Indirect lesson (Jen, Corey and I)

After watching all the other groups go, we made a Group decision as to how this lesson was going to be taught. We took many notes from the previous groups and discovered that even with two or three people in their groups, there was not always someone walking around and observing to make sure the students stayed on task, and when there are three teachers in a room, at least one of them should be going around to the students to make sure everyone understands.

 Realistically we know that a classroom usually has ONE teacher who would have to teach as well as circulate the classroom and make sure that students were on task. Since we had THREE teachers, why not take advantage and design a lesson that would benefit all of the students, even the ones that struggled. We have all learned in our course work that even in a general ed classes, there will be students with IEP’s and students at risk. As a teacher, those are the students that you REALLY need to worry about.  This was one of the reasons why Corey taught about John Smith which was a good chunk of our lesson. While he was teaching, Jen was in charge of the computer and I had the perfect opportunity to walk around to EACH student and make sure they understood what was going on. Corey, Jen and I felt that this was very important because in the previous lesson, we noticed that there were quite a few students off task.

 The originally plan was to directly teach, JOHN SMITH and POCAHONTAS , but there was ONE problem with that plan… NO ONE would have modeled to the students what to do. Since the students were we required to fill out a biography map and because we had such limited time, we decided It would be best if we directly taught ONE person and used the other one as a model.

Our lesson was started off by COREY and his HANDS UP. Which I have to say was very effective and something that the students LOVED. I LOVED it too. As a group we talked about how we were going to get the students back on task. We were going to do the CLAP thing, but after careful thought, we decided that it wouldn’t be as effective. Other groups used the clap and after awhile, it became less effective. This is why we came up with HANDS UP!

After Corey did the introduction, Jen taught a mini lesson on POCAHONTAS as I was modeled how to fill out a biography map. I reminded the students, “I heard Ms. N say”…. This was so they knew I was LISTENING and wrote down what I heard. Jen did a great job of carefully teaching about Pocahontas, so I had enough time to fill in the chart on the board.

After modeling, it was Corey’s turn to directly teach John Smith. This was when I was circulating the room making sure that students were on task and when JEN was on the computer, clicking to make the slides come up.  As I was circulating the room, I noticed that there were a few students that were confused so I would ask questions and explain what they had to do. There was even one student that said, “I can’t spell good, so I can’t fill this out”

Since COREY was doing such and EXELLENT job teaching and engaging the students, there was not that much attention on me or that one student who needed help. I was so happy that Corey had the students attention so I was able to work with the few students who needed it without drawing attention to them and singling them out.

After teaching the direct lesson, Jen did the vortex game with the students while Corey was working the computer. This was when I was passing out their homework. We decided to have Jen teach do the vortex game, so I would have time to pass out the homework and so I was not rushing at the end. We saw other groups run out of time so that is the reason why I passed it out before and because Jen was doing such a good job with the vortex game, they didn’t even realize that I put something on their desk.

Finally after the came was over, it was MY turn again. I had to explain the homework. I felt a little rushed because it was almost time to go, but I was able to ask the students if they understood and they all nodded yes.

There were a few things that could have been improved. I think we spent a little too much time activating prior knowledge and that took away from when we had the multiple choice questions that were designed to check for understanding. Originally, Jen and I were going to ask those questions, but because time was ticking away, Corey took charge and did a nice job of moving it along. Also, I wish that we had more time. I think that our lesson had so much information and teaching it in only 30 minutes was rushing it. I just wish Jen and I got to teach a little bit more, but as explained before we made the choice because we felt that it was most important that all students benefited from out lesson.

Overall,