Jenn Phase 3

Assessing Prior Knowledge
My way of doing this wouldn't change much except I think I would have check more about what kind of weathers the students already know about (snow, rain, sunny, etc.). Otherwise I think that this part of the lesson went well because we were starting something new, A Weather Introduction, so the students might not have known a lot about this subject of weather.

Planning Instruction
I had a lot of fun with this part because we wanted to integrate reading, and I love literacy lessons. I think one of the hardest parts was choosing a book. It had to be a book that we could access. First we looked online to see if there was a way to read it online, we checked on books that our instructors might have that we could use. Once we chose the book, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the lesson idea and plan just came together.

Designing Instruction
This part was actually pretty easy. Since we were integrating literacy with our weather unit, we decided to base almost our entire lesson around the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Planning Assessment
When planning our assessment there was one type of assessment that we were going to do after they finished the assignment. We left the assignment open ended so that the students could explore the technology and prepare a presentation any way that they may have wanted. The way that we graded them was by a rubric that grades their creativity and use of technology with a final grade out of 16.

Instructional Decisions/Teaching
I learned from watching other groups that it might have been better to break up our lesson into a couple shorter activities instead of having one big long activity, like we did. This is only because we had students finishing really early and then going off onto facebook or something. If not having a lot of different short activities, it might have been better to have something extra that the students could do when they are done as maybe an extra credit thing.

Assessment of Learning
I think that that in this aspect we did well. It is important to let students have the creative freedom that we gave them and grade them in different ways, but still have a standard to it. We did this because we had a rubric but it didn't grade their knowledge as much as be framed around their creativity. This way they could create a presentation that went with whatever learning style works with them best.
I think in the future I would have individual- and group-assessments because it gives the students a sense of owning their grade, as well as if they thought they did better on a certain part than I did, it gives them a chance to argue/justify why they think they did better, and their grade could be modified.

Hannah S. Phase 3

Assessing prior knowledge:

I have learned the importance of assessing prior knowledge. It is very difficult for a lesson to run smoothly and be affective when the teacher is unaware of what the students already know. The lesson should be built on the student’s prior experiences and knowledge.

In my classroom I will be sure to build my lessons around the student’s prior knowledge. This will take getting to know my students and know their background.

Planning Instruction:

For a lesson to run smoothly it is important to plan ahead of time. There will always be unexpected questions or things that come up. In general though, it is important to know what you, as the teacher, are teaching and are expecting your students to learn.

In my classroom I hope to have all my lessons prepared in advance and be able to see how they relate to and build upon each other.

Designing Instruction:

This is very similar to planning instruction. The way a lesson is laid out and organized helps students succeed. Simply rearranging the layout of a classroom can help or hinder a students understanding and success in the classroom.

In my classroom I hope to have a flexible classroom. Meaning things can change, daily if necessary, depending on the needs of my students.

Planning assessment:

Assessment is the process of assessing to see if the students are comprehending the information or not. It is important to plan how this will be accomplished in order for it to be accomplished appropriately. In our lesson in class I felt we did an adequate job of assessing them and letting them know what we were assessing on. I believe this is also important for the students to know.

In my classroom I hope to be in constant communication with my students and let them know what I expect and how they are to achieve this.

Instructional decisions/ teaching:

While we were teaching we had to modify things such as the time to accommodate where the students were at in their projects. This will also happen a lot in the classroom and it is important to be flexible. In my classroom I will have days where I will have to change my lesson based on where the students are.

Assessment of learning:

In our lesson I felt that the students achieved our designed objectives. This is because they adequately were able to complete the project and answer questions based on the story.

In my classroom I will use the assessments that I have planned to assess my students.

Hannah W. Phase 3

Assessing Prior Knowledge:

When deciding what to do for our assessment of prior knowledge, we chose to show a trailer of the movie that was made based on our book we would be reading in class. The video was a good introduction that would work well to get students excited about the book, but if they haven't seen the movie, then it probably didn't make very much sense to them. I believe the students enjoyed the movie, but I don't believe that it really assessed any skills that we were going to be requiring them to do for the assignment. In the future, I would still use the video because I think that it is engaging and gets students excited, but I would also require them to do some type of retelling of a story as well to ensure that they have prior knowledge on how to successfully do that. I believe this would be key to ensure that they will be prepared for the new content that the lesson will be bringing.

Planning Instruction:

When planning our instruction we decided to first choose a book that we would like to use for instruction. After that we decided what type of skills we wanted to assess and from there came up with ideas of activities that we could do with the book. The book tended to be a little long and I think we could come up with a more exciting and interactive way to read through the book as a class. In the future I would first decide what type of skills I would like to assess and then come up with the best way to help my students learn those skills. When planning instruction I think that I would try to come up with multiple activities to help the students practice the skill before having them come up with their own project.

Designing Instruction:

When we were designing our instruction, we first chose a book and then decided to go from there. After we chose a book we decided what type of lesson we were going to teach based off of the book and from there decided which computer programs and other technological devices we could use to enhance this lesson. Based off of my experience in this class, in the future I would first choose what type of content I was going to be covering with my lesson. I think it would have been more effective to have this lesson as an introduction to a unit such as weather, instead of just have it as a random lesson about a children's literature book.

Planning Assessment:

After teaching this lesson and watching other groups do their lessons I learned that it is important to consider all aspects of the lesson and think of different possible ways that you can assess your students. It is also important to keep in mind all the different aspects that you can include on a rubric that will help ensure that your students are grasping the concept. I think that it would also be helpful to have more than one assessment taken for certain types of lessons so that you have alternate ways of seeing your students' progress since they all learn in different ways. In the future I would consider this when planning my assessment and possibly come up with more than just one rubric for the entire lesson.

Instructional Decisions/Teaching:

After watching other classmates teach their lessons, I've learned that it is effective to sometimes break up a lesson into different parts and have students do more than one activity in the course of a lesson instead of having one long part to it. I also saw that it was effective to communicate with your co-teachers and plan who is going to say what and what part of the lesson each person is going to cover. Looking back, I believe instruction would have gone much smoother and less confusing for the students if my co-teachers and myself had planned that aspect out more thoroughly.

Assessment of Learning:

Assessing students' created products whether it be a presentation or another type of assignment, I believe it is important to assess more than one skill or find a way to assess a particular skill in more than one way. When students are allowed to come up with multiple ways of portraying their learned knowledge and skills then they are more likely to come up with something creative on their own that is suitable to their learning style. In the future, I would also implement self-assessments and group-assessments as a closure to the lesson. I believe that this can be very applicable in certain situations and would be helpful in the students reflecting on their work and contributions to projects.

Phase 2

Instructional Decisions/Teaching:

Our justification for our modifications for individual needs is that we allowed students to work in groups and choose what type of program they want to use and how to present. This is a modification because it is allowing them to choose and be flexible with their work depending on their strengths and needs. We also had an audio recording of the book. This is for students who either have a hearing impairment or have difficulty reading. We read the story aloud but some students need to read the book more than once for assistance with their project.

Justification of alignment to goals and objectives. Our objective was the students would be able to read a story and retell through multiple means. We accomplished this through reading a story to them and then providing them with the books to follow along. We asked comprehension questions after reading to help them review the story. We then brainstormed ideas on how to retell the story. This helps give the students ideas of how to retell the story we have just discussed and they should be familiar with. By giving them different strategies and means to complete the assignment it provides the students with more options and enables them to be more successful. These strategies align with our goal of helping the students to be successful at retelling a story.

Assessment of Learning:

Students were able to cooperatively in a group or individually create a project that met the criteria for the assignment. The students used multiple forms of media and came up with creative ways of displaying their knowledge of the book and their own personal interpretations. They met and exceeded our criteria for the assignment and seemed to enjoy themselves along the way. Attached is an example of one of the group’s projects that they created. They decided to make their own newspaper for a town that is very similar to the one in the book. The met all of the criteria on the rubric.

The lesson went fairly well, but there is always room for improvement. The instruction went well and I believe the students enjoyed the freedom that we gave them to choose their own project for the assignment and come up with their own idea. We also provided ample support to the students as they worked on and completed their assignment, offering suggestions and answering questions. We also met the needs of individual students and provided different aides to help their learning process.

file:///Volumes/NO%20NAME/TechProject2.pdf

Phase 1

Assessing Prior Knowledge:

Prior experience would have been assessed through a series of questions before and after the movie trailer is shown. The students would be asked what they know about the book or movie as well as give details if they have read the book or seen the movie before.

Because our assessment for prior knowledge requires our students to watch the movie trailer for the movie that was made based off of our book being used for the assignment, we would also need to allow time for students to compare the differences between the movie and book as well. We would also need to make sure that all students are able to view the video so that they are building background knowledge on the book if they have not read it before or seen the movie. We could also prepare a set of questions that can be asked during this time so that we are prepared to assess their prior knowledge.

http://www.ade.state.az.us/standards/language-arts/std3.pdf

Planning Instruction:

When planning our instruction we are going to make sure that the students know the objectives and goals by telling them what they are. We could also put them up on the board so that they are clearly visible.

Objective: Students will be able to individually or in a group create a presentation, that relates to the book "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," using any technology of their choice.We made sure that the book was grade appropriate and that the assignment coincided with the state standards. In case the book proved to be difficult for our students with a lower reading level to read, we created a voice recording of the book for them to listen to.

Designing Instruction:

Our lesson is organized so that the students will be introduced to the book, introduced to the technology followed by time to explore before working on their project. Once their project is completed they will present what they have explored and created.

With this project they will have the ability to listen to the book orally or read the book after it has been read to them. They are then required to think come up with ideas of how to present and what they want to present using the book as a base. Once they have presented they will demonstrate their knowledge of both technology and concepts from the book in a presentation to the class which also is using public speaking skills.

Planning Assessment:

When planning our assessment there was one type of assessment that we were going to do after they finished the assignment.

We left the assignment open ended so that the students could explore the technology and prepare a presentation any way that they may have wanted.

The way that we would grade them would be done by a rubric that grades their creativity and use of technology.
The grades are going to be out of a total of 16.