Lessons Learnt from doing Individual Assignment - Module 4

I employed the critical process of supporting my growth by engaging Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (Gibbs, 1988). This cycle provided me with a framework for examining experiences and what went well or didn’t go well based on 6 stages.

Description of the experience

Figuring out what I needed to do for this assignment proved to be my greatest challenge. I began this assignment not knowing quite sure what I was getting myself into. What topic should I design a lesson on? What age group must I target? I thought about working in groups and the challenges of teamwork. I toyed with the idea of teaching “Teamwork” to a group of 12 – 13 year old Grade 6 students which is what I initially set out to do. I deliberated on what the objectives were. Things were not flowing smoothly in my thought at all. At times, I felt extremely lost and at times confused about what was required of me. So at the last minute, I decided it was best to stick to my field, Early Childhood Education, and teach a lesson on Living and Non-Living Things to a group of 6 – 7 year old Grade 1 students. I pondered on these questions: What does the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Curriculum Standards say Grade 1 students must learn with regards to living and non-living things? What are the general outcomes expected? What objectives must they achieve? How will content be delivered? What activities will help them to achieve the objectives? How will learning be assessed? How will their learning be extended? These questions forced me to reflect on my practice and the way forward in order to provide the best learning experience to my students while providing opportunities for them to also reflect.

Feelings and thoughts about the experience

Overall I felt somewhat satisfied with the Science lesson. I felt really excited about using the ICT tools such as the tablet and interactive whiteboard as resources in the Living and Non-Living Things lesson. The students were very enthusiastic throughout the lesson, and seemed to really enjoy the activities.  I was delighted while watching the students work collaboratively in the classroom with their devices, excitedly helping each other achieve the objectives as they decided which pictures they wanted to use. They were having so much fun uploading them. This gave me a sense of satisfaction as my role was one of a facilitator as opposed to one in which I was directing what they did. The students really embraced the spirit of teamwork. I have found the students love any type of hands on learning and that they especially love science. In addition to their obvious enjoyment, I truly believe that the students did some high quality learning.

Evaluation of the experience, both good and bad

The students were enthusiastic to perform the activities with their tablets. Integrating the technology proved to be a plus and kept the students engaged. The idea of explaining to the students the objectives of the lesson provided student the opportunity to focus on the lesson. Pairing up students of differing ability was also a plus Vraniak (2012) stated that this approach systematically and evenly distributes diverse students with varying skill, knowledge and culture experience among all students through pairing.

Unfortunately, I found at times I had to rush through activities. This can be attributed to the fact that I may have had too many activities for a lesson for Grade 1 students. Next time I shall limit the activities for the duration of the lesson or limit the number of objectives. The lesson plan template was a bit complicated and was not what I am used to as an educator at both the primary and tertiary level. Many of the requirements were not clear cut. I absolutely hate the idea of being recorded, so at times I became self-conscious and made a mess of what I was meant to say during the recording.

Analysis to make sense of the situation

As an early childhood educator, the concept of time must kept in mind at all times considering the stage of development of the students. The importance of managing time effectively is critical to ensuring the lesson is completed. I think I needed to evaluate how the time was managed. Time management is viewed as a dynamic process. It is my view also that had I decided earlier what topic I wanted to teach and the age group, I would have done things differently. I would have been able to space activities with enough time for completion.

Conclusion about what you learned and what you could have done differently

How can what I learnt during the lesson assist me later?

This assignment taught me that I needed to remember what is developmentally appropriate for the students (NAEYC, 1986; Bredekamp, 1987). I believe I was so excited about integrating the tablets into the lesson that I got carried away and lost sight of developmentally appropriate practices. Seeing the children interacting with the technology was encouraging and it says a great deal about how they prefer to learn. I realized too late that I had not included the activities I recorded for students to reflect on the lesson. Parry (2018) points out that in technology use there is the emerging student attribute of self-reflection and evaluation: “What went well?”; “What didn’t go so well?”; “How might you improve for next time?”

I also explored these questions after doing the lesson plan and video.  Did I plan and deliver the lesson so that my students were able to achieve the objectives? How well did I assess my students' achievement of the objectives? Did I plan for and provide learning opportunities that supported the students' intellectual, social, and personal development? To what extent did my plan and my teaching reflect by ability to use formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the student? The answers to these questions would have ensured a better delivery of my lesson.

Action plan for how you would deal with similar situations in the future, or general changes you might find appropriate.

In future lessons, I will try to limit the objectives so that fewer activities can be done. Thus, allowing students the opportunity to spend more time completing tasks.  I will break down the lesson into times so that activities can be have enough time. I will also ensure that I have enough time for children to reflect on their experience. I will allow more time for recording the video and editing it. I had to rush through the editing and this placed me in an unnecessary stressful situation. All in all it was an eye opening experience for me. If I were to do over this same lesson, there are some things I would do differently.

Please click link for video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mreLELxl_Yo

Reference

Bredekamp, S. (Ed.). (1987). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs      

                serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the 

                Education of  Young Children (NAEYC).

Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by doing. A guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford     

                Polytechnic: Oxford.

NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children). (1986). Position statement on                developmentally appropriate practice in programs for 4- and 5-year-olds. Young Children, 

               41(6),  20-29.

Parry, M. (2018). Using technology to support student reflection [Film]. Retrieved from                

               https://learningandteaching-navitas.com/events/technology-support-student-reflection/

Vraniak, D. (2012). Paired-Learning for students and classroom teachers.

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