I started my observations on Thursday this week. I'm observing a 1st grade classroom with the same teacher that I observed previously and I'm really enjoying it. I like her teaching techniques, strategies, and her classroom environment. She is very nice to work with and is willing to take the time to talk to me during her down time. I was pleasantly surprised that the students remembered my name and were happy to see me. I observed again today and will be back to observe all day on Monday and Tuesday, too. I will teach my lesson on Tuesday morning. I am working with the teacher's set plan for the week. The book that the reading lessons will be focused on all next week is The Dot by Peter Reynolds. This is a cute story with a big influential meaning. I think the students will enjoy it. I'm not sure which thinking map I will utilize for this lesson plan yet, but I'm leaning towards a bubble map or flow map.
I was one of the several people this past week to give our lesson plan presentations. I thought each lesson that my classmates presented were great. I liked seeing the variety and different ideas within each lesson plan. One of my ten lessons that I presented to the class was about fractions. I used a variety of strategies and resources within my lesson plan to reach each learning style. The hook that I used was about pizza. I asked the students what their favorite pizza toppings were and wrote their responses on the board. Next, the students read the book Fraction Fun in popcorn style. After we finished the book, I worked out their responses about pizza into fractions. Then, I would present my slideshow presentation that includes YouTube videos to teach students more in-depth information about fractions. I found an app that is an educational fraction game, so I would allow the students to play this game for about 8 minutes. Once the timer goes off, they will complete a bridge map and a worksheet. For my closing activity, the students would receive a Hershey's bar and tell me what the denominator of the fraction would be. The students would represent the fraction that I state with their Hershey's bar, then they can eat it.
As I mentioned above, I enjoyed seeing what my creative classmates came up with for their lesson plan(s). I also liked seeing which thinking map they chose for their given topic. As of now, I haven't finished my lesson plans but I'm slowly getting closer. These lesson plans are time consuming, especially when you tend to overthink like I do. Haha! Overall, my classmates have done great on their lesson plans and I look forward to seeing my other classmates' lesson plans next week.
