Lesson Reflection 3 (Civics)

     Lesson 3 went very well overall. Students were engaged throughout the lesson; each activity was interactive and kept their attention. To begin the lesson, we did our usual icebreaker and agenda overview. Our icebreaker was 'this or that', students made their choice by standing to the left or right. When looking over the agenda, students took turns volunteering to read the steps. For this lesson, our agenda was only 6 steps. There were visuals for each step as well. This definitely affected participation for this lesson. Students had less steps and a clear image to go with each step (see google doc). Our second step with students was a vocabulary memory game. As a group, we reviewed vocabulary words. After this, students broke out into groups of three. In their groups, they organized words and their definitions on a big piece of paper. Each definition had a visual with it. My partner and I walked around, encouraging students to collaborate and ask each other questions (see google doc). Once we were done, we reviewed all the definitions and vocabulary words as a group. Our third activity was a brain break. These have proven to be very useful for everyone. It allows students to get out their pent-up energy. For this lesson, students participated in a 'national anthem freeze dance'. All TC's in the room collaborate for brain breaks, so the whole class got to be included. We played the Puerto Rican national anthem (my groups country) and the Portuguese national anthem (other TC's country). Students were told to dance around the room and to freeze when the music stopped. We did this for around 7 minutes. Students enjoyed this activity, and it was great exposure to other countries. Our fourth activity was a 'rights and responsibilities scavenger hunt'. Firstly, I reviewed what a right and responsibility was with students. We discussed both and then I explained our activity. I hid different 'rights and responsibilities' around the room. In groups of three, students went in the room, found a card, then sat and decided what they had. After each student went, they shared out their card and decided if it was a right or responsibility. Students were engaged for this activity, I even had one student say, 'how come we're only doing fun stuff?' to which I replied, 'we are doing fun stuff while we learn'. Our fifth activity was an independent computer activity. Students independently watched the Schoolhouse Rock 'I'm just a bill' video. While doing this, they filled out a guided question sheet to go with the video (see google doc). Students worked with their headphones and had some quiet time for this step. We were unable to get to our Kid Citizens 'Congress and milk' interactive video for the lesson. Lastly, students completed the law-making process (see google doc). Students got to pick from the roles; president, congress, citizens, judges/supreme court. Depending on their role, students played their part in the process. Citizens proposed bills to congress, congress proposed to the president, and then finally the judge ruled on the bill. Students really liked this activity. They enjoyed it so much they asked to do two rounds. Unfortunately, this caused a lapse in time. They were unable to complete the Blooket at the end of the lesson. The only true area of weakness was the roleplay. Two students argued over being president. I did my best to deescalate the situation. After this, students were back on task.

Considering objectives, most students were grasping the lesson. We did a few different activities that served as formative assessments. Firstly, our vocabulary game served as a reinforcement and gaged student's understanding of the vocabulary terms. Although it was collaborative, students discussed and sorted the terms. Two groups matched every definition correctly. One group only mixed up two definitions, this was an easy switch. Next, students completed a rights and responsibilities scavenger hunt. Firstly, students reviewed the concepts as a whole, then independently decided if their card was a right or responsibility. Only two students needed help deciding what they had. With proper prompting, we were able to point them to the right choice. Lastly, the roleplay served as our final formative assessment. Students acted their role in the branches of government. They also got to be a part of the process and watch their classmates play other roles. We did lose three students halfway through the lesson, so overall student understanding cannot be gaged. However, the students who were there the whole time definitely understood the content presented to them. 

The first thing I learned from this experience is, make sure your agenda has visuals and not too many steps. In the prior lesson, a student expressed his disinterest in the lesson. One thing he mentioned was there was too many steps left. I put myself in his shoes and understood looking at nine steps with no visuals is boring. For this lesson, I put visuals with each step. I also shortened the steps and only made six. We just covered more content in each step, instead of more steps with everything written out. The second thing I learned was, make the lesson as interactive as possible. Make sure students are moving, collaborating, and having fun. This lesson was the most engaged the students have been. We were able to have fun together but still learn lesson concepts. The third thing I learned was, consider conflict. During our roleplay, only one student could be the president. Of course there could only be one president, so this created a little conflict. After this, two students had a disagreement over 'trading' roles. They both agreed to trade, but one student became upset after the trade. I went over to them, got on their level, and explained this was only a game. I also explained we could do another round and change roles if they wanted to. Students voted and agreed to continue. The last thing I learned was, give students choice. I allowed them to choose to do another round of roleplay. I know they felt heard and it was so fun seeing how engaged they were. 

Considering this experience and my personal identity, I hope to bring understanding to the classroom. I want to understand my students and their individual needs. I also want to bring fun to my personal identify. Any time I can make my lessons interactive, I plan to. I want to understand students' needs and adjust how interactive my lessons are. When content is presented as a game or overall, just fun, students want to participate. Of course, everything students do won't be fun, but I will try my best. When I plan in the future, I want to plan for conflict. Whenever there is possible conflict, I want to make sure I think ahead and have strategies to help SEL skills or to deescalate. As for assessing in the future, I want to make sure students have a fair playing field (when possible). I want to target students who may need that extra help, so they are successful. This experience taught me a lot; I definitely have added tools to my teaching toolbox. 

For this reflection I have formulated a google document with all the photos. Blogger would not allow me to upload pictures into the blog. As referenced in the reflection, here is the link to the photos: Photos

Lesson 2 Reflection

     The first half of this lesson went very well. This lesson was focused on history, especially Puerto Rican history. Students were engaged and enjoying participation. When the halfway point was reached, things changed. From that point, it was very hard to contain student interest. To begin the lesson, I reviewed the agenda with the students. We went over each step and students volunteered to participate. After this, students completed their pre-assessments. Unfortunately, last week we were unable to complete them. My partner and I read questions and options to students. Students were asked to try their best when completing questions. The second step had students and TC's play 'Name Chain'. 'Name Chain' is an icebreaker, where everyone takes turns saying their name and a movement to do. For example, I said "my name is Julia, and we will jump". Students liked this activity; it gave them a chance to be in control. For our third activity, we completed 'Vocabulary Pictionary'. For this activity, students picked a word and drew it. Other students had to guess the word by the drawing. The vocabulary words included perspective, ancestors, plantations, Spanish-American, and hurricane (see below).

Students did well this activity, they all actively participated. I put their names in a bag and picked so it would be fair. I did however, purposefully put a student's name in their a few times. One student really struggles to stay actively participating. I knew giving him a chance to draw would increase involvement. After this, we took a brain break with the rest of the class. My partner and I collaborate with the other TC's in the classroom. For this lesson, they quietly organized themselves into a birthday timeline. Students organized themselves by birthday months and days. All TC's helped students when needed. This proved to be a struggle for them, some students did not know their birthdays. Another big struggle was knowing their birthday month. We gave students 5 minutes to complete this activity. Once we finished, we moved on. Our fourth activity was comparing primary and secondary sources (see below).

As a group, we reviewed the difference between primary and secondary sources. Once we went over the difference, I modeled by picking an example and reading it aloud. I then modeled deciding if it was a primary or secondary source. I picked a student to go next and let them pick who would go after them. By the end of this step, students really understood the concept. They put the examples in the right column and phoned a friend if necessary. Our fifth activity was primary source analyzing from the 'Library of Congress' (see below).

This was the point in the lesson where students were starting to lose interest. Students were asked to write what they saw in the image. The first photo was an old street in San Juan from the 'Library of Congress'. I walked around with it, but it was pretty small. After we analyzed the first primary source, we analyzed another. This photo was newer, and we talked about the differences between the two photos. This activity was more of a discussion and did not pique interest. Our sixth activity was reviewing a timeline of Puerto Rico (see below).

For this activity, students were asked to write one sticky note on what they see, and one on what they wonder. Students began losing focus and were all around just not interested. One student was verbally and visibly uninterested. He began stating how boring it was, how there was too many steps left, and how he was 'not doing this'. I honestly understand his frustration. Students had been sitting for a while now and the content we were presenting was not very intriguing. For our seventh activity, students did roleplay (see below).

At this point, two students were pulled out of the room for their services. So, we went from 9 students to 7. For this activity, students were in groups of 3 and 4. They received roles from the following: Taíno villager, a Spanish colonizer, an enslaved worker, a Puerto Rican family after Hurricane Maria, or someone from today’s culture like a musician or Bad Bunny fan. Students really enjoyed this activity. They put a lot of thought into their roles and acted out their parts well. The only issue was our volume; students got a bit loud during this part. For our last activity, we did a 'Blooket'. We ended up skipping our craft, due to time restrictions. After this, we wrapped up the lesson and said our goodbyes. Overall, the interactive elements of the lesson went well. Students enjoyed Pictionary, primary source sorting, and roleplaying. Students were not too engaged during the primary source analyzing. As well as the timeline activity.

Considering lesson objectives, some students met them. Our 'Blooket' received a total of 239 correct questions and 143 incorrect. Only 7 students were present at the time. Without all students being in the room, it is hard to know how the missing students would have done. Our highest was 86% correct, our lowest was 65% correct. I think students did not perform their best due to our content presentation. Some parts were truthfully not that attention getting. Next lesson, we will make sure to include a lot more highly interactive element.

I learned a lot from this experience. Firstly, knowing your students is important. Building relationships to understand what they need from you helps. I know one student enjoys feeling included, so I purposefully made sure he had higher chances of being picked. I also know that this particular student gets uninterested and refuses work around 11 pm. Making sure we have an interactive step or brain break at this time is crucial. A few of the materials I made lacked visual elements. There were a lot of words, but no pictures to show the actions. After discussion with my professor, she discussed the importance of them. Another thing I learned was do not make the agenda overwhelming. Combining steps to make the agenda less cluttered, can help students feel less stressed. One student noted how there were so many steps. I think having no visuals and a lot of words and numbers, is not enticing. I do not blame him for not being that interested in continuing. Next time, I will make sure to make mental note of this. I learned how important kerning skills disguised as games is. During the lesson, elements like Pictionary and roleplay were enjoyed by students. I think this is because they just seemed like fun games. I will definitely make sure to implement this into my next lesson.

Considering my professional identity, this lesson makes me want to keep my students' attention. I know that not all work is fun, but there is definitely an approach to make things more interesting. I think keeping student interest helps build relationships with students. I also want to incorporate proper de-escalation skills. During the lesson, one student became very visibly and verbally upset. I sat with him and tried to talk to him, help him with the work, but I had already lost him. In that situation my professor was watching me, and I felt nervous. I did not know what to do, or how to de-escalate the situation. I even offered the student a bathroom break or to take a walk, but he was uninterested. I want to be able to earn students trust and respect in the future. Next time, I know he gets frustrated around the same time during the lesson. I will make sure to have him be a helper or make the lesson very interactive at this time. When I plan in the future, I will account for my different student's needs. Making adjustments or accommodations for students when needed.

Lesson 1 Reflection

    Overall, lesson 1 on geography was a mixed experience. Certain elements went well, and certain elements did not go so well. To begin the lesson, when we arrived, the students were already waiting at their tables. This meant they were sitting there while my partner and I were setting up. We had not prepared anything for them to do while we got situated, so they sat there for a while. Our first activity was introductions. Some time was taken to get to know students' names, something they were looking forward to during the weekend, and an interactive game of would you rather. Our next activity was supposed to be the pre-assessment. Due to miscommunication between my partner and I, the pre-assessments were forgotten. There was a misunderstanding between us about who was bringing them. This definitely was a bump in the road. Going forward, proper planning is definitely something we need to incorporate. For activities, students created self-portraits for their passports and a suitcase craft (see below). 

Suitcases

Self Portraits

                                                       
Students really enjoyed the craft and creating self-portraits. Getting to customize their suitcases gave them a sense of self expression. During this time, we also went over the travel brochures. Our students are learning about Puerto Rico. The brochure offered information and fun facts. During this activity, I asked students to volunteer reading certain sections of the brochure. After this, it was time for a brain break. During our brain break, we combined with the rest of the classroom. All students played globe toss, where they tossed the globe and read whatever country their thumb landed on. Students really enjoyed this game. Getting up and doing something more physical was a great opportunity for them (see below).

Our last activities were maps, vocabulary, reading, and a Blooket. My partner led the map review with students. The students made observations and comparisons about the old and new maps.  Next was vocabulary, which students did well with. I let my partner lead this activity. We did not have time to get to reading or a second brain break. One thing I realized was that we needed to plan out our activities a bit better. Better time planning and management would've allowed my partner and I to complete all activities. Our last activity was a Blooket. Students really enjoyed this and had fun. Most students met the objective of the lesson, which was identify major regions of the Earth, their physical features, and political boundaries using a variety of geographic tools (specifically Puerto Rico). Students were able to recall quite a bit of information from the lesson. The Blooket acted as our formative assessment. There was a minimum of 6 questions right and a maximum of 35 questions right. The Blooket repeated the same 6 questions with students trying to win candy. They enjoyed it however, next time I will make sure to add more questions. For a total of 8 players, 147 questions were correct and 111 were incorrect. The results could have been better.

Many things were learned from this lesson. Firstly, was proper planning. A big part of the lesson was not completed. There was a miscommunication, and I should have taken action and printed the pre-assessment to be safe. Next lesson I will make sure to print any content I create and use proper communication with my partner. Secondly, there was a student who was struggling with participation. He did not want to sit with the group, was unwilling to participate, and said things like "this is stupid" and "this Blooket is awful". I have never experienced a poor attitude or lack of participation in a practicum lesson before. In our next lesson, I want to gain this students interest. I spoke to his classroom teacher about ways to get him more engaged. My partner and I will be incorporating them into our next lesson. After the lesson, I asked students what they liked and disliked. They said they liked the crafts and movement activities and they disliked sitting so long and the type of Blooket we did. For our next lesson, we will incorporate more crafts and physical or movement related tasks. I also plan to make a different Blooket. I really liked getting student feedback and giving them a chance to say how they feel. I think it was a great way to show them their opinions matter to us. I want cooperation and listening to students voices to be a part of my professional identity and future lessons. In the future, I will make sure to plan accordingly and use proper time management. I am looking forward to our next lesson on history.

Why is it important to incorporate primary sources into your teaching?

     In my own education career, I want to firstly graduate with my bachelor's degree. After this I plan to go back and get my master's degree to become a reading and writing specialist. While accomplishing my higher education, I want to teach in the Providence school district. Providence has the lowest academics, resources, and attendance rates. However, there is something I enjoy about being surrounded by students who look like me. I want to show them that it is possible to reach their goals, no matter what struggles they may face along the way. I want to help my students become more than a statistic, helping them reach their goals, big or small. Currently, I am taking my elementary education class on teaching social studies, below I am reflecting on aspects of teaching this topic.

 Primary sources allow a look into the past and serve as a way to learn from it. They allow students to use their curiosity and wonder to examine and interpret these sources. When going about incorporating and selecting my own primary sources, I began with things related to my lesson topic. My focus is Puerto Rico, so I selected sources that relate to PR, and can be built on. Primary sources cultivate wonder, curiosity, and inquiry-based learning by getting students to ask questions. Asking questions inspires thinking and gets the mind moving. Using primary sources opens to gateway to questions, which naturally leads to thinking. Questions can be simple or dive deeper into certain focuses. One example of this is QFT method. This technique focuses on students looking at a primary source and writing down any question they may have. To ask questions, students must analyze. These concepts go hand in hand, allowing wonder and curiosity to be naturally reached. Below is an example of a primary source related to Puerto Rico. I will present this to my students and allow them to use QFT to come up with questions. I do value incorporating primary sources not only now, but in my future teaching as well. It is important to show the past and compare it to the future. There is a lot to learn from what there once was, I find a lot of value in that. 

  Primary sources foster historical thinking by providing history. A primary source takes a piece of history, presents it to students, and then fosters analyzation. When being confronted with a piece of history, students can't help but think of why or how things used to be. It opens up a lense of wonder and allows students to look at things through a different perspective. Considering how primary sources bring about multiple perspectives, it does this by supporting individual views. Not every student will view things the same way, primary sources give us and insight into individual viewpoints. It naturally invites discussion of these different views, allowing conversations to naturally open up. I persoanlly see a lot of value