(Reflection: Part 1)
(Planning and Modifying the Lesson Before I taught IT)
As I mentioned in the “Why?” section of my lesson design, I knew the content that I needed to cover (communities), as well as the instructional process that I wanted to utilize (hands on activity) when I started my planning. I asked my classroom mentor about the first grade social studies curriculum and she told me that our students are expected to learn about different kinds of communities. I also knew that I wanted less teacher-led instruction and more hands-on activity because our students are rarely given opportunities to express their creativity.
Although there are no Common Core State Standards for first grade Social Studies or History, I found the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for History and Geography. I thought that the standards focused on looking at neighborhood communities, but I wanted to begin with a community that was familiar to all of the students, which is why I started at the classroom level. I wanted students to get a sense of the different communities that they are a part of, which is why I created a short video showing a map of Philadelphia that zoomed in to a map of West Philadelphia, University City, and then Powel School. In the final version of my lesson plan, I changed my goals and objectives so that it mentioned that this lesson would be the first in a series of lessons about different communities and making maps.
Initially, I was hesitant to provide the students with an example of a classroom map because I did not want them to think that there is only one way to make a classroom map. I originally thought that the movie of maps of Philadelphia and other communities could serve as the example of what maps look like. However, I took the advice of my Penn Mentor and Professor Nelson and provided the students with examples of classroom maps because they both raised questions about my students’ prior experience with maps. I assessed their prior knowledge about communities prior to my lesson, but I had no idea whether my students had been exposed to maps, let alone making maps.
I also took Professor Nelson’s advice and extended the amount of time that I set aside for assessing their prior knowledge from three minutes to ten minutes. Instead of using the question to begin the discussion, I ended up recording what the students remembered about communities based on my classroom mentor’s lesson and the book about communities that I read to my group of students a few days before the lesson.
Although there are no Common Core State Standards for first grade Social Studies or History, I found the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for History and Geography. I thought that the standards focused on looking at neighborhood communities, but I wanted to begin with a community that was familiar to all of the students, which is why I started at the classroom level. I wanted students to get a sense of the different communities that they are a part of, which is why I created a short video showing a map of Philadelphia that zoomed in to a map of West Philadelphia, University City, and then Powel School. In the final version of my lesson plan, I changed my goals and objectives so that it mentioned that this lesson would be the first in a series of lessons about different communities and making maps.
Initially, I was hesitant to provide the students with an example of a classroom map because I did not want them to think that there is only one way to make a classroom map. I originally thought that the movie of maps of Philadelphia and other communities could serve as the example of what maps look like. However, I took the advice of my Penn Mentor and Professor Nelson and provided the students with examples of classroom maps because they both raised questions about my students’ prior experience with maps. I assessed their prior knowledge about communities prior to my lesson, but I had no idea whether my students had been exposed to maps, let alone making maps.
I also took Professor Nelson’s advice and extended the amount of time that I set aside for assessing their prior knowledge from three minutes to ten minutes. Instead of using the question to begin the discussion, I ended up recording what the students remembered about communities based on my classroom mentor’s lesson and the book about communities that I read to my group of students a few days before the lesson.
(Enacting the Lesson)
My initial thoughts immediately after my lesson were unfortunately very much centered on management issues. I was flustered by the behavior of one of the students in my group and self-conscious about our noise level because we were in the library with the Principal. However, management issues aside, I thought the students were able to successfully identify key people and places both in communities in general and in our classroom community specifically. I think reading a book about communities before this lesson helped this go smoothly. The students seemed very interested in creating our community chart, which made it easy to elicit information from every student in my group. I think by allowing them to talk about their own classroom, the students had a genuine interest in identifying the various people, roles, and places in our classroom. I had not expected them to name so many people, because I thought that they would identify the people who are physically in our classroom for most of the day rather than all of the specials teachers, special education teachers, coaches, and administrators. I noticed this trend and realized that it makes sense that they included them in our classroom community because many of those people do pop in and out of our classroom during the day. It made me happy to hear that they considered all of those people parts of our classroom community. I was also glad that I increased the amount of time that was designated for creating the community prior knowledge charts because it felt like it took much longer than the three minutes that I had originally allotted.
I think the second half of the lesson (making the map) had a wider range of student understanding than the first half of the lesson (identifying people, roles, and places in communities and in our classroom). The students were supposed to use the people and places that we identified in our classroom community chart and incorporate them into a map. I think that the students were able to understand aspects of both objectives, but it was difficult to tell if they were able to make connections between identifying parts of our community and depicting them in the form of a map of our classroom community. I also felt like I could have spent more time showing the students the examples of classroom maps. I am confident in saying that the students enjoyed the map-making aspect of the lesson, but it seemed like some students viewed it more as an art activity than a representation of our concept. I also wondered whether I gave them too many options in terms of available materials.
I think the second half of the lesson (making the map) had a wider range of student understanding than the first half of the lesson (identifying people, roles, and places in communities and in our classroom). The students were supposed to use the people and places that we identified in our classroom community chart and incorporate them into a map. I think that the students were able to understand aspects of both objectives, but it was difficult to tell if they were able to make connections between identifying parts of our community and depicting them in the form of a map of our classroom community. I also felt like I could have spent more time showing the students the examples of classroom maps. I am confident in saying that the students enjoyed the map-making aspect of the lesson, but it seemed like some students viewed it more as an art activity than a representation of our concept. I also wondered whether I gave them too many options in terms of available materials.