Bent Elementary Physical Science Lesson Plan Week 2

Today I taught at Bent Elementary for my first time today and I was able to teach with Chelsea which was so awesome! Having another person to teach with made this entire experience so much less stressful. The two of us were able to create the lesson together, implement, and build off of each other while the lesson was going on. After completing the lesson I felt we did a great job getting our point across in an interactive way

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Before going into the classroom I think I can speak for both myself and Chelsea when I say that we had no idea what to expect when walking into a classroom full of ELL students. I have never worked with ELL students before so we used pictures in our worksheet to help as a guide just in case they didn’t speak much English. When we walked in we introduced ourselves and so did the group of students we worked with.

Chelsea and I finished our lesson early enough to get feedback from Dr. O and come prepared with materials so we wouldn’t be frazzled when we got to Bent. This was a perfect plan because I was not nervous at all and I felt completely prepared. We created a worksheet for the students to record their observations when they were doing hands-on activities with ice and water and we also came up with an extension activity just in case the lesson didn’t go the entire 30 minutes, but we had no trouble with the lesson lasting long enough because the children were super engaged and excited about the activity.

Now, as every lesson goes, there are always pros and cons. I talked about the pros in the above paragraph, but there were also a few cons. Before we started the lesson, we could have introduced and went over the Science concepts in more details so the students were able to comprehend better. I have never taught a Science lesson before and I had no idea what the students knew and didn’t know so that was difficult going into it. I also noticed that the students had trouble using different descriptive words when recording their observations, for next time maybe we could talk about different descriptive words to use or create a word bank on the worksheet so they are only allowed to use a word once. All of the students in the group used either words that didn’t describe what they were seeing the right way or they used the same descriptive words for multiple senses. Chelsea and I also talked about how we can differentiate better next time we teach.  Since we didn’t really know what the students knew, one of the girls was working ahead on the worksheet and almost seemed bored. So, for next time we can make the activity a little more challenging for her and not so challenging for the student that kept getting off task.

While teaching our lesson Chelsea and I came into the classroom a bit blind-sided, but left with some new Spanish words that the children taught us. We used our previous knowledge about Spanish and worked with their English and their Spanish to help the experience go smoothly. We tried to say words in Spanish as they said words in English. We came into the classroom with an open-mind which is what we have learned in the past diversity modules and from previous diversity class at ISU. Since we were learning Spanish words as they were learning Science information and practicing their English, I think it made them feel more comfortable with us being there and they felt more comfortable talking in English. We made some mistakes with pronunciation and they laughed, but it made the learning atmosphere more laid back which I enjoyed and I am sure the students enjoyed as well!

Yes, at times during the lesson it was super challenging because we had to find alternate words when the students didn’t understand or I had to remember back to when I took Spanish 1 and 2 in high school to remember how to say those words. Although it was challenging at the end of the lesson I felt super accomplished. It was rewarding that the students were able to complete a hands-on activity that was in English, record their observations in Spanish, and understand the idea/concept of the lesson in English when we discussed our findings. Hey! I even learned something out of the lesson too which was awesome!

I am looking forward to working with ELL students for the rest of the semester at Bent Elementary. I really don’t have much experience working with ELL students so it will be super beneficial and such a great learning experience. I hope to use the information I learn this semester at this school in my future teachings since I would love to work in a Chicago Public School when I graduate. As for reaching my goal, I would say I am definitely getting a better understanding of different ways to teach ELL students and I think by the end of the semester I will have different techniques to use as well. The link below actually will help me reach my goal as well because it is some pointers I can use so the students are comprehending what I am teaching better!

Lastly, here is a link to some do’s and don’ts when working with ELL students. I thought they were important tips to keep in the back of your mind when working with them. It helps the students succeed in learning and will help us as teachers make sure they understand! It might also give us a little ego boost if our lesson goes well! J

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/esl-ell-tips-ferlazzo-sypnieski

Exceeds:

-Over 500 word count

-Posted link to website with tips for teaching ELL students

- During our lesson, Chelsea and I were saying words in Spanish when the students did not understand the English words and we were also being taught words and practiced saying them aloud so the students felt more comfortable. It made the lesson more fun!

-Created our own lesson plan worksheet and two extension activities just in case the lesson went too short or didn’t go as planned. Students completed one of the extension activities by drawing a picture of what they did in the lesson on the backside of the worksheet they filled out.