Lesson 1 Reflection8. Reflection, Self-Evaluation, & Professional Development (LO 4.2 & 4.

3) (APS 2, 3, 10) Whole Class reflective:

A. How your instructional decisions impacted the whole classes learning (in a positive or negative way) specifically addressing modifications implemented (or needed but not implemented) as a result of teaching and student performance in all learning domains. As a whole the class really seemed to enjoy my Yoga lesson. The class was engaged throughout the entirety of the lesson and the yoga activity that followed. I began the lesson by asking students what they thought the word stress means. Once I had a few students share their definition of the word I asked if any students wanted to share things that made them feel stress. I felt like this was a good way for students to be able to relate to their peers on issues that might not come up amongst them during every day conversations. I also read a book in which the main character was having a very stressful day relating to issues that average children experience. The modifications I originally planned for in my lesson plans did not need to be included because the two students with special needs were absent from the room during the time of the lesson. The three learning domains were all covered during the course of this lesson. Cognitive, mental skills, incorporated by using students prior knowledge of what they thought the word stress meant before the lesson. Affective learning domain was covered when I asked students to recall personal feelings of worrying and nervousness to relate to the topic of stress. Students had the opportunity to apply their psychomotor domain by physically participating in the yoga exercise activity. These three learning behaviors are the goals of the learning process.

B. Information on what should be changed when teaching the lesson again to promote greater student learning. This should be relative to instructional objectives, instructional decisions, etc. If I were to teach this lesson again I would make a few changes to ensure it went even smoother than it did the first time. First I would sit in front of the class while reading them the story instead of being part of the circle around the rug. I would change my position because while reading to the students they were all trying to move closer to see the book, therefore blocking the view for students who remained seated in their spots. This being my first lesson of the clinical experience I had not yet learned each childs behavioral pattern and how they interact with one another. If I had known, I would not have allowed some students to be next to each other while participating in the yoga activity because a few students purposefully distracted others nearby. Overall, I feel as though the students took away from this lesson a great technique to reduce and prevent stress from effecting both the mind and body. The few incidents during the lesson involved instructional decisions rather than instructional objectives. I felt like my lesson plan was well thought out and they minor hiccups were things that I could not have predicted without deeper prior knowledge of the classroom dynamic.

Section 2: Three Individual Students reflective discussion should include: A. Identify and describe the student that was most successful. Provide two possible reasons for this success. Consider your objectives, instruction, and assessment along with student characteristics and other contextual factors under your control. The student that was most successful is Evelyn. She is an African American 7 year old girl. She is always well behaved and a hard worker. A possible reason for Evelyns high success may come from the fact that she tends to work with the older students in the class and she holds herself to the same standards in which the older students in the class abide by. Another reason I think Evelyn was most successful during this lesson is because she is very well read and was familiar with what stress meant when majority of the other students were not. B. Identify and describe the student that was least successful. Provide two possible reasons for this lack of success. Consider your objectives, instruction, and assessment along with student characteristics and other contextual factors under your control. Discuss what you could do differently or better in the future to improve your students performance. The student that was the least successful with the lesson is Shazera. Shazera is an African American 7 year old girl who wears glasses. She is tiny for her age and tends to keep to herself. Shazera is the type of student that easily can be looked over because she is a quiet introvert. I have personally heard her say to other students in conversation that she isnt smart like other people or my brain doesnt think like that when she struggles with a lesson or a specific problem. Next time I will involve Shazera more with the lesson so she feels engaged. I can also work more one on one with Shazera during independent lesson time so she can receive extra help. I will also make more of an effort to help build her self-confidence both socially and academically. C. Identify and describe the student that was about average in performance. Provide two possible reasons for this success. Consider your objectives, instruction, and assessment along with student characteristics and other contextual factors under your control. Discuss what you could do differently or better in the future to improve your students performance. The student that was average in performance in relation to this lesson is a 7 year old African American boy named Briant. Briant is one of about five students in the class that constantly have to be called on for not following directions, talking out of tern, and getting off track. Briant is a very bright student but does not perform to his best ability majority of the time. I personally believe this is because he thinks being smart is not cool to the other four students with behavioral issues. I think I could help improve Briants performance in the future by maybe talking to him individually before the lesson to state my expectations for his behavior and to verbalize to him that I believe in him and that I know he will do really well because I will be observing him closely to ensure he understands fully.

Other questions to consider in your reflection:

How did you engage or motivate the students successfully? I engaged the students by telling them I was going to teach them a secret yoga word that they must remember. The students thought it was neat that I was going to tell them a secret so they made sure they were all quiet and attentive. What instructional mode(s) was employed? ( lecture, small group, demonstration, experiment, etc.) For the majority of the lesson I used whole group for reading, instructions, and the activity. I also used demonstrative when I showed the class how to do each of the moves we were going to use during the yoga activity. We had a whole group discussion about stress and different factors that cause stress in our lives. How effectively did you use instructional aids, i.e., whiteboard, video, calculators, manipulatives, computer, etc.? For this lesson I used mostly self demonstrations for the class when I was showing the positions we were going to use during the yoga activity. I incorporated technology and music by playing relaxation songs on my phone through Vivo Bluetooth speakers I have. Were the students actively or passively involved? How so? The students were very much so involved throughout the entirety of the lesson. The students participated in the group discussion about stress and ways to reduce it. The students were actively involved with the yoga activity as well. They were all participating in the yoga moves and remained still and quiet. Did you present the information in a clear and logical manner? How so? Yes, I presented the information in a clear and logical manner. I did so by introducing the word stress and having a group discussion about it. I then read a book about a character who experiences stress that the students could relate to. Next I introduced Yoga to the students by explaining how stretching, breathing, and meditation help reduce and relieve stress in the body. As a group we did yoga while listening to relaxing music. After the students had a slip of paper where they were to write down a method they could practice to get rid of or prevent stress. How effective were the materials and resources you selected for the lesson? I used effective materials and resources for this lesson. The book read, Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, portrayed stress in a way that the student could relate to the character. The yoga passions I selected for the students to do were a good choice because every student was able to perform them successfully.

Were you able to or could you (in the future) relate the lesson content to the lives of the student I related the content of this lesson to the students lives by asking them to share different times they have felt stressed in their lives. Describe any discipline or classroom management techniques used during the lesson. Were these techniques effective or would you employ a different technique the next time? During the lesson one of the trouble making students in the class was called on my the corresponding assistant teacher to come sit with her in the back of the room because he was causing trouble that I was unaware of during the lesson. Since this was my first lesson I believe that she wanted to keep the student from causing any disruptions during my lesson so she asked him to move. If I had seen the student causing disruptions I would have asked him to sit just like the teacher did. Reflect on your interaction with the students. Would you describe your treatment of the students as being fair, respectful, and ethical? How so? I always make a conscious effort to treat all of my students fair and respectfully by never showing any form of favoritism and by valuing each students opinion. I want my students to feel as though they can come to me at any time and know that I care about what they have to say. Were you able to summarize the lesson and relate it to the following lesson or homework assignment? I related this lessons content to the environment in the classroom. There had been a lot of stress in the room because of the behavior that had been taking place. Students were constantly getting called down and recess taken because of the poor choices they were making. I related this subject to the students by saying they can remove themselves from a situation that may cause them to get in trouble and they can meditate to keep from talking. Was your estimated time allocation for this lesson as noted in your lesson plan accurate? If your time varied, what factors contributed to this variance? I spent about 30 minutes completing my lesson and this was the same amount of time I allotted when estimating the length of this lesson.