December 5, 2013
Gretchen's Lesson Plan
Big Idea - Color
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A Brief Overview
Reflections
6
Gretchen continued to have a bubbly, energetic presence throughout the lesson, which individuals at the elementary level would have eaten up. She was caring to everyone yet extremely assertive. She traveled through the lesson at an uncomfortable pace, however she was supplying us with a lot of background knowledge. The fact that she created exciting, interactive ways to present her information created an exciting learning environment.
7
Creating these interesting methods of teaching also engaged the students. I was surprised that Gretchen was able to cover so much information in such a short time and still have enough time for an activity and a closing critique. Her time management skills were impressive, in that she was able to keep the lesson moving along and on time. I also noticed that she created little ways to incorporate aspects of popular culture. Even subtle additions like making a computer say words like a robot, or trying to. Little things, like mentioning robots, will catch a student's ear and they will listen, even if it is only for a moment. Because she had so many little things that helped explain the bigger ideas, her lesson was constantly engaging.
8
The concepts were fantastic, in that they both built right off of Emily's lesson and were explored in depth. She supplied the class with great visuals and incorporated aspects of the lesson, like the fact that the artist listened to classical music, in to the activity. Likewise, Gretchen did not just tell the class that the painting done by Kandinsky was about a song and that the song was classical. She played the song for us, so we were able to understand what the artist was hearing and compare that to our own opinion. While the song was playing, she even explain what she was thinking about the painting. The way she presented the concepts and ideas in her lesson really allowed the class to experience them on a personal level and even on multiple levels. Not only did she present the information in different ways, in doing so, she was able to get us to use our different senses, which she should have mentioned.
9
Although Gretchen's lesson was well thought out and conceptually successful, her big idea was technically not a big idea. Color could possibly be a big idea, however it was not addressed as a big idea in the lesson. That is, it was not addressed as a human issue of lasting importance. The concepts, however were excellent. She was able to integrate Emily's lesson and the book to an artist with the same instance. It would have been easy to create a big idea relating to the issue within both lessons, perhaps difference or identity. It was great as well for Gretchen to have multiple examples, exercises, and methods of teaching her concepts as well. She did not just read off a slide. She grabbed students from all over the room and got them to physically interact with the lesson. She wrote on the board, and even had talking robots aid her in her lesson, or attempted to. Even within her slideshow, she showed maps and supplementary information. She found creative ways to instruct her lesson. The only thing is that with all of the creative methods and information provided, there might have been too much information for such a young age. The lesson was moving extremely fast, and if she were to add a proper big idea that dealt with a human issue, there would be no way to get everything in, or the concepts would not have been properly explored.
Gretchen continued to have a bubbly, energetic presence throughout the lesson, which individuals at the elementary level would have eaten up. She was caring to everyone yet extremely assertive. She traveled through the lesson at an uncomfortable pace, however she was supplying us with a lot of background knowledge. The fact that she created exciting, interactive ways to present her information created an exciting learning environment.
7
Creating these interesting methods of teaching also engaged the students. I was surprised that Gretchen was able to cover so much information in such a short time and still have enough time for an activity and a closing critique. Her time management skills were impressive, in that she was able to keep the lesson moving along and on time. I also noticed that she created little ways to incorporate aspects of popular culture. Even subtle additions like making a computer say words like a robot, or trying to. Little things, like mentioning robots, will catch a student's ear and they will listen, even if it is only for a moment. Because she had so many little things that helped explain the bigger ideas, her lesson was constantly engaging.
8
The concepts were fantastic, in that they both built right off of Emily's lesson and were explored in depth. She supplied the class with great visuals and incorporated aspects of the lesson, like the fact that the artist listened to classical music, in to the activity. Likewise, Gretchen did not just tell the class that the painting done by Kandinsky was about a song and that the song was classical. She played the song for us, so we were able to understand what the artist was hearing and compare that to our own opinion. While the song was playing, she even explain what she was thinking about the painting. The way she presented the concepts and ideas in her lesson really allowed the class to experience them on a personal level and even on multiple levels. Not only did she present the information in different ways, in doing so, she was able to get us to use our different senses, which she should have mentioned.
9
Although Gretchen's lesson was well thought out and conceptually successful, her big idea was technically not a big idea. Color could possibly be a big idea, however it was not addressed as a big idea in the lesson. That is, it was not addressed as a human issue of lasting importance. The concepts, however were excellent. She was able to integrate Emily's lesson and the book to an artist with the same instance. It would have been easy to create a big idea relating to the issue within both lessons, perhaps difference or identity. It was great as well for Gretchen to have multiple examples, exercises, and methods of teaching her concepts as well. She did not just read off a slide. She grabbed students from all over the room and got them to physically interact with the lesson. She wrote on the board, and even had talking robots aid her in her lesson, or attempted to. Even within her slideshow, she showed maps and supplementary information. She found creative ways to instruct her lesson. The only thing is that with all of the creative methods and information provided, there might have been too much information for such a young age. The lesson was moving extremely fast, and if she were to add a proper big idea that dealt with a human issue, there would be no way to get everything in, or the concepts would not have been properly explored.