Final Reflection

As I think back over my 488 placement and unit teaching, I am struck by how much I've learned and how much more I still need to learn. Planning and teaching a five day unit was exhausting. By the end of it, I was ready to give up on teaching. I couldn't imagine how teachers plan and teach for six hours a day; it was overwhelming to say the least. But then, on the last day we were teaching, the students gave us homemade cards with the most sincere messages. Looking through those cards somehow made the sleepless nights, the hours spent planning and researching, the stress over whether or not the students were learning anything all worth it. It was easy to see that we meant something to each of those students in one way or another.

This placement (and this year in general) has shown me that teaching is not easy. You can know all the strategies and plan all the activities you want, but it's a completely different story when twenty little faces are staring up at you. There have been times when I've been so frustrated that all I've wanted to do is cry, and that's okay. Teaching is hard. I understand that now. The important thing is remembering that what you are doing is making a difference. I've learned the importance of really getting to know your students so that you can be the best teacher possible for them. As I look to next year, I am excited to get an even better idea about what it's like to be a teacher.

Lesson #5 - Daily Life

For our final lesson, we wanted to show students what daily life was like for ancient Egyptians. We chose to use a form of dramatic play in this lesson because it had been so successful last semester. We also wanted to address some of the topics that the students had expressed interest in on their interest surveys.

Catherine B. and I dressed up as ancient Egyptian women (complete with wigs and makeup) and described our different lifestyles. While Catherine B. told about what it was like to be a lower class woman (describing her family, chores, and responsibilities), I talked about my luxurious life as a pharoah's wife. We also discussed the role of jewelry and makeup in Egyptian culture, something that fascinated many of the girls in the class. The students were very interested in everything we said and kept trying to call us Miss Brown and Miss Robinson so that we would break character. We asked them to tell us what they knew about ancient Egypt, and I was very encouraged to see what they had learned and remembered from our previous lessons.

Before beginning the lesson, we had put masking tape on the ground to represent different Egypt geographic points (Nile River, pyramids, desert). We explained what these areas were before we introduced the role-playing activity. We also reviewed the rules of role-playing and reminded the students that if they did not follow the rules, they would not be able to participate. We have learned from past lessons how important it is to reiterate these rules, especially when using any sort of prop. We then read a short description of a member of ancient Egyptian society and chose 3 students to play that part. They retrieved their props from the prop table and thought about where their character would live (near the Nile, in the desert, etc.). After we assigned all the roles, we asked the students to think about their character's life: did they like their job? what did they want? what did they worry about? We walked around to each group and asked them to explain a little bit about what they were thinking.

We then allowed the students some time to act out their character and interact with some of the other characters in the room. It was interesting to see how the students internalized their role and related to the other characters. For example, the washerwomen were washing the clothes for the nobles who were inviting the pharaoh to a party. During this time Catherine B. and I walked around and talked to the students about their role and asked them different questions about their character. I was very impressed by how comprehensive their answers were and felt as though they really understood more of how ancient Egyptian society might have functioned. We dismissed each group of characters back to their seats and collected their props on the prop table (something that was essential in keeping this activity organized!).

We had planned to do an exit card/journal entry, but Mr. F. said that the class had a surprise for us instead. They gave both of us a copy of The BFG that they had all signed and cards that they had decorated. Mr. F. told us how much he appreciated all of the work we had done and wished us luck in our future as teachers. Reading through the cards made me realize how much this class truly has meant to me. It was encouraging to see how much they enjoyed the time that we spent with them. I think that it's moments like these that make the hard parts of teaching more bearable; it's such a rewarding feeling to know that you are really making a difference in some child's life. Although we were a little wary when we first began teaching in this class, my experience with Mr. F. has given me an entirely new perspective on teaching. I really am grateful for the time that I spent in his classroom and the lessons we learned there.

Lesson #4 - Mummies

I was very excited to teach this topic because so many students had ranked it highly on the interest survey that we administered with our pre-assessment. We chose to use the direct instruction model to teach the steps of the mummification process. We pushed two desks together to make the mummification table and had the students sit on the floor in front of it. Although they were a little confused about this new seating arrangement, they seemed to adapt fairly quickly. We began the lesson with some review and tried to activate the students' background knowledge of mummies by discussing what they already knew about pyramids.

After the introduction, we started telling a story about how Catherine B. was a pharaoh's wife who had recently died. As I walked through the steps of mummification, I was excited to see how engaged the students were. They were fascinated by the different props that I used and shouted "ew!" and "gross!" when I described how the ancient Egyptians removed the organs from the body. I think that making the demonstration as graphic as possible helped hold the students' attention and caused them to remember the steps more vividly. In doing this demonstration, I wish that I had made some sort of poster with the vocabulary words that I used ("canopic jar," "natron," etc.) to reinforce these terms and provide a form of word study for the students. I think that giving the students these terms gives them something to latch onto and helps them feel knowledgeable about the topic.

After the demonstration, I showed a few pictures of mummies and the Valley of Kings. I think that the students were very interested in these photographs and enjoyed discovering that not all mummies were buried in pyramids. I have been constantly amazed this year by how a nonfiction text can be so engaging for students--definitely not something I had expected! After looking at the photographs, Catherine B. read a short article about a mummy that was recently discovered and showed a picture. There was some confusion as the students passed the picture around, so I think that in the future, it would be a better idea for the teacher to hold the picture. The students were excited about the idea that there are still mummies that are undiscovered.

After this discussion, the students returned to their desks to complete a sequencing activity. We wanted them to create a flipbook of the steps in the mummification process. After cutting out the pages of their books, they put the steps in order and numbered them. Then a teacher would come by and check their work and staple the pages together. I liked that this assignment provided some differentiation, especially for the low readers in the class. Although there was text on the pages, there were also clear pictures that made the sequencing easier for those with reading difficulties. One ELL student was one of the first students to successfully order his pages; his smile indicated how excited he was about understanding the steps. One problem that I noticed during this assessment was that we never clearly defined if we wanted the flipbook to be completed individually or as a group. Mr. F. seemed enthusiastic about the way the students were discussing the steps together, but our original intention had been for the students to complete the assignment individually so we could get a good idea about what they learned. I also think that we should have made some sort of checklist to note who sequenced their pages correctly the first time; this system would have made this a more accurate assessment. Also, I would have liked to have drawn more attention to the text in the flipbook. We could have read the completed books together at the end or asked different students to read a page.

I was very pleased with how this lesson turned out. I think that the students were very well behaved because they were interested in the topic. My only regret is not spending more time on the guided practice portion of the lesson. I think that if we had reviewed the steps a little more explicitly, all of the students would have been more successful at completing the flipbook by themselves. One technique that we observed in QUEST is using hand signs. I think that giving each step a hand sign would have helped the students remember the steps even better. Other than that small change, I thought that the lesson went very well.

Lesson #3 - Inventions

For this lesson we felt that working in centers would be the best way to handle the amount of content that we needed to teach. We designed three centers that each corresponded to a different invention: papyrus (paper), hieroglyphics, and calendar/clock. Within each center we tried to build in some form of evaluation, particularly at the hieroglyphics center because the students were working independently here. The other two centers were teacher-led and involved more demonstrations. With this lesson our main goal was to show how ancient Egyptian inventions still affect our lives today. We introduced the lesson with a review, and it was encouraging to see how much the students had learned and remembered over the last few days. After this introduction, we gave very explicit instructions about the centers and the rules that everyone needed to follow in order for this activity to run smoothly. We numbered the students (1, 2, 3, 1, 2,...) in order to divide them into three groups. In retrospect, this was probably not the best way to split the class because some students were more of a behavior problem when working with particular students. In the future, I would assign the groups before class, considering which students worked well together and which ones did not.

Catherine B. led the calendar/clock center in which she demonstrated a water clock that we created. She also encouraged students to compare the calendar and clock that we use today to those of the ancient Egyptians. In talking with her after the lesson, she said that aside from a few behavior problems, the students were fascinated by the water clock and very attentive.

I was in charge of the papyrus center. At this center I taught a mini-lesson about how the ancient Egyptians made paper using a modified version of the direct instruction model . I introduced the lesson by asking the students to think about the different things that we use paper for today. I also read a short passage from a book about papyrus and showed students the word "papyrus" so that they could see where we get the word "paper." I then demonstrated the steps in creating papyrus using strips of construction paper. After reviewing these steps, I passed out construction paper to the students and went through the steps with them. I would have liked to have more differentiation between the guided and independent practice steps, but because we were working in centers, time was definitely an issue. I do think that the repetition of the steps helped the students remember them, however. Also, the model seemed ineffective for some of the students because they did not actually create anything. It would have been nice if we could have designed a model that allowed them to produce papyrus in a short amount of time. Our method did seem to be a good alternative. To conclude this mini-lesson, I asked students to compare papyrus to the paper we use today. They were able to make very insightful observations that demonstrated an ample understanding of the topic. The students commented on the differences in texture, uses, steps of production, and color which I found to be comprehensive.

Aside from the problems with grouping, I thought that the centers worked very well. The students seemed to do a good job of self-regulating at the hieroglyphics station and didn't have any trouble completing the worksheets. They also enjoyed decoding the joke we gave them ("Why did the mummy go to the doctor? He was coffin.") and seemed to make the connection between hieroglyphics and our written language. Although we debriefed at the end of the centers, I wish that we had had more time to draw the connection between ancient Egyptian inventions and our lives today. It would have been helpful to create a Venn Diagram or perform some other writing activity. Unfortunately, time was an issue (as always) and we were unable to do these things.

Lesson #2 - Pyramids

For this lesson, we wanted to use the concept attainment model to introduce pyramids. We were nervous to use this model with second graders so we modified it slightly to make it more accessible for young children. We described it as a "game" in which the students would guess the "mystery word." This tactic seemed to make the students excited and curious about the objects that we showed them. Catherine B. and I carefully selected "clues" and "non-clues" that were kid-friendly and tangible to help the students remember the characteristics pyramids.

We set up a table in front of the class while the student sat on the ground. We showed them sets of "clues" and "non-clues" and asked them to make guesses about the "mystery word." The students made several good guesses and were able to eliminate options that no longer fit when they were given more information. After they guessed "pyramids," we reviewed the different clues and discussed how they related to pyramids. The students were particularly interested in the maze that we used to illustrate secret passageways. During this discussion we also looked at some pictures of pyramids in books and discussed the different types. The students were able to draw on their observations in the group activity from the day before to talk more about the features of pyramids. Finally, Catherine B. showed two examples of pictures of present day pyramids (a house and the Louvre). The students were fascinated by these pictures and seemed surprised that pyramids were still used in architecture today. I wish that we could have focused more on this connection between past and present but unfortunately we did not have time.

After this discussion, we introduced the pyramid craft to the students. I had found a pyramid template that I photocopied onto cardstock so that the students could construct their own pyramids, incorporating some of the features that we had discussed. I also cut out the templates before the class so that we would not have to waste class time doing this. This preparation definitely allowed the students more time to decorate their pyramids. After showing an example pyramid and explaining the instructions twice, we let the students work independently with their pyramids. We also provided a worksheet with the hieroglyphic alphabet for each group of desks so that the students could use accurate symbols. As they constructed their pyramids, the students demonstrated a good understanding of what the pyramids looked like and what they had inside. When they finished their pyramid, each student was instructed to place it on the class map of ancient Egypt (a large posterboard with the Nile River drawn on it).

In retrospect, I think that we could have made the craft instructions a little more explicit. Mr. F. noted that we could have numbered the pyramid template to instruct students how to fold it. I also wish that I had written the instructions on a posterboard so that the students could refer to it while they were working. Finally, I'm glad that I created an example pyramid before the lesson because it helped me anticipate some of the problems that the students might run into (cutting, folding, using tape instead of glue). Although I was hesitant to use this craft idea (it seemed as though it could have been largely meaningless), I felt that we tweaked it enough so that the students were really able to show what they knew about pyramids. We tried to shift the focus of the activity from the actual construction of the pyramid to what it looked like and what was inside. By making these adjustments, I think we created a purposeful activity that was both fun and a good form of assessment.

I think that this lesson was successful because the students clearly learned a lot about pyramids. I was also pleasantly surprised at how well the concept attainment model worked. The only thing that I would change would be more explicit instructions; I'm learning that you can never be too clear when dealing with second graders!

Lesson #1 - Introduction to Ancient Egypt

We designed this lesson to introduce ancient Egypt to the class and familiarize them with some of the important terms and ideas that we would be addressing in the unit. Also, our pre-assessment indicated that many students did not know much about the geography of ancient Egypt so we wanted to discuss how its location affected climate and daily life. We began the lesson by reading aloud Tomie dePaola's Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile. This was one of the only fiction books that we found about ancient Egypt that was interesting, age-appropriate, and still contained some information. Through the read-aloud we were able to highlight several important topics (the Nile, mummies, pyramids, the sphinx, etc.).

Following the read aloud, I provided some geography instruction. During this portion of the lesson, we wanted to encourage the students to think about Egypt's location in relation to Charlottesville. I had students come to the front of the classroom to place a large star on Charlottesville and Egypt on a world map. We then distributed smaller maps and star stickers to the students so that they could also label these locations individually. There was some chaos during this time because the students were sitting on the floor and fought over what color stickers they should use. As they labeled their maps, we asked the students to compare the locations of Egypt and Charlottesville and think about how this might make the weather and climate different.

After labeling these two areas, the students returned to their seats to finish labeling the map of Egypt. We presented it as if they were flying from Charlottesville, across the ocean, and hovering above Egypt. The students seemed to like this illustration and it helped them visualize the map in more concrete terms. We asked them to remember some of the features of a map (title, river, etc.) and think about some of the places that Bill and Pete had visited in the story. The students were able to remember the Nile, but needed some prompting to remember the Sahara Desert. We also placed word keys on each group of desks so that students would not have trouble spelling any of the features they labeled. This exercise went well in that it familiarized the students with some of the important land forms, but I was still left wondering if there is a more effective way to teach geography to second graders. I also wish that this class had a stronger background in geography, latitude, longitude, etc.

Our final activity involved cooperative learning groups looking at a picture of Egypt and making observations. I was the most nervous about this portion of the lesson because it had the potential to be very chaotic. Because of these concerns, Catherine and I tried to be as explicit as possible in designing the instructions and worksheets for this activity. We cut out colored cards that indicated each student's job and made a key for the front of the room in case the students forgot what their color represented. We also made heavily scaffolded worksheets to help direct the students' thinking. Finally, we went over the directions twice to make sure that there was no confusion. This activity seemed to work well because all of the students were involved and felt like they had a special job. They made good observations and inferences based on the picture and demonstrated higher level thinking. This was a good way to use a visual to talk about different features in Egypt (climate, plants, buildings).

Overall, I was very pleased with this lesson. Although we were short on time, I still felt as though we accomplished all of our goals. In the future, I might cut out the story at the beginning if time was more of an issue. I think that it would have been more beneficial to spend more time looking at the picture, especially after we spent so much time setting up the activity.

Field Visit #3

The focus of this field visit was administering the pretest for our unit. Catherine B. and I worked to create a pretest that Incorporated a variety of different questions (both selected response and constructed response) and touched on several important ideas about ancient Egypt. We wanted to get an idea of what the students knew specifically (key terms, etc.) as well as their general knowledge (what daily life was like). We also included an interest survey to gauge what the students would be interested in learning. From the results of the pretest, we discovered that the students didn't know several key ideas about ancient Egypt but seemed to have a good grasp on pyramids and weather. The interest survey indicated that most students would like to learn more about mummies and pyramids. As we begin to plan our unit, these results will help inform our instruction, making sure that we touch on things that the students are interested in and that they need to learn.

The actual administration of the pretest went smoothly. After passing out the tests to each student, we read the questions aloud one by one allowing the students time to answer. Although we had not originally planned to administer the test orally, we soon discovered that this would be an effective way to accommodate for the below average readers in the class. For second graders, this seemed to be a particularly efficient way to use multiple choice questions. After the pretest, the students resumed their regular reading activities and several students that had been in pull-out programs returned to the class.

I took the students who had been in pull-out programs into the hall so that they could take the pretest. These four students are notorious for being troublemakers. I found their behavior in the hall difficult to handle (to say the least): they wouldn't sit still, insisted on going into the classroom to sharpen pencils that they had intentionally broken, and refused to focus on the pretest. I think that they thought they could take advantage of me because I wasn't their real teacher. Finally, after trying to get them to settle down nicely, I started being very firm. I told them that unless they completed the pretest, they would not be able to participate in the activities we were planning for the unit and separated them into different areas of the hall. I also only paid attention to the students who were on task. These measures seemed to help and showed me the importance of being stern with students who are misbehaving. It also helped me understand what Mr. F. experiences on a daily basis. I would be so frustrated if I were in his position. I'm not sure what you can do when you have several students that are consistently misbehaving--especially when you have already established rules and routines. I wish that Curry would offer some sort of class on behavior management; I think that is the one area in which I feel the most ill-equipped.

I felt that this field visit was productive because we were able to use the time administer our pretest and gather information that will help us prepare for teaching our unit. On a more personal level, I began to think about what discipline and behavior management should look like in the classroom, specifically one that has several troublemakers.