Let's Assess!

Pre-assessment is crucial in the field of education. It is important for teachers of all ages to pre-assess students’ knowledge before teaching a certain topic. 

At first, our group had a hard time understanding exactly what we needed to include in our pre-test. With some talking through we finally understood that we needed to ask the students some questions about the topics we would be teaching them in our lesson plans and also what they already learned about the topic. We taught the students about our country’s leaders. I didn’t realize how important a pre-assessment was until this class. Pre-assessments are very helpful for teachers to see what information students may have about a given topic and what misconceptions the class may have in order to figure out the appropriate approach to teaching the lessons. Our group developed our pre-test questions together. For the post-test we edited some of the pre-existing questions and then we added some new questions to be able to see how much the student’s learned from our lessons. We all agreed on particular questions that we felt would be the most useful in our assessment of seeing how much the students knew and how much they actually understood and remembered by the end. The pre-test questions were fairly easy to create and our group didn’t have many issues.

The only problems we had was due to confusion on what we needed to include in a pre-assessment question. However, we learned that when asking questions during the pre-assessment we should use more “broad” questions rather than specific. This helps us to see what the students personally know about certain topics as a whole. They might recognize or remember certain words or topics but not in detail. The post-test questions were fairly easy to create because we were able to look back at what we taught the students and what we asked in the pre-assessment to adjust some questions and then add some more specific questions that they should have definitely gotten from our lessons. Since out chapter on Choosing Our Country’s Leaders was brief, there was a limited amount of information and vocabulary words which also posed a little bit of a problem when trying to create these questions. The results of the pre-test were helpful in establishing the necessities of our lesson plan and in figuring out which topics and vocabulary terms were more important to focus on over others. The results helped our group to see how  much the student’s really knew and what information our lessons should focus on more. This also showed the lack or overlay of knowledge that many students had. Some students were able to answer all of our questions correctly while others had answered none of the questions accurately. From looking at the answers that the student’s wrote on the pre-assessment it was obvious that most to all students knew what a president was and who the current president was. We could also tell this by the first day we met the students. We asked them information about our country’s leaders and many of the students mentioned the president. However, students did not know much about what made an ‘active citizen’ and what the leader of a state is as well as what a capital was.

 By this we knew that we had to focus on these terms and on voting especially, which we did in our inquiry and cooperative lessons. Since the students were in second grade, we felt that we needed to approach our lessons on voting and citizens with a hands-on approach, as we did with the voting booth. By bringing the student’s into the actual process, they were able to comprehend the task in a different way and will most likely remember it for years to come. In addition our group referred to the real-world often in order to bring our lessons to life. We said that their own principal would be retiring and we had them vote on ice cream flavors in their own cafeteria and when the future principals answered their interview questions, their answers reflected changes that would affect them personally. This helped students to see how important their personal vote was in making a change! The results of the pre-test also were helpful when relating to the edTPA commentary prompts because it helped our group and me to see what we needed to do to make sure that this information was being taught to the students in a simple and understandable way that the student’s would walk away knowing the information. The edTPA commentaries were beneficial for all groups in designing their lesson plans and unit plans to maximize their teaching potentials.

Teaching Social studies

Fieldwork has come to a close! Everyone can now relax and reflect on their experiences. I really enjoyed the entire fieldwork experience and I learned a lot from my own teaching and the teachings of my peers. I chose this quote because it ultimately sums up how I felt from the fieldwork. We were teaching the students, but in return they ultimately taught us how to be better teachers. It was a beneficial learning experience all around! I learned about the three types of lesson planning. (Explained in my blogs below). Direct lesson planning involves main instruction from the teacher with limited involvement from the students. Our group learned how to instruct a lesson directed completely by the teacher. We learned how to check for student understanding as well. I knew that this was the foundation of the lesson to provide the important information to the students so we worked hard to make sure that all types of learners needs were met.

Before our class and group began teaching the students took a pretest. The pretest was used in order to see how much the students knew from the year before and from this year and also to see how much the students knew about the topics we would be teaching them.

The pre-test is a type of pre-assessment that helps teachers to see what misconceptions or information students may know so they can approach their lessons and teaching in a certain way that will maximize the student’s learning. Formative assessment was also used throughout the process. Formative assessment helped the teachers and the student’s see what information they were understanding from the lesson plans and what they were having trouble with. This can help a teacher to see if the majority of students are understanding the information in the way it is presented to them. Teachers may need to alter their instruction based on how well students are doing. In our case, we were able to see how several groups conducted their assessments and were able to learn which ways would work best for our second grade class. Overall, this class was well-behaved and very intelligent! There were several struggling students but we made sure to help these students to understand the information. We tried using a mini booklet in order to take away from traditional note taking sheets. When the pre-test was given to the class, many of the students had a hard time answering the questions and answered many of them incorrectly. By the end of teaching, our students improved greatly and learned a lot! Attached below are also examples of student’s work of varying levels! We also used many informal methods of assessment throughout our lessons. When a student would answer the question, I would ask the students if they agreed or disagreed by putting their thumbs up or thumbs down or standing up and sitting down. This was a quick way to involve students to express their answers without completely singling each student.

Pedagogical content knowledge is knowledge that is gained through experiences and preparation. Teachers develop this knowledge the more they teach and from this they can develop skills to help them become a better teacher. In the direct lesson students learned through repetition and explicit instruction of the content. The direct lesson gives the main focus on the teacher and it involves a structured lesson to present the information to the students directly. The inquiry method is a little different and it involves the students using the information they just learned to conduct an investigation. It is important to present an activity that fosters exploration.

It promotes independence and using the scientific method. Third is a cooperative lesson in which students learn to work together with one another to create a group project that they will present and reflect on. Collaboration I feel is very important in the classroom because it builds on social skills. It also engages the student in learning because it allows they to talk and work together instead of just taking notes. When presenting a cooperative lesson it is important that each student has their own role in the making of the project. It is important for student's to reflect on their experience in the end to see what they learned and how they felt about the project and others projects. The most important part of instructing lessons is making sure that all student's needs are met. Each student is much different and it is the job of the teacher to encourage all types of learning. I think my group did a great job in reaching the diverse learners of the classroom!

   

 

As we do in class, I will give three pluses and a wish for each groups teaching as part of my reflection.

Group One: Bryanna LeBron, Payge Yerks, Heather Nolan, Joseph Timmons, Melissa Kochoves

1.   The project was fun for the children and hands on.

2.   The teachers showed improvement and confidence.

3.   The teachers spoke loud and clear to students and provided support throughout the lesson.

Wish: I wish that the group planned their time better in order to make sure all of the parts of the lesson were addressed.

Group Two: Erin Correa, Paola Martinez, Christina Moscatello, Samantha Mullarkey, Lauren Skinner, Moira Tolan

1.   The transitions were fast pace, which kept the students under control.

2.   The lesson was well thought-out and planned/practice.

3.   I like that you gave the students time to work on their independent practice in class.

Wish: I wish that the students had more time to work on their papers and the word wall.

Group 3: Melissa Kelly, Elizabeth Pozzulo, Emily Meehan, Keilani Wilhelm, Kim Cruz   

1.   I like the use of an American flag for student’s to agree.

2.   I loved the song at the beginning of the lesson, it definitely engaged the students.

3.   I loved that your group switched up the way they answered the questions. (Hand signals or saying things like “the british are coming”)

Wish: I wish that the timeline in the guided practice included pictures.

Group 4: Kimberly, Mallory, Kelly, Rose, Jenna, and Sarah

1. I liked how well practiced and thought out the lesson was. Each teacher did a great job explaining their information and the lesson flowed great.

2. I liked that we had the opportunity to get the students out of their seats during the independent practice and that they were all involved.

3. I liked that that the teachers worked well to involve students in the lesson in their own way and talked clear, concise, and loudly.

Wish: I wish that our lesson didn’t end so early and that we had enough time for another guided practice or made one of the other ones longer.

Overall, fieldwork has been a memorable experience. I learned a lot from watching my peers teach. I really enjoyed working with my group, Ms. Pozzulo at Bishop Dunn and especially with the students.

xox,
Kelly

First day of Teaching - A Success!

Today was the first day of teaching in Social Studies with my group (Mallory Menneci, Rose Linehan, Kim Rivera, Jenna York and Sarah Lehrfield). The last couple of weeks have been filled with hard work, compromise, group collaboration in order to make this first day go so well. We taught a direct lesson which means that the teacher talks and teaches for the whole class with little student interaction. Kim started out the introduction of the lesson and pre-assessed the students knowledge. She also explained the vocabulary booklets and signals for attention. Next, we transitioned right into the vocabulary words. I think that we did very well in describing each word and relating it to the 2nd grade's lives.

We also worked on introducing the word instead of saying, "and the next word is...". I had the word president and I explained to the students the main roles of the president and guidelines for being a president. I also showed an exciting president video which I really loved! Although it may not have been completely educational I believe it is important to break up 2nd grade learning. Students need a mental break and the students really loved it. It was very funny and appropriate for 2nd grade. Next we moved right into the guided practice. I explained the practice and also modeled with Kim. This went very well and the student's understood what was expected of them. Students matched the correct vocabulary word to the definition. However, they did so by an action. For example, my word was president. When each student heard the correct definition, they spun around once and sat down. This worked well because we were able to get individual opinions but also were able to engage the students and even get them out of their seats! The next guided practice was a brainstorming bubble that I also directed. I was particularly proud of how I directed this activity. I explained the students the activity and then gave an example for students to copy down.

I then, gave guidelines for students to base their thoughts off of. For instance, students explained that an active citizen would recycle and pick up garbage in order to help the environment. I also provided room for students to write down a person or people they know that are active citizens. The students even shared with their class! It was wonderful to hear how much this class and their families and friends are involved in helping their communities and at home. Finally, Kim closed out the lesson and went through the independent practice with the class by reading the questions and providing time for students to answer individually. Overall, my group was very divided in making our lesson but when it came to that day and to our overall lesson we were able to come to our senses and create a great Direct Lesson. The only way I would have changed my instruction would be in getting my students involved ad excited (and I wish I didn't say fun). We were the last group so I learned so much of what I should and shouldn't do and I finally made it through the entire lesson without saying "guys"! Yay! (It was not easy but I am breaking my habits slowly).
I just want to reflect on my outlook of teaching. Words can't describe how nervous and stressed I was the first day of class. Helpful criticism was extremely hard to give and receive for many of us after how much work we put into our lessons. However, I learned so much and it truly has helped me improve myself. I can now say that I have improved my academic language and have become increasingly more confident in teaching. I am proud of how far I have come and look forward to my future as an elementary school teacher!

Virtual Classroom: A+

I will admit, I was very opposed to a virtual class. I have heard educators talk about teaching via Skype or virtually online. BUT!!! you should never knock something until you try it. Tuesday (February 16, 2016), due to the snow/ice conditions, Dr. Smirnova held class online. At first I thought I would hate it, but a few minutes into it I realized it was awesome. I was in the comfort of my own space. I was able to listen to class in comfort while eating my lunch! It can't get much better than that! Okay, there are some flaws to online class: connection problems, not everyone having a webcam/microphone and the full interaction you get when you go to class. Overall, I really enjoyed the virtual class, and for those students who missed class...shame on you, because you really missed out on a worthwhile experience and you missed valuable information from class.

I am so glad we went over the part of the lesson plans and also the types of instruction again, especially because my group will be teaching next week! I am nervous for our first lesson next Thursday but I am sure that we will be well prepared to teach and our whole lesson plan will come together.

Overall, I really enjoyed the online class! I have never use adobeconnect and I am glad I learned how to use it. It is a great tool to connect and talk with others even if they do not have a webcam or microphone because they can just write their comments and hear what others are saying.

 

The Three Types of Lessons!

 

Direct: Direct instruction is important and effective when introducing the new content, concepts, and/or skills. 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.

Inquiry: Student understanding is the central focus of inquiry learning.  Students actively participate in inquiry learning experiences by developing questions and investigating to find solutions.  Teachers facilitate learning as students engage in active problem solving, the construction of meaning and the communication of new understandings to students, teachers or other important adults. Teachers guide student learning by selecting, designing and planning learning tasks, asking probing questions, observing students at work to identify misconceptions and planning follow up experiences. 

 

Cooperative: Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. There are several elements to cooperative learning. Cooperative learning should engage the students to have positive interdependence, face to face promotive interaction, Individual and group accountability, social skills, and group processing.

Different techniques include: think pair share, jigsaw, reverse jigsaw, recipricol teaching, etc.

My favorite type of teaching out of these three would be cooperative learning. I love cooperative learning because cooperative learning has many advantages and is a bit more easy going than the other type of instruction. Cooperative learning involves the students in higher learning, and the students often get excited about learning. In addition knowledge is obtained from the student rather than solely from the teacher. This type of learning fosters positive attitude in the students and trains students to express their feelings and convey ideas.

 

First day of Fieldwork

 

Today was the first day of Fieldwork with the second graders at Bishop Dunn. We had the opportunity to work on some "get to know you" activities in small groups. For our activity with the students, we had them write their name and decorate a puzzle piece using pictures and words that explain characteristics about themselves. We will be connecting all the puzzle pieces to create a class flag for the children. I wish we had more time to complete these activities because the children really enjoyed it, but they were cut short due to time restrictions. It was interesting to learn about the various students in the classroom. Some completely opened up with the activity while others refused to draw anything on their puzzle piece. Other than that, everything went very well. It was our first day and I noticed more than ever how much I need to work on my classroom speech. I never realized how much I say "guys" now that I'm paying attention to it. Overall I am very excited to get to know the students even more. I have a really good group for fieldwork but I'm very nervous to teach in front of our class and in front of the second grade and all the teachers. I am not very shy but I get jittery when I am in front of the class talking and I shake which sometimes makes me even more nervous! Hopefully with all the experience I am getting with my Mount Saint Mary classes I will improve. I am very overwhelmed with all the work that my teachers are giving this semester. I am taking three methods classes as well as two history classes and I feel as if I am drowning in homework. As much as I try I can't seem to get ahead. I am just going to try my hardest. :)
I will be back to blog on Thursday!!
xox

Instructional Approaches!
For Week 2 of classes we were asked to read an article and look through Dr. Smirnova's Powerpoint and take notes on different Instructional Approaches. I learned about the different models, strategies, methods and skills that can help facilitate instruction.
Here is some information I learned and summarized into bullets:
1. Direct Instruction: Teacher Directed, questioning, lecture, structured overview, explicit teaching, compare and contrast, mastery lecture, demonstrations, etc.
2. Indirect Instruction: Student centered, story telling, oral tradition, case studies, Inquiry, reflection, critical examination of contemporary issues, problem solving, reading for meaning, inquiry, reflective discussion, concept formation
3. Interactive Instruction: 2 way communication and discussion, debates, role playing, lab groups, panels, cooperative problem solving, brainstorming, cooperative problem solving, talking circles, dialectal thinking, consensus and decision making.
4. Experiential Learning: Inductive, learner centered, and actively oriented, oral history interviews, surveys, simulations, role play, games, field trips, experiments.
5. Independent Study: range of instructional methods to foster the development of individual student initiative, self reliance and self improvement, responsible decision making, essays, hw, assigned questions, reports, computer assisted instruction, learning contracts, journals, research projects.

I also learned about important Social Studies elements:
-Meaningful
-Integrative
-Value-based
-Challenging
-Active

In addition I also learned about assessment! Here is what I found:
1. Readiness - skill, content knowledge, concepts
2. Interest - interest surveys, interest centers, self selection.
3. Learning Profile - Areas of strength and weaknesses, work preferences, self awareness

There are three main types of Assessment:
Pre-assessment
Formative Assessment
Summative Assessment

I also read through the other articles that Dr. Smirnova sent to us on eclass. I found the article called Powerful Teaching and Learning to be informational but to the point. This article discussed how to meet the Social Studies Standards and principles of teaching and learning. My favorite part of the article was in the last chapter that discusses Schools as a place to learn and not just a space. I completely agree with this statement. Schools are often looked at as just a "place" from children and so children focus on just getting through their day. School should not be about eventually making money but about growing as individuals and learning new things. It is our job as educators to create a place where students want to learn and want to be in school. NOT because they have to!