Video Lesson Plan Reflection

I taught my lesson at Athens Academy in Mrs. Cunningham's pre-4 classroom where most
children are 4-5 years old. The school is an independent school which decides its curriculum based
off of research and evidence guided lesson plans with a tuition that is based off of the quality
instruction given. The school excels in one aspect consistency. Students have the opportunity to stay
in the same school environment from pre-k through elementary school all the way through high school.
This allows for better teacher communication and student comfort within their academic surroundings.
The facilities are incredible with designated music, art, and science classrooms for exploratory fine arts
and a playground that is fully furnished with a jungle gym, sand pit, basketball court, and a swing set
all atop a faux grass that prevents grass stains and various weather-based conditions. The excellent
setting for learning is only improved by the quality of instruction given.
During the day we have a portion of time devoted to math centers. During this portion of time,
students are introduced to new topics while other foundational ideas are reinforced, such as counting by
ones and patterning. It was during this portion of the schedule that I taught a lesson on categorizing
different objects based on various attributes. Students had extensive experience during the semester on
categorizing objects based on color and shape, but we were looking to direct them towards categorizing
by other characteristics that may be less noticeable or easy to discover. The goal was to have students
independently notice a new way of sorting that they had not previously found or practiced in class.
However, I am not that experienced with younger children and thus had some trouble keeping their
attention and wording my guidance.
I chose the lesson because my placement teacher had previously mentioned that we would be
working on categorization. She was kind enough to supply me with materials and a guiding idea that I
could use to fulfill the lessons goals. I thought that asking students to look for buttons with holes would
be the most obvious differentiating characteristic and would be the quickest way for students to
question the materials they were sorting by primarily color and shape. We chose to use buttons that
were in shapes and colors that students were clearly interested in from their morning interactions and
choices in play-time manipulatives. The colors were mostly bright shades of red, blue, yellow, orange,
etc., with shapes such as stars, flowers, and hearts that would be more appealing than others. In terms
of student development, there was a clear sequencing of how they would learn to sort objects. Students
began sorting by color early in the semester and eventually added shape when there had been a
satisfactory amount of success. Naturally, the next step would be sort by another attribute, yet there did
not appear to be a clear attribute to sort by. Therefore, I decided to let the children decide which
characteristic would be the most appealing. I tried to edge them towards using the number of holes in
each button, but I acquiesced and allowed them to sort by shape as I did not think it vital to the activity
which direction they chose to go. The most important idea to the lesson was that students look beyond
color and shape as defining traits to an object. In terms of standards, it covered several of Georgia's
Early Childhood Performance Standards involving recognizing shapes, categorizing objects, and
vocalizing thoughts within a group setting. The basics of sorting were accompanied by a need for
reasoning when deciding what to sort by. I wanted to challenge the students to vocalize their thoughts
on what we could sort by and why it was better than another way. Granted, I assumed that when they
thought of a new way, it was clearly the best way to them or they would not have noticed it as quickly.
The quick recognition of what else could be a characteristic of multiple objects appeared to be
correlated to what they wanted to sort next and they did not seem to waver when I asked if there were
another way beyond that, showing their strong opinions when discussing math topics.
I believe that the lesson went decently, yet it was more of a learning experience for me than it
was for them. The students enjoyed sorting and were content with sorting by color and shape at first,
yet the group size and independence of the activity conflicted frequently. There was a constant power
struggle between the students and I as we could not transition from one set of sorting to another. I
believe this went occurred because of the large amount of buttons as well as the lack of cohesiveness

between what we were sorting. Some students wanted to sort by color and thus became belligerent
when another student would take a button that was the color they were choosing to sort, while others
required all of one shape to complete their categorizing. Whatever their prerogative was, they felt
entitled to see it through to completion rather than move on to another way of sorting. However, I
wanted to ensure that the purpose of the lesson was manifested in their work, so I would give them a
few minutes to sort their way, sort another way, and then guide them towards a new way of sorting.
This was where the struggle peaked.
A few students in particular were entirely against the idea of sorting by holes or size because
they were stubbornly trying to sort by what they saw as the most important or most fun. When the
students continued to argue with me on what to sort, I did make the modification of letting them go
ahead and sort as they wished to prevent disruption from the students who were actually sorting by the
new characteristics. I also assisted some students in sorting in order to progress the lesson, whether it
be subtly moving certain buttons towards their trays or directly sorting shapes to help their sort come to
fruition. This was not the most ideal situation, but it definitely helped to have the students move
towards sorting a different way.
However, the most important take-away from this lesson was on my idiosyncrasies while
teaching. I sound a lot less exciting than I thought on tape. I always think I talk with a higher voice that
sounds more approachable and exciting than my conversational tone, but the video proved that was
wrong. I am definitely more aware of my voice and how my body language can compliment its
apathetic tone. I need to be more engaged and active in the lesson and work to ensure students are
interested and entranced by the lesson. I also realized that my stature and the general way I sit made me
look unenthused and almost obligated to teach. I was troubled watching the video because it seemed so
off to me. This was not the person I want to be when teaching. I was genuinely surprised that my fervor
for teaching wasn't coming through whatsoever, at least in my opinion. This eye-opener is going to
stick with me for awhile and will be ever present on my mind in each classroom I'm in, along with the
structural improvements I will have on lessons.
I realized that there needed to be a bit more structure and context to my lesson. It would have
definitely helped to have objects that would make more sense to the students. As written in my
reviewed lesson plan, having t-shirts or ice cream cones would have been much more beneficial as
students can see that there is a meaning behind sorting. Maybe we would sort by ice creams with
chocolate chips instead of just flavors, which would be easy to show as many flavors and colors of ice
cream can also have chocolate chips. Likewise, it would have helped to better structure what they were
working with so that there was less focus on materials and a more concerted effort to sort my other
attributes. Because the buttons were strewn rather haphazardly atop the table, many students knocked
buttons off the surface and others would fight over items. Having another tray to hold the buttons
would've possibly made the process of reaching and obtaining buttons easier. In a similar fashion,
giving each student their own bag of buttons to sort would have had a positive impact as well, as there
would not be a need for rationing off buttons but rather each students would have their own set of
buttons to be responsible for. Lastly, I would just use more specific wording in my lesson plan next
time. I was being general in the lesson plan because I was unsure whether I should be overly specific or
keep it approachable with different situations. I realized that having a more clear and precise lesson
plan would be better and would avoid some confusing wording or vague instruction.
I am one of those people who hates the sound of their own voice and nitpicks at watching
themselves on tape. However, I do appreciate the value in watching yourself and the realization that
comes with it. There is always a struggle in education when you are so used to focusing on what and
how teach that you forget that you are still a person, not a machine who is designed to educate.
Everyone has little intricacies that they don't notice or choose to ignore. A video will make you look
inward and smell your own breath. You find out what stinks that you couldn't smell before, and then
you have a chance to brush your teeth and head back to school.