| Observations | Reflections |
| Today I paid attention to my mentor teacher’s lesson plan structures in the science class. I am impressed with how detailed and intentional they are. | |
| 1. She asked questions about what students remembered from last class. | I like how this method engages students to be involved in their own learning and have to stretch their minds to remember the previous week. It also brings them to understand how today’s lesson connects to that of the previous week. |
| 2. They watched a video introducing the topic. | I notice that students pay better attention when the teaching style changes throughout the class, and I see that they enjoy watching videos. I think this is because it is associated with leisure as they watch movies or YouTube at home, and the visuals on the screen are fast and captivating. It aligns with the concept in EDUC 310 of teaching to engage all types of students. Students with various strengths, stretches, disorders, and disabilities will be able to connect to content in differing ways. Because of this, it is good to teach with many styles so that all students’ needs will be reached. |
| 3. She asked students what they saw in the video | This is good because it requires students analyze the video. The information is not only heard, but it is processed on a deeper level that is more memorable. Simply seeing the video and moving on has a higher chance of being forgotten. |
| 4. She extended the information by telling wild facts about the topic–like how many times a person’s veins can wrap around the earth. | This increases memory by attaching emotion and excitement to the topic. Surprising facts are fun and make the class more enjoyable to be a part of. |
| 5. She showed a “Brain Pop” video about another aspect of the topic. | This class loves Brain Pops. They’re videos with a little robot talking to his friend about the subject they are learning. I like how the teacher notices what excites her students and uses that to engage them with lessons in the future. She knows that students are more likely to listen and laugh, having an emotional, memorable connection to the content, if she plays these videos. |
| 6. They used a visualization technique with their hands so they could see how large their hearts are. | Again, the teacher uses many learning styles to make content acessible to all students. Additionally, this connects their learning to their own lives. “Hearts” become less of an abstract concept because they can imagine their own hearts and what they might look like in their bodies. |
| 7. They took another closer look at the heart with a second Brain Pop. | |
| 8. She rewinded the video to a certain section to talk about it deeper and ensure understanding. She asked the class if anyone knew someone with heart problems then discussed how those can work in several stages. | This also connects it to students’ lives. It is not only seeing how it relates to their bodies, but to their families and stories. It helps them understand something painful that is happening to a family member at a deeper level. It additionally builds the connection between students and the teacher as they get to talk about their home lives with each other. This is good because, as Mr. B said, it is important to build relationships. Learning class content is not the only objective of schooling. |
| 9. Students filled out a diagram of the parts of the heart. She got them to take deep breaths to act out part of the heart diagram and explained what was happening there. | Writing helps students who gain from written processing. Also, a significant portion of this class struggles with spelling. This simple activity helps them practice that as they are copying text from the slideshow and copying it onto their worksheets. Taking deep breaths to feel how the heart works helps them understand where air goes and how it impacts their body. |
| 10. They have life-sized paper outlines that classmates traced of their bodies. Over the past weeks, they have been gluing organs and bones to the paper and labelling them in the hallway. | This is amazing! I thought this was such a cool idea because they are putting the organs into their own bodies. They will see what their learning looks like in themselves, and they see how the organ systems work together by seeing how they sit on top of or beside each other in the body. When they drew veins, they also saw how they had to go through or around also parts. It wasn’t just a straight line. |
| 11. Students who finished early got an extending assignment. They filled out crossword puzzles and wordsearches about parts of the heart. | This is great, considering that many students are behind. Students who are ahead will not feel bored or like they are not receiving the attention they need. It can be easy to focus on the loud or struggling students because they need special attention, but then the more successful ones are forgotten. Providing bonus activities or extending assignments gives something to these students to fill their time with. Not having this assignment might also make a teacher feel scattered. I can see them feeling pulled back and forth between students who are way behind and students who are ahead asking questions and calling for attention. A worksheet occupies the ahead students so the teacher doesn’t have to respond to a bunch of “I’m done what do I do now?” comments. |
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