Life in New Spain

We finally made it to the last 3 lessons! Group 4 taught their direct instruction lesson on Thursday on Life in New Spain. This was such an interesting topic. I loved learning about Life in New Spain myself. My colleagues who taught this lesson were Olivia Green, Amanda Almodovar, Cierra Torres, and Ganny Kim. To start out the direct instruction lesson they introduced a "LEARN" poster. The LEARN poster was introduced to the students to accompany the captains vs explorers game. The students were told if they had more points than the teachers by the end of the lesson, they would get a prize. I really loved this idea because it kept the students motivated through the whole lesson. Each student was provided with an explorer folder. Inside the explorer folder was everything that the students would need for the lesson. I really loved the idea of the explorer folder because it wasn't time-consuming. The teachers didn't have to pass out papers. The teachers also introduced fireworks. Every time the key term were underlined the teachers along with the students would act out the fireworks motion. I think the students enjoyed this. Throughout the lesson, there was a lot of turn and talk opportunities for the students. For example, the students were told to turn and talk about "Why the conquistadors needed gold?" I like the turn and talk method because it allows the students to share ideas with each other, and have them check with each other for a correct answer. The teachers also enforced thumbs up if you agree👍, thumbs down if you disagree 👎. There was a lot of information for the students to retain. Amanda, Ganny, Olivia, and Cierra did a wonderful job. Each teacher was enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and engaging.  Throughout the lesson, the students were copying down main points and key terms. The only thing I wish they did differently was have the students write less. Having the students write less would allow time for the guided practice. I can really tell each teacher worked very hard on the lesson. I know what it feels like to run out of time and rush a lesson. The teachers handled this very well and skipped to the independent practice. I think group 4 did a wonderful job and I truly enjoyed watching their direct instruction lesson. I can't wait to see inquiry and cooperative learning! Great job ladies💗!

Different Worlds Collide

This past week group 3 taught about Different Worlds Collide. Group 3 did a wonderful job. Kristen, Angie, and Cassandra created 3 different engaging lessons. The first thing I love about their lesson was the "Teachers vs Students" game. This was a game where the students strived to do well and follow rules and beat the teachers. If they beat the teachers, in the end, they got a prize. (The students wound up beating the teachers), Surprise! This game keeps the students on task, engaged, and follow directions.

They started their lesson with a short greeting and a blank timeline. I think the timeline was a great idea to keep the class on task. The students were really thinking about what they learned in the past lesson, which was the lesson my group & I taught. The class was introduced to multiple key terms. Some of the key terms that I remember were conquistadors, Tenochtitlan, New Spain, Colonist, and a few more that I don't remember off the top of my head. The teachers gave the students an important list of key terms and had them fill out the definition of each term. The teachers set up this game to check the understanding of the students. The game was a review for the Spanish clothing and Aztec 

clothing. This was a great way to have the students participating and active during the lesson. I loved one of their activities during guided practice. The teachers provided each group with a whiteboard. They put the definition on the board and each group held up the key term that accompanied the definition. The students held up the whiteboard to check their understanding. I loved the closure of the lesson! The teachers created a stop light poster. They explained what the stop light poster was. The teachers passed out a yellow, green, or a red post-it depending on what the student requested.  Yellow meant I kind of understand, Red meant I need more help learning, and green for I totally understand the material. Depending on how secure they felt from the lesson they placed their post it on the stoplight. I think this was a great idea to see what the students learned & didn't learn from the lesson. Overall Group 3 did a wonderful job! They should be proud of themselves for being so creative and hardworking!

Second Day of Teaching!

Today my group and I taught our inquiry lesson and cooperative learning! Between planning cooperative learning, and inquiry lessons, and creating activities, to say the least, this has been the most stressful week in my life. I am aware that being a teacher is going to put me in a challenge sometimes, but trying to juggle creating lessons, along with 5 other courses wasn't easy. Let's just say I fell behind in a few of my other classes. My group and I worked on these lessons for a week straight after we were finished working on direct instruction. We worked together in the library from 7pm- 12/1am. I am so happy with the work my group and I put into these lessons. We work so well together, between sharing ideas and putting those ideas to the lessons. I wouldn't have wanted to spend that much time with anyone else. Thursday came along and we taught inquiry and cooperative learning lessons. Both of our lessons were lengthy. Before we began we were nervous that we weren't going to have enough time to complete cooperative learning. 

We began our lesson by reviewing what we taught in our direct instruction lesson. After that, we began our inquiry lesson. The inquiry lesson was interesting. The inquiry lesson method is different than direct instruction. It involves the students using the information they learned in the previous lesson and conduct an investigation. This promotes independence and the use of the scientific method. The lesson was like a story. The students had to help Columbus fund his "5th voyage". We told the students to come up with a hypothesis for a statement given to help persuade the king and queen to fund Columbus again. I wish we would have done this differently because some of the students didn't take the hypothesis seriously, and they created a silly one. We split the students into 4 different groups. The inquiry lesson was more like a "treasure" hunt. We began by telling the students to check under their desks for a map and letter from Christopher Columbus asking them to help him fund his 5th voyage to the America's. The students were excited when we told them to look under their desk. After they found the map and note the students had to work on the first task given by Columbus. The first task was to find the countries that Columbus gave the coordinates to. The 2 important countries found was Spain and America. The students seemed to enjoy this part of the lesson. The lesson continued and the students continued to receive letters from Columbus if they got the previous answer correct. The inquiry lesson ended with the students having to decode a thank you letter from Columbus using key terms. 

After the inquiry lesson we transitioned into cooperative learning... keep in mind we only had 13 minutes to teach and have the students present our cooperative learning lesson. Cooperative learning is when students work together to and create a group project that they will present and reflect on. Collaboration in the classroom is extremely important. It allows students to build on social skills and engages students. Each student had their own role in our cooperative learning lesson. They assigned to be a scribe, illustrator, volume controller, facilitator, grammar checker, and keeping your group members on task. Each teacher was assigned a group and our job was to watch over the group and make sure they were doing the right thing and keeping on task. The cooperative learning lesson consisted of the students creating a poem based off the topic given. Each group had a different topic from the direction instruction information taught in the previous lesson. I felt as if we were rushing the students to complete the task, but that was because was only had 5 minutes to have the students share what they worked on. I don't think that we should have planned differently because there was just not enough time for cooperative learning and inquiry in one hour. It was impossible. We were on such a tight time limit. My group and I were so stressed because we worked so hard on the lessons and they didn't go as planned because of time. I understand that no teacher, lesson, or class is perfect but this was upsetting to us because we put our all into these 2 lessons.

I am forever greatful to have been placed in the group One Happy Globe. We worked so well together and I think we came up with 3 wonderful lessons. We've became so close from spending so many hours in the library together for 2 weeks straight. I wouldn't have wanted to learn, and teach without any of these girls! I am excited to watch the last two groups teach next week & the week after!

One Happy Globe Teaching!

One Happy Globe

For a week straight my group has been meeting in the library twice a day from 3-5 and then from 7-12 am to prepare for our Direct Instruction lesson we taught today. All this preparation leading up to one hour of teaching. I was so nervous before the lesson today because I thought I would forget to teach some important information! Luckily, from my point of view, the lesson went smoothly and great. I am so proud of myself and my group members #OneHappyGlobe.I truly know what teamwork is after experiencing lesson planning with these ladies. Teaching today came so naturally. I love how we taught the day after Columbus Day! It was so suiting! I believe the 5th-grade class enjoyed our lesson today. We taught the students about Christopher Columbus, The Columbian Exchange, and other explorers such as Amerigo Vespucci.We created a Christopher Columbus web with the students, and a Columbian Exchange interactive activity on a poster board. Towards the end of the lesson, we passed out an exit ticket. This was our independent practice. We were able to see what the students understood and learned by the results of the exit ticket. Some students didn't pay attention to us. We know that because they wrote the wrong answers on their independent practice. I am not sure if the 5th grade sees us as  "real teachers". During the Columbian Exchange, the students came up and placed the items where they thought they belonged. I think we should have done that faster and made sure every student had a turn. For the Columbus web, I think we should have had the students discuss with their tables, and send one member from up to write an answer down. From the video of my group teaching, I noticed that I say "so" a lot. For the future, I will work on not starting every sentence with "so". My group members need to work on not saying "guys". That is something major that stuck out to me while watching us teaching. Overall, the 5th grade was engaged, participating, and active during our lesson. The students were very helpful when teaching our lesson. They excelled with answering our questions when we asked to make sure they understood the content we were teaching. I think the students enjoyed the video, it was a little cheesy but still educational and informational. Something that stuck out to me and that my colleagues told me, was that they loved the rules poster. We came up with the idea of rules and having a rules poster. We stated the rules to the 5th grade & hoped that they would follow to stay in boundaries and stay focused. I thought it was important that we told the students rules because from the first lesson it seemed as if they had rules they would have had less trouble controlling the students. There were a few things we could have done differently now that the lesson has been taught. I am excited to teach Cooperative Learning & the Inquiry lesson on Thursday! 

Group 1 Fieldwork

This week group 1 kickstarted teaching to the 5th grade! Overall group 1 did great! I can't imagine how nerve wrecking it would be to teach first. I give Marie and Aimee a lot of props for going first and doing well. The students in the 5th grade seem to be a great class together. They are so intelligent! The students know a lot about the topic we are going to be teaching them (this makes our job a tad bit easier)! From what I saw, Marie is going to be a wonderful teacher. She is so encouraging, has a great, loud tone to her voice, and is very gentle with the children. Aimee has multiple good qualities as well. She is caring and uses great eye contact. Marie and Aimee taught about latitute and longitude. Their inquiry lesson included a lot of  The students question what the teacher says, that’s what I meant by they are so intelligent! Both teachers were well prepared with their replies quickly. During their lesson when students wouldn’t cooperate they would use a little line that said “1,2,3 eyes on me”.  I really liked that and thought it was cute. I am nervous yet excited to teach next week! Creating 3 different lesson plans have defiantly been a challenge! I am tired, and sleep deprived but I am so happy with the group I am in. We really are becoming a family. I think that we all will thank Dr. Smirnova in the long run for these long, endless nights in the library working on our 3 lesson plans! GREAT JOB GROUP 1! You set a wonderful example for the rest of us to follow!

Class Notes

During Fieldwork
Day 1- direct instruction
Day 2- half inquiry/ half cooperative learning

read edTPA materials
Task 1A completed before student teaching, learning context.


Questions we could ask students...

• Where have you explored to?
• What oceans have you've traveled to/ in?
• Would you call yourself an explorer? 
• Have you ever been on a boat?

Pre-assessment questions

When is Columbus Day this year? October 9 / or the second Monday of October
Why did he decide to voyage? he thought he might find an easier and shorter route to India.
What year did he start his voyage on the ocean blue? 1492
Did he think the world was round or flat? He thought the world was flat.
Name 1 of the 3 ships on his voyage? Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria
Did he have one voyage or multiple voyages? Multiple, 4 voyages.
Where did Columbus end up after his expedition? America