One of the topics we were focused on this week was technology. The room that we work in has no technology, so this proved to be quite a challenge for us. What we decided to do was create a Power Point Presentation for our students using one of our laptops. Then we realized that one tiny screen is not ideal for 21 students to watch at once. So, Sarah and I decided to do stations for our lesson so that 10 or 11 students were watching the slideshow at once, rather than 21. One station was an observation center where students took notes and drew what they observed on the butterflies. The other station was the Power Point Center, where students watched a slide show and answered questions about it. After 10 minutes, the students switched stations; this actually worked out pretty well. Some of the students were concerned that they didn't finish all of the questions on the worksheet, but I reassured them that this was okay. This worksheet was actually going to be helpful to them later on in the lesson.
The other important topic of the week was writing. Sarah and I dedicated the entire second half of our lesson (when the students return from recess) to student writing. Students were asked to answer the following question: If you were a butterfly, what would you spend your day doing? Since the Power Point Presentation was entitled All About a Butterfly's Life, you can imagine that this was just what the students learned about! Filling out the worksheets during the slideshow was important because we told the students that they could answer the writing question by getting ideas off of their sheets. This was very helpful. Also, before we sent them off to complete the task, we took some student responses and wrote them on the board which created a better understanding of what we were asking them to do.
All in all it was a good lesson, that had potential to be a disaster! (Thanks again to Alisha and Lindsay!!!) Next week we will be taking the butterflies back to college where they will be able to play in our wonderful, safe courtyard! :-) I hope everyone has a wonderful, amazing, filling, satisfying, fantastic Thanksgiving!!
Katelyn, I'm glad we could help out! I wish we could all get jobs in the same school so we could keep working together! I really like how you guys decided to use stations. Alisha and I haven't tried that out yet, but it sounds like it worked out well for you! I think your idea of writing student responses on the board before asking them to start is a great idea too. Sometimes I'll explain very clearly (at least I think so) what students should do next, and then two minutes later kids start asking "What am I supposed to be writing?" I like your idea a lot, I might steal it!
ReplyDeleteOh no! These butterflies have just been one surprise and hassle after another! Good thing you had friends next door to share their winged creatures with. Neil and I found it difficult too to incorporate technology into these classrooms and we were not able to do it in the end. It was a good idea to break them down into centers to utilize the little technology that was available.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! I had no idea your classroom 'pets' had not become butterflies! But it sounds like overall, your lesson was fantastic! I really like how you used science stations to present the powerpoint. I also like the writing topic you chose for the students- I think that it gave them the chance to use their creativity combined with all of the information that they have learned about butterflies! It should be alot of fun to read their responses!
ReplyDeleteI think the stations were a great idea, you turned a negative into a positive! Sounds like your lesson went great.
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