Science Lesson Plan
Reflection found inside document.
Math Lesson Plan
Creating mathematics lessons during my practicum was challenging as I had never working in a split grade before. With this, it was a good opportunity for me to practice creating lessons which met the expectations of both grade one and grade two at once. The lesson provided here was created for the Geometry and Spatial Sense unit of the Ontario Curriculum. The lesson focused on identifying, constructing, and deconstructing shapes within other shapes.
During prior lessons, I learned very quickly that the students needed to work with hands on materials or else it was difficult for them to learn new concepts. I began to think about Piaget’s stages of development, which would suggest these students were in the “concrete development” phase. With this, I knew my lesson should include hands on learning in order for the students to grasp abstract concepts such as “the area of shapes remaining constant regardless of how it’s parts are re-arranged.” This concept appeared to be difficult for students to grasp at the beginning of the lesson when I modeled it, however, once students started to work with their own manipulatives, they really began to demonstrate a strong understanding.
I was able to use this lesson as an assessment as and for learning. By asking students a series of questions as they worked with their shapes, I was able to determine what they knew or where they needed to go in further lessons. This information and observations was used to inform my future lessons. Through this form of assessment I was also able to determine which students were struggling and spend some time instructing these students one on one.
The main takeaway from this lesson for me was to ensure my mathematics lessons provide opportunity for hands on learning in young grades, as students really started to grasp concepts well when doing so. As well, I learned to interpret data collected during observations and taking anecdotal notes to inform future instruction.
Art Lesson Plan & Rubric
The lesson provided here was applied to a grade one and two class. This lesson was very basic but I believe it was very important and foundational to implement prior to moving onto other lessons where knowledge of colours would be required and applied in more abstract ways. Students were very successful with this lesson as most achieved a level 3.
Upon reflection, there are a few things which I would do differently. In grades one and two, it is very important to break big tasks down into small components to ensure students can clearly follow instructions, particularly in art. However, I believe breaking the lesson down into very small steps and instructions limited the opportunity for students to share their knowledge with me, as they were in a way “told what to do.” With this in mind, i believe this lesson was effective in helping students to learn, but it might not necessarily be a strong piece of assessment.
This lesson also taught me about the importance of preparing transitions in advance. This was the first art lesson I had taught in a teaching placement. I learned it was important to prepare art materials well in advance so that students are not left with nothing to do and learning time is not wasted. Moving forward from this lesson, I found it effective to prepare packages for each student in advance with all materials which would be required. I found that preparing for transitions in advance allowed students to stay focused on the task.
Some areas of my lesson which I believe were strong were the success criteria and instruction prior to the application. I believe the success criteria was laid out in simple and plain language so that students clearly understood what was required from them to achieve a level 3. As well, I found it very effective to outline all of the classroom painting rules, as they had yet to paint this year. This ensured I could focus on learning and technique during the lesson, and spend less time on classroom management. Overall, I believe this was an effective lesson which I would like to use again, with modifications according to the students at hand.