of explaining the changes that are happening in the ecosystem. There lesson was a continuous of what our group taught in the previous week. Before the third group started to teach their direct lesson; they reviewed some important information that is will be needed through this lesson. Alyssa asked the class questions based on their prior knowledge and I noticed a some misconceptions during this portion. The students seemed to miss pieces of information, but they were all fixed by the end of the direct lesson. After accessing their prior knowledge, Alyssa showed the students and Animoto to give a brief introduction to what the students will be learning. I really liked how they watched the video independently the first time through and then Alyssa explained the importance of the video while them watching the second time through. This was an excellent idea because it helped the students focus on the importance of this video. The one suggestion I have for the video is to maybe tell the students to watch out for some of the vocabulary terms and ask them to name some words that they noticed in the video. After the video the transition into the development section was smooth and precise for the students. Group 3 decided contact is an important factor because students can connect with what the teacher(s) are saying at that specific time. Another attribute that I really liked about Group 3 was making sure that they were relating the material to real situations. Alyssa did this when talking about the hereditary genes. The students began to make connections between their family traits and themselves as well. Throughout the development Amanda, Alyssa, and Kelly executed it flawlessly. They were engaging for the students and you could tell the students were soaking in all the information. The only other suggestion I had for this group was to make sure that there is not a lot of information on one slide. Putting too much information on one slide will not only send the students, the teachers as well into cognitive overload. Just be very cautious of this factor when designing a PowerPoint or displaying an visuals. Visuals should only have 7 key points or sentences because that is the number that anyone can withhold. This group transitioned into the guided practice with ease and the students seemed excited to hear what they had in store for them. Kelly and Alyssa modeled how the guided practice will work. I liked how they modeled this process because I can see this game getting a little confusing at times. Each group had poster board that they had to hold up that displayed their answers. As a group they were asked to discuss and figure out the correct answer. This game was engaging for the students and they seemed to really enjoy the competition. The only suggestion I had on this section would be to call out different numbers to keep them on their toes. Calling out the numbers in sequential order does not really have an effect on them. Another guided practice they decided to do was playing Kahoot. Kahoot is another engaging game that allows the students to have friendly competition amongst each other. This tool helps not only the students, but the teachers as well because it is a summative assessment on what the students just learned. The students got a little out of hand during this section, but they reeled them back into the lesson. At the end of the guided practice, the students were asked to fill out an exit ticket, but there was no clear closure to the direct lesson. Overall the direct lesson went well and I was excited to see what they were going to do for their inquiry lesson.
Adaptations Investigation
The inquiry process will always be my favorite lesson because this where students are doing hands on activities. Before group three presented their inquiry process; they first reviewed what they learned on the previous day. After the review the students were presented with a Voki that was given a problem for them to solve. There task was to become a Zoologists and fill out a graphic organizer based on the research that is provided. During this section, there was no clear modeling but the students seemed to understand the task that was at hand. Alyssa, Amanda, and Kelly gave the student research articles based on the adaptations of the animals. They were asked to fill out any information they found and record it on their graphic organizer. Through this the students were following the inquiry method. It is important to have the students follow through this method because it helps them organize their thoughts and become experts on the inquiry method. When the students were done with their graphic organizer they decided on animal that fits all the criteria that they mentioned in their research. This portion was engaging for the students because they got to be creative, but there were some issues that were faced during this part. Some students were annoyed that they couldn't incorporate their ideas on the picture. There is no way of avoiding this trouble though. After the students designed their own animals it was time for each group to present their findings and animals that they created. I noticed with the first group the teacher candidates challenged them to
answer questions based on their observations. This is an important factor because it makes the students think about their research and how they implemented it. I wish that my fellow teacher candidates did this questions for every group, but they were running out of time at this point. Towards the end of this inquiry lesson the students were asked to write an letter to Lou the Zoologist about their research and discoveries. This was an excellent independent practice to wrap up all the key items that the students learned. I think this group did an amazing job with presenting the direct and inquiry lesson. I can't wait to see what the next group has in store for all of us. Until next time bloggers :)
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