Teacher Feedback Form:
Reflection on the planning and implementation of the lesson:
Taught on: 3/19/14
What evidence do you have that students mastered or did not master the lesson objective? Based on your evaluation of their work, how many students mastered the lesson objective?
The objective of my lesson was for students to understand that although two authors may be in the same time era, and in this case the Civil War, their viewpoints may influence their descriptions of events. I asked the students to create a graphic organizer to learn the process of brainstorming their thoughts of comparing and contrasting author’s viewpoints. This later helped them analyze how an author’s viewpoints influence events. The students were to complete and turn in their graphic organizer of comparisons, in addition to how the children’s viewpoints impacted their experiences with the war. Based on the students’ work, 12 out of 14 of the students mastered the objective and the other 2 students were proficient, lacking identifying one more difference and similarity between the author’s background, education, career, etc.
What did your students learn as a result of your teaching? Was that your intention?
As a result of my teaching, my students learned that just because an author has the opportunity to express their thoughts of an event doesn't mean that the description of the event is credible. Due to an author’s education, past experiences, etc. an author’s viewpoint may be altered and a bit bias. After comparing multiple author’s descriptions of the war the students were able to identify that because of their viewpoints, the events of the war were described differently.
Name at least 1 aspect of the lesson that was successful. What caused it to be successful? How did you contribute to this success?
During my lesson, I gave the students the opportunity to first analyze the letters by themselves then we had a discussion comparing and contrasting the two authors. First, we compared two women who were writing to another individual and their styles of writing, what they were saying, etc. I used this time to have a conversation with my students and discuss the differences and similarities instead of lecturing to them. This allowed the students to feel comfortable to share what they thought about the letters and not feeling the pressure of being correct or incorrect, because there was no exact answer. As the students shared how and why they thought the author’s viewpoints were different I organized their thoughts in to a Venn diagram; the Venn diagram was one of the student’s ideas. Afterwards, I summarized our findings and then I led the discussion in how their viewpoints could have influenced how the events of the war really were.
Name at least 1 aspect of the lesson that was less successful. What caused it to be less successful? How did you contribute to this?
I was in a fifth grade classroom and there aren't any designated times that the classes go to the restroom, like they do in Kindergarten. I did my lesson before lunch and the students had been in class for at least four hours by this time and as expected, there were many students who needed to go to the restroom. I found myself only allowing one student out of the classroom at a time, but there were at least five students who asked to go to the restroom. While they were out I was continuing on with my instruction for the rest of the classroom, because I knew I could not keep stopping instruction every time a student left the classroom. At times, I noticed that once the students did return to the classroom it took them a few minutes to become refocused on the lesson.
What changes might make this lesson more successful? Why might these changes help improve the activity?
For future lessons, I will keep in mind to only allow the students to go to the restroom during independent practice, unless it is an emergency. I was trying to be mindful, knowing that the students had been in class for quite some time and without any breaks, but eventually it began interfering with my instruction and I would then have to repeat myself. Another area of my lesson I could also improve on is my use of descriptions and examples of new vocabulary. For instance, I did give a few examples of what an author’s viewpoint is and what an excerpt is but I do believe I could have described these terms a little more in-depth. Possibly for my next lesson I can allow the students to describe what the vocabulary is, in more of a child-friendly language or make use of a dictionary. Nonetheless, it was awesome seeing the students try their hardest during the lesson to practice and use the new vocabulary!
Taught on: 3/19/14
What evidence do you have that students mastered or did not master the lesson objective? Based on your evaluation of their work, how many students mastered the lesson objective?
The objective of my lesson was for students to understand that although two authors may be in the same time era, and in this case the Civil War, their viewpoints may influence their descriptions of events. I asked the students to create a graphic organizer to learn the process of brainstorming their thoughts of comparing and contrasting author’s viewpoints. This later helped them analyze how an author’s viewpoints influence events. The students were to complete and turn in their graphic organizer of comparisons, in addition to how the children’s viewpoints impacted their experiences with the war. Based on the students’ work, 12 out of 14 of the students mastered the objective and the other 2 students were proficient, lacking identifying one more difference and similarity between the author’s background, education, career, etc.
What did your students learn as a result of your teaching? Was that your intention?
As a result of my teaching, my students learned that just because an author has the opportunity to express their thoughts of an event doesn't mean that the description of the event is credible. Due to an author’s education, past experiences, etc. an author’s viewpoint may be altered and a bit bias. After comparing multiple author’s descriptions of the war the students were able to identify that because of their viewpoints, the events of the war were described differently.
Name at least 1 aspect of the lesson that was successful. What caused it to be successful? How did you contribute to this success?
During my lesson, I gave the students the opportunity to first analyze the letters by themselves then we had a discussion comparing and contrasting the two authors. First, we compared two women who were writing to another individual and their styles of writing, what they were saying, etc. I used this time to have a conversation with my students and discuss the differences and similarities instead of lecturing to them. This allowed the students to feel comfortable to share what they thought about the letters and not feeling the pressure of being correct or incorrect, because there was no exact answer. As the students shared how and why they thought the author’s viewpoints were different I organized their thoughts in to a Venn diagram; the Venn diagram was one of the student’s ideas. Afterwards, I summarized our findings and then I led the discussion in how their viewpoints could have influenced how the events of the war really were.
Name at least 1 aspect of the lesson that was less successful. What caused it to be less successful? How did you contribute to this?
I was in a fifth grade classroom and there aren't any designated times that the classes go to the restroom, like they do in Kindergarten. I did my lesson before lunch and the students had been in class for at least four hours by this time and as expected, there were many students who needed to go to the restroom. I found myself only allowing one student out of the classroom at a time, but there were at least five students who asked to go to the restroom. While they were out I was continuing on with my instruction for the rest of the classroom, because I knew I could not keep stopping instruction every time a student left the classroom. At times, I noticed that once the students did return to the classroom it took them a few minutes to become refocused on the lesson.
What changes might make this lesson more successful? Why might these changes help improve the activity?
For future lessons, I will keep in mind to only allow the students to go to the restroom during independent practice, unless it is an emergency. I was trying to be mindful, knowing that the students had been in class for quite some time and without any breaks, but eventually it began interfering with my instruction and I would then have to repeat myself. Another area of my lesson I could also improve on is my use of descriptions and examples of new vocabulary. For instance, I did give a few examples of what an author’s viewpoint is and what an excerpt is but I do believe I could have described these terms a little more in-depth. Possibly for my next lesson I can allow the students to describe what the vocabulary is, in more of a child-friendly language or make use of a dictionary. Nonetheless, it was awesome seeing the students try their hardest during the lesson to practice and use the new vocabulary!