A few things that went well...
- Student Engagement -- To be honest, I was really surprised at how engaged and excited the students were with this particular lesson. If every you want students to enjoy predicting, keep the book a surprise! The "6 words" activity literally kept students on the edge of their seat.
- Clear Questioning -- One of my goals for this lesson was effective questioning. I worked really hard to make questions clear, and tried not to talk over/through them. Students seemed to respond well to these questions, and I had very few confused faces or hands.
- Student Assistance -- I really felt that I did a good job of circulating around the classroom and prompting as needed. I always write those sorts of things into my lesson plans, but I was impressed at how much I actually managed to do it.
- I had a backup plan -- The timing of my lesson was very off, as I (clearly) didn't know how long (or short) it would take Grade 3 students to complete particular tasks. Luckily I had several "sponge" activities that I managed to spread out over the extra time to continue the lesson to flow more-or-less smoothly.
A few things that can be improved...
- Student Engagement -- While most of the activities were enjoyable for most if not all of the students, there were still some times when not all students were being engaged at one time, in particular the pod-discussion to class-discussion about predicting. While students were able to discuss and engage during the pod-discusssion, when it came time to share these thoughts with the entire class, many students checked out entirely. One of the suggestions my lovely TA recommended was having students write their responses on white boards. This way each student is contributing and putting thought into their answers. No places to hide :)
- Giving Clear Instructions -- This is something that I really really struggled with. While I knew exactly what I wanted from the students, they did not know what I wanted. I have to be much more intentional as for what I am looking for in any response/product. Many students in the class are visual learners and so I will try to have a written/visual list of tasks/components for a particular activity. Most importantly, I need to be very clear to give instructions prior to beginning the activity.
- Establish a Quiet Signal -- I really did understand the necessity of this prior to this particular lesson, but really, quiet signals make me very nervous. For me, I find them to be very artificial and I have a hard time even imagining myself doing them. That being said, I hope to try to implement at least one (if not more) for tomorrow's lesson.
Here's a copy of my original lesson - I hope to post my revised lesson soon!