Whew, it's practically November! Many weeks have passed and I am in deep with school - it's been pretty fantastic... but lots of work, so no time to post! This is a quick post to give my classmates a spot to respond to a mini lesson, or microteaching, I did a couple weeks ago in my 'Instructional Methods, Design, and Technology' class.
The topic of my microteaching was food webs and I did the "Web of Life" game with my "class" (adopted from lessons like this). In this lesson students sit in a circle representing an ecosystem - each student represents an organism in the ecosystem and they pass yarn between them, representing the connections between the organisms. It's a lesson I'm familiar with from my experience working at an environmenatal education summer camp for many years. Actually, it's one I did as a camper at that same camp and I remember it making an impression on me as a young learner. It's pretty simple, but an effective way for students to visualize the concept of a food web, I think. I also think it works for a range of levels, from grade school to middle school and I'm curious to hear what my fellow RIC students have to say about it!
I feel pretty good about how the lesson went - no major issues I think (I hope)! I just handed in a take-home quiz assignment for which I had to watch a recording of the lesson and analyze my use of questions in the lesson - I asked 57 questions in 23 minutes! It wasn't as horrifying watching a recording of myself as I thought it would be, but I definately noticed some things that I need to work on - I talk too fast and don't give enough wait time - I have a habit of starting a sentence and then changing gears in the middle of it - or asking a question and immediately rephrasing it - I also seem to favor the left side of the room. But hopefully this all didn't get in the way too much and my "students" were able to learn something and have a good time doing it - what do you think, classmates?
Hey Jenna!
ReplyDeleteGreat lesson! This is one I am going to keep in mind for future lessons when I get to my food web lesson in my own classroom. I really enjoyed how interactive it was! I know that this was a small class but I can totally see it working much better in a large, full sized classroom. One thing I think I would have done differently was cut the yarn. I would have started with one organism and shown how it connects to the rest of the organisms in the class, and so on and so forth. Your lesson showed us one way in which wildlife is connected but it is so much more than that! I really loved your lesson and thought you asked a ton of relevant questions to make your lesson a success! Good job! :)
Jenna!
ReplyDeleteI loved your lesson! It was super creative and I liked how interactive it was. The activity ensured that the students had to participate and engage in the lesson. It was a fun way to promote engagement and student learning. Your presentation skills were awesome and you are a comfortable speaker in front of the class which is a great quality to have as a teacher! I was impressed! I like Emily's suggestion of cutting the yarn to keep it more tidy. I think the yarn idea was great for the small number of students we had. Something to think about is classroom management if you use the lesson in a full class of middle school students who may get a little rowdy! Also, love the blog name! :)
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ReplyDeleteAhh- sorry about this! I tried formatting its appearance differently, but it didn't work. Oh well...
DeleteHi Jenna!
ReplyDeleteI loved you lesson in almost every way! It was so interactive and engaging, and I appreciated how you took a complex subject (a food web) and dissected it so that your “students” were able to visualize that interconnectedness of organisms. From personal experience, I feel as though students can easily misunderstand science-related topics if presented in a complex manner—but you did a wonderful job taking a big idea and exploring the content in smaller pieces. That was one of the first science lessons that I enjoyed!
One thing to keep in mind, which you probably have already thought about, is that this activity will not be effective for a large group of students (a standard class). However, you can certainly divide the class into smaller groups and have them complete this activity. This way, the students will still be able to visualize the relationships between organisms while having some fun with it. I think that you should keep the yarn intact (no cutting), because it truly shows the tangled, untidy component of food webs—it’s realistic is what I mean. Also, I’m not positive if you included (3) individual practice during your lesson. I understand that your lesson was interactive and collaborative work, so maybe this is why. I also understand that you only taught part of your lesson plan for microteaching. But overall, you did a wonderful job! You were enthusiastic about the lesson, and this is a central goal for teachers while teaching. Maybe you could slow down a little when you talk, but I’m sure that you were probably nervous and definitely excited about teaching the content you prepared for us. Thanks for a great experience!
Hi Jenna!
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with the comments here already. Your lesson was fantastic and definitely interesting and age appropriate. I think kids would love being a part of the learning like this and also to be able to visualize the ideas you were discussing. I also love how you asked why this may be important to us if the Eco-system changes. It made the lesson seem very authentic and gave a reason for learning it. One thing I would suggest, which you kind of addressed on your own, is being aware of wait time or answering your own questions because you are very knowledgeable on the content and it makes you look super professional but your students may not be connecting or understanding quite as quickly.
Hey Jenna,
ReplyDeleteLet me just say, I loved your lesson. It was creative, interactive and fun! I don't know where you got the idea but kudos. Also, you seemed really comfortable with you content; I felt as though you knew exactly what your objective was and a good way to meet it. I thought the messiness of the string was also enjoyable. Yes, perhaps with the wrong students it could go awry but you seem to have developed some good classroom management techniques- I doubt that would be a problem for you. The way you began the lesson was really effective as well. Not only did you engage the class but there was also some "mystery" in the way you revealed the intricacies of a food web. Well done. One minor thing I'd ask you to consider would perhaps have to do with the interactive string web. While the string was a good representation of how intertwined ecosystems (? I think that's what it was) can be, there seemed to be two differentiating avenues of their connectedness. For example, sometimes the string would be thrown to something as a food source, other times the string was thrown as a habitat-could there have been two different colored strings to classify this on a larger scale? Could students deduce more from these different levels? Lastly, perhaps in larger classroom settings could this application would help make even more accessible? Just some things to think about...
Nevertheless, great job.