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Lesson #8 Self- Assessment

Name: Libby Kent


Lesson topic: Properties of Solids, Liquids, and Gases
Date: Thursday, April 28th, 2016
School/grade level/ number of students: Greenfield Middle School/ 8th grade science/ 21
students
Name of Cooperating Teacher: Mrs. Wendy Klewer
Planning and preparation: Describe how your plan provided opportunities for active engagement. How did you
provide for the needs of diverse learners? Did you adjust your plan in any way? Describe how and why if you did.
I tried to provide for active engagement by the way I set up my lesson. The students first watched a
few clips of video to get some ideas about the science behind their lab the day before. Then I had
them do a review activity where they walked around the classroom to the correct answers. They
seemed to be engaged since they werent as chatty as they usually were. The students were given a
few minutes to discuss their ideas after the writing assignment was discussed. The last part of the
lesson was a writing piece where everyone had to actively engage in so they could finish by the end
of the hour. The needs of the diverse learners were provided for through the use of different
methods of delivery, video, movement, discussion, and writing. I traveled throughout the room to
answer specific questions students had as well.
My lesson plan was adjusted. I decided to show the video clips right away at the beginning so the
movement activity would be situated somewhere in the middle. If I had got them out of their seats
at the beginning, the rest of the hour would be too much sitting and focus. I found out from hour 4
that the self-assessment paper needed to explicitly be taught as many of the students were in the
dark about the procedure for filling it out. In 5th hour, I specifically discussed the self-assessment
and criteria paper to the whole class before letting them start writing. This helped to limit questions,
but some students still needed individual clarification. I brought up the document on the smart
board so I could point out specific parts and write in key points I wanted the students to write on
their papers as well, something I had not written in my plan. Also in 5th hour, one of the students
was absent the day of the lab. During writing time, I was able to sit down with him and go through
each part of the lab, asking for his prior knowledge and expanding upon it based on the lab
concepts. He felt confident enough to write his conclusion statement after our discussion, although
he didnt get to finish because of time constraints.
Classroom environment: Evaluate the ways in which your encouraged student participation. How did you elicit
student responses? How did you engage them in responding to you and each other? Evaluate your plan for individual,
small group and/or whole class work. How effective were these different organizational techniques for keeping students
involved in your lesson?
I encouraged student participation during each part of the lesson. I reminded students orally
throughout the lesson to stay on topic and work on the required pieces. Students raised their hands
to ask or answer questions. I gave the students specific times to talk to each other. The movement
activity was whole class work as all the students moved together while discussing the topics was in
small groups and then the writing piece was individual work. These organizational techniques were
very effective for keeping students involved. I have learned throughout my lessons that each lesson
should have some component of individual, small group, and whole class work.
Instruction: Evaluate your choices of instructional strategies. Did they have the effect you intended? Were the needs
of all learners met? What changes would you make if you repeated this lesson?

The instructional strategies did have the effects I intended. I was very pleased with the way the
students conducted themselves during the movement activity. There were a few sarcastic remarks
during it, but I could tell that the students were thinking about the question and formulating their
answer as they started walking. The remarks did not distract from the activity. During 5th hour, I
was able to discuss a misconception about the lab, that shaving cream is a solid rather than a liquid.
The students also put lots of thought into their writing and were quiet for quite a long time. The
needs of all the learners were met. Since I was able to teach this lesson to 4th and 5th hours, the
changes I wanted to make were made for 5th hour. These were discussed above in the plan
adjustments.
Assessment: What assessment processes did you plan and how did they work? What did you learn from listening to
student responses, examining their work or listening to their interactions? How well did your assessment procedures
inform you about student attainment of your lessons objectives?
The assessment processes I planned included observation throughout and the writing piece. The
observation worked well as I was able to make changes on the spot based on the misconceptions I
noticed. The writing piece provide me with concrete evidence of student understanding of the
lesson objectives. The assessment procedures informed me that the class as a whole was able to
meet the lesson objective, some with more detail than others.
Professional responsibilities: What did you learn from your cooperating teachers feedback on this lesson? How
will you apply it to future lessons?

I learned from talking with my CT afterwards that I still need to be more direct with my directions.
Instead of saying, you could write down this information as a sort of invitation, I should say you
will have a minute to write down the information on your paper. In this instance, Im not giving
the students an option whether they want to do it or not. My CT also commented about my
flexibility and ability to problem solve on the spot which usually doesnt develop until later on in
the profession. I will continue to work on the directedness in future lessons. One way I can do this
is by specifically writing down on my plan what I want them to do, this way I will catch the mistake
before it happens. Being proactive instead of reactive.
Reflection: What did you learn about student learning and assessing from this lesson? How will it affect your
planning for future teaching?

I learned that by emerging the students into the concept more than once and in more than one
different form helps them to understand it more clearly and perhaps remember it easier. They can
connect to the concept through the method that they learn best. As for student assessing, sometimes
writing down their thoughts helps me to explicitly see what they know even though middle school
students are somewhat reluctant to write. If I used the writing strategy many times, the students will
eventually become used to it and their reluctance may subside a bit since they know its expected.
Setting those expectations at the beginning will come a far way and help the teacher later on. For
future teaching, I would like to ask my CT what the specific expectations are ahead of time so I can
follow and enforce them rather than just guessing about what they are.

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