When All is Said and Done

How did you (and your partner) prepare?
--My partner, Geraldine, and I got together on different occasions to prepare for our lesson plan. During our time in the computer room we had time to discuss some ideas for a lesson. We made sure we met up outside the classroom though to actually get the ins and outs of our lesson.
Explain the objective and assessment measures of your lesson.
--Our objectives included; Students will read a poem called “Gone with the Wind”, Students will write about an adventure as a butterfly, Students will design their own butterfly.
To assess the students, we basically walked around the room and saw how the students were working and how they were working on the class story.
Was your lesson plan executed exactly as it was written?
--Unfortunately our lesson plan was not executed exactly how it was written and that could have been due to minor behavioral interruptions as well as effort on our part. Maybe some things could have worked out better.
What was the most important thing I tried to teach your students?
--The most important thing we tried to teach the students was to be creative writers. If we wanted them to accomplish anything, it would have been to create a descriptive and well developed story about their adventure as a butterfly, which was in the lesson.
How do you think it went?
--For the most part, I think it went good. We were able to listen to our podcast, and also the students had fun drawing butterflies and creating the story. Although they did not write what we thought they were going to write, it was still okay.
What did you learn from your students?
--I learned that students will sometimes get out of control and the most important thing is to try not to lose your cool because the students can read body and facial language.
What would you have done differently?
--I probably would have had the students been more active. For example, we could have made them stand up and become butterflies, waving their arms around like wings, walking around the room, just basically being more active. Also I would have liked to have had a copy of the poem and the hat so we could put the numbers in it. The hat would have added a bit more excitement.



How did you and your partner plan to use the podcast in your lesson?
--We had the students first make an inference on what the poem would be about using just the title of one of the poems on the podcast, 'Gone with the Wind'. Then we had the students listen to it twice
Did you use it during the class lesson? Why or why not?
--Yes, it was the first activity
How did your students react to the podcast?
--It was pretty clear so they heard it.
How do you think it went?
--I think it went fine since we were able to successfully move on after that point
What could you have done to infuse the podcast into the lesson more effectively?
--I think it was used effectively
Do you have any other ideas of how you would use podcasting in your lesson or future lessons?
--Yes because there are always stories to be heard.


I think my classmates did pretty well on their lesson plans. Due to the amount of behavioral issues in the classes, the lesson plans did not always come out how my peers would have hoped, but they were able to get past it. I know it was really hard for some groups to have a successful lesson, but I feel like we all did the best to our abilities. Hopefully real elementary students are not as bad. I did learn some ways that worked and did not work while watching the groups present their lessons. First off, turn the lights on and off, or clapping, is not always a great method to get the students attention. A more effective way to tend to student behaviors is to have a good token economy system. I believe it was Jessica and Lauren who had a perfect example of a good token economy system.
I enjoyed most of the lessons that my peers were presenting. Also, I give the first two to go, Melanie and Olivia kudos for actually going first and at the end, having a good lesson. For them two, the behaviors got out of hand and they were forced to improvise, which worked out for them in the end. Katy and Kathy were also well prepared for their lesson, and they also had a real turtle, which real elementary students would have enjoyed.