Hands On & Minds On!

Up Up And Away with Bar Graphs!

The webquest was a big topic of this weeks classes. Using the pbworks site, my task was to create a webquest on bar graphs. I had to remember that a webquest gives the student a problem to solve. I struggled with this aspect for a while trying to come up with an idea of something the students could do. I researched a lot of different webquests looking for ideas.

After a lot of pondering and thinking, I had the students become detectives and find lost data. Once my webquest got rolling I was on the ball. The webquest was becoming for me what the unit plan in basics was: My baby! I absolutely fell in love with the process involved in creating my webquest and I must say it was addicting. I spent endless hours adding links, pages, and pictures to make my webquest appealing to the student's that were going to be using it and to other teacher's that may want to use my webquest.

I also spent a lot of my time helping others in the class with their own webquests. There was a lot of confusion especially for those who weren't familiar with the use of the pbworks site. I offered a lot of my time into teaching the students in my class how to add pictures, links, and pages. I also offered my suggestions to them about their topics or tasks when asked.

The webquest overall was an incredible experience and I walked away from it learning a lot about the process of creating a webquest. I also learned that I can be creative, and for me that was huge because I struggle a lot with creativity! I tend to think too much about something and I always worry that it isn't going to be good enough. I have learned a lot over the past two years with Dr. Smirnova, and as a result I have become much more confident in my work and my thoughts.

The Ups and Downs of Planning a Lesson!

Creating a lesson plan is a long process with many steps involved. Before beginning my lesson plan on "Bar Graphs", I researched about how other teacher's taught Bar Graphs and I also used the resources on Moodle as a reference. The Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Frame was my best friend throughout the process of creating my lesson.

The hardest part for me was figuring out what I was going to teach and what it was going to take for me to help my students understand what I am teaching. My biggest fear going into this profession would be that I would not be successful in helping my students reach automaticity in their learning. I know I can do this but there are times when I think of the what if's and I begin to doubt myself but then I get up there in front of a classroom and I feel totally at ease and extremely comfortable.

I spent a few hours so far with my teacher that I will be observing for going over what I am going to teach and presenting her with ideas. I have also begun my observations. Throughout my time in the classroom I am rarely sitting down. I have helped the teacher review word problems, I go over their "Do Now" problems with them before their lesson for the day, and I also go over the answers with them to their homework assignment from the night before. According to Mrs. Ferguson (The 4th grade teacher I am observing) one is born to be a teacher, it is in their hearts. She continued to tell me that I either am or I am not and that my job is to prove to her that I am born to be a teacher (And thank goodness she told me I have proven to her that I am).

I have enjoyed creating my lesson plan and coming up with the ideas for the lesson. It is very time consuming, but I care enough about it to put in the time and energy that it deserves into the planning process.

Evaluate Evaluate Evaluate!

This week in class was all about evaluating: Direct Instruction Lesson Plans!!

I was given a direct instruction lesson plan on money to evaluate using the direct instruction lesson plan frame as my guide. This was a lot of fun for me! Honestly, I could spend hours looking at lesson plans! I am personally not the biggest fan of direct instruction. I think this type of method is necessary when introducing a new topic but, it should not be the only method used.



I enjoyed the way literature was used in the math lesson. The students were going to be read a book about how Alexander spent his dollar. After reading the story, the students were asked to write their own story about how they would spend a dollar if they had one. I love when teacher's can connect literature to their lessons because seeing things through the eyes of someone else really can help aide in student understanding.

I think that the development would have been easier to understand if it were broken up into parts. If the development was in parts it would be much easier for the teacher and anyone else reading the lesson plan to understand. Lastly, the development was also missing closure which is an important aspect to creating a great lesson plan.

Overall, the teacher has a head start and is in the process of creating a great lesson plan on money!

Creating Closure in Direct Instruction!!

After teaching the class about Direct Instruction, the co-teachers had another job ahead of them. Our next task was to assist the other students in the class in creating power point presentations based upon the different elements of a direct instruction lesson plan. The group I chose to assist was the Closure Group. Their job was to create a powerpoint discussing the importance of closure and how it can be used in a direct instruction setting.

I gave the group some suggestions of websites they can use to assist them in creating their power point. I created a presentation for them to work on in google docs and shared it with them. I also suggested that they use a wordle for their anticipatory set to associate all of the terms that go along with closure. I also assisted in showing the group a video on youtube called "Language for Learning" which provided an example of how closure is used in the classroom. Lastly, I suggested that a useful direct instruction strategy to conclude their presentation would be to make a quiz on quizlet and have the rest of the class take the quiz to see if they have acquired the information that was taught to them.

I was happy to see that the closure group took my suggestions and I thought that they all did a wonderful job up there teaching! I made sure I made myself available to help anyone in the group that needed my help. This was a positive experience for me, for the group, and for the rest of the class.