Observing Day #1!

Observing Day #1!

Today was the first day my group and I got to observe our other classmates teach their unit plans! The next group to go consisted of Kelly, Meghan and Bailey and they were teaching the 4th graders on Light Energy. They started off their lesson by introducing themselves, asking if they know anything about light energy and introducing a great way to keep track of their level of understanding throughout the lesson. They did this through a "traffic light." Each student was given a green, yellow, and red sheet of paper. Green meant that the students understood and can move forward. Yellow meant that the students needed the teachers to slow down. Red meant that the students needed the teachers to stop because they didn't understand. I thought that this was an extremely effective tool to use because I constantly saw the students holding up their papers and they weren't afraid to say whether or not they needed the teachers to stop. After they reviewed about the traffic light strategy, the teachers gave each student a key terms worksheet where they could write down the definitions of each key term from the powerpoint. I enjoy this, but the only thing I would do differently is to provide the students with the definition and have them just write down the key term. The teachers in this group gave them the key term and had the students write down the definition. Many of the students began to complain that the definitions were too long and that they didn't have enough time or room to write them all down. To save time and reduce confusion, the definitions should have been given ahead of time.

After reviewing classroom rules, the traffic light strategy, the key terms worksheet and much more, the teachers got right into instruction! For me, their powerpoint slides were a little too advanced for the students and could have been more engaging and included more pretty fonts and fun pictures to look at. The teachers seemed very knowledgable about the information they were teaching about, but I do wish that every teacher taught equally! I enjoyed how the teachers circled around the room and answered any questions that the students had--that's extremely important! One thing I would change about watching this lesson is how the teachers and students seemed more focused on copying down the key terms definitions rather than actually learning about them. Some of the students seemed confused about certain terms but were rushed to write them down. I wish that maybe the teachers put up more of a discussion to talk about the important terms rather than just give them the time to jot them down and move forward. 

After going through the slides, the teachers introduced their guided practice activity, which included having the students search around the room to find objects that reflect, refract and absorb light. This was kind of a quick activity because they were running out of time so I'm not sure if it was incredibly effective. It was a great idea, I wish they had more time to complete it! After this activity, the students were given their independent practice. Students were given the opportunity to write down what they learned, what they want to learn more about, and one thing they think that they're experts on. One thing I would change about this is that I would have given the students multiple choice questions so I could assess what they do or don't know. Also, one of the teachers told the students that they could work together to complete this task and use their key terms worksheet..which I think is not correct. This is an opportunity for students to independently work and show the teachers what they've learned or need help on. This may have been a nervous mistake, but this time is important so us as teachers can assess the students after fieldwork! But overall, great lesson and it was great to sit back and observe what great ideas my other classmates came up with!