Jack/Taralyn Lesson Reflection
There are two objectives that were used for our ocean zones lesson. The content objective was to list all of the scientific ocean zone names in order, from surface to ocean floor. The language objective was to have the students write a story of a sea creature and their adventure through the different ocean zones, while including 3 scientific facts. Jack and Taralyn did a phenomenal job on completing both content and language objectives. Taralyn used the difficult ocean zones in her short story and even included more than 3 facts that pertained to our lesson. Jack decided to use the easier ocean names and similar to Taralyn, he included more facts than expected in our language objective. Both of the students used all of the key vocabulary words in the correct manner. In addition, both Taralyn and Jack helped each other to complete the ocean zone board as their assessment at the end of the lesson. Each ocean zone name and creature picture were placed in their appropriate spots. The results of their performance can conclude that our objectives had been achieved through for ocean zone lesson.
Both Taralyn and Jacks vocabulary/language development had been challenged during this lesson. The difficult and easy ocean zone names were new to the students and at times seemed difficult to grasp. However, Taralyn and Jack had overcome the challenge of new vocabulary by including the words in their short story. During our acronym activity, we realized that this took a lot more time than expected. Jack needed some help on figuring out words and did not understand this activity as fast as Taralyn had. With some assistance Jack could complete his acronym. I believe next time if we have students make an acronym, we should leave common words on the board that they can use to easily complete the acronym activity. Overall, both of the students completed each activity as planned and achieved our goals that were set for this lesson plan.
If there were ELL students present within the classroom, many of our activities would need a few adjustments in order to fully accommodate these students. First, there will need to be specific labels added to the ocean zone board, such as the sea creature’s names. Also, instead of using the difficult ocean names, I would first introduce the easier ones, to ease the ELL students into the ocean zone topic. In order to give the student perspective of the ocean depth, one might ask the student what is the tallest building they have seen. If the teacher does not have the height information on the building the ELL student has mentioned, then the teacher can quickly research this information.
For the acronym activity, there will be a list of words on the board in which the student can choose from in order to assist them in creating their acronym. Written facts on each of the ocean zones will be provided on the board, to help the student create their short story about the sea creature’s adventure through the zones. The ELL student will only have to provide two scientific facts in their story along with the easier names of the ocean zones. Lastly, there will be 2 or 3 velcro pieces left on the board and the student will have to complete the rest to finish the assessment of the lesson. The ELL student can also work with a partner or look at their acronym for assistance.
Teaching the ocean zone lesson to Taralyn and Jack was a wonderful experience and the presentation turned out more successful than I had expected. My favorite part of the lesson, was listening to the students short stories of their sea creature through the ocean zones. It was interesting to see where Taralyn is developmentally compared to Jack who is 3 grades below. They both showed a lot of enthusiasm for the lesson and I would definitely consider teaching this again in my own classroom in the future.
There are two objectives that were used for our ocean zones lesson. The content objective was to list all of the scientific ocean zone names in order, from surface to ocean floor. The language objective was to have the students write a story of a sea creature and their adventure through the different ocean zones, while including 3 scientific facts. Jack and Taralyn did a phenomenal job on completing both content and language objectives. Taralyn used the difficult ocean zones in her short story and even included more than 3 facts that pertained to our lesson. Jack decided to use the easier ocean names and similar to Taralyn, he included more facts than expected in our language objective. Both of the students used all of the key vocabulary words in the correct manner. In addition, both Taralyn and Jack helped each other to complete the ocean zone board as their assessment at the end of the lesson. Each ocean zone name and creature picture were placed in their appropriate spots. The results of their performance can conclude that our objectives had been achieved through for ocean zone lesson.
Both Taralyn and Jacks vocabulary/language development had been challenged during this lesson. The difficult and easy ocean zone names were new to the students and at times seemed difficult to grasp. However, Taralyn and Jack had overcome the challenge of new vocabulary by including the words in their short story. During our acronym activity, we realized that this took a lot more time than expected. Jack needed some help on figuring out words and did not understand this activity as fast as Taralyn had. With some assistance Jack could complete his acronym. I believe next time if we have students make an acronym, we should leave common words on the board that they can use to easily complete the acronym activity. Overall, both of the students completed each activity as planned and achieved our goals that were set for this lesson plan.
If there were ELL students present within the classroom, many of our activities would need a few adjustments in order to fully accommodate these students. First, there will need to be specific labels added to the ocean zone board, such as the sea creature’s names. Also, instead of using the difficult ocean names, I would first introduce the easier ones, to ease the ELL students into the ocean zone topic. In order to give the student perspective of the ocean depth, one might ask the student what is the tallest building they have seen. If the teacher does not have the height information on the building the ELL student has mentioned, then the teacher can quickly research this information.
For the acronym activity, there will be a list of words on the board in which the student can choose from in order to assist them in creating their acronym. Written facts on each of the ocean zones will be provided on the board, to help the student create their short story about the sea creature’s adventure through the zones. The ELL student will only have to provide two scientific facts in their story along with the easier names of the ocean zones. Lastly, there will be 2 or 3 velcro pieces left on the board and the student will have to complete the rest to finish the assessment of the lesson. The ELL student can also work with a partner or look at their acronym for assistance.
Teaching the ocean zone lesson to Taralyn and Jack was a wonderful experience and the presentation turned out more successful than I had expected. My favorite part of the lesson, was listening to the students short stories of their sea creature through the ocean zones. It was interesting to see where Taralyn is developmentally compared to Jack who is 3 grades below. They both showed a lot of enthusiasm for the lesson and I would definitely consider teaching this again in my own classroom in the future.