Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EDCI 3383
1. Teaching Context:
This lesson was taught in a Pre-K classroom in a low socioeconomic school in East Baton
Rouge parish where most of the students are African American. The classroom itself has access
to multiple pieces of technology; however, parental involvement is extremely low. In the typical
day, the students are expected to play and move through the centers independently. There is very
The class has 19 four-year-old African American students who all differ on where they
fall academically. Only one student has an IEP for speech. They all have different interests and
ideas. Prior to coming to school, most students had very little knowledge of everyday-ideas, such
as counting, the alphabet, etc. Most of the students have been exposed to things that are
Knowing that the children come from high poverty families, I made sure that they would
be familiar with the items that we used. Because they came into school knowing little to nothing
about every day ideas, I was careful that I did not assume that they knew anything prior to the
Students will be able to distinguish between the five senses. They will be able to identify
an object using their senses (PS-E-A1). Their previous knowledge of the senses will be built
upon. They were previously introduced to the senses, so these objectives were chosen to further
3. Technology Integration
No technology was used through this lesson because it was unnecessary. There was no
4. Activities
We first introduced them to their five senses in a whole group activity, where we simply
discussed each sense to introduce them to the topic. They know that they can see, hear,
feel, taste, and smell; however, they were unaware of the term sense. This was an
opportunity to expand on their vocabulary and familiarize them more with the human
body.
Then we pulled leveled small groups so that we can have more in-depth conversations
For sight, we simply told the children to look around the room and discuss with their
partner different things that they see. After we told them to close their eyes and imagine
what it would be like if we could not see anything, introducing them to the term blind.
For sound, the students stomped their feet and whispered to their friend. We also
discussed what it would be like if you couldnt hear, while introducing them to the term
For touch, a soft stuffed animal was placed in a brown bag and the students were to feel
what was in the bag without looking. After everyone felt it, we discussed what we
thought it was from what we could feel. We did the same thing with a big piece of rough
Velcro.
For smell, we blind folded the students and passed a cup of pickle juice under their nose
and asked them what they thought it was. We did the same thing for lotion.
For taste, we blindfolded them again, and had them taste pretzels, sour patch kids, and a
The children were only four years old so most of them had little to no experience with the
name of the five senses; however, they are all able to see, touch, taste, hear, and smell
Only one child in the class had an IEP, which was for speech. For this activity, just like
any other day, we just had to listen a little bit closer to her when she spoke.
Since majority of the students are of low socioeconomic status, we made sure that they
would be familiar with the objects we chose to use for the activity.
6. Assessment
a.) Our assessment consisted of a sheet of paper where the students circled if they liked the
taste of the three items they tasted. This assessment does not align with the objectives and
instruction. It also seemed as though the students did not understand what exactly they were
expected to do. It is completely invalid and does not help for a teacher to see whether the
b.) Due to the lack of validity in our assessment sheet, I am unable to complete this aspect of
this assignment. There was no pre-assessment or post-assessment that relates back to the
objectives. If I were to redo this lesson, I would create an informal pre-assessment where I ask
the children to list the 5 senses. As a post-assessment, I would have them cut and paste a picture
of the sense to the body part so that it is age appropriate and allows me to gauge whether they
7. Reflection
Knowing what I know now about the Teaching Learning Cycle, I would have done my
lesson totally differently. My mentor teacher and I collaborated on this lesson, and she did not
find anything wrong with it. We should have had a better assessment that actually relates to the
lesson. As I stated before, I would create an informal pre-assessment where I ask the children to
list the 5 senses. As a post-assessment, I would have them cut and paste a picture of the sense to
the body part so that it is age appropriate and allows me to gauge whether they understood the
lesson. According to Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, teachers
should think about the desired outcome of the lesson before actually planning the lesson. They
should focus on the objective that needs to be met and how that will be met. They should also
plan the assessment to align with the objectives to be sure that the lesson is as beneficial as
possible. Stephen R. Covey wrote To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear
understanding of your destination. This is such a true quote that all teachers need to keep in
mind while they are planning lessons. I am aware that this lesson did not follow the backwards
design, but analyzing it through this format makes me aware of how pointless our final aspect of
the lesson was. I do not believe that the lesson was successful because of this reason.
Lesson Plan for Pre-K
Objective: Students will be able to identify an object using their senses (PS-E-A1)
The learner will: explore different activities to learn about our five senses.