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.
No comments:
Post a Comment