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S17: Blog 13: Black Bears, Alligators, and Observations- Oh My!

What a week! There have been some weeks this school year that have been as peaceful as you can get when you work at an elementary school and there have been some weeks that are more than a little chaotic. This past week was definitely one of the latter.

To kick off the week, Sara and I co-taught a StEm lesson with our 4th graders. We also had the assistance and support of two other residents, Meghan and Jessica, as part of a lesson study experience. We had already visited Jessica’s school and classroom to watch her teach the lesson with her kiddos. Soon, we’ll be visiting Meghan’s classroom to implement the lesson one final time with a 3rd grade twist.

We designed our StEm lesson around the standard SC.4.L.16.2 which says students can: “Explain that although characteristics of plants and animals are inherited, some characteristics can be affected by the environment.” Our scenario revolved around Busch Gardens asking for our students’ help in designing new enclosures/habitats for new animals that would be coming to live at the park, Black Bears from Alaska and Alligators from Louisiana.

On Day 1 of our lesson we introduced students to the RFP (Request for Proposal) that gave them their challenge and to information about the kind of engineer they would be working as, an Animal Life Support Engineer. Students were then split so that they were researching about either black bears or alligators. We gave our students graphic organizers to fill out as they did their research, having them find information about the animal’s physical traits, behaviors, environment, and food. Students had access to different ways to research. Sara and I had checked out books from the local library, as well as found books for the students to read on MyOn, a digital book site that can read books aloud to students (super great for struggling readers!). I also had created a Classflow with a list of different, kid-friendly, websites for students to use, like National Geographic for Kids.

At the end of Day 1 we came to the conclusion that students were going to need a little more time on Day 2 to finish up their research. However, we wanted to make sure that students were looking for information they specifically needed. This led to us during our debrief going through all of the students’ graphic organizers and leaving them notes on post-its to help focus their research the next day. For example, if a student was missing information about food, we would leave a post-it asking, “What kind of food does an alligator eat?” We also intentionally created partners for the students to work with the next day during our debrief.

We gave students about 15 more minutes of research time on Day 2 and then moved into the “Explain” phase of the lesson where we led students in a discussion of new vocabulary words, such as “inherited traits” and “learned behaviors.” After this, students got to move on to planning and designing their blueprint for their animal’s habitat. During this time, students were working in their pairs to fill out a planning sheet that asked them to list what they wanted to include in the enclosure and its dimensions so that they could find the area and perimeter, which was the math component of our StEm lesson. Students could then draw the item for their habitat onto the grid paper we had provided for them.

During this time, we noticed that students had trouble doing so much at once. We, at that day’s debrief, decided that for Meghan’s lesson it would be better to have the students fill out the first part of the planning sheet, where they list the items they want and their quantity and then draw their blueprint on plain copy paper. We, the teachers, could then use the copy machine to transfer their design onto grid paper, which would make finding the area and perimeter of each piece much simpler.

This StEm experience was such a fun one! I loved getting to share my students with my friends and we got to create something pretty awesome and learn a lot along the way!

This week was also the week that my last district observation took place. I spent a significant amount of my after-school planning time getting ready for my lesson on Friday. I would be teaching the last lesson in our unit about dividing decimals, a problem-solving lesson where students needed to use a “work backwards” strategy to get to their answer. I knew that this would be a new strategy for my students so I decided to begin the lesson by looking at a problem as a whole class. We would code the problem together for the information we needed from it and then I would model how to create the flowchart students could use to organize their information and “work backwards.” After this, I planned to give my students another problem for them to solve independently. My CT and I would be assessing them during this time in order to create groups for the next phase of the lesson, where students would work at differentiated stations. Students would be split into 3 groups which we called the pink, orange, and blue groups (also known as re-teach, core, and enrich) and each group would have their own set of stations to work at. The pink group would do graffiti math with me to get a little more practice with teacher guidance and then move on to working on Classflow. The orange and blue groups each had 3 stations- both including graffiti math and Classflow. The orange group’s third station had them sort through problems I had cut up to put back together and solve while the blue group’s third station had them writing their own word problems and sharing with a partner. While we would be creating groups on the spot, we already had a pretty good idea on where students would end up based on how they had been doing with this unit on dividing decimals and by looking at their unit test on adding and subtracting decimals on SchoolCity.

When I was actually teaching my lesson, I had to do some adjusting on my feet thanks to major issue with our Promethean Board where I had to write on it with an actual whiteboard marker rather than digitally like we’re supposed to. I was still able to model and work through the first problem with the students but then we had to spend time getting everyone on a laptop so we could send out the second problem, since it had disappeared off the big screen (which was also covered in marker). This meant the first part of my lesson took almost 40 minutes instead of the 20 I had planned for. This led to me deciding to still break the students into the differentiated groups but just have them work on the problems I had selected to be the ones they would graffiti on butcher paper for the last 20 minutes.

I was really proud of how my students handled the lesson. They didn’t let the technology issues bother them but hung in with me. They also seemed to really understand the concept! My students who usually have a hard time, especially with word problems, loved the flowchart to help them understand what the problem was asking them to do! And I was able to see that all my students have a really strong grasp on adding and subtracting fractions, and that most of them are on their way to mastering division too!

It’s hard to believe we are so close to the end of my year and to graduation! With also having gone on a job interview this week, the real world is getting incredibly close! The good news is I’m finally feeling some confidence that I’ll be ready for my own class of kiddos some August!

FEAPS: 1a - Aligns instruction with state-adopted standards at the appropriate level of rigor

1b - Sequences lessons and concepts to ensure coherence and required prior knowledge

1c - Designs instruction for students to achieve mastery

1d - Selects appropriate formative assessment to monitor learning

1e – Use diagnostic student data to plan lessons

1f - Develops learning experiences that require students to demonstrate a variety of applicable skills and competencies

2a - Organizes and manages the resources of time and space to support student learning

2b - Manages individual and class behaviors through a well-planned management system

2c - Conveys high expectations to all students

2g - Maintains a climate of openness, inquiry, fairness, and support

2h – Develops a climate that fosters inquiry

2i - Integrates current information and communication technologies

2j - Adapts the learning environment to accommodate the differing needs and diversity of students

2k – Utilizes current and emerging assistive technologies that enable students to participate in high-quality communication interactions and achieve their educational goals

3a - Delivers challenging and engaging lessons

3b - Teaches literacy strategies across the curriculum through explicit instruction

3c - Identify gaps in students' subject matter knowledge

3d – Modifies instruction to respond to preconceptions or misconceptions

3e - Relate and integrate the subject matter with other disciplines and/or life experiences

3f - Employ higher-order questioning techniques

3g - Teaches for student understanding using varied and appropriate strategies

3h – Differentiate instruction based on assessment of differing needs and diversity of students

3i - Support, encourage, and provide immediate and specific feedback to promote student achievement

3j – Utilizes student feedback to monitor and support instructional needs and to adjust instruction

4a – Analyzes and applies data from multiple assessments and measures to diagnose students’ learning needs

4b – Analyzes and applies data from multiple assessments and measures to inform instruction based on those needs, and drives the learning process

4c - Analyzes and applies data from multiple assessments and measures to drive the learning process

4d - Designs and aligns formative assessments that match learning objectives

4e - Designs and aligns summative assessments that match learning objectives

4f - Uses a variety of assessment tools to monitor student progress

4i – Utilizes technology to organize and integrate assessment data

5a – Designs professional goals based on students’ instructional needs

5c - Reviews data with colleagues to evaluate learning outcomes and plan effective lessons

5d - Collaborates with stakeholders to support students learning

5e - Collaborates with stakeholders to support continuous professional growth

5f – Engages in professional growth opportunities

5g - Engages in ongoing reflective practice

5h - Accepts constructive feedback

5i – Applies knowledge and skills learned in professional development

6a - Adheres to the Codes of Ethics and to the Principles of Professional Conduct of the Education Profession of Florida

6b - Demonstrates professional responsibility

6c - Exhibits ethical conduct

6d - Maintains positive and productive relationships with colleagues

6e - Adheres to daily schedules and attendance policies

6f - Maintains a professional appearance

6g - Demonstrates professional use of communication

6h - Exhibits emotional stability and mature judgement

Evidence:

Lesson plans

Lesson resources

Pictures from lessons

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