IPT 301 Reflection #3

The lesson that I observed was a math lesson where the objective was to identify and measure capacity in cups. To do this the teacher started by reading a story called, A House for Birdie. In this book it shows how certain bird houses have a certain capacity, where one bird fits well in a specific house and a different sized bird wouldn’t fit well in that same capacity. This activity helped warm the kids up to the idea about capacity. It helped them get a better understanding of what capacity is. After reading the story, the teacher had them go back to their desks to prepare for an experiment. She told them that she had brought several different containers and that they were going to find out their capacity for water. She would pour water into one container and have them estimate whether or not it would fill another container. They would then pour the water from the one container into the other container to find out. She repeated this process with them through all of the different containers. This activity helped them visually see the different capacities and estimate different capacities. It also helped prepare them for measuring capacity in cups.
I was very impressed with the behavior of the students during this lesson. They were very engaged. She held their attention throughout the read aloud by allowing them to make connections, predict what was happening and be involved with the plot of the story. While doing the experiment the students were very curious to see what would happen. She kept them involved during it by having them estimate and participate in what was happening. She kept them on their toes; they didn’t really know what was going to happen next. Their estimations showed that they were thinking about the capacity or how much each container would hold. One of the things I noticed throughout the lesson, was she always used a quiet voice. She never really raised it. She was able to maintain order by keeping students engaged, using warnings and asking for them to give her five.
I think that one of the similarities of our teaching is that we both look for ways to get students engaged. We use activities in our lessons that grab the student’s attention and interest and use strategies that help them stay motivated. She gives a lot of positive reinforcement where she thanks the students that are doing what she wants the whole class to do. One of the things that we do differently I think is she is very soft spoken and won’t raise her voice to be heard over a lot of noise. I tend to just try and get their attention by making my voice heard and then asking them to be quiet. I am very impressed with how easily she is able to get their attention and get them to be quiet. It is something that I would like to implement into my teaching.

Technology Lesson

The first part of my technology lesson took place yesterday and the rest of it took place today. My lesson was on plants, their parts and their life cycle. Yesterday, March 23, we looked at the plant cycle. At the end of the lesson I had students draw and create their own plants. Their plants had to have all four parts, a root, stem, leaf and flower. To help them see how different plants can be I prepared a powerpoint that showed the huge variety that is out there. I also hoped that it would get their imaginations and creativity going. I didn't want all of their plants to look the same and they didn't, at all! Today, we learned about the life cycle of a plant. To help them get an idea and better understanding of what the different stages look like I made another powerpoint presentation of the different stages. Each slide was a stage and consisted of pictures of what the plant would look like at that point. I found that bringing out that technology and having those visual examples really motivated and captivated the students. It really helped hold their attention.

Technology Enhanced Lesson

An idea for a technology enhanced lesson that I had, used powerpoint and photo story. For a unit on plants I thought it might be fun to do a power point presentation on the different parts of the plant and the life cycle of plants. If we did an experiment on the things plants need to grow, we could chart our results and observations and then make charts and graphs based on that information on microsoft excel. I thought it would also be fun to use photo story to take pictures of the experiment and of all of the different plants and the kids participating in it and create a digital story out of it. At the end of the unit the class could watch it. It would be a great way to summarize the experiment and all that they had learned.

Technology Inventory

It was really interesting to be able to find out how much access to technology teacher's have in the district and school that I am doing my practicum in. Our school has a great computer lab and computers is one of their specialties. For a third of the year students get to spend about 40-50 minutes working in the computer lab. I was amazed to find out that the school has only one smartboard in it and it is in the sixth grade classrooms. I learned that it is possible to get some technologies through the district but it looks like it takes a bit of effort. In the lab there is a scanner, a printer, and a dvd burner. The computers are macs and have have microsoft office, google earth, firefox/safari, and timez attack on them.
As for the classroom there is one TV, a CD player, and an overhead projector. There are no computers for the children to use. The teacher does have a laptop and is capable of getting internet. It is weird not being able to have a projector that you can connect to a computer. I really wish there was because there is so much you can do with that. I also think that it would be very beneficial to have a camera or video camera. Overall there isn't a ton of technology provided inside the classrooms. It will be good to learn how we can get access to it and then apply it into our lessons.

Virtual Tour

http://sites.google.com/site/cdmipt/virtual-tour