Our Anticipatory Set Presentations

This project was so enjoyable. It was not only fun to create, but the presentations by my classmates were entertaining to watch. I love all the different ideas and concepts. The feedback and suggestions from the other students was extremely helpful. I'd like to add my 3 pluses and a wish here to describe what I saw that day.

Maureen (The 3 R's)
+ The bag of garbage was a great attention grabber. She brought a small bag filled with garbage.)
+ I like how you got the class involved quickly with your questioning.
+ You showed great enthusiasm about your lesson.
I wish you saved the apple core……lol

Amy (The Water Cycle)
+ Having a glass of water was a great visual.
+ I liked the story you told about where the water has come from
+ I like the questions you presented to the students to pre-assess their prior knowledge.
I wish you did explain a little bit more about the other phases of water. I like the puddle idea.

Jennifer ( Nutrition & good eating habits)
+ The title of your lesson is a great grabber.
+I like that you use the Smart Board for you activity.
+I like how you engage the students in the crossword activity.
I wish you enticed the students by saying you would make the smoothie recipe together when the lesson was complete.

Janine (Bugs & Insects)
+ The mystery bag was a great idea.
+ I like how you used a graphic organizer on the board.
+ The question about the spider really get the students thinking, it pulls them in.
I wish I got to pick from the bag.

Mike (The water cycle)
+ Nice attention grabber with the three cups.
+ Your questions were a nice intro to the upcoming lesson.
+ You were very knowledgeable with the material you are going to teach.
I wish I knew where you had the ice?

Erica (Seasons - Fall)
+ I liked your idea.
+ It was clear and well spoken.
+ I’m sure it will grab the students attention.
As we discussed in class, I wish it focused more on the lesson. I think showing different types of leaves is a great idea.

Tasha (Habitat of a bear)
+ You are a great motivator.
+ I love the way you connected the how we live to the bears home.
+ The bear sound was a cute addition.
I wish I could have some of your energy….

Katelyn (Math)
+ I like the ball toss idea, it gets everyone involved.
+ You grab everyone’s attention because no one knew who you were going to toss the ball to.
+ You pre-assessed prior knowledge.
I wish I knew what you would do if the student you toss the ball to did not have an answer?

CarolAnn (Life cycle of a frog)
+ I love the pond idea.
+ Your questions pre-assess the students knowledge.
+ I like how each prop had a question to go with it
I wish you would let the students put the frogs in the pond as you talk about them.

After viewing the other anticipatory sets in class that day, it encouraged me to reevaluate my own set. My anticipatory set was for the students to listen to a catchy tune about fractions and then fill out a KWL chart. Kind of boring especially after they got to pick out of Janine's "mystery bag", or helped Jennifer complete her crossword puzzle on nutrition....... After review that day, and some feed back from Dr. S. I changed my AS. I am going to use a construction paper pizza to pre-assess the student knowledge. I will asked them questions like; How can we divide this pizza up so everyone in the class can have a slice? What if some people like pepperoni? I will then wet the students appetite by telling them they will be learning about fractions and at the end of the lesson, they will show me with a real pizza how to divide up the pieces.

This method of teaching encouraged me to think on my own and search for my own creativity which I know is hiding deep inside....

Designing our DI Lesson Plans

This was also a new experience for me. I did a lot of Internet searching and read all the material posted on Moodle. I learned from my draft feedback, that the more detailed the better.

One of the responsibilities of my current job (not teaching) includes writing Manufacturing Process Procedures. These procedures must be very detailed. Detailed to the point where a person can come in off the street, could follow the instructions, and perform the operation without any prior knowledge.
I found the “Essential Elements of Direct Instruction“, reading material very informative, I particularly like the bullet under Objectives “Communicates in student language and learning goals”. I truly believe a good teacher should be able to communicate on the students’ level. I have experienced many teachers in my many years of education, when teachers have taught at a level much higher than what the student could understand. The twelve steps on the MSMC lesson plan rubric, and frame, are clear and concise steps that correlate to the material we have just read. After reading the assigned material I have a clear understanding of the Direct Instruction Plan.

Some significant things I learned for the reading assignments on Direct Instruction:

I learned the importance of setting clear goals and making sure the students understand the goal and what is expected of them.

I learned that it is important to determine and assess my students to make sure they understand what they are learning and I should be prepared to teach it again if necessary.

I also learned the importance, and will practice, good classroom management skills and work to keep students interested and excited about learning.

The samples provide in class of previous students DI lessons plans were a real eye opener for me. I graded my students lesson plan, and thought it was great. After our class discussion, it was not great! By looking at the mistakes others made helped increase the knowledge I gained.

WebQuest

What is a Webquest?

Who Knew???

I now know a webquest is student-centered and inquiry-based quest. It challenges students to explore the web for information. Most webquest include the links that are appropriate for students to research as well as suggestions for further research. Webquests are generally constructed around a scenario of interest to the students. Traditionally Webquests have an introduction, a process, a task, a list of resources, a conclusion, and an evaluation.

This was a very new learning experience for me. I have heard about webquests, but never navigated through one, let alone create one.

My quest was built around the concept that an imaginary Math professor "Professor Mathamizer" is missing, the students need to solve the quest to find him.

http://joyswikiwiki.pbwiki.com/WELCOME

We learned how to create our quests on a wiki, which was also a new name for me. Who knew what a pbwiki was....

Overall, I was pleased with my quest, considering it was the first one and a whole new concept. I did come to the realization during this assignment that teachers have to be creative as well as knowledgeable to keep their students motivate and interested.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of the posted webquests. The entire class did a great job.

I am anxious and excited to now work on our Treasure Hunts.....more on that in the next blog....

Parts of Direct Instruction/Group Projects

This was a method of teaching I usually enjoy, but this time it was a little confusing for me.


I enjoyed all the presentations, and the groups were very knowledgeable in their particular DI parts, but for some reason I had a hard time grouping it all together. Our group understood that we were to teach the class what an Anticipatory set is using the direct instruction method of teaching. So we created an anticipatory set, which was our smart board soccer game, for the development (I do) part I explained several power point slides about anticipatory sets, and Maureen finished up with the guided practice (we do it) by presenting and checking for understanding. Amy finished up with the conclusion. I was very pleased with our presentation and how well we worked together as a group.


We had 5 groups Anticipatory Set (Hook and grabber), Development (I do it), Guided Practice (we do it), Check for understanding, and Independent Practice (you do it).


Here are my 3 pluses and a wish on the other topics with additional comments.

Group 1
Anticipatory Set
Great work Amy & Maureen. These ladies are always prepared and are a pleasure to work with….

Group 2
Development
Tasha, Dennis, Mike & CarolAnn

+ I loved the introduction, it showed the importance of the theoretical side to teaching.
+ Great eye contact and explanation of the topic.
+ Nice modeling of Direct Instruction.
Wish – I wish you had actually made the paper airplane from your clip for show & tell….

Group 3
Guided Practice
Janine, Brandi, Jennifer, & Erica
+ Great presentation skills, nice eye contact.
+ Nice demonstration and great explanation of the topic.
+ The material was well covered.
Wish – Brandi was there to present with you.


Group 4
Check for Understanding
Vince, Nicole, & Angela
+ I like the examples of error teachers make when checking for understanding.
+ The team was very knowledgeable on the subject.
+ Nice team work, you really worked together.
Wish – I wish you had a video clip.

Group 5
Independent Practice
Meagan, Nicole P., & Katelyn
+ I enjoyed the presentation and found it very informative. The explanations and concerns on the purpose of homework were very clearly defined.
+ I liked the video clip.
+ Good information, for this class as future teachers, as to how much homework should be assigned for each subject.
Wish – I would have liked more examples on other types of independent practice.

Overall, each group was well prepared and presented the material on their topic in complete detail. I enjoyed each and every presentation. I think for me the detail necessary to understand each part of the direct instruction method of teaching was hard to grasp using this approach. I got a much better understanding of how to write my lesson plan after the assignment were we reviewed and graded previous students lesson plans.

Reflection - Week 1

Reflection…..

First let me say, I’m glad to be back. I felt like we rushed through the summer session in Curriculum Planning and I am so looking forward to taking a traditional pace course with you. Your teaching style connects with one of the first video clips on the moodle site.

“Learning to Change and Changing to learn"

I found this clip to be enlightening and uplifting. As a new student to the teaching profession, I have seen a division between teachers. It almost seems like some teachers don’t want to change and like the “old style of teaching” and some teachers want to change. I agree with the narrators in the video clip. Our children are exposed to so many different types of stimuli outside of the classroom that we need to find a way to incorporate some of that stimulus into the classroom to maintain the balance necessary to keep them interested. Children are so much more social and technical than ever. Some key points addressed in the clip – we as educators have to accept technology, it’s not a choice. School is only one place that children learn. If they are using technology outside of school we have to have in our schools and incorporate it into their learning. One of the most significant statements for me was “We need to shift students academic experience to prepare them for college and even life.” If we continue to teach in traditional ways and not the way the 21st century is headed we are doing an injustice to the future leaders of our country.

J01 -

My Jo1 was submitted as a journal, not as a blog.....