Precis:

I observed a 45 minute grade 7 Science lesson as part of the educational reform program and provided feedback to the teacher afterwards in a coaching discussion. The T and I planned this lesson together with the intention to get the T more involved in her lesson and away from the comfort of her WB.  Our focus this term is on engaging learning activities that involve the students DOING things.

WALTà explain the benefits of friction (sport)

Beginning

T began lesson by giving each group a ramp, 3 surfaces to cover the ramp, a Predict/Observe/Explain chart and a timer.  Students were told they have 5 minutes to complete the P/O/E experiment to find out ‘which surface has the most friction?’.

~10 minutes

Middleà

The T then gave each group a variety of pictures (one table had different sport shoes, one winter sports shoes, one had different sport ‘vehicles’, one had water equipment etc.  the students were asked ‘What does friction have to do with these pictures?’ in a 3 minute Think-Pair-Share.  During share the teacher elicited ideas about which pictures showed how friction was a good thing.

~5 minutes

Each group was asked to select a sport and was given an information sheet about how that sport was played and what equipment was used.  It ran like a cooperative jigsaw activity with the ‘home’ groups going off to become experts on a certain sport then returning to their home group to teach each other what they learned.  Expert group ~15 minutes &  Home Group~10 minutes

~25 minutes

Endà

Teacher drew names from a hat and asked for a quick report on what they had learned about ____ sport.

~5 minutes

Which elements were evident and which ones were not or were completely absent? (5 elements and the 5 Es!)

ü  Orientation- learners are engaged and “given the opportunity to develop a sense of purpose and motivation for learning the topic”

– teacher immediately involved the students in the topic ‘friction’ through the P/O/E mini-experiment

ü  Elicitation- learners are encouraged to explore and “make their current idea on the topic of the lesson clear. This can be achieved by a variety of activities, such as group discussion, designing posters or writing”

– through the picture activity students were asked to TPS about how friction was at work in the pictures, all students were involved and exploring the idea that friction has advantages

ü  Restructuring of ideas (Clarification & Exchange of ideas, Construction of new ideas, Evaluation of the new ideas)- where the students explain their learning

-students were all given responsibility to learn about their sport and how friction was an advantage/disadvantage and then had to teach their home groups (practicing their explaining skills)

ü  Application of ideas- elaborate “where pupils are given the opportunity to use their developed ideas in a variety of situations, both familiar and novel”

-all did not have an opportunity to apply these ideas- but could relate what they learned from the jigsaw to the mini-experiment at the beginning of the lesson and through teaching in their home groups and answering some questions they did use their own prior knowledge and some critical thinking strategies to answer questions or called on the teacher to elaborate

X    Review- evaluate in which students are invited to reflect back on how their ideas have

changed by drawing comparisons between their thinking at the start of the lesson sequence,

and their thinking at the end.

-students did not know who the teacher would ask to report back so all had to ensure they learned all 5 sports but were not given the opportunity to reflect on their learning.  I encouraged her to use an ‘Exit Card’ for her students to reflect at the end of her next lesson to ensure that she is incorporating an element of metacognition.

What challenges are you likely to face planning and implementing instructional/training this way?

I asked the T this question and she said TIME.  Time to plan and prepare and time to complete the lesson.  Also, she said it was difficult to differentiate during this lesson because they groups were all mixed ability.  She liked teaching this lesson but requires a lot of advisory support to think of how to instruct her students using a more constructivist approach.

What factors are likely to promote the restructuring of ideas by those being instructed or trained?

The greatest impact comes after a successful lesson (which this mostly was) and seeing first hand the benefits of teaching this way.  The T was very excited because she noticed that she had no behavioural issues in this lesson.  When I asked her why (light bulb!) she said because they were ‘too busy to be bad’- urekaJ  The T showed a brilliant transition from ‘sage on the stage’ to ‘guide on the side’- it was wonderful to observe this.

What factors hinder the restructuring of ideas by those being instructed or trained?

Lack of resources is a big hindrance and again time.  The teachers have traditionally taught directly from a textbook with no regard to what was best for students.  They started on page one and away they went…  Now, teaching without a textbook has left them feeling abandoned and scared.  Add the English expectation and we have some very uncomfortable teachers.  The teachers may see the impact of teaching a good lesson but to find, prepare (and translate) age-level appropriate resources simply requires too much time- they are not willing to put in the work so they may plan one ‘interactive’ lesson a week.  Small successes and baby stepsJ