PEDAGOGY: Fifth Grade
Teaching
- Develops and documents instructional plans that are appropriately aligned with the Alabama Courses of Study.
- Develops and implements detailed lesson plans.
- Implements developmentally appropriate curricular materials and activities.
- Collaborates with appropriate school personnel when planning lessons (e.g., cooperating teacher, ELL teacher, collaborative teacher, paraprofessionals).
- Uses various grouping strategies (e.g., whole group instruction, group work, think-pair-share, cooperative learning, small group instruction, co-teaching).
- Uses a variety of instructional models to promote higher-order thinking (e.g., problem-based learning, group investigation, concept attainment, inductive model, integrative model).
- Uses technology to increase student engagement (ELMO, overhead projector, digital projector, multimedia, Smart Board).
- Differentiates instruction to facilitate the attainment of learning objectives.
- Uses wait time and scaffolding to support thoughtful student responses.
Description & Rationale
On Day Three of this Science Unit, I taught a lesson on Kinetic versus Potential Energy. I began this lesson the way I began all of my lessons in this unit........with a question that required the students to draw on various types of critical analysis capabilities. While not every lesson in the unit contained an experiment or hands-on activity, many of them did, including this one. This lesson exemplifies the strategies, methods, and tone I established for all of the lessons in this unit.
As the detailed lesson plan reveals, I planned and implemented instruction that aligned with the Alabama Courses of Study for Fifth Grade Science. I used various grouping strategies (whole group, pair/share, group investigation) and materials (science notebooks, hand-outs, data sheets, internet sites, materials for experiment, graphs) that advanced lesson objectives, motivated student engagement, and promoted critical thinking. Pursuant to what I learned in Professor Dillihunt's class, EDC 311 Instructional Strategies, this lesson was essentially the Inquiry Model. Additionally, I employed technology (ELMO, ActiveBoard, internet, rollercoaster website) to enhance communication and comprehension of content. I considered and responded to the needs of students who required extra help or attention. When posing the critical thinking questions I posed in every lesson of this unit, I scaffolded student responses, allowed for appropriate wait times, and provided incentives and encouragement for students to actively participate in all phases of the lesson (tickets, positive words, positive demeanor).
Below are four rows of documents.
Row I contains pages one and two of the Lesson Plan and the Inquiry Model Matrix I created in EDC 311 during Block II at UAH.
Row II contains the Lesson Notes I created and distributed to the students. The students inserted these notes into their science notebooks.
Row III contains the Data Sheet, Critical Thinking Questions, and Graph that I distributed to the students. They used these materials during the experiment and inserted them into the science notebooks.
Row IV contains the completed Data Sheet, Critical Thinking Questions, and Graph of Student 8.
As the detailed lesson plan reveals, I planned and implemented instruction that aligned with the Alabama Courses of Study for Fifth Grade Science. I used various grouping strategies (whole group, pair/share, group investigation) and materials (science notebooks, hand-outs, data sheets, internet sites, materials for experiment, graphs) that advanced lesson objectives, motivated student engagement, and promoted critical thinking. Pursuant to what I learned in Professor Dillihunt's class, EDC 311 Instructional Strategies, this lesson was essentially the Inquiry Model. Additionally, I employed technology (ELMO, ActiveBoard, internet, rollercoaster website) to enhance communication and comprehension of content. I considered and responded to the needs of students who required extra help or attention. When posing the critical thinking questions I posed in every lesson of this unit, I scaffolded student responses, allowed for appropriate wait times, and provided incentives and encouragement for students to actively participate in all phases of the lesson (tickets, positive words, positive demeanor).
Below are four rows of documents.
Row I contains pages one and two of the Lesson Plan and the Inquiry Model Matrix I created in EDC 311 during Block II at UAH.
Row II contains the Lesson Notes I created and distributed to the students. The students inserted these notes into their science notebooks.
Row III contains the Data Sheet, Critical Thinking Questions, and Graph that I distributed to the students. They used these materials during the experiment and inserted them into the science notebooks.
Row IV contains the completed Data Sheet, Critical Thinking Questions, and Graph of Student 8.
Reflection
This lesson went extremely well. The students enjoyed it immensely and they were extremely engaged. I know that the strategies I used assisted them in content comprehension. I also challenged them cognitively with some of the questions, discussions, data analysis, and hypotheses comparisons. But, they did not act challenged in any sort of negative way. They acted intrigued. Teaching this lesson thrilled me. I really feel like I planned and implemented the lesson well from various perspectives. I was effective and positive and (dare I say it) inspirational in this lesson. I was also happy with how the classroom management went. I was concerned that when I combined a bouncing ball with fifth grade boys outside on a nice day that it would be a recipe for trouble; however, it all went well. I was particularly happy to see how eager they were to participate in discussing the results when we returned to the room. It was gratifying. Teaching this lesson reminded me why I want to be a teacher. Another thing this lesson confirmed for me was how important it is to teach science by having students DO science, as opposed to worksheets, lectures, and watching educational videos. As I have mentioned before, these more passive methods are fine and appropriate, so long as, they are not the only methods of teaching.