Karla F.

Diaz CEP 800

Lesson Implementation Reflection Description: My lesson plan was intended for first grade students. It was developed to help children to gain knowledge and understanding about the changes in nature through the explanation of life cycles. My personal goal or objective was to grasp students attention and keep them engaged and motivated during the class. Understanding that accomplishing my personal goal will help them to achieve the expected/planned instructional objectives. Narrative: Note: There were some minor changes in the order of the procedures stated in the plan during the implementation. I started my class by introducing the term Life Cycle. When I asked them the meaning of it, they hardly knew it. Some students could tell me something and it wasnt accurate. Then, I used Keynote to talk about the exact meaning of the term Life Cycle. After that, I presented a video (not animated) about the butterflys life cycle. All students were amazed with the video and the stages of the cycle. When the video was over, I let them talk about the life cycle, its meaning and they mentioned other things that pass through a life cycle. I took that opportunity to show them posters about other life cycles (frog, plants, etc.). This interesting discussion was followed by a hilarious animated video that was played twice (students loved it). I created a matching game (pictures and words) in Notebook (SmartBoard program) that was very engaging and interesting for students. Sadly, there was no time for everyone to play. Students had to place pictures and words in the correct order of stages (see attached picture #1). As a closure, students drew and explained the five stages of the butterflys life cycle on a construction paper. Then, they filled a class evaluation. Time did not allow explaining the life cycle to a partner and posting in the blog. I hope to complete those activities later on.

1 Final Paper: Lesson Implementation

Karla F. Diaz CEP 800

Reflection: During this class students learned the meaning of a life cycle, with a special emphasis on the butterflys life cycle. The instructional objectives or learning goal for this lesson stated that students were going to be able to: learn the life cycle of the butterfly, explain the five stages of the butterfly, draw the butterflys life cycle, write sentences to explain the butterflys life cycle, and use a computer keyboard. I assumed that the knowledge that the students had about this topic was going to be very vague. This lesson is part of our currently curriculum. However, since this is an important topic, I decided enhance the learning experience with different activities. Although this topic couldve being developed excluding the technologies I used to present and represent the information, I wanted to capture my students attention, to motivate them, and to offer them a more vivid experience about the topic. The students were engaged, attentive, willing to participate and somewhat cooperative (in terms of discipline). A constraint was that at some points they were so excited that they couldnt control their emotions... getting really loud!

During the class, especially during discussions, the students were willing to participate and contribute as they recall information about the topic. They were observing, making connections, telling experiences, asking questions, answering questions, etc. They also worked individually on a hands-on activity (draw and explain the butterflys life cycle) as an assessment activity to demonstrate what they learned during the class. Aware that not all students learn the same way, I decided to include some approaches for their benefit based on Howard Gardners Multiple Intelligences Theory. Students experienced the butterflys life cycle with music, body movements, videos, pictures, and text.

2 Final Paper: Lesson Implementation

Karla F. Diaz CEP 800

The role of technology in my lesson was significant since most of the plan was based on technology. I consider that designing a class based mostly on technology brings a disadvantage. What if the projector or computer do not want to turn on? Is there a possibility for your class to run? As we all know, technology can fail. On the other hand it has many advantages. It is easier to address students different intelligences, most of the time it helps you manage conduct, many activities could be developed, etc. I was able to experiment these advantages during this lesson plan implementation. I was expecting to see students having fun, engaged and excited about the class, especially during the game, where they had to work directly with the SmartBoard. Since I wanted to be sure of their feelings, I decided to create a class evaluation survey (see attached picture #2) where they colored smileys, circled thumbs up or down, and answered some why questions. This survey confirmed the enthusiasm that I noticed in their faces. The class in general felt happy with during the class. Some preferred the animated video over the real one or vice versa, while others enjoyed both. Many stated that the game was their favorite part. In the survey, they also had to explain the meaning of the term life cycle in their own words. Most of them agreed that a life cycle is something that happens all over again. I think that using technology and repetition was the key for them to understand and learn the butterflys life cycle. After correcting the hands- on activity I found that 21 out of 23 students were able to draw and explain the five stages (see attached picture #3-4) correctly without any cues presented in the classroom and the other 2 students had a pretty good idea about what they were doing. Isnt that great?!?!?!

3 Final Paper: Lesson Implementation