Reflection: Lesson Plan 1 (Science) Section 1: Whole Class There were a variety of activities within the lesson.

The lesson lasted longer than expected, but there were several transitions so the students did not stay in one place for too long and they transitioned well. Throughout the lesson modifications were made to the original assessment plan. The objective was that students will be able to correctly identify 3 examples of evidence of fall through drawings. The pre-assessment survey didnt go as planned as the students raised their hands multiple times rather than once. The pre-assessment did not give accurate information concerning what the students knew about fall. If I could do my lesson over I would pre-assess my students the day before and ask them individually what they could tell me about fall. The during assessment didnt go as planned either as I didnt have time to take notes on the comments students made during discussions. I had originally planned for students to draw 3 things that show evidence of fall on the back of their leaf reports, but we ran out of time at the end of the lesson. I ended up going back the day after my lesson, and I went to individual students and asked them what they could tell me about fall. Assessments are what I will work to improve the next time I teach. I think it would be easier for me to do a pre-assessment a day or two before I teach my lesson and a post-assessment a day after my lesson. This would be easier because then I wouldnt have to do as many assessments during my actual lesson. Management is another aspect of teaching that I really need to work on. The students were very excited and all wanted to share experiences. It was hard to keep them from shouting out during the lesson, and also make sure that I heard from all the students at some point during the lesson. Next time I will work to improve my management of the class and continue to make sure that I try to provide opportunities that keep them fully engaged.

Section 2: Analysis of Three Students Below Average Learner Israel was able to complete the drawing part and size part of the leaf report, but he didnt get to finish to worksheet and fill out the color portion of his report. It may have been easier for Israel to complete if I had written the color words in the actual color that they are. This is an accommodation I could consider making in the future. When assessing Israel after the lesson I could tell he had difficulty understanding the question that I asked him because his response did not make sense. I asked him What can you tell me about fall? He responded by telling me that we looked at leaves with magnifying glasses and said falling. Israel is an ESOL student and his language is a challenge to his

learning. The best way for him to learn English is to be immersed in the language as he is, but it is currently causing him to struggle with learning content. In order to aid Israel in his learning, I will continue to use lots of visuals and hands-on learning in my lessons to provide multiple means for him to understand content. I will also work to make sure that Israel understands directions given before working on an activity. He has difficulty following directions because he doesnt always understand them. He needs a lot of guidance from his teachers when working. Average Learner Sam was able to complete the three sections of his leaf report. Sams drawing turned out very well as he thought to trace his leaf. Sam was able to meet the objective for this lesson as he was able to recall 3 different changes that occur during fall. Sam gave an aspect of fall that was different from his classmates as he was able to recall that Thanksgiving occurs in fall. Sam is a very active student and enjoys being outside. I think that going outside for this lesson was very exciting for him and helped keep him engaged. Sam does very good working by himself and focuses well. I will work to continue to provide Sam with good, hands-on learning experiences. Above Average Learner During the lesson Caitlin did a great job completing her leaf report. She drew a life-like picture of her leaf including spots on the green leaf where it was turning red. She identified that her leaf was medium sized and that the leaf was green and red. Many of the students filled out the parts of the leaf report not thinking that all of the parts should match up but the picture she drew and the colors she used matched the colors she circled. She was able to meet and exceed the objective for the lesson. The objective was for students to be able to identify three pieces of evidence of fall, and Caitlin was able to verbally tell me more than five, and she was also knew reasons why certain changes occurred. She identified that the leaves fall down, birds fly south, animals grow more fur, we see pumpkins, and there are apples on the trees. Caitlin has a very high reading comprehension and excels in all areas of learning. She is a very motivated student and is always engaged. She takes her time while working and goes above and beyond in her work. During this lesson I think she did well on the leaf report because she does a great job paying attention to detail. After the lesson I think she was able to tell me so much from the lesson because of her ability to recall and think critically as she told me reasons why certain things happened in fall. Caitlin needs to be challenged, and in the future I will work to provide accommodations that challenge her. Section 3: I tried to use various activities within the lesson to keep students moving a lot so they would not get restless. Transitioning took longer than I expected, and for my next

lesson I will use fewer activities or choose shorter activities that require fewer transitions so that students can have adequate time to work. Before the lesson I made the decision to do part of the lesson outside observing changes that occur during fall because the students enjoy being outside and I thought this would be a great way to keep them engaged. The day of my lesson it was very hot, and there werent a lot of trees with leaves changing colors, so I had to monitor and adjust a little. We went outside and talked about changes we would be seeing soon, and instead of doing our songs inside we did them outside. We also werent able to use real leaves for our observations. We ended up having to use silk leaves. The lesson was done through means of whole-group instruction, individual work, an interactive read-aloud, and observations. The interactive read-aloud was done in a whole group setting, and our discussion of evidence of fall was done outside, also in a whole group setting. Students worked as individuals to observe their leaves and complete their leaf reports. During the lesson I used several different instructional aids to keep the students actively involved. I used the SMART board, a YouTube video, and the students got to use magnifying glasses. For the pre-assessment, students looked at pictures of trees in different seasons on the SMART board. After the pre-assessment I used a seasons rap on YouTube to give the students an opportunity to get moving. When we did our leaf reports the students had the chance to use magnifying glasses to observe their leaves. This was many of the students first time using magnifying glasses. The students were active throughout the interactive read-aloud, songs, discussing evidence of fall outside, observing leaves, and completing leaf reports. The students didnt stay in one place for a long period of time. There were many different components to the lesson. The students were motivated and engaged throughout the lesson. Students really enjoyed being able to go outside and having their own leaf to hold. This kept them engaged in the lesson. I used a pair of binoculars outside, and I allowed a few students that followed directions well to use the binoculars. I also had a special magnifying glass that students could use to help them with their leaf reports if they were doing a good job with their little magnifying glasses. Both of these special tools motivated students to pay attention and work hard. I used several different songs throughout my lesson because the children enjoy singing songs. The content of the lesson was presented in a logical manner. I first presented the information necessary through an interactive read-aloud. As we looked at the pictures in the book we discussed the evidence of fall I questioned the students about why they thought these different changes occurred. After the interactive read-aloud we discussed fall and I gave the students an opportunity to recall what they had learned from the read-aloud. After the discussion students had the chance to further explore one specific change that occurs in fall. They had the opportunity to work independently to observe a

leaf and draw a picture of a leaf. During this activity I simply guided them as they worked. As the lesson went along the materials and activities were monitored and adjusted. There were a few materials I had planned to use that we didnt end up using. I had planned to use a fall scavenger hunt list, but we didnt end up using it because there werent many of the items on the list outside due to there being little evidence of fall. There was one material that I had planned on using that I didnt get to use. The original plan was for students to collect leaves outside that had changed colors and fallen off of trees, but there werent any leaves that had fallen off yet that had changed colors so the we had to use fake leaves. If I were going to do this lesson again I would do it a little later in fall to be sure that the weather would be cooler, and there would be more leaves that had changed colors. The students were able to draw their leaves, but they had difficulty with the part relating to size and color. Many of the students couldnt read the words, and they didnt pay very good attention when I walked the children through this part of the worksheet because they were still working on their drawings. If I were to do this again I would only have the students complete the drawings of their leaves and then I would ask the students who finished early and are high level students to write words to describe their leaves. I could easily relate this lesson to the lives of students by having them observe a tree at their houses over the course of a few weeks to watch the way the leaves change. Students could draw pictures of leaves that they find at their houses. The teacher will continue to reference changes in fall as the changes continue to occur. I had to work very hard to try to keep the students focused during the lesson. The kids would get very excited, and they would all start talking wanting to share experiences. I am still working on classroom management, and I know that next time I need to make sure that the lesson is shorter because my lesson was too long for their age group. There was a lot of transitioning so they werent in one place for a long period of time which was good, but the transitions took a long time. Part of the lesson was done on the carpet, one part was outside, and another part was done at their tables. I set expectations for the students before different parts of the lesson I used positive reinforcement allowing the students to use binoculars or a big, special magnifying class as I noticed them doing a very good job. There was one point during the whole group discussion where the students started moving a lot because they wanted to get closer to me as I pulled out the leaves and I had to tell them to stay in their spots. The students were very excited during the lesson, but they behaved well. I gave all the children an opportunity to participate in the lesson. When the children worked individually I made sure I got around to all of the tables to give the children guidance if they needed it.

I had planned on the lesson taking only 30 minutes, but the lesson took about 45 minutes. It took a lot longer for the students to do the leaf report than I expected, and we had to walk a little ways to get to a good grassy spot to sit. Transitioning also took longer than I expected as we went to the carpet, outside, and then back inside. The next time I do a lesson I will work on trying to make the transitions smoother and quicker. I will also make sure that I give students more time if I am requiring them to create because the children like having time to finish their work. Analysis of Assessments A) For the pre-assessment, I had planned to conduct a survey where I put pictures of a tree representative of each of the seasons up on the Smart board, and then question students whether to see what they thought each tree represented. As I performed my pre-assessment I told the students to only raise their hand for one of the four, whichever they thought represented fall. The students raised their hands multiple times, and I think they also copied each other and would raise their hand just because they saw lots of other people raising their hand. The pre-assessment did not give accurate information concerning what the students knew about fall. If I could do my lesson over I would pre-assess my students the day before and ask them individually what they could tell me about fall. B) For the during assessment I had planned on recording which students were participating in the read-aloud and discussion outside. There was not time during my lesson for me to stop and record what my students thoughts and participation. I realized after my lesson that it was very unreasonable and unrealistic for me to try to record observations during my lesson. I decided that I would use my leaf report as a during assessment. The students did a good job observing their leaves with magnifying glasses and drawing their leaves. A majority of the students had a hard time with the part where they had to determine whether their leaves were small, medium, or large and also identifying the color of their leaf. Overall 19 out of 26 (73%) students completed all three parts of the leaf report; drawing, size, and colors. C) For the post-assessment I had planned to have students draw on the back of their leaf reports 3 pictures that show changes that take place whenever the seasons change from summer to fall. I ran out of time to have the students do the post-assessment so I ended up coming back the following day so I could verbally assess students as individuals. This assessment provided me with the best data from my lesson. I first started questioning the students by asking them what they could tell me about fall and the question I asked was very broad. The children gave me very basic answers like the leaves change colors or they fall off the trees. I decided to change the way I worded the questions and asked them more specific questions like what happens to the leaves in

fall? The students were able to recall more specific information when I questioned them this way. For example if I asked a child what happens to birds in the fall, most of the students responded by saying they fly to warmer places. I learned a lot about how to ask kindergarteners questions. I needed to help them a little bit more with their recall so that they would be able to give me more specific information. From the post-assessment data I was able to see that 12 out of the 26 (46%) students could recall three or more facts about fall and 9 students could identify at least two aspects of fall. Some students were even able to explain reasons for why certain changes occurred.