Lesson Plan 2: Phase II

• Instructional Decisions/Teaching (InTask Standard # 9)
  • What went well and what didn't go well during the implementation of your lesson?
  • During my lesson, everyone was participating and active by exploring the different magnetic items and walking around the room testing magnetism, which is how I imagined the lesson going. The group was not as inquiry driven as I would have liked them to be, but I think if it was implemented with younger students that this would have worked out better. I think I could have planned more instruction before hand on magnetism, but it was difficult to isolate the idea of what materials are magnetic from the different poles and other aspects of magnetism and create a 30 minute lesson out of that. I also probably should have told them what their prior knowledge was so they knew what they should not have known for the lesson as fourth graders. I think the video journal went well and students documented their hypotheses and inquiry for later assessment. 
  • How well was the alignment to objectives and standards maintained?
  • Students investigated the characteristics of magnets and did so through determining the differences and similarities of magnets and the activity that tested magnetism of various objects. 
  • Describe any modifications made during the implementation of the lesson
  • I did not originally specify the number of items students needed to record themselves testing throughout the room, so I chose 3 when I was asked. I think in this respect I could have been more specific. On the worksheet there is a section for testing how successful different magnets are at picking up objects and their strength. I was not able to find magnets that varied in strength, so I told students to omit this section and only do the other two sections where the hypothesize and write their observations.
  Mechanics
  • I used the Promethean board to get students engaged with the large magnets video example and for the video during the instructional portion of the lesson. I had students go on to explore the materials and magnets they were given and gave them time to hypothesize about which items they thought would and would not be magnetic. As the teacher, I created the activity print offs and linked to it in my first reflection.
  • My lesson was within the correct time frame because we finished the last activity and I had time to collect everything and clean up by the time 30 minutes was up. We were able to finish instruction and both activities I had planned for the lesson within the time frame. 
  Assessment of Learning (InTask Standard # 6)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • Students had a vague idea that that items containing metal were magnetic and used that to fuel their investigation before the ideas of magnetism were explained to them. This is shown in their ideas about what may or may not be magnetic on the worksheets.
  • My classmates said my lesson went well and that I was prepared, but made a few minor suggestions such as checking the lights and if students would be able to see the video before showing it. They also had good suggestions about showing the informational video first and then having them hypothesize about the materials I brought for the lesson. They recommended that I have a poster to make a chart to reference to about magnetism as well. I think someone was confused about my iPad instructions about creating a video journal and suggested that I give more in-depth instructions on how to use them.
  What did you learn from designing and teaching this lesson and how will you use this in the creation of future lessons/learning activities.
  • I learned that it would help me to have a mock run of my lesson before I implement it in class. I also learned that I cannot assume students will know how to use the technology given to them or know what I mean with my instructions, so I could possibly run the instructions by a few people to make sure they are specific enough. I have used a version of this lesson before in another class and the students were much more engaged, so it was a little disappointing that there was not as much excitement or inquiry this time around, but overall I feel that the lesson went well and I got some great feedback on how to improve it.