Collaborating Teacher Observation 1: Reflection
- mmaloni
- Oct 21, 2016
- 3 min read
For my CT observation I continued with a Morning Meeting. I chose to do a group activity with a beach ball that had questions on it to ask the students. All the questions had to do with past lessons or topics the class had gone over. For example, one of the questions asked was, "Who was Harriet Tubman?" and my CT just did a lesson about her last week. I had the class make a circle and toss the beach ball around and what ever question their right thumb landed on/close to would be the question they answered out loud.
I feel that I successfully achieved the lesson objectives because all the students were answering the questions and were engaged. Also, if some students got stuck on a question I would ask one of their classmates to help them out. There was posters around the room about the questions I had on the beach ball so the students even referred back to them if they could't remember. I felt like the class was having a fun time while reviewing and that's what I wanted to get out of this Morning Meeting.
This activity seemed to really work when I did it with the students. They were all really excited and very engaged the whole time. I really liked how the students didn't rush someone to answer their question when they had the beach ball and they would help their classmates out if they needed it. The students also tossed the beach ball very gently liked I asked and modeled to them before we started. If I were to teach this Morning Meeting group activity to the same class again I would put more questions on the beach ball. I did add 3 digit math numbers around the beach ball to ask the students questions about those but I would want more review questions for next time. When we got through all the questions on the ball I had to start adding more to the question that was being asked. For example, one of the questions was, "What is a fiction book?" and if the class already answered that one I would just add on saying, "What is your favorite fiction book you have read?" I didn't want the students to have to answer the same question over and over again so that's why I asked something new but it still related to that topic. So next time for sure I would have a lot more questions written on the beach ball so that the student won't keep landing on the same ones.
Based on the student learning of the objectives, my next steps would be to have them do more fun activities when reviewing lessons and topic. This group activity seemed to get all of the students involved and working with one another. Even some students that are below reading level and struggle every day in class wanted to answer the questions. So seeing that all of the students wanted to participate was a really good sign and that this activities are a good thing to do. The activities don't even have to be for review, there can be tons of fun lessons plans that I can do that will have all the students learn but have fun at the same time.
When looking back over this observation cycle I am discovering that I really want the students to enjoy the lessons and have a fun time learning them. Also, that my teaching is more centered around the students. I want to see them asking questions and helping one another out. Having the students do hands-on activities and letting them move around is very important. I don't want to be a teacher that speaks through a whole lesson. I want to have the students work with their peers and solve problems on their own and with one another. Also, I noticed that I didn't take over this beach ball activity. I wanted the students to work as a group but I was there to help them if they needed if or to clarify anything to them. Overall, this observation cycle went really well and I think the class really enjoyed this group activity.
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