(Author: name withheld, but used with permission of the
EdSe 3204 student. Many thanks!)
Lesson One:
I
am placed in the sixth grade at a middle school in NE Minnesota. Each class period is 50 minutes. For my first lesson I taught the
students some beginning French because they were studying Canada, specifically
Quebec and the fur trade, at the time I taught the lesson. I started by introducing myself to the
class in French to get their attention. I then talked about Francophones (French speaking countries). I had an overhead of a world map that
had all the francophones highlighted. I asked the students if they could name any world wide, then in North
America, then in Canada. Then I
asked the class if they could tell me how and why the French went to Canada in
order to tie the information to prior knowledge of the fur trade. I then put an unlabeled list of words
on the overhead and asked the students if they could say them in French. The list was English words that are the
same in French, just pronounced with a little different accent. This was to introduce them to the
language and show them that they speak French words on a daily basis.
The
next section of the lesson I labeled, ÔYou can speak French, too!Õ I first taught them numbers. I had the English and French on an
overhead. We showed the number we
were speaking with our fingers. I
said the English, and then the French; then the students repeated the
French. When we learned a new
number, we went back and said all the previously ones learned. I then taught them the colors. I had the words on the matching colored
paper. We did the same pattern as
with the numbers. I then taught
them some easy French words like bonjour, au revoir, etc., which were also on
the overhead. When I taught them
how to say Ômy name isÕ, I had the students introduce themselves to me in
French.
The
last thing I did was give the students a worksheet. The front side had blank stars that were labeled with the
colors in French. The students
were to color in the corresponding color. The back side was word jumble with the numbers.
The
topic of the lesson really worked for me because instantly the students were
interested because it was something different than the usual. Starting off speaking French was a good
hook. The students knew I was speaking but it was not English and this caught
their attention. The style that I
taught this lesson was different than my cooperating teacher. She usually sits at her desk and they
do a lot of self guided learning by reading the book and doing worksheets. To have someone stand in the front of
the classroom was different for them and instantly got their attention. Also by the repetition exercises the
students had to use their voices in the classroom, which is also different than
usual. The topic, the style, and the hook all worked in the lesson because it
was different than what the class normally did. This showed that students respond to a variety in the
classroom.
The visual aids were also
effective. The map of francophones
was in color, which received some ohhs and ahhs, but I printed it in color on
purpose so the 39 countries would really stand out. This also gave the students something concrete to look at
instead of just saying there are 39 countries, they could actually see
them. The vocabulary overheads
were also something concrete that the students could read while they said the
words. I made sure I had the
vocabulary written out to account for different learners because some learn by
hearing and some visually.
The
repetition while learning the numbers, colors, and French words did not work as
well as I thought it would. It
worked with the numbers, but by the time I got to the colors and the words the
students caught on to the pattern and I think it was too monotonous. I could tell because I started loosing
them. They began to get silly with
their neighbor or had that glazed look. I think I should have gone over the numbers, colors, and words with some
sort of informal assessment at the end of each section. This would also create a break between
the different sections of information. My cooperating teacher wanted me to teach numbers, colors, and some easy
French words and relate it to Canada, but I think this might have been too much
to squeeze into one lesson. There
was not enough time for it to be completely absorbed. I would have liked to incorporated more information on
Quebec so students would understand better why I was teaching them French. Learning French could have been spread
out over the course of a few days. Each day learn about Quebec and a chunk of French, like numbers. It was a fun lesson that did not have
much context so a sixth grader could figure out why we were doing this. I
had a lack of classroom management when I taught this lesson. When the students began to get restless
I was not sure how to correct the problem and get them back on track. Part of the reason that the class got
restless was the repetition exercises with the vocabulary; it exceeded their
attention span. Part of the reason
was I simple did not know what to say to control them. In the future, lesson segments should
not be the same. There should be
more variety. For example teach
colors using the colored paper, words by using computer software, and maybe
numbers by incorporating math.
Lesson Two:
The
second lesson I taught was in the same classroom at the same school. This lesson I modeled the teaching
style and lesson plans of my cooperating teacher. I taught a section in their book about Saskatchewan. I went over the section title ÒCanadaÕs
BreadbasketÓ and what it meant, the key words, and some of the critical
thinking questions by the pictures in the section. Then I let them read the section and complete a worksheet,
which took about ½ hour. Then we corrected it and took a quiz on the section just read. At first when I went up to teach this
lesson the students were excited because they thought they were going to learn
more French. After I started into it they realized it was a usual lesson they
were used to, and ironically they were better behaved.
Discussing
the section title, the key terms, and discussing some of the critical thinking
questions was good because it introduced the subject to the students before
they read it. Just based on the
title they were able to make assumptions on what the section was to be
about. This is effective because
they were going to read the section with a partner so if a student does not
learn well by reading at least they heard a brief summary of what the chapter
is going to be about.
It
was effective to have the students read with a partner and do the worksheet
with a partner. This was a small
form of group work. My cooperating
teacher seats the students according to reading level, so students with a low
reading level sit by someone with a high to medium reading level. By reading with a partner ensured that
the reading gets done. Those with
a high reading level help those with a low reading level. The same concept worked with the
partner work on the worksheet. I
did walk around to make sure students were both doing the work; so one was not
just copying the other. With this work
the students mostly stayed on task because no one wants to do all the work and
they made their partner help.
I
do not think it was effective to have a quiz at the end of the hour. The students had just read the new
information and it was not settled in their heads yet before they were asked to
spit it back out. The quiz seemed
to be treated just like another worksheet. In the future I would tell the students to study the new
section and the quiz would be at the beginning of the period the next day. This way they have time to look over
the information and ask questions on anything that is confusing.
It
was also ineffective to only allow a certain amount of time for the students to
complete the worksheet in class before it would be corrected. It seemed to rush the students. Some students were not completely done
so they were basically being spoon fed the answers to write down. I would have the worksheet the last
thing to do in the class period, and then if someone finishes early they can
study for the next dayÕs quiz. If
someone does not finish, it can be homework. In general I would do more explanation with the section in
the book and perhaps and activity in place of taking a whole class period to do
worksheets.
I
generally felt uncomfortable with the teaching style of the second lesson. I felt like it was not even really
teaching. I spent most of the
period walking around checking up on how the worksheet was coming. I felt like there was little
interaction with the students and like it was really boring for them. I really do not know how much
information was actually retained from reading then copying the information
down on a worksheet. At the end of
this lesson felt like it was just time filler, something to do for a 50 minute
period. The Saskatchewan section
discussed immigration and mixtures of different cultures in Saskatchewan. It would have been interesting to do an
activity on this topic. This
lesson did not align at all with my philosophy of education, which is probably
why it felt uncomfortable. In my
philosophy I state that I like interactive classrooms and actively engaged
students. I did not feel actively
involved with the students or their learning.
The
first lesson I taught came a little more natural to me. It was mostly lecture based but I still
asked the students a lot of questions to get them involved and the student
recitation also involved them. I
especially used questioning in the part of the lesson about the French and the
fur trade in Canada because this was stuff they learned earlier, and I wanted
the students to come up with the information instead of me telling them
again. I used visual aids, which
is something that I identified teachers should use in my philosophy of
education. By using visual aids
the studentÕs could see and hear the words. The first lesson could probably used a little more variation
and shorter activity sections to keep the students interest, which state as
good teaching in my philosophy. The subject of my first lesson, French, is also more interesting to me
so the students could probably tell that I was more excited about this lesson
than Saskatchewan. Because of this
lesson one also aligned with my philosophy more because I stated that the
teacher should be interested in the topic. I taught each lesson three times in a row. The first period was always more
difficult because I was unsure of myself, but as the periods progressed I
gained a little more confidence and comfort.
Self evaluation of lesson analyses:
On
this assignment I think I deserve an A-. I completed all the requirements for the lesson. I stated the two lessons that I
taught. I analyzed what worked and
what did not and why. I stated
suggestions of what I could do to improve the lessons. Finally I discussed which lesson fit my
philosophy of education best. It
was good to analyze the apprenticeship lessons because I really had to think
about what worked and what could use improvement. Also, by looking at the different teaching styles of the
lessons helped me to see what style I feel more comfortable with and what style
fits my philosophy.