Group 2 Does Direct Instruction

On Tuesday group 2 taught their direct instruction lesson on light energy. Group 2 consists of Meghan, Kelly, and Bailey and none of them have taught a full class like this before. For it being their first time, I thought they did a really great job! Before they started teaching they explained their stoplight activity. Every student got 3 cards; yellow, green, and red. The teachers explained that when students were confused or needed help throughout the lesson they should hold up the red card. When students wanted to teachers to slow down they should hold up the yellow card. And when the students understood everything perfectly they should hold up the green card. They began the lesson by asking if any of the students can tell them what they will be learning about based on the introduction slide. Some students were able to tell the teachers what light energy was, but many of them could not. Kelly explained that light energy is the white light that we can’t see such as sunlight. Then they reviewed the class rules with the students and had them chorally read them aloud. The teachers created a word cloud with the key terms from their lesson and asked the students if any of them had heard or seen those words before. For those students who have the teachers asked them to explain what they know about them. Then the teachers moved into the development part of their lesson. They had multiple checks for understanding throughout the lesson which was excellent. One of these checks was a list the teachers created about light and how it is created and factors that play into that. The students were asked to turn and talk in their groups to come up with some ideas, then the teachers asked for their responses. One thing I thought the teachers could have done differently here was call on different students to answer. Many times throughout the lesson the same students were called on, which is great to see them actively participating, but as a teacher you want to make sure all the students understand. Throughout the lesson students were very loud and often time the teachers would have to talk over them. I think the teachers should come up with a student friendly and engaging way to get the students to settle down without saying “shh.” Some ideas could be “hands on your head if you can hear me” “touch your nose, touch her cheeks, eyes on the board so I know you’re ready to listen.” Those are great way to get the students to quiet down without talking over them because saying “shhhh” will only make the students louder by trying to quiet down other students.
For guided practice students were asked to complete the questions on the back of their note sheet. In this “light hunt” students had to find objects in the room that reflected light and record it. I wish the teachers walked around to help the students more throughout this time instead of letting them work on their own. Guided practice is meant for the teachers and students to work together to enhance their knowledge on a task and answer any questions the students may still have on the topic. For independent practice students filled out a worksheet. The major concern I had during this was that the teachers allowed the students to work together on this. This should ALWAYS be done INDEPENDENTLY. As teachers we need to know what students have learned themselves rather than getting help from others. But overall group 2 did a great job for it being their first time teacher whole class!
As for my group we met Tuesday before class for an hour and a half to work on our lesson. We accomplished a lot and I was really happy with the progress we made. We are almost done with the powerpoint, now all we need is the write out the written lesson. As for the inquiry lesson, we have a great idea going and I’m really excited to start working on it. It involves the ecosystems and I think students will really love it!!