Item #7 :: "Old" Lesson Reflection

At this point of the year, I find myself getting tired of the same type of activities.  Although I incorporate reading, writing, listening, and speaking in daily lessons....I still feel like I need to spice it up a bit to retain focus and interest.  Nearpod is still a new tool to accomplish this.  I welcomed it into my classroom this year as an answer to virtual Wednesdays initially but will use it in this lesson to engage both the in-person and virtual students.

1.  Students were relatively engaged in this lesson during the hands on independent practice portion of the lesson.  They were less engaged during the instruction period because there was little opportunity for them to actually participate.  they raised their hands to answer questions, but if not called upon would disengage immediately, look out the window, or fidget in their seats.

2. Student can identify teen numbers but when asked to explain what a teen number is or break apart a teen number, this presented a challenge for many.

3.  Having all students counting, answering, drawing, and representing teen numbers simultaneously and seeing the results and answers in real time would be a huge benefit to my teaching.  I can then pull kids to help them with their individual levels of understanding right away.

1. Students and myself would be disengaged from this lesson because it is an old looking worksheet, another paper and pencil activity.   I also teach this at the end of the school year.  Students are checked out and not always willing to learn and apply a new topic of learning.

2. The level of understanding after the lesson has been mediocre.  The informal assessment would be observation of students answering questions while going through the reading in the lesson.  

3. Students and teacher would most definitely benefit from a more engaging approach especially because it is a difficult concept to understand for third graders and it is usually taught at the end of the year. 

1) Students might be disengaged from this lesson because it's just another worksheet.

2) Students had varying levels of understanding. It all depended on the type of figurative language or the example given because some students have different levels of understanding for each. For example: Some students understand what personification is better than they understand what hyperbole is, while some students understand what a simile is better than a metaphor. 

3) Students could definitely benefit from a more interactive approach! 

1.  Students don't really connect with Latin roots.  

2. In the past, some students recall the meanings, others don't.  Knowing the meanings of the Latin roots will help them understand the meaning of larger, multi-syllabic words.

Anytime a lesson is turned into a game, the students retain more.  A more interactive approach would be great.

The "old lesson" was an assembly of approximately 300 students. All students were sitting on the cafeteria floor as a presenter showed a PowerPoint on the big screen. To me, it was tough for students to be engaged in this environment for 30 minutes. The students' takeaway was "don't play near trains". Sometimes they would remember off-task pieces of information that were shared during the Q&A session at the end of the assembly. As a teacher, I sometimes found the approach of the presenter to be off-putting at times. If teachers were to complete this Nearpod in the classroom, the messaging/content would be more consistent and on task. Completing this Nearpod in the classroom would be much more interactive for students and would give each of them the opportunity to participate.

1. I did not give students enough direction, perhaps a rubric, and relied on their intrinsic motivation to complete the writing; maybe too much choice for them.

2. There was too much information on the You Tube video we watched; it was overwhelming for them.

3. Absolutely!

1.  I think students might be disengaged from this lesson because it's the same type of math problem on every slide.  

2.  This lesson provided students with extra word problem practice.  The practice also allows students a chance to practice computation skills.

3.  Yes, I think the students would like a more engaging approach.