Last Day

On our last day of fieldwork at Bishop Dunn, we had our Celebration of Learning with the students. We created posters with student work from the lessons we implemented through the fieldwork experience. From our unit plan, we asked Miles and Xavier to share their project. We specifically asked them because we were proud of the way they worked together, and we knew Miles would be excited to share his experience.

After students presented, they were asked to create good-bye slides for us. Even through all of their silliness, it was nice to see their appreciation. I know I always appreciate their willingness to stay after school and learn more from us after a full day of lessons at school. It was nice to know that some of what we shared with them will stick, and that they enjoyed some of the projects they did with us.

As a thank you for Mrs. Perk, we presented her with a subscription to Glogster. Glogster is one of the online tools that I have used multiple times now, and always really enjoy. I think it is so fun and creative, and as a future teacher, could see using in my classroom as much as possible. Mrs. Perk seemed very interested in the program, and we wanted her to be able to try it as we did.

After we finished our celebration of learning with the students, we were lucky enough to speak with Ayka, an Azerbaijan native. Before this meeting, I had never even heard of Azerbaijan. Ayka's story was inspiring, in that she worked for everything she believed in no matter what the consequence was. Ayka has been blacklisted from ever returning to Azerbaijan for work with climate change and public health. She fought against many points the government was pushing at the time, solely because it was what she believed in. I like to think that my passion for teaching would lead me to take a similar stand for what I believe in when and if the time presents itself.

Cooperative Learning: More than just content

I have always been a fan of cooperative learning. I like the idea of students being able to work together to solve a problem. I think it is a skill that is important to foster at a young age, so they will only become more comfortable using it later in life. However, as a teacher, it can be very difficult to take a step back and let students go through the learning process on their own. We feel the need to continuously correct and give feedback. But with cooperative learning, it is important to let students take the reigns and edit and adjust their own work as they go.

A teacher's role in cooperative learning entails:

1. clarifying aims

2. providing learning materials

3. organizing study teams

4. assisting teams

5. sharing, evaluating, and recognizing work

Before beginning the lesson, the teacher will need to prepare any notes or handouts, as with any lesson. They also will need to create an end of the lesson exit ticket or quiz. This is one way to ensure students are learning the correct information. Also, the teacher will need to arrange the classroom in a way that promotes group work. The easiest way to do this to make groups of desks in islands or in a horseshoe shape.



The jigsaw method is one option when preparing a cooperative learning lesson. It is ideal what a lesson requires a teacher to cover 3-5 inter-related concepts in one session. In this method, students split into home groups and are each assigned one concept to research. They then move in to expert groups to perform and compile research with other students assigned the same concept. When research is complete, they return to their home groups to share what they have learned. The teacher must monitor student research, as they are being trusted to teach the correct material to their home group.

The jigsaw method:
1. empowers students to take charge of learning
2. makes students without realizing it
3. encourages peer tutoring
4. makes learning fun

Here are the steps to follow in a jigsaw lesson:
Step 1 - divide class into small, home groups by number of concepts
Step 2 - provide instruction about lesson
Step 3 - distribute concept handouts
Step 4 - ask students to read portion silently NO DISCUSSION
Step 5 - ask students with similar concepts to meet, expert groups: students will need to teach concept in their home group, teacher circulates/gives guidance
Step 6 - return to home group
Step 7 - students are quizzed to see how well they taught/how much learning took place

At the end of a cooperative learning lesson, students will need to do more than just turn in the assignment. They will present to the class about the information they gathered, as well as how the cooperative learning process was for them. They should also complete a survey that only the teacher will see about their groupmates and their own contributions to the project. Students also learn how to give and receive constructive feedback. One common way to do this is  by using the three pluses and a wish format, where students list three things liked about another groups work and then one wish for something more they would have liked to see.

The Pros and Cons of Teaching Social Studies

Today we taught our lesson plan! It was exciting, and yet terrifying. Becky and I taught three lessons (direct, inquiry, cooperative) on Ancient Greece. Our first lesson focused on democracy and religion. We chose these two topics because we thought they were relevant to the students. This year is a presidential election year, so democracy is surrounding them. Also, we taught the lesson at Bishop Dunn, a Catholic school, so they were able to compare their own religion to that of the Ancient Greeks.



During direct instruction, I feel like we had a good control over the students. Our behavior managements routines were well thought out, as well as where we sat students around the room. Because students arrived late, we were already behind on time. Through the lesson, we were never really able to find a spot to take time back. Students responded well to the information we presented. At our check for understanding points, students were able to answer our questions with information they rephrased into their own words.




Our second lesson was an inquiry lesson where students were presented with a riddle they needed to solve. The answer to the riddle was one of 5 greek gods and goddesses. We gave them 2 websites (here and here) and 2 YouTube clips (here and here) where they could go to find information to solve their riddle. I think we struggled most in this lesson. Our riddles were interesting, but seemed to be a little over the heads of the students. We would have been more successful if we prepared better modeling for the students. I think it also would have been effective to show them where they may encounter an error or a struggle so they would have an example of how to overcome a difficulty.

The final lesson was a cooperative learning lesson where the students had to create a glogster about the god or goddess from the riddle. By grouping the students, they were also able to check their answers to the riddles or fill in any gaps in information that they may have. I think we did a better job modeling in this part of the lesson. We made sure to tell students how to add the important features they would need to complete their glog. The mistake we made in this portion was not explaining the rubric to the students. We simply left it on the SMARTboard where it was visible, but didn't go into detail about their requirements. The students really flourished in this part of our unit plan. They all worked well together and created some beautiful glogs.

I think overall, it was a good lesson. There were definitely improvements to be made. However, if it was perfect, I wouldn't be in this program learning how to become a better teacher. The experience itself gave me a lot to think about how I teach and conduct a lesson. All of these moments in front of students where I may flounder or succeed are all part of the process of becoming a teacher.

"Rome" if you want to, "Rome" around the world!

This week we stayed in Europe, and moved over to Ancient Rome. Seeing as I have traveled to Italy before, this was the civilization I was most excited for. I love learning about Rome and it's culture.

In the direct instruction, Erica and Kristine focused on Roman architecture, culture, and government. 

For the intro, Erica and Kristine used an awesome YouTube clip, shown to the right. It was like having an aerial tour of Ancient Rome. The facts and information they used were interesting, it seemed like the students were engaged. They seemed to chose things that were still relatable to students today. Their organizers were a great tool. I think one change I would make is using different symbols for each organizer. Stars were used to indicate information that needed to be recorded, but it figuring out where it belonged was a little confusing. I think another downfall that was unavoidable was snack. Students had to go at 5:00 pm, which meant the guided practice became disjointed. The activity was a really cool matching game that they created online, but because the students had the break, it seemed to lose it's place in the lesson. My comment card for this lesson can be found here.

Next, Erica and Kristine used possibly the coolest inquiry lesson I have ever seen. Students used QR codes and iPads to take part in a treasure hunt. Clues and artifacts were mixed around the room, as if in a mixed up museum, and students needed to match them back up again. It was a great opportunity for the students to get up, move, and explore. This was easily the most engaged I had seen them throughout the entire fieldwork experience. The pitfall to a lesson like this is time management, it is easy for students to side tracked or to take advantage of moving and talking with their friends. They needed constant reminders of how much time was left to stay on track. After they were done, students worked in their rows in a think-pair-share to see how they did. Students were asked to share their results with the class and explain how they got to those conclusions. The teachers then revealed the answers. My comment card for this lesson can be found here.

For their last lesson, Eria and Kristine also had students create a thinglink. Students were split into three groups and assigned one facet of Ancient Rome. I think it was a smart idea to give the students the bones of the project - they were provided a background picture and specific things to include. Students could use any of the notes they took, as well as their results from their museum search, to fill in the required pieces. Erica and Kristine also provided two websites the students could use if they needed more information. Again, the time got to the lesson, and a lot of the students left before time was up. This meant a lot of the projects were incomplete because there was only one student working on them. It's not something to hold against the group, just an unfortunate outcome of the program.

In the end, I think the unit plan was very engaging for the students. With a few minor tweaks, it would be classroom ready!