During my practicum experience, I saw I was able to impact the way in which students view their learning in hopes of sparking their interest and helping them find what they are passionate about. In order to help students discover what they really enjoy doing, I tried to provide them with a diverse array of subject material and ways of giving them opportunities to show what they have learned. When planning my lessons, my biggest concern was thinking of multiple ways to present information and get the students engaged, and moving whenever possible. I also aimed to create worksheets that were not strictly relaying information, but that engaged in critical and creative thinking. I found the multiple ways of presenting information and promoting discussion helped keep the students engaged and interested in learning. I wanted the learning to be fun and enjoyable. The more lessons I planned, I discovered more about my students and what kind of activities got them engaged and elicited a positive response.
In activities that required writing, I found that activities that encouraged creative thinking while still being enjoyable to the students were key. Such activities did not have a specific answer that I was looking for, but rather allowed students to use writing to create something of their own. I had tried both close-ended and open-ended writing activities and during the latter found a great improvement in all the students’ writing and engagement levels, especially those who struggle with written output. For example when teaching the students about goods and services, after reading a story and discussing in groups the difference between the two terms and brainstorming examples of each, I had each of the students create their own business. They got to give the business a name, decide whether it provides goods or services and what these goods or services are, what customers come to their business for, as well as an accompanying picture. The students loved creating their own businesses and some of the students even asked if they could share theirs with the group. It was a sharing circle that I had not anticipated on having, but I think it was great for all the students to get a chance to share their ideas and deepen their understanding by seeing the variety of different goods and services that may be available in their community. I did these types of writing activities a lot and found that they elicited a positive response from all the students at various writing output levels. I found that those students who struggled with writing were more motivated and often raised their hand to show how much they had written. They were so proud of their writing and these open-ended writing activities really motivated them to work on developing their writing.
When delivering a lesson, it was important to me that my instructions be clear and I made sure to repeat the instructions in various ways to ensure all the students understood what they were to do in any given activity. I always checked for understanding and gave students many opportunities to ask questions as they arose. Furthermore, while the students were working I was always circling the classroom, providing help and answering questions when they raised their hands. Always being active in the classroom and observing the students while working gave me a really good understanding of which students were struggling with the content or activity and which students had a really good understanding of the subject matter. This allowed me to plan future lessons by knowing what types of activities individual students had strengths in, and what content areas perhaps needed more clarification and that I needed to revisit in future lessons. Forms of summative assessment I used throughout my long practicum were graphic organizers and students’ written output during writing activities that allowed me to monitor their learning. I was also always actively circulating to be involved in the learning process and ensured that I checked over the work they handed in every day so that I could provide timely and effective feedback so that students could see what they needed more work on. Also, when checking over writing activities I would have the students read it to me and if they were finished earlier I would encourage them to think of more details that they could add, and after doing this a few times I noticed the same students began adding more details to their work without any initial encouragement. These activities also allowed me to see what students were understanding and I was able to meet with individual students to further explain in hopes of clarifying a concept for them. When a few students seemed to struggle with the same concept I knew that this was a sign that I needed to revisit this in the next lesson and perhaps execute the material in a different way. Sometimes this meant I would have them discuss in partners and have one partner “teach” the other about a topic, do an active demonstration in front of the class, show a related video, or think of an accompanying game.
To evaluate what students have learned over the course of a unit, I employed various summative assessment techniques. For some units I would have the students write down everything they know about a particular topic. Often I would accompany a written output of understanding with a one-on-one discussion with each student. I would ask them questions about what we had learned throughout the unit and track their responses, allowing for opportunities for them to go beyond what they had been required to know and any information that had stuck out as interesting to them. I ensured before any form of summative assessment that I first reviewed all the material in a quick yet engaging way so that students’ minds were refreshed and the information was still in their minds.
In the unit on community I had the students complete a final project where they worked together to create their own community using construction paper and paper bags. I gave them each two paper bags to create two buildings with, one was to represent where they lived and the other was a building of their choice. Together as a class we brainstormed different businesses or services that could be found in a community. The students then chose which of these they wanted to create. The students then placed their houses on a matt that represented the city and organized it how they thought a community should be. They also created any other things they thought should be included in the community, such as stop signs, cars, parks, and street lines. It was amazing to see the students all working together, discussing different aspects of the community, and the things they came up with were so creative.
