What an Experience

Well, I taught my first lesson to a classroom of 2nd graders and it went great! I taught a lesson on Animal Classification through Direct Instruction. My anticaptory set was a hit with the students. I used the whiteboard to play a game of "What Animal Am I?" and they were so into it. It really showed me how much they love to do anything out of the ordinary and with interaction. My lesson was also well received, and each child was able to name all seven classifications taught by the time I was finished. The next day, we took them to the computer lab for my Animal Classification Webquest. I was a little nervous that they would have problems navigating around but it went so well. It was also the quietest I have ever heard the class! The kids took time to go through each link I provided and really enjoyed it. I am happy I ended the quest with many games to play to show what they learned. They were so excited that the computer teacher said she would save it for them to go through again the next day. I definitely feel better to have gotten my first lesson out of the way because now I am more excited about the next one than nervous. I think the kids can feel my enthusiasm and it rubs off on them. My cooperating teacher is VERY animated and I have been able to see how they respond to him over the past couple of weeks. It has been an incredible learning experience. He is also very big into creating healthy self-esteem for the kids and to promote empathy in his classroom. Even though I have my own seven year old, I never realized how many questions second graders like to ask!! Some pertained to the topic and some did not! One girl raised her hand and asked if I liked her haircut. Well, I have really enjoyed myself this week and feel I have grown immensely. I finally feel "in it" and am so excited for more.

Why Direct Instruction is Not Enough!

Direct Instruction is great for presenting basic information and skills. Yet after the student acquires this information, they must go on to more advanced learning. Indirect Instruction personalizes understanding through student-based learning. The student learns through problem solving and social interaction, they are active in their constructing of new knowledge. It is the teachers role to guide the student through discovery, experience and modeling. It was so nice to watch the video from LICM where the kids eyes just lit up as they discovered new things for themselves. You could actually see them processing it all by the looks on their faces! I know that when I was in school as a young kid, most of my classes were basically DI. It was that rare occasion that we did something different and were hands on in our learning that I came alive. I remember well how excited we would all become when the teacher would say"today we are going to do something special." It is so wonderful now that it is now the norm in schools to mix DI with Indirect Instruction and many different strategies of teaching.

Teachers Teach as They are Taught!

When reading The Practice Implications of Constructivism by Wesley A. Hoover, I was particularly struck by this passage, "It is also useful to remember the educator's maxim, Teachers teach as they are taught, not as they are told to teach. Thus, trainers in constructivist professional development sessions model learning activities that teachers can apply in their own classrooms. It is not enough for trainers to describe new ways of teaching and expect teachers to translate from talk to action; it is more effective to engage teachers in activities that will lead to new actions in classrooms." This is how our Methods of Instruction classroom is set up. We are constantly doing things in new and different ways, individually and in groups. Each method we learn we have to explore in all the different ways that our students will learn from us...it really is exciting!

Vertebrate & Invertebrate Animals

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Vertebrate & Invertebrate Animals

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It's All Coming Together...My Reflections Thus Far

WE ARE ABOUT FIVE WEEKS INTO OUR METHODS CLASS AND I AM SO EXCITED WITH MY PROGRESS. WHEN I TOOK MY FIRST CLASS WITH DR. SMIRNOVA, CURRICULUM PLANNING, I WAS CONSTANTLY PANICKED. NOT ONLY WAS IT MY FIRST EDUCATION CLASS BUT MY FIRST CLASS HEAVY IN TECHNOLOGY. NOW, IN MY THIRD CLASS WITH DR. SMIRNOVA, I FEEL SLIGHTLY MORE RELAXED. I AM DEFINITELY MORE COMFORTABLE ON THE COMPUTER AND EVERYTHING THAT I HAVE LEARNED IN PREVIOUS CLASSES IS NOW COMING TOGETHER. AS MY FRIEND SALLY SAYS IN HER BLOG, MY EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE OF EDUCATION "THIS PAST MONTH HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST IN DEPTH LEARNING EXPERIENCES THUS FAR IN MY EDUCATION COURSES." (http://sally8971.blogspot.com/) WE HAVE REVIEWED MODELS, STRATEGIES AND METHODS TO WHERE WE HAVE REACHED AUTOMATICITY AND ARE NOW DELVING IN DEEPER TO THE DIFFERENT INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES STARTING WITH DIRECT INSTRUCTION. DIRECT INSTRUCTION USES TEACHER EXPLANATION, DEMONSTRATION AND MODELING. IT WAS EXTREMELY HELPFUL WHEN OUR CLASS WAS BROKEN INTO GROUPS, EACH REQUIRED TO TEACH A LESSON ON A DIFFERENT ELEMENT OF DIRECT INSTRUCTION. WORKING WITH MY PARTNERS JESSICA AND DAWN WAS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE IN ITSELF ON COLLABORATION, SOMETHING I HOPE TO DO WITH MY PEERS WHEN I BECOME A TEACHER. AS VYGOTSKY SAID "TEACHERS SHOULD BE ONE STEP AHEAD OF STUDENT'S LEARNING" THIS IS WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT FOR A TEACHER TO PLAN. WE ARE LEARNING THE PROPER WAY TO WRITE LESSON PLANS NOW. THIS WEEK WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN A LESSON PLAN TO EVALUATE. IT IS A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE THAN JUST WRITING YOUR OWN. YOU REALLY HAVE TO LOOK HARD AND KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR! IT IS STILL A BIT CONFUSING BUT I AM HOPING THAT BY THE NEXT "REFLECTION BLOG" I WILL BE SAYING HOW WELL I GET IT.

I Do It, We Do It, You Do It!

In class this week, we have been going over Direct Instruction, a teacher-centered strategy that utilizes teacher explanation, demonstration and modeling. The lesson is broken down into three sections: anticipatory set, development and closure. I really enjoyed Dr. Smirnova's breakdown of the development section. First there is "I do it" where the teacher directly teaches. this is where you present new material by presenting demonstrating and modeling. Next is "We do it together" where you provide the students with guided practice, which is very controlled. Finally there is "You do it" which is independent practice. This is done once the task has been mastered. This template makes development very easy to understand and easier to plan. We will be using this method this week to teach a lesson, so we will see!