Standard 1 - Student Learning

Student Learning

As educators it is important to know how students learn and develop. This knowledge comes from Education Psychology and many methods courses. Having that knowledge allows educators to make conscious decisions about lessons that will give students opportunities to learn and develop personally, socially, and intellectually.

During my student teaching experience I designed a lesson using the book Armadilly Chili. It allowed students to reflect individually about events in the book as it was being read and to discuss their reflections in a whole group environment while incorporating the feelings exhibited in the story to illustrate good personal and social behavior. My students were instructed to ask questions, silently to themselves, (at certain pauses in the reading) about the way Miss Billie was feeling and why she was feeling that way.  I used this lesson to introduce proper group discussion and assess their ability to reflect discuss cooperatively as a group; so that I could gauge their skill level and incorporate more small and large group discussions to grow their skills. These goals fall in line with the first standard of student learning and the subset of skills that fall underneath the standard.

As an introduction to the lesson I completed a book walk with the students and we had a mini discussion based on what we observed during the book walk. I explained that we would talk again as a group after the book was read, but that we would be pausing at points to stop and think about the events in the beginning, middle, and end of the book. The students seemed to understand that we would be pausing and thinking, but because I knew their experience with reflecting was very limited I decided it would be best if I modeled the thinking I was aiming for within the first few pages. After I modeled the thinking based on Tex’s reaction to Miss Billie asking for help I could see that the expectation became clear to them and some students even raised their hands to provide input to my modeling. At beginning pause I just prompted them by asking; “What is Miss Billie feeling? Why does she feel that way? How would you feel if you were Miss Billie?” I had to remind a few students that we were thinking in our heads and not sharing until the end of the story. It was very difficult to assess what level the students were thinking at during the reading, as the students were instructed to think and not say what they were thinking, but it became evident in the discussion that occurred at the end. The students led the discussion which centered on the feelings that were presented in the stories and their personal connections to the feelings and how they would feel.  A few times I had to remind the students to listen to the person talking and then when that person was done they could express their thoughts. The students responded well to the formatting of the lesson and they were able to talk about their thoughts and feelings in a way that not only made them feel comfortable because there was only one person speaking at a time, but they also practiced their interpersonal skills by listening while others were speaking. After adequate discussion of their thoughts on the story and observing productive group discussion I asked the students to think about how the story could help us when we work in groups at school. Responses included: “We should help each other.” “Sharing our crayons and markers.” “We can be friends even if we get angry.” “Talk about how we feel.” I believe the responses given were so varied because the students were still very much wrapped up in the student centered discussion that they completed. It would have been beneficial to wait a few minute, allow students to reflect, and have them write and illustrate how the story could help when we are in groups. After going through the lesson with the class I would change a few things for future use if I were to use this in the same introductory format. I would start by having students voice some of their thoughts with elbow buddies during the set pauses. I think this would help to create a better transition to the group discussion at the end. I would also, as stated above, have students reflect at the end individually by writing and illustrating. Overall, the lesson did help students to develop better social and personal awareness and gave them the opportunity to grow intellectually because they participated in self and group reflection. These are all criteria in the student learning standard

For my fourth grade students I designed a lesson as a closing to the ecosystem unit that I taught. The lesson addresses the student learning standard because it was designed to allow students to develop intellectually, personally, and socially by responding in three different ways to statements and questions that were pulled from previous lessons, the current reading, and current events. Unfortunately, with TAKS testing the lesson never took place. If the lesson had taken place I believe students would have benefitted greatly from writing first about their thoughts and then seeing how the rest of the class responded. I used this technique because I wanted the students to reflect on the information covered in the preceding days and connect that material with ideas presented in the lesson before making their decision and responding. Having the students respond in writing first allowed each to reflect, connect, and respond at their own pace. Sharing of their responses was incorporated to facilitate thoughtful discussion about their unique responses and give students the opportunity to explain their responses in a non-judgmental environment.

 Day 5

Objective: The learner will identify producers and consumers from “The Lorax”. The learner will reflect on questions about ways the ecosystem in “The Lorax”. The learner will explain their viewpoint on opinion statements.

Materials: “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss, Science Journals, Pencils

Vocabulary: Truffula Tree, Thneed, Lorax, Once-ler

Warm-up: Review food webs again and discuss the questions that were posed to them at the end of the lesson yesterday.

Instructional Plan: Explain to the students that they need to create their own T-Chart in their Science Journal with one side labeled producers and one side labeled consumers. Then explain that they will need to identify the producers and consumers in the story and that they need to be paying close attention to the events in the story.

Read “The Lorax”

Draw students’ attention to the board and the questions that have been written up on the board. Tell them they will have 10 minutes to answer the questions on a loose leaf piece of paper using details. When the 10 minutes have passed the teacher will pose opinion statements and students will write whether they agree or disagree and why or why not. Then as a class we will stand up and the statements will be read again students will be instructed to go to opposite sides of the classroom and then we will discuss our opinions and how this book can be related into our own world.

Closing: Discuss the BP oil spill and how it might be affecting our coastal ecosystem here in Texas.

Assessment: Informal assessment checking completeness of answers while students are answering the questions. Formal assessment will be done on the self-created T-Charts. These will be checked to see whether they have correctly created a T-Chart and that they have correctly identified the producers and consumers from “The Lorax”. (Rubric Attached)