Pedagogy Project Reflection

Kayla Patton
Louisiana State University

Good teachers continually use their knowledge and judgment to make intentional
decisions about which materials, interactions, and learning experiences are likely to be most
effective for the group and for each individual child in it (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009, p. 36).
Teachers strive to be the best they can be in order for their students to benefit as much as possible
from their early years. However, there are several strategies that need to be utilized in order for
this to happen such as: developing a community of learners, implementing assessment, asking
open-ended questions, acknowledging childrens accomplishments, and building various
challenges to help children excel. Teachers must be intentional in the planning of their lesson;
however, there is no specific formula for planning an experience. It is important that teachers use
a variety of learning formats such as: whole group, small group, and learning centers in order for
the learning experience to benefit each and every child. Since I have been immersed in my
placement, I have seen various strategies, learning formats, and adaptions to diversity and
exceptionalities used throughout the classroom on a regular basis.
Small group
Typically, when using small groups there are three to six children in a group at a time;
this is a great way for children to encounter both meaningful engagement and assistance from
their teacher. This type of setting gives the teacher an opportunity to offer individual attention to
the children along with support and challenges based on their individual developmental needs. A
small group provides the perfect time for teachers to assess their students. They are able to
pinpoint areas where certain students may need extra help while others may need a little more
challenge. Furthermore, when teachers give children space for them to converse with their
classmates, children are more likely to use problem-solving tactics, which proposes a huge
benefit in small-group experiences (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).

Before I began planning, my mentors informed me that the students have been doing
great with addition and subtraction and many have been making connections with multiplication
so they felt that it would be great to start multiplication on the day that I would be teaching. The
lesson that I taught was on equal groups since equal groups lay the foundation for multiplication.
Vygotsky believes that adults serve as mediators who introduce children to higher levels of
functioning within a supportive scaffolded setting (Otto, 2014, p. 35). Since this lesson would
be the first time that the student were learning multiplication, I felt that it would be best if it were
taught in a small group setting and my mentors thought that, that would be extremely beneficial.
I created a lesson where the children were able to use manipulatives so they would be able to
physically see the groups that they were making. According to Piaget, childrens understanding
of the environment comes only through their immediate direct (sensory) experiences and their
motor (movement) activities (Otto, 2014, p. 28). Before beginning the lesson I assessed the
children by asking them to explain on a notecard, what are equal groups? After reading their
responses, I quickly saw the children who at least had an idea of what it meant and those who did
not. 2 out of the 6 children could not even begin to explain what it meant to create equal
groups. Therefore, during my lesson, I used modeling and scaffolding to help them understand
the concept. I also allowed the children to work with a partner. I observed the children who were
and were not able to make equal groups with their counters. One of the children understood the
overall concept of creating equal groups, which was the objective of this lesson, but I noticed
that he relied on his peers answers, which showed me that he was not completely confident in
what he was doing. Teachers rely greatly on students body language, facial expressions, and
eye contact to accurately observe and interpret student behavior (McMillan, 2014, p. 98). Due
to this, I began asking him questions pertaining to the models I made on my magnetic dry erase

board. Majority of the children understood how to form equal groups as the lesson progressed,
however, after the post-assessment I noticed that his response was not as detailed as the other
childrens. Since he was one of the students that did not even write anything on his preassessment, I was so proud of how far he had come throughout the lesson. I knew it would help
him if I were to have a one-on-one with him to clear up any confusion that he was experiencing.
My mentor urged me to go ahead and do the one-on-one with him and it did not take long for
him to catch on. This helped him because he did not have anyone to copy off of, if he had a
question, he had to ask me and this really helped him to succeed.
This lesson was the first lesson that I taught in my placement classroom and it went a
whole lot better than I anticipated. It was very eye opening to see that because of my teaching
these children were able to gain the foundation they need to begin multiplication. Even though,
majority of the children quickly picked up the lesson, there are a couple things that I would
change for my next lesson in order to increase the odds of all of the children understanding the
lesson the first time it is taught. For instance, after reading their pre-assessments, it would have
been helpful if I had moved both of the children who did not understand equal groups beside
me. I noticed that one of the students that did not understand at the beginning was sitting next to
me but the other one was not. The child that was sitting next to me perfectly understood the
objective by the end of the lesson while the child not sitting beside me understood the objective
but was not able to give an answer as detailed as the other 5 children in the group. Additionally,
since the children worked in pairs, I think that this child relied on this partner for the answers so
next time, I will make it clear that everyone should get a chance to answer and if they need help
they can ask me instead of getting their answer from their partner. It would also help if I would
have planned out the partners better because the child that was getting the answers from this

partner was paired with a child who is not very patient so that child is quick to answer the
questions. I think these changes will be very helpful for my next lesson but overall this lesson
was rather successful and the children did great.
Whole Group
Whole group setting focuses on all of the students in the classroom as a whole, while
small group settings allow teachers to focus on the individual child due to the small amount of
children in each group. It is important to use whole group settings because children are able to
gain both refining skills and share experiences and thoughts when all of the children are learning
and working together. During whole groups, children are able to practice skills such as talking
to a group, listening to their classmates, responding appropriately with questions or comments,
working cooperatively, and using and processing new information (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009,
p.39). Whole group time allows teachers to introduce new lessons to all of the students before
splitting up into small groups where the children will be assisted individually. Whole group
activities should be planned with each childs abilities considered. When using whole groups, it
is important that the teacher does not keep the children in the same position for an extended
period of time; teachers are usually able to gage when the children are starting to lose interest, at
which time she can transition to another activity. When teachers read their students cues, it
allows the lesson to come to a close on a positive note (Copple & Bredekamp).
I was extremely nervous to teacher my first whole group lesson, especially since this was
a lesson that the children had not yet been taught. I wanted to be able to give them a firm
foundation and I did not want any of them to leave confused or discouraged; however, the whole
group lesson went way better than I ever expected! The objectives that I sat for the lesson was
for the children to be able to create equal groups. My mentors informed me that this was the best

possible lesson for me to teach because everything that the children have been learning was
leading up to this lesson; therefore, this is what the children were ready for. I wanted the lesson
to be interested so that the children would be engaged and wanting to learn. I incorporated the
use of dry erase boards and markers during the lesson because that is something that the children
really enjoy using. I also looked up the standards that aligned with this lesson to try and best
meet the needs of all of the children in the classroom. I began the lesson by showing a ten frame
and asking, How many dots are shown? I then gave them the opportunity to discuss what they
thought with their table group in order for them to practice collaboration skills. This also allowed
me to activate prior knowledge from the small group that was conducted. I then passed out each
groups baggie of counters. The bags of counters are beneficial to the children because it allows
them to see a concrete model. I gave the children multiple problems to solve but as they
answered the questions, I modeled the answer on the board since this was the first time the
objective was introduced. In addition, I asked relatable questions for the children to answer since
it is important to build on previous experience in meaningful ways (Kostelnik et al., 2015, p.
132). For instance, I said I saw six monkeys at the zoo so lets represent them with our
counters as I modeled. Now there were three cages for the monkeys and two monkeys were
able to go in each cage. How many group are there? How many are in this first group? How
many are in the second group? And how many are in the third group? Many of the children have
been to the zoo before so they were able to imagine the monkeys placed in the cages and it gave
the lesson a deeper meaning. As I taught, I guided the children through the story of zoo and they
answered the questions as they were asked. After observing the children and noticing that they
were all doing a phenomenal job, I told the children that The zoo just got some more monkeys
so they had to move the monkeys from 2 in a cage to 4 in a cage so with your 8 counters I want

you to put the 8 animals into separate cages with four animals in each cage. How many groups of
4 are there? Now, use your counters and arrange them into equal groups. After all of the
children made their groups, we went of a gallery walk. The students stood up and circulated
throughout the room looking at how their peers constructed their groups. This was beneficial
because the children were able to see all of the different ways the equal groups could be made by
seeing the models that their peers made. After the gallery walk, the children returned to their
seats and were asked to show another way to construct the equal groups on their boards. I then
praised the children for their hard work and gave out an exit ticket to see who was able to grasp
the objective. This was also important so I could see the children who needed to be pulled for an
intervention. Overall, the lesson was very successful and the children caught onto the objective
very quickly which was made clear from the exit ticket that the children completed at the close
of the lesson.
After thinking back on my lesson, I believe that I did a great job of creating opportunities
for the children to actively investigation such as, the gallery walk. I was able to teach the lesson
within my allotted time, which is huge because I was worried about time management since the
daily schedule is very structured. The children were all actively engaged and asking questions
and I was able to facilitate more learning through developmentally appropriate questioning. In
addition, I noticed that the children thrived off of effective praise; it encouraged them to
continually participate. Kostelnik (2015) asserts that effective praise highlights the students
accomplishments as it links their success to effort and ability, is individualized to fit the child
and the situation, and is nonintrusive (p. 61). Although the lesson was a success there are some
things that I would change next time this lesson is taught. For instance, I will allow the children
more opportunities to converse with their peers because most of the time I would call on one

student and the other children were not able to contribute. I am very happy with the outcome of
this lesson and it is so rewarding to know that I contributed to their successes.
Learning Centers
Learning centers in which children can play and explore give children the opportunity to
create their own learning based on their interests. In preschool and kindergarten (and to some
extent, in first and second grade), part of the classroom is often divided into learning centers, or
interest areas, that offer children a range of options for engagement (Copple & Bredekamp,
2009, p. 40). During centers or dailies in my placement classroom, the teachers offer read to self,
read with someone, math with self, math with someone, computer, etc. The children are able to
freely choose five activities when they arrive; however, there are only a certain amount of spaces
for each activity within each round, in order to minimize mistaken behavior.
The center game that I created was called Flip Three. The goal of the center was to
allow children to use self-directed learning. Since I would be teaching the beginning steps of
multiplication in my small and whole group, I wanted to create a game to help children will the
skills that they need to practice to begin multiplication. However, since this game was introduced
before I began multiplication, I targeted addition and subtraction equations. Through this center
the children were able to practice an already learned skill to maintain proficiency. For instance,
the children drew three cards such as a 9, 5, and a 4; they could make the equation 9-5=4. When
planning this particular experience, I took the childrens interest into consideration. Teachers
thoughtful planning of the materials and activities to support educational goals in each center is
essential (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009, p. 40). I already knew that the children were interested
in card games so I planned materials that the children would be excited in so they would want to
participate. On the dailies chart, I put a teacher Velcro so that the children would only be able to

choose four activities for the day; this also showed them when their time would come to play the
new center game so they would not be constantly asking when they could play and this truly
worked. When students arrived at my center station, I explained to them that the game would be
added into their dailies choices from now on. I then stated the objective that they would be
working toward so they would know that there is a purpose for the work that they are doing. I
allowed one of the students in each group to read the directions out loud to their peers. After the
directions were explained, I used scaffolding as I asked one of the children to play the game with
me as a model for the group. However, as we played I made sure to not follow the directions to
make sure that the children really understood and were not just watching; I wanted them to
actively participate. For instance, the directions indicates that all of the cards should be flipped
over so you cannot see the number but I placed a couple where the numbers were facing
upwards, in which, the children would correct me and I was able to see that they understood. The
children were then able to break off into groups of two to play the game independently. This was
beneficial because Kostelnik et al. (2015) explains children learn many things by imitating
others (p.61). Therefore, if a child was having trouble, they had a partner that they could imitate
and collaborate with. I walked around as they played to make sure that they were all on task and
that they were able to create equations.
This lesson went extremely well and the children absolutely love playing the game. Most
of the children quickly picked up how to play the game and for those who did not, their partner
was able to guide them through. However, there is something that I would have changed. The
cards that I used were numeral cards, which also came with a good bit of wild cards. I
anticipated that their would only be a couple wild cards in each deck so I told the children that
the wild cards mean that they can choose any number. For instance, if a child got a 10, 2 and a

wild card; they could pick any number to complete the equation. To my surprise, there were a lot
more than just two wild cards in each deck so most of the time the children did not have to figure
out an equation from the three cards that they had which made it less of a matching game.

References
Bredekamp, S. & Copple, C. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early
childhood programs. (3rd ed.). Washington DC: National Association for the Education
of Young Children.
Kostelnik, M.J., Soderman, A.K., Whiren, A.P., & Rupiper, M. L. (2015). Developmentally
appropriate curriculum: Best practices in early childhood education (6th ed.). New
Jersey: Pearson.
McMillan, J. H. (2014). Classroom assessment: Principles and practice for effective standardsbased instruction (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Otto, B. (2014). Language development in early childhood education (4th ed.) Boston: Pearson.