Sara Zavadsky

ED 321 Self-Assessment (Please number each self assessment) Lesson Plan #5

Planning and Preparation (AEA: Conceptualization, DiagnosisWTS: 1,7DISP: Respect Responsibility)
Explain and defend the decisions you made in choosing your objectives and the assessment tools/strategies for this lesson. Even if the lesson was given to you to teach, you must consider the effectiveness of the objectives and assessments.

My CT and I had talked the week before of incorporating a lab around Lewis Dot Structures and in building molecules. We looked through the lab exercises that she has used in the past and I really got excited about this Gum Drop Lab- centered around building/constructing molecules using toothpicks and gum drops. I borrowed the idea of the lab and made little changes here and there and then adapted a performance assessment from the concepts of the lab. I think that this lesson was a great way for the students to work through a difficult subject like Lewis Dot structures and in understanding the relationship that exists between atoms when they bond to form molecules. It was also a great way for the students to work in groups with one another and help each other learn and practice their group work skills. At times I know that the students were struggling but I know that they were able to work together and generally come to the right answer or conclusion. My CT and I were there to walk around the room and offer our support when the students needed. Classroom Environment (AEA: Coordination, Integrative InteractionWTS: 2,3,5DISP: Respect,
Responsibility) What were the discipline issues that presented themselves during the teaching of this lesson? How did you anticipate these and handle them?

The students were all very excited to learn together and work in groups, and stayed on task quiet well without me having to intervene or redirect their teaching. The class was very small today, so this could have been a contributing factor, but for the most part I rarely have to discipline any of these students. The students really enjoyed that the lesson allowed for them to work with one another and be so hands on when learning how to construct molecules. This is a difficult concept but they seemed to really benefit from the tactile learning experience. The students did not have an issue with staying involved, and worked really well with each other. I walked around the classroom the and was available to answer any questions and monitor the group work. If students were off task or struggling I was there to help them, along with my CT. Instruction (AEA: Communication, Coordination, Diagnosis, Integrative InteractionWTS: 2,3,4,5,6,7DISP: Respect Responsibility), Assessment (AEA: Diagnosis, Integrative InteractionWTS: 8,9DISP: Respect, Reflection), Professional Responsibilities (AEA: Communication, Integrative InteractionWTS: 10DISP:
Collaboration, Communication) After teaching the lesson and analyzing student work, describe how your decisions impacted student learning. How do you know? How well did your assessment connect to the lesson objectives? Are there changes you would make or things you could have done differently?

Sara Zavadsky Consider student learning as you reflect on your teaching of this lesson. Explain how the evidence you obtained in your lesson (assessment) demonstrated the degree to which all students achieved your objectives.

I think that the students were able to learn from myself, their peers, and from themselves, but most importantly one another. This was a great lesson for them to work together and better develop their group work skills. There were two students that were absent the last couple of days so they were a little behind on having the prior knowledge before starting the lab. Because this class is so small it was really easy to monitor their learning and I could actually spend some concentrated two-on-one time with the two students who had been absent, and try to bring them up to speed in a short amount of time. For the most part, they were catching on by the end of the lab. Prior to starting this lab I had actually thought that the students were going to be a little more comfortable with drawing Lewis Dot Structures and in naming the shapes of said structures. It seemed that they had not worked with drawing Lewis Dot Structures or in learning the geometry of the structures as much as I had thought. I had envisioned this lab as almost one of the culminating exercises for models of molecules. When we were discussing the concepts of the lab it seemed that some of the students were still struggling with the structures, luckily this lab gave them the opportunity to work through what they were still struggling with and offered them the chance to build upon their understanding of the concept. If I taught this again, I would have built in a quick review before I jumped into explaining the lab. We had talked about allowing the students to read the performance task directions on their own and then going through it and discussing it as a large group after they had the chance to see it and digest it themselves for a bit. This would also allow many of them who are ESL/ELL to get the chance to translate it and understand it. Because the students would have been given the opportunity to digest it on their own, they could have then asked me any questions that arose right away. I tried this in the next class that I taught and it was very helpful. The students took a couple of minutes to read through it and then we discussed it and I was able to answer questions right away. The students will have a week to work through their performance assessments and finish their labs, until I can actually see how well they learned the concepts of this lesson. But while I was teaching I was walking around and listening in on their group work and examining their faces to see if I could sense any misunderstandings. The students are really good about asking for help when they have questions and most were getting comfortable with constructing the models and understanding what bonds were involved and why, and how many atoms were bonded to the central angle. While I walked around I glanced over their shoulders and looked for correct answers, when I saw something that didnt look right I asked them to explain how they had arrived at that answer and then I redirected their thinking to reach the correct solution. Professional Responsibilities (AEA: Communication, Integrative InteractionWTS: 10DISP:
Collaboration, Communication) Explain how you incorporated feedback from your cooperating teacher and supervisor, if applicable, to the planning/teaching of this lesson. What decisions did you make based on feedback received?

Sara Zavadsky

After I taught the first lesson my CT and I had discussed that for next class, which is larger (13 students) it might be beneficial to actually allow them to struggle through more of the drawing of the Lewis Dot Structures on their own. The next class that I teach work really well together, stay on task, and really benefit from learning with one another in small groups when they can offer each other help and have a tactile learning experience. It is quiet a different dynamic from the first class. When I did teach the second class I spent less time on building up to the lab, and almost dived right in. They did so much better when they were given almost all of the hour to work through the lab with their table mates. She also said to allow them to struggle a little more, that scaffolding their learning seems to help. Some times they really know what to do, they just arent willing to try hard enough to get there. The second time I taught the lesson I acted even less as a crutch and pushed the students through their struggles, and almost all of them were able to get their on their own when I facilitated their learning and challenged them to make the connections on their own.

Reflection: This was a great hands on learning experience for the students and it really offered them the opportunity to work through a difficult concept with one another and actually begin to see and understand the hows and whys of forming molecules. When you allow students the opportunity to engage in something that is exciting with one another they succeed in meeting your expectations of the lesson plan. It was so cool to see each of the students starting to understand WHY atoms act the way they do. As the hour went on, the students were really into building the models because they continued to understand more and more of the relationships that existed.