Lesson #2

-


 

WHAT?

In this lesson, we taught students about Rhode Island’s history, focusing on Slater Mill and how life has changed over time. We used primary sources, such as old and current photos, and had students compare and discuss them. We incorporated collaboration through vocabulary card games and partner discussions, where students practiced and used terms like industry and cause and effect. Communication was strong during whole-class discussions and activities like the Venn diagram. One of the most engaging parts was the “hide and seek” activity, where students picked a spot in the old photo and explained their thinking.

We also adapted in the moment by providing sentence starters and asking guiding questions when students struggled to explain their ideas, which helped them participate more confidently. Overall, the lesson went well, as students were highly engaged, especially during the interactive activities, and demonstrated strong observation skills while using vocabulary in context. One area of weakness was the timeline activity, since students had to take turns writing on a single anchor chart, leading to downtime and some disengagement. Next time, we would improve this by giving each student or group their own materials to keep everyone actively involved.

Most students met the lesson objectives, which we saw through their observations during the photo analysis, participation in discussions, completed Venn diagrams and cause-and-effect activities, and their journal responses that included details from the lesson.Some students went deeper by making strong connections about how life changed over time, while a few needed more support explaining their thinking.

SO WHAT?

We learned that students stay more engaged when lessons are interactive and hands-on. We also realized how important it is to make sure every student has something to do at all times.

This experience helped us grow by improving how we co-teach, adjust instruction in the moment, and support students with language and discussion.

NOW WHAT?

Moving forward, we want to make sure all students are actively participating by planning materials for everyone and adding more supports like sentence starters from the beginning.

This will influence how we plan and teach by making our lessons more student-centered, structured, and engaging for all learners.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lesson one: Story Map and Compare and contrast

-
Image
     For today’s lesson, Debora and I worked with two students , one who spoke only English and one who primarily spoke Spanish. We began by creating a “Kindness Code,” a list of expectations we had for one another. Both students contributed their ideas, which helped set a positive tone for the time we had.      Next, we introduced vocabulary words and their definitions before reading the original Disney version of  Cinderella . The students were encouraged to shout out when they saw or heard the vocabulary words in the story, which kept them engaged and helped reinforce word meanings.      After finishing the first story, we modeled a story map using  The Three Little Pigs , a familiar story for both students. They enjoyed connecting the story elements to something they already knew.      Unfortunately, both students were pulled out for intervention before we could finish our original plan. This became a good opportu...
Read more

LESSON #2 PREDICTIONS: MUSEUM TRIP AND FLY

-
Image
     In this lesson, my partner and I taught third graders how to make and check predictions using two wordless picture books, The Museum Trip by Barbara Lehman and Fly! by Mark Teague. Students used clues from the pictures, such as facial expressions, actions, and settings, to guess what might happen next. Then, they compared the two stories, discussing similarities and differences while learning new vocabulary like predict, clue, evidence, expression, and setting.      This lesson connected to multiple subjects. In art, students analyzed the illustrations and colors to tell a story. In language arts, they practiced speaking, writing, and describing what they noticed. It also connected to social-emotional learning as students discussed how characters might feel based on their expressions and actions. Technology supported the lesson through slides and visuals that helped everyone follow along.      We provided supports for all learners. Tier ...
Read more

Lesson #1 reflection: Geograohy with 4th Grade

-
Image
  WHAT? For my first lesson, I taught a geography lesson focused on Rhode Island to a fourth-grade class. The goal of the lesson was to introduce students to basic map related vocabulary and help them understand how maps can change over time. The vocabulary words included terms such as  geography, legend, globe,  and other map-related terms. To support different learning styles, we used both physical maps and digital maps of Rhode Island. During the lesson, students worked collaboratively to compare and contrast two maps of Rhode Island, an older map and a more recent one. This allowed students to practice observation skills while discussing differences they noticed with their classmates. We also incorporated an  interactive memory game  to help students practice and memorize the vocabulary words. Before the game, students worked together to quiz each other on the terms, which encouraged communication and collaboration within the classroom. Social awareness and ...
Read more