Reflection On What Went Well

What went well

After doing the lesson, I felt that many things went well. According to the class evaluations and observation, the class really enjoyed the 4 different explore sound stations. The stations allowed for self-discovery, but were also structured enough for the teacher to have control. Classmates also liked the pictures that went along with the vocabulary terms. I think we did well with monitoring the students. We made sure the students were ready to continue to the next thing by having them give us “a thumbs up/ thumps down”. Lastly, I thought we did a great job at starting the lesson off strong with an engaging activity with the various sounds played from a cellphone app. It caught their attention and got them curious as to what

I did not realize it would take as much time as it did. Our group really wanted to get it right and perfect it as much as possible. I also discovered that collaboration enhanced the lesson’s creativity and variety of activities. I had previous ideas about what I thought would be good for each 5E section. After meeting with my fellow classmates multiple times throughout the weeks, I see now how the lesson plan got better and better each time we planned. It became more creative and included variation with activities. With lesson planning, I realized that it has to be detailed in order for the teacher to be fully prepared and be through as if a substitute teacher or another colleague was going to perform this lesson plan. At first, the lesson plan seemed tedious and going to be large commitment. After completing the lesson plan, I learned that every step and component had a purpose

After finishing the teaching part of the lesson, I realized that not everything goes according to plan. For example, in our lesson plan, we had the explain portion detailed and outlined to teach students the technical terms of what they were seeing in the stations and other activities and make it a collaborative effort within groups to work with the vocabulary words. However, the teaching of the plan was not well executed. Also, I learned that teaching a topic does not have to be boring or just full of worksheets. Fun, engaging lab stations and interactive activities can fulfill the standards and requirements just as well, if not better, than basic worksheets and PowerPoint lectures. Lastly, I realized that lesson planning and teaching require a great deal of effort and work, but it is all worth it when a light bulb goes off in a students’ head and they learn something new and are excited to be learning and extend their science