Fieldwork... What an Experience!

So... fieldwork has officially come to a close. Finally, it is time to reflect on our teaching experiences from this semester. I really enjoyed fieldwork in this class. The first day of class I was beyond afraid to teach in front of 40+ people but I think that this experience has greatly helped me to face my fears. Teaching a whole class for the first time might always be scary for me, but this experience has taught me how great the feeling of accomplishment is and how to give presentations and teach without being scared. The children of Bishop Dunn's 5th grade class have truly inspired me, and I hope that one day I will be able to inspire my students as well. We were the ones teaching the students our topics, but in reality these students were the ones that were actually teaching us. I learned how to handle stressful and chaotic situations and I also learned how to accommodate or work with students of varying levels. The experience was extremely beneficial and important to my improvement. It is scary to think that some student's first time in front of a classroom will being during students teaching. I am so thankful to have Dr. Smirnova and this chance to be able to teach a whole 5th grade class.

The first lesson we taught in Ms. Vasiliko's class was direct instruction. From watching the first two groups before me, I learned how important time management truly it. Both groups had a hard time keeping all there information an lesson within the 45-60 minutes we had. For my group, this was very important to us. We wanted to make sure that we fit our whole lesson in the time allotted which we did successfully. For our direct lesson we did a lesson on changes in ecosystems. (Our powerpoint is attached here) A direct instruction lesson is teacher-centered rather than student-centered. The teacher instructs the students an teaches them the information with limited student interruption.

Direct instruction is the use of straightforward, explicit teaching techniques, usually to teach a specific skill. It is a teacher-directed method, meaning that the teacher stands in front of a classroom and presents the information. We decided to teach our lesson with the use of a powerpoint. Our powerpoint first pre-assessed the students in order to see what information or misconceptions the students had on the topic we would be teaching them. This also helps engage the students in the lesson. Next, we introduced the guided not packets. The students each got their own guided not packet to follow along with the notes in the powerpoint. Every single time a word was displayed in bold blue, the students were informed to copy down the word. This worked really well because it kept the students on track but wasn't an overwhelming amount of information to copy down. In this lesson we went into further detail of how water, wind and living organisms can greatly affect the ecosystem. Our powerpoint was filled with pictures and color and it kept the student's attention. In a direct lesson it is very important to incorporate some "check for understandings" in order to assess how much the students are understanding the topic being presented to them. Dr. Smirnova taught us how important it is to never be satisfied with one answer. If the teacher is satisfied with one answer, than they will have a hard time assessing which students are struggling with learning the topic. We used techniques such as thumbs up, thumbs down, stand up, sit down, hand on your head, or nose etc.

The children really loved this because it got them moving around which they really need. We also used some other hand signals to catch the students attention. Each group used a different signal for attention but our group turned off the lights and put two fingers in the air. Sometimes this worked and sometimes the students were too routey. At the end of our powerpoint we included two guided practices. Our first guided practice was about behavioral and structural adaptations. We used numbered heads for the students to say their answers. Numbered heads involved assigning different number to each member of the group. When the teacher asks for the answer, they call out a number and if the student is that number than they answer the question. My idea was to make mini poster cards to answer the questions. One side said Behavioral adaptation and the other side said structural adaptation. When I called the number, the students with that number would hold up whichever side of the board they thought was the correct answer. This worked very well and I look forward to using it one day in my future classroom. 

Our next guided practice was a kahoot quiz. I never knew what kahoot was until this class! I learned about so much technology. Guided practices are important in seeing how much the students understood from the lesson, and also to guide students through practicing what they learned. The students really loved the Kahoot quiz! They were so excited to be using technology and to actually play a game. It was completely engaging and exciting! (Kahoot quiz attached here). The only major problem we had was that at random times, the internet would go out so the students would sometimes get the answers after each other so many were upset.
However, with limited wifi it was difficult to avoid this problem. The last stage of our lesson was the closure and independent practice. We wrapped up the lesson and asked the students what questions they had and what they learned and then we handed out the independent practice. An independent practice is usually an exit ticket which is helpful in assessing student knowledge after the lesson. An independent practice should be filled out independently, just as the name applies! Our independent practice was a matching handout that the students started in class and then finished for homework. (The matching sheet is attached here.) This independent practice was very helpful in seeing how well the students learned the information we presented and also in seeing if our teaching strategies were affective. Overall, after looking through them I could see that most students did very well and understood the lesson. 

The next lesson we taught was our Inquiry lesson. Inquiry-based learning starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios rather than simply presenting established facts or portraying a smooth path to knowledge. The process is often assisted by a facilitator which in our case was the teacher. Inquirers will identify and research issues and questions to develop their knowledge or solutions. Inquiry-based learning includes problem-based learning, and is generally used in small scale investigations and projects, as well as research. The inquiry-based instruction is principally very closely related to the development and practice of thinking skills. Inquiry based learning develops on the 5Es and the scientific method. The 5E's are engage, explore, explain, elaborate and evaluate.

The above chart goes into detail of what goes into the 5E's. Connections are based on an inquiry based teaching and learning model.

Students use their prior knowledge to develop explanations for their hands on experiences. Students have opportunities to represent and re-represent their developing understanding. They are engaged actively in the learning process. The students developed investigations skills and an understanding of the nature of science. In addition the scientific method is also used in the inquiry method. The scientific method included 5 main steps. These steps are 1. Ask a question 2. Form a hypothesis 3. Conduct an experiment 4. Analyze results 5. Make a conclusion. Since the students were familiar with the scientific method we did not have to go into intense detail about it but instead just reviewed it. We came up with a story line for our inquiry lesson plan. The students of the class were zoologists for the day and were introduced to zoologist Lou from the NY Zoo. The problem was that Zoologist Lou needed help returning the animals at the NY zoo back to their natural habitats. We used a voki to present the essential problem to make the students engaged and excited. We gave each group of students a packet of adaptations and information that their animals. The students had to hypothesize which adaptations that their animal would need in order to live in their given ecosystem. The students then investigated and read in order to find particular evidence to support their final conclusions. As an independent practice the students were asked to write a letter to Zoologist Lou about their animal and explaining why they picked particular adaptations. Example of student's work are attached below. As seen from these letters, the students were interested in the lesson and were very excited to write their letters. Many students even included pictures of their animals as well.

As seen in each of these examples, the students correctly aligned their adaptations for their animals based on the ecosystem they were given and explained explicitly while those adaptations will help that animal survive in that ecosystem. In addition they used their imagination in order to make their own species of animal up and to "design" their animal. The writing used was also aligned with the rubric requirements needed. The students were required to use at least two adaptations that their animal would have if they lived in that ecosystem.

Afterwards the students were able to draw and make their animal based on the adaptations they used. Each group presented their findings to the class and even showed the class their created animal and its name! I think that the class greatly enjoyed this lesson. It gave them an opportunity to use their skills of the scientific method and also gave them a little bit of freedom to use their imagination. This little bit of freedom can go a long way in an elementary classroom and can also keep the student interested in finishing their exploration! Overall, this lesson was 

a bit confusing at times because we had other teachers helping us that did not know the guidelines of the lesson. However, all of the students were able to complete their investigation, and with evidence to support their decisions. I was proud of the lesson that I essentially came up with and with a little more practice it could definitely be useful in the classroom. (Our Inquiry Powerpoint is attached here)

Overall, this experience has helped me so much to become a better teacher. First, I learned how important it is to make the lesson engaging and interesting for the class or they will venture off and become bored. Our direct lesson could have included some moving clipart in order to catch the children's eye. In addition, it is important to not yell over the students because they will just talk louder! We learned this our first lesson! We tried hand signals but many times the students were not listening so we tried yelling over them which definitely was not a good idea. I also learned the importance of time management both in lesson planning and teaching. Time management is important in order to complete all parts of the lesson in a timely manner. In addition when planning, it is important to be ready for feedback and changes to be made and to leave extra time for these changes. Although our lesson plan was done ahead of time, we definitely should have startd earlier in order to have more time for edits and changes. Observing other lessons being taught really helped our group as well. We were able to take the feedback that the two groups ahead of us got and apply it to our own lesson plans. Feedback is so useful and as a teacher you learn to not take it offensively, but as improvement. We were all there to help each other and to make improvements and we surely did over time!

I am so thankful to have been able to work with two amazing group members, Alyssa and Amanda. Together we stayed up late at night and met on weekends and overall worked so hard on our lesson plans! We had no fights and showed uniformity when we taught which was very important. We collaborated with one another and empowered one another. We learned how to successfully teach as a group and develop lesson plans as a group. I think we did a great job, but there is always improvement. I know through practice and feedback I will one day be a great teacher! I am so excited and read to embark on this journey of becoming a teacher!