Individual Lesson Assessment Reflection
Background Information
The focus for my math lesson during lesson week was that the students would be able to read, write, and identify the numbers 6, 7, and 8. For this lesson the students practiced writing their numbers on mini white board, they used groups of counting bears to identify these numbers and completed an activity on the Smart Board to help them read these numbers as well. The focus for my science lesson was living and nonliving things. I read a book to the class discussing the differences, the class sorted pictures as a group and individually of living and nonliving things, and we went on a nature walk to explore living and nonliving things around us. My language arts and social studies lesson taught the concepts of main idea and key details while incorprating information about community helpers.
Prior to teaching the numbers 6, 7, and 8, I was aready aware that all students have mastered the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I know that all students have mastered these numbers based on my observations in the classroom so far this year. My resource teacher has tested the students multiple times on these numbers to check for mastery. Prior to teaching my science lesson, I was aware that no students have any background knowledge for this particular content. I would be teaching the first science lesson of the school year. For my lesson hook, I briefy pre-assessed the students to find out their understanding of living and nonliving things. I asked if they know what the words meant, or if they could give me any examples. This let me know what they prior knowledge of this content was prior to teaching the lesson.
My fomative assessment used during my math lesson was a checklist. This checklist was used to infomallly assess the students ability to write the numbers 6, 7, and 8. As I previously stated, during the lesson to students practiced writing the numbers zero to eight on mini white boards. The students wrote all of these numbers, however, they were only assessed on the three they just learned- 6,7, and 8. The students would write the numbers on the white board and hold them up in the air. I walked around the classroom as the students held their boards in the air. If they were able to correctly write the number, they would get a check mark. If the student was unable to write the number, the box would stay blank. This was a simple way to assess the students understanding of writing numbers. The formative assessment used during my science lesson was also a checklist. This checklist was used to assess the students understand of living and nonliving things. Together in a whole group, the class sorted living and nonliving pictures. If the student was able to identify the picture they were given they would recieve one checkmark. If the student was able to correctly sort this picture into the appropriate group, living or nonliving, they would recieve a checkmark, as well. The students could recieve a total of two checkmarks for this formative assessment. Lastly, a checklist was used to informally assess my languagae arts lesson. If they student was able to retell one key detail about a community helper, they would recieve a smiley face. I decided to assess this portion of the lesson because I was able to assess the students undertstanding of the language arts content and social studies content being taught in this lesson.
The two students who I have been observing over the course of this semester reacted very well to my lessons and my teaching. Student one, how typically struggles in language arts was very active and a great listener during my language arts and social studies lesson. He was very engaged in the content being taught and very engaged in the learning process. He was equally engaged in both the language arts and social studies content. Student 2 however, seemed to be very distracted my the props incorportated in this lesson. I gave each student a community helpers hat to reinforce the topic of the story we were reading and to provide an example of a key detail. She was very distracted by the prop and even distracted others. I used a variety of teaching methods to meet the needs of all students, however she seem distracted by some of these techniques. She could not keep her hands off of the smart board or the hat on her head. She distracted others when they were trying to complete the activty on the smart board. On my video that I had to submit, you can hear my multiple attempts of getting her back on track.
Reflection in Action
Each day, for each content area, my results for my formative assessments were as expected. Many of the students were able to correctly answer or respond in the appropriate way to the assessments. The math assessment was checking to see if the students were able to write the numbers 6, 7, and 8. Out of the 18 students that were in class for my lesson on this day, 16 out of the 18 were able to correctly write the numbers without any assistance from the teacher. The two that were unable to write these numbers, were the two I was expecting not to be able to. The science checklist was assessing the students on their assessing skills and their knowledge of living and nonliving things. Again, out of the 18 students who were in class for my lesson, 15 were able to correctly identify the picture and name if the object was a living or nonliving object. Two of they three students truly struggle with a lot of content presented at school. These two students were both able to identify the picture, but they were unable to say if it was a living of nonliving object. The third student who did not recieve a checkmark, did not recieve the checkmarks because of a lack of focus. This student did not pay attention during the lesson, or the activity instructions, therefore he did not understand the assignment. Even after multiple attemps of regaining his attention, he was unable to name the picuture or state if the object was living or nonliving. None of these three students are one of the students I have been obseving this semester. Lastly, my language arts and social students lesson seemed to have similar results. A handfull of students were unable to restate a key detail about their community helper. I truly do not believe it was because of a lack of intelligence, rather it was because of a lack of focus during the lesson. Had the students been paying attention, the these students would have been able to restate these simple key details. After evaluating the results of my formative assessments, I would know that I would have to review all three content areas prior to moving on to new content. If anything, I could pull the few students who did not recieve checkmarks on their formative assessments, at various times throughout the day to review these topics with them individually. As I previously stated, the results on these formative assessments were to be expected. My students do not lack intelligence however it is common that they lack focus during important instruction, such as listening when the teacher is giving directions. The lack of listing to instructions completly impacted these results.
The days following my lessons, I pulled the students aside that did not recieve checkmarks for the fomative assessments during my lesson week. I wanted to give these students the opportunity to ask questions about the material that they did not seem to understand. I was able to tell the students that only missed the formative assessments because of there inability to listen and follow directions. The next day when I pulled them aside, these students were able to quickly tell me the correct answers. Therefore I know that the students understand the content that I taught, and we just needed to dicuss paying attention and being a better listener. One of the students that I am observing was unable to write the numbers 6. 7, and 8. I know that this students is able to correctly write these numbers, however, on the day of my lesson plan, she thought it was more important to play with her name tag and crayons. Only after being prompted to pick up her marker did she attempt to write these numbers. At the time of this activity, she did not feel like doing this activity, so she didn't. This is a typical attitude and behavior of this student I have been observing. During our mini conference, we discuss being a good listener and participant. I reminded her that everything we do at school might not be the most exciting, or sound fun at a particular time, however to become a better learn and to be able to move on from kindergarten, these are things we have to do and practice. For the remainder of the school day she had a great attitude about all the activities.
The student that I am observing, that I talked about above, decided we were going to have a sign between one another. The sign is used to regain her attention and help her to focus on the task at hand. A hand signal will help her redirect her attention to what we are learning. When I notice that the student is off task, I will put two fingers in the air and cross them. This signal let's the student know that she is not doing the right thing. When sees thing signal she knows to stop doing what she is doing and pay attention to the teacher. When the student and I talked about this feedback from lesson, the student and I discussed the importance of paying attention. I knew during my lesson that this student was able to correctly write these numbers. When we talked after the lesson, I let the student write these numbers. We talked about why she was able to write them now but she was not able to write them during my lesson. We talked about the importance of doing the right thing and listening to the teacher. When the teacher is talking, the student has a tendency to sit and talk to the person beside her or play around with her crayons. We talked about how important it is to listen to the teacher so we can become a learner.
As I am reflecting on my lesson week teaching experience, I know that everything we plan for and plan to do does not always go according to plan. Being a teacher means you have to be flexible and "on your toes" at all times. As teachers we are able to plan, plan, plan, but we can never predict how the students will react to the instruction. Being a good and effective teacher means differentiating instruction. Oftentimes, we are required to differentiate on the stop, because we are unsure how the students will react. Using assessments, formal or informal, is a great way to find out how the students reacted to what was being taught. By using assessments, teachers are able to understand what the students understand. When the teachers give feedback to students, the students are able to better understand what they do not know. I students do well on assessments, they will recieve positive feedback and may recieve a more challenging assessment in the future.
I would have changed multiple things that I did during lesson week. For my math lesson, I taught the numbers 6, 7, and 8. For a portion of my lesson, I used laminated number cards with the numbers 6, 7, and 8. Some students were confused with the number 6. Some students thought the 6 on the number card was the number 9. If I had the opportunity to reteach this lesson, I would make sure I added a line under the six so the students could see that it was a 6 rather than a 9. Also during my math lesson, the students used mini white boards to write their numbers. Fro this activity, they wrote all the numbers they have learned so far. (0-8). I put a certain number of pictures up on the Smart Board. The students had to count the pictures and write that number on their white board. I wish I would have let the first person who wrote the number correctly, go up to the Smart Board and write the number for the class. I feel that this would have been a reward to the student for doing it correctly, and could have even helped others students in the class who were unsure how to write the number. When I was teaching my science lesson about living and nonliving things, the students were pretty excited. When I first introduced that we would be going outside for a nature walk, the students became overly excited and stopped listening to the instuction. I wish I would have introduced the nature walk without letting them know we would actually be going outside. After I regained their attention, the rest of the lesson went smoothly.