Practice and Reflection

1.       What was easy for me in planning the lesson? Why? Choosing the actual lesson, reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, was pretty easy for me to decide as it is one of my son’s favorite books and it is also such a well-known story. It offers a chance to teach children about the days of the week, numbers, and even to take a look at the life cycles of a caterpillar. Writing about the standards that were going to be covered by the lesson plan were easy too, because all of those were based on research of what the standards in my state are. I was able to quickly pinpoint the areas that are expected to learn for this age group that could and would be incorporated.

2.       What components were difficult for me to complete when planning the lesson? Why? Practice and checking for understanding was a bit more difficult for me because I don’t think I was able to come up with any creative ways to “test” for knowledge gain without just simply asking questions. I feel that I could have done more to involve parents into the practice and checking for understanding by sending home a simple activity sheet that parents can  go over with their children to keep the fun going.

3.       What do I want to improve on when creating lesson plans? I want to improve on time management. I need better time management when creating a lesson plan as well as managing the time it would take each day to do the activities that are in the lesson plan. I also think I could benefit greatly by working on more creative ways to put into practice things that have been learned from the activities. If I were to do it again, I would also figure out a way to have families more involved with the activities or the plan itself so they can continue with the fun and learning at home.

4.       How will this assignment help me in my future role? Simply, just knowing the basic components of creating a lesson plan is extremely beneficial. Knowing that there is basically a list of expectations for the age group being taught, you can base your plan on that by thinking of a creative way to teach it.

Evaluation of Peer’s Lesson Plan: Edith Altizer Strengths & Areas of Reflection: I am excited that this lesson plan is based around reading, because I’ve learned that reading aloud to children is probably the best way to help them to acquire language and language skills. I do not know what age group this lesson plan is for, however. I feel there could have been a more creative way to go about practice and checking for understanding. The closing was quite vague, but all in all I think it was a good “base” plan that a teacher could use and possibly add to for almost any type of lesson plan or activity.

Evaluation of Peer’s Lesson Plan: Andra Allen Strengths and Areas of Reflection: A major strength is that her lesson plan clearly states that it is to help children acquire a second language. I think that by having her lesson plan not be specific (i.e. which books to use) leaves a lot of room for creativity and being able to switch things up a bit to meet the needs of other activities and lesson.

Evaluation of Peer’s Lesson Plan: Quicia Hoke Strengths Areas of Reflection: Right off I noticed the mention of adding sensory play into the lesson plan. Playing is very important for learning and not many other lesson plans mentioned “playing” of any kind too much, mine included. I had crafts and something that can be ongoing after the lesson has finished. The only problem I see with this lesson is that some parents may be uncomfortable with their sons playing with dolls. (I personally do not think anything would be wrong with my son playing with dolls, but I know parents who would.) I really enjoyed that she talked about how she would change things around for children with special needs and that she was aware of possible time changes because not all children are the same.