Lesson Plan #2 Phase II: Assessment of Learning

Include at least two digital artifacts that demonstrate what you or your students (peers) have created as a result of your lesson.

(Emily's Glogster page)

(Natalia's Glogster page)

Describe your students' level of success in achieving the standards and objectives for your lesson based on your assessment.
-I think that my students were very successful in achieving the standards and objectives for my lesson, especially since they did exactly what I had expected of them for the creation of their Glogster page. I did not give specific instructions as to what each Glog had to have contained, so it was really interesting to see the difference between what students saw appropriate and important to add into their Glog pages.

Describe the level of success in teaching the lesson.
-I thought that I was relatively successful in teaching my lesson and the reflections from my peers supported this. The students present in class said that they had fun with my lesson and that I was clear in my instructions and expectations. In additions, it seems like my students really appreciated the lesson being pretty interactive, as it made learning fun and kept them focused on the lesson at hand.

Lesson #2 Phase II: Mechanics

What technologies did I use?
-During the verbal (teaching) portion of my lesson, I did not use any technologies for myself. The students, however, worked quite a bit on the iMac computers and the Internet, where they explored different websites and interactive activities, mainly on the NASA website. In addition, students created Glog pages (a hybrid, of sorts, of a blog and a Powerpoint presentation) where they used the information they researched and placed it into a customizable blog page that acted as a presentation.

How were the technologies used?
-Again, technologies were primarily used by the students in the classroom, using computer and games that were found online, exploring the specific websites provided by the instructor in order to get a better, initial understanding of space and the solar system. After, students used Glogster and were expected to present the information that they learned in the form of a Glog. While doing their project, I did give them the option of exploring other, unspecified - but reliable! - websites to obtain more information to put on their Glog page.

Time Frame?
-My lesson was within the correct time frame, as I did not necessarily plan a lesson to go to the last minute of class. Instead, I planned all instruction to be towards the beginning, mainly because I wanted my students to have enough time to create their Glog pages. However, by doing this, I think that I was able to stay within my lesson time frame of one hour.

Lesson #2 Phase II: Instructional Decisions/Teaching

What went well and what didn't go well during the implementation of your lesson?
-The first thing that comes to mind when considering what did not go so well during the implementation of my lesson was student interaction. This could have been due to how small the class sizes were and could change with a larger class; since I would have students work in small groups, I think that the student interaction and participation would increase. However, since students were working on their own throughout my lesson, I feel as though they were really focused on their lesson so it didn't leave a whole lot of room for classroom participation. On the other hand, the activities that I had in my lesson were pretty well-received and my students said that they had a lot of fun when working on the space exploration and mini-games. In addition, I think that my expectations in terms of the project were pretty clear and I received good feedback.

How well was the alignment to objectives and standards maintained?
-When thinking about how students responded to the lesson and looking over the Glogster pages that were submitted, I would say that the alignment to objectives were relatively well-maintained. Students were able to read text and bits of information and determine how and what they were going to visually relay the information that they had read.

Describe any modifications made during the implementation of the lesson.
-I don't think that I really modified anything in the implementation of my lesson. If anything, allotted times were changed a bit in order to allow students more time to work on their final project towards the end of the lesson. I did not designate a specific period of time for students to work on the activities but began to worry that students would be crunched for time when working on their Glogster page; the priority in my lesson was the ability to relay information learned rather than how much information students could absorb.

Lesson #2: Materials and Resources

The students will use a variety of resources to complete the task at hand. First, they will explore two space websites and play mini-games in order to gain a better understanding of the solar system to act as an introduction to the lesson unit. Once the students explore the students for a sufficient amount of time, the students will then use the Glogster website to create their own 'Glog' that focuses on their specific planet. The Glogster website is a great resource to allow students the creativity to create their own project that is relatively customizable, so I think that it's perfect for what I would like my students to do.

Lesson #2: Assessment

Procedure: The creation of a Glogster page will act as an assessment, as it incorporates fact that the student has learned about the solar system and the specific planet that the student chose. I do not plan on using a specific rubric or checklist but instead, really only using the assignment as an participation grade; since the lesson takes place at the very beginning of an astronomy unit, I don't want students to feel discouraged early on in the lesson unit.

Instruments: Again, I will look at each student's Glogster page to act as an assessment so that I can grade students on participation.

Lesson Plan #2: Implementation

Procedure: At the beginning of the lesson, I will introduce our upcoming lesson unit, which is going to be astronomy. I feel as though 6th grade is a bit of a tricky age to teach, especially in regards to astronomy, because it's hard to really tell how much a student may know about outer space. That being said, to start off, I will initiate a brief discussion about space to gauge where students are in the learning process. I'll ask relatively easy questions such as, "What is space?" and "What planets make up the solar system?" Once the class spends a bit of time talking about space, I'm going to have students play a game online (can be found in 'Mary F.'s stuff' on BBLearn) to explore the solar system and play fun mini games that relate to the topic to keep it interesting. Once finished exploring that game, students will then play another game; while not as interesting as the first one, the second website talks more about other things that can make up the solar system, such as asteroids, meteors, and satellites. Again, I will allot a bit of time for students to explore around each planet. To ensure that students are not just goofing around, I'll go around to each student to tell me one thing about a planet of their choice. Once each student gives me an answer, I will then assign a 'project'. Students are to build a Glogster website about a planet of their choice, probably one that we discussed, though ideally each student (or group) would have different planets. I am trying to leave as much time as possible for each student to build their Glogster, as I know that it does take a bit to build and construct. Then, at the end of the class hour, I would have each student (again, or group in larger classrooms) present their planet so that the entire solar system is covered and to allow each student the opportunity to learn about each planet from their peers.

Technology Integration: A good portion of my entire lesson is technology based; while I, the teacher, am not using any technology to help introduce the lesson, the students will get hands-on time with computers while they are playing the astronomy games or building their Glogster.

Differentiated Instruction: Science is a very literal subject that provides a lot of information all at once. That being said, there definitely may be a bit of struggle when it comes to other learners in the classroom. For those with a cognitive delay, I would most likely actually sit with them on their exploration to help guide them through the mini games and to prompt answers when asked questions. For ELL learners, I would definitely try to help the students make connections between what I would like them to do and what they already know. Again, I would sit with them in attempt to prompt thinking in students and to help guide them through the project.

REFLECTING ON:

Designing Instruction
-Why are you using the instructional methods you have described?
The main reason why I am using the instructional methods described is because it's just downright fun. Science in general is a subject that has plenty of resources for each topic, so a textbook doesn't necessarily have to be the primary source of information. I'm a believer that students can be more prone to learning when they are having fun as opposed to learning something just because they have to, and I feel as though hands-on activities really enhance that type of learning.

-How are you engaging students in creative and higher order learning?
With the creation of a Glogster website, I think that students will definitely be engaged in both creative and higher order learning. Creatively, students will be able to build a website/blog that is fine-tuned to their preferences in terms of layout and colors, even the information provided. That being said, students will also be engaged in higher order thinking because they are pinpointing important information to add to their Glogster page.

-How does your technology integration support what you know about best practices for technology integration in the classroom?
I think that my technology integration supports technology practices in the classroom by enhancing student learning. Technology really seems to help a lot of students when it comes to lessons, whether it be to better understand material or whether it is to build on top of the knowledge they already have. Whatever the case, I hope that my technology integration will help give students a better idea of what the solar system is comprised.

Lesson Plan #2: Overview

Grade Level: The grade level for this lesson will be 6th graders.
Subject: For my second lesson, I will be teaching a lesson related to science.
Topic of study: I'll be teaching a lesson about astronomy.
Time Allotment: I have been allotted one hour for my lesson.
Standards: (According to the AZ Department of Education)
"Integrate quantative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).
"Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts."
"Distinguish among facts, reasoned judgement based on research findings, and speculation in a text."
"Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments, simulations, video, of multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic."
Objectives: For my lesson, I would like my students to have a better understanding of what the solar system is and how it works. Which planets make up the solar system? Where are we in the solar system? In addition to the planets, I would like students to have a general idea of what else is in space, natural and man-made, such as meteors and satellites.

REFLECTING ON:

Assessing Prior Knowledge:
-What do the students need to know prior to the lesson?
Generally speaking, students should have a relatively good understanding of picking out important information from a specific text and determining what kind of information to use for their "projects." Otherwise, since my lesson would be taking place right at the beginning of a new lesson, students don't necessarily need to have a very big understanding of the solar system.

-How will prior knowledge and experience be assessed?
As far as astronomy goes, as mentioned above, the students do not to know much information about astronomy, space, and/or the solar system, so for the actual specific area I will not be assessing any kind of prior knowledge and experience. After students browse around the websites provided and listed, I plan on presenting a "demonstration" of a planet and asking students to tell me about what they learned. By doing this, I hope students will be able to take important information from text or information relayed to them verbally and pinpoint the most important facts.

-How will you use this information in the planning process?
In the planning process, I would have to find an article, website, or presentation about a specific planet in order to present the information to my class.

Planning Instruction:
-Why should the content of this lesson be taught at this grade level?
I think that the content of this lesson should be taught to 5-6th graders because it allows students to, for lack of better term, go outside of typical science courses that are relatively basic. Astronomy can be a fascinating subject and I think that it's a neat subject to tie in with standards. 

-How do the objectives that you have for the lesson align with the standards?
The objectives that I have for the lesson align with the standards by asking students to pinpoint certain information and determine what is important enough to include in their presentations. In addition, the standards do not necessarily state which topic needs to be taught in order to meet state standards, so I plan on keeping the common core standards in mind in my lesson.

(AZ Common Core Standards - Literacy in Science)

-When will the lesson be taught in the course of the school year? Why?

The lesson will be taught midway through the school year, around November or December, I'd say. I would like for this lesson to take place at this time to allow and ensure students have a relatively good understanding of technical subjects and what is expected of them now that they are in middle school. In addition, I would want to give students the opportunity to explore areas of science and be able to understand the information that is being presented to them.