Lesson Review Form 3 ECED 329 Name Gabrielle Gregorie Todays Date March 11th, 2013 Lesson Topic

Penguin Dance Date of the Lesson March 8th, 2013 8:50 am

1. State one objective and describe the ways in which your students met that objective. The objective set for this lesson was for students to be able to successfully complete the movement activity, Penguin Dance by Jack Hartmann. They were to do this with control, balance, and coordination. The students will also be able to create the penguin hat activity, with no help cutting or pasting, to wear during the dance. The majority of the students, with an exception to one, were able to complete the lesson and meet the objective. The students were able to practice the dance several times to allow them to meet the objective by the final, filmed, penguin dance. The main thing I was looking for to see if students had accomplished was accuracy, control, balance, and coordination. They were able to meet this objective by using the proper movements throughout the penguin dance (i.e. right flipper, left flipper, right foot, left foot, turn around, head, etc.). Watching the students throughout the lesson, and the video of the students doing the penguin dance allowed me to assess which students met the objective

2. Describe how you sequenced the lesson so that your students were guided from their known experiences to new learning. Throughout the lesson, students were guided from their known experiences to new learning. Some of the students have previous knowledge pertaining to balance, coordination, left, and right. A lot of coordination and balance comes naturally. However, I noticed that the students who were able to pick up the movements the easiest were also the students with the most coordination. Most of them also participated in a sports activity or dance class outside of school. The students who had less known experiences or balance and coordination had a harder time, but were provided with multiple times to practice the dance so that they could learn the movements.

3. Describe the kind(s) of groupings you used and the effectiveness of your use of grouping. Throughout my lesson I used different groupings. Being able to use whole group instruction and small group instruction allows me to cater to the needs of each student. It also allows me to help guide the students who need help. The lesson started in whole group instruction where we read a story about a penguin, learned the movements in the penguin dance, and practiced the dance with music several times. Then the students broke up into small groups. Small group instruction allowed me to walk the students step by step through the penguin hat craft. Cutting and pasting properly are important components, and in small group instruction it is easier to monitor and assists students. We then returned to whole group instruction at the end of the day, and performed our dance with our penguin hats on. Overall, different grouping allows me to effectively provide the whole class with a lesson and work in small group instruction with students.

4. Describe one way in which you addressed the individual needs of one child or a small group of children.

During this lesson, there were times when I had to address the individual needs of one child. One student, Kaiden, has weak coordination in his hands. He struggles using scissors and even squeezing out the glue. He practices a lot using cutting worksheets and fine motor exercises, and is improving. However, he did struggle while making the penguin hat. I was able to address his individual needs by having him sit in front of me, so I was able to help him guide his scissors to cut. The more he practices, the better he gets. I also helped him with pasting by putting the glue on the paper for him, and letting him place it down. These accomodations made it easier for Kaiden to complete the lesson. Overall, I try to address the needs of all students during every lesson.

5. If your management of the lesson presented difficulties, what were they and how did you handle them? Throughout the lesson I was presented with difficulties. One student in the class, Adian, often is very quiet and not wanting to participate. During the morning routine prior to lesson, he would just sit and not move or talk. He chose to do this throughout my lesson as well. I try to always encourage him and try to get him excited about the lesson. Mrs. Shelley usually asks him to join the class and if he does not want to participate then she just does not bother him. He sat quietly during the lesson and simply just did not participate. It was difficult for me because I want all children to participate and enjoy the lesson. I tried to encourage him as much as I could. He did make a penguin hat, but would not do the dance. In my future classrooms, I feel like this is a topic that would be settled talking with the parents and maybe a school specialist. However, during this lesson he just sat out and did not participate.

6. Describe your assessment process and the ways in which the process provided/did not provide you with an accurate evaluation of how well the children learned the content. This was a very hard lesson to assess. However, after brainstorming I thought of a way that I thought was the best way to assess the lesson. Prior to the lesson, I asked students to demonstrate their balance and coordination skills. Anecdotal notes and comments were taken on the pre-assessment checklist. During the lesson, students were observed to see if they were engaged and participating, and if they were learning the dance and making their penguin hat accurately. Anecdotal notes and comments were taken on the during-assessment checklist. The last performance of the penguin dance was video taped. I watched the video and observed and documented during the lesson. All anecdotal notes and comments were recorded on the post-assessment checklist. This assessment process provided me with an accurate evaluation of how well the children learned the content.

7. Describe the manner in which your lesson addressed more than one of the developmental realms of the child. My lesson addressed more than one developmental realm of the students. The main focus of the lesson was to incorporate balance, coordination, and control. The penguin dance allowed the students to practice balance and coordination, and also worked on using left and right. The penguin hat craft allowed the students to work on their fine motor skills. Cutting and pasting are essential skills that students need to learn. It is required for the end of the year assessment and also builds their fine motor skills. It also teaches them how to properly use and respect the tools and materials in the classroom. Overall this lesson addressed more than one developmental realm of the students.

8. Identify the dimension of multicultural education (i.e., James Banks notion of content integration, knowledge construction, prejudice reduction, equity pedagogy, or empowering school culture) that was most critical for you

to consider as you taught this lesson. Why do you believe your chosen dimension was most important for this learning experience? I think that the dimension of multicultural education that was most crucial for me to consider as I taught this lesson was content integration. I think that the content that was incorporated into this lesson is very fundamental that all the students in the class needed to know. The ability level in our classroom drastically varies, and it is tricky trying to plan a lesson that would be an appropriate introduction of the knowledge to some and review for others. Also, some students simply still were not able to coordinate the movements. They may have been younger and not totally on that developmental stage yet, and others were performing like pros. By practicing several times and showing the students the dance, I was able to help those who were struggling to catch on. Even in the penguin hat craft, I was able to address the needs of those who could not independently cut and paste. Overall I think that the dimension of multicultural education that was most crucial for me to consider was content integration, and how to make the lesson appropriate for all students.

9. When you teach your next lesson, what teaching strategy will you work to improve? I always feel that after every lesson, the teaching strategy I will work to improve will be assessing. I think I mainly struggle with this because I know that I will not be able to realistically assess every lesson I teach in the future. I try to keep this in mind when I am assessing students now. I try to think of questions that are important but pretty general regarding the topic. Sometimes it is hard to come up with the exact way to assess for each lesson. In this lesson, I felt as if I was so busy the whole time, I barely could assess the students. I was helping teach the penguin dance, or helping make a hat. This inspired me to record the dance so that I could use the video to refer to. I knew I would be helping the students with the dance and would not be able to assess at the same time. The video allowed me to look back at the students, and see who actually knew the movements. For the next lesson, I will try to create a way that makes the assessment process easier to complete during the lesson. 10. How would you rate your implementation of this lesson? I would rate the implementation of this lesson as satisfactory. I felt that overall it was a very good lesson, and assessed a very crucial subject of the development of the students. I feel that coordination, balance, cutting, pasting, and participation are all important areas that need to be practiced for kindergarten preparation. The lesson was very cute, and the students were engaged and loving it. They also really enjoyed the book. Overall I thought this was a very successful and beneficial lesson. I planned thoroughly, and worked at the best of my ability to ensure that students were able to meet the lesson objective.