Group 4: Day 2 Be careful with the Artifacts!

Inquiry

                This lesson was very well planned by the teachers. The students really responded well to this lesson. I really liked how the teachers kept going in their lesson when the Smart Board stopped working. Billy just kept going with his part of the presentation. It was a good thing he had it memorized!  I also liked that each table was looking through artifact bags. This was very interesting to see done with a classroom with elementary school students after we experienced it in the beginning of the semester. The students really seemed to like this inquiry lesson as they were being historians. The teachers gave our stickers with the job titles on them. This was a great idea because it reinforced what the students’ job was. Even though the students played with the stickers, I think it was a great tool in the classroom.  One part of the lesson I would have changed would be the presentations at the end of the class. The presentations were a little boring for the students to listen to because they were reading right from the paper. It would have been better to have each student read something instead of one student reading the entire time. The other classmates were fooling around in the front of the classroom while their group member was reading. I also think that some of the words the students were reading were a little hard for the class to follow. But overall I think this lesson went very well. It was clear how much work and effort the teachers put into this lesson. 

Happy Traders sing us a song

 

Direct Lesson

                This lesson was very well executed in front of the classroom. I loved how this group introduced their topic. Having the band come in and sing a song was a great idea. I think this really grabbed the students’ attention and helped them focus in. I also liked that this group did not use a PowerPoint like all of the other groups. They used a Prezi. Prezi is a great way to keep students engaged in what they are learning because it is different than what is normally presented in a classroom. I really liked how the teachers made sure they were projecting their voices and followed the steps to a direct lesson. The teachers did not ask many questions to the students and had the students repeating the definitions to the words they were learning. One thing I thought could have been changed would be defining the words. I think the teachers should have spent a little more time explaining the difference between trade and barter. I even had a hard time following what the difference was between the two terms.  Another part of the lesson I really liked was that the group sang the song again at the end of the lesson together to tie up there lesson. This was a great way to close the lesson. 

A day in our classroom

So Monday, November 11th, we were back in our normal Social Studies Methods Classroom. Dr. S started the class by having everyone stand in a circle and pass around "the world".  When it came to your turn, you had to say what worries you about the world and how would you bring that into the classroom. My worry was that students do not learn very much about culture in the world, especially the different cultures their classmates can be. I would bring that into the classroom by having students do a project exploring their culture and they would present their project to the class. My peers had some other worries such as global warming, climate changes, world hunger and many more. I think as a class we came up with most of the topics that are important to the world. This was a very interesting activity and I learned a lot about what my peers thought were issues with the world.
The next thing we did in class was learn about a new classroom tool. It was called JogNog.com. There was pretest about geography. I definitely learned that their were many things that I did not know about geography. This quiz is a great way to pre-assess students knowledge about a particular topic. A teacher can even see the results the students get. I took the quizzes a few times to make sure I would get them all right and to help my memory of the geography terms I learned when I was in elementary school. I would love to explore this site more and learn more about what I can do with this website.

Last Day for Group 3!

]Today was the cooperative learning lesson. This lesson is always my favorite and I think Group Three had a good lesson today. The teachers reviewed all of the jobs which was very important because it is a big part of cooperative lessons. Another thing I noticed while the groups were working was that the teachers were trying to make sure the whole group worked together and everyone was doing his or her part A final thing that I thought was very good was that the groups had to donate money to a charity. I think it would have been better to tell the students they had to donate to all three charities but they could decide which they wanted to give more too.  Another thing I think could have been done differently would have to be to have the students do more of the work. I noticed a few of the teachers were doing a lot of the work with the group especially when adding together the numbers. A job in the group could have banker and each group could have been given a calculator instead of the teachers using their phones to add up the money. 
Overall this lesson was my favorite out of all three lessons. I think the students liked and responded to this lesson the best.  Great Job group three! Now it’s time to relax!

Time for Group Three! Day 2

Here goes another lesson. Today was Inquiry. This group had a very good approach to the strategy. 

 I really liked how group three introduced the vocabulary that they learned in the direct lesson plan. The group members performed a skit to explain the vocabulary. I think the students really enjoyed this and that it was a great way to review from another lesson. I also really liked the Voki that was used today. I think it was a good idea to keep the same Voki because the students remember hearing from George Washington the day before.  Another thing I thought was very good was that the group reinforced the boxes on the table for classroom management. I think this was a good idea to keep it throughout all of the lessons because the students were excited to see what would happen if they had the most money in their box. My wish for this lesson was for the group to change up what the groups were presenting to the class. I do not think students watching other groups really paid attention because it was repeated from what they had do. Overall, it was a great lesson. I think Inquiry is one the hardest lessons to do and this group did a great job.

Don't forget the resources

 

Another group has finished. Great job Group Three!

The first lesson was a direct lesson plan. The teachers started the lesson by putting a box on each table and a folder with a couple of resources that the group would need during the lesson. 

            The students really reacted well to the boxes on the table. I think it was a great way to keep the students focused throughout your lesson. They were more eager to answer questions and get involved in class. The students also seemed to understand most of the vocabulary words that were put in the PowerPoint. It was good to connect different terms to things that have at home. For example, when the group talked about saving, it was a good comparison to the piggy banks the students have.

        Another part of the lesson, I really enjoyed was the Save, Earn, and donate video. It was a great way to introduce the topic and it kept the students engaged in the introduction. 

        My wish for the lesson was that the group did not spend as much time asking questions for this lesson. Some students might have known some of the answers but there were some who did not know the answer.

 Great job Group three! First day in front of the classroom can be nerve racking but this group did great!