Direct Instruction: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition!
Date: November 5, 2014
Lesson Plan Reflection By: Meaghan Brenna Foley
On my first day of teaching, I taught direct instruction with my two partners, Nick and Gina. My partner, Nick, began with the introduction. He activated the students' prior knowledge of factories and set the stage for the development. He introduced two videos of factories to give the students a visual representation of what a factory looks like. The first video was about a crayon factory. The second video was about an ice cream factory. In my opinion, the students' benefited from being presented with these two videos about factories. Following the videos, Nick asked the students about what they saw in the videos (i.e., what goods were being made, who were making the goods, etc…). These questions helped the students make assumptions about the producers and goods within a factory. The students also were given the opportunity to make text-to-text connections when asked about "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." The students displayed a solid understanding of factories by replying that chocolate was the good being produced in the factory.
It was my job to take charge of the development phase of direct instruction. I taught the students about the basic factory terminology. I began by telling the students that a factory is a building where people produce goods. To help develop their memorization skills, I immediately followed up with a symbol for a factory. I told the students to watch me and repeat the following gesture (i.e., hands on your head). For producers, the students had to put their hands together. For goods, the students had to rub their tummy. For consumers, the students had to put their palms up. I think my incorporation of symbols definitely contributed to the students' overall success during independent practice. I believe that my modeling of the symbols helped actively engage the students in powerful social studies learning. I utilized a PowerPoint presentation with visual images to coincide with the symbols taught to the students. One thing I found to be difficult for the students was when I taught them about the factory process of making cotton. I think I could have modified, or eliminated, that part to better fit the students' grade level. I overestimated their capabilities and realize that I should have mainly focused on repeating the four main factory terms (i.e., factory, producer, goods, and consumer). After my first day of teaching, I can now proudly say that I firmly understand that repetition is key! This is especially true during the development phase of a direct instruction lesson plan.
It was my job to take charge of the development phase of direct instruction. I taught the students about the basic factory terminology. I began by telling the students that a factory is a building where people produce goods. To help develop their memorization skills, I immediately followed up with a symbol for a factory. I told the students to watch me and repeat the following gesture (i.e., hands on your head). For producers, the students had to put their hands together. For goods, the students had to rub their tummy. For consumers, the students had to put their palms up. I think my incorporation of symbols definitely contributed to the students' overall success during independent practice. I believe that my modeling of the symbols helped actively engage the students in powerful social studies learning. I utilized a PowerPoint presentation with visual images to coincide with the symbols taught to the students. One thing I found to be difficult for the students was when I taught them about the factory process of making cotton. I think I could have modified, or eliminated, that part to better fit the students' grade level. I overestimated their capabilities and realize that I should have mainly focused on repeating the four main factory terms (i.e., factory, producer, goods, and consumer). After my first day of teaching, I can now proudly say that I firmly understand that repetition is key! This is especially true during the development phase of a direct instruction lesson plan.
During guided practice, my partners and I intended to utilize the Smart Board games of Vortex and Tic Tac Toe. However, the technology did not cooperate and was malfunctioning. It was a good thing then that we had a backup plan. With the help of our college classmates, we had the students play the vortex game manually. Their task was to put the correct term in either the consumer vortex or the producer vortex. If they put the term in the incorrect vortex, it would "spit it out." The students responded well to this activity and everything went smoothly into the next activity. For the tic tac toe activity, we split the class in half (boys versus girls). After a flip of a coin, it was decided that the girls would go first. I drew the graphic and its elements on the whiteboard. Nick asked the students questions about producers and consumers. The first group to get three in a row (i.e., the girls) won. After Gina led the class in a brief review of the factory terminology, I introduced the students to third guided practice activity. The students had to label the five steps of the cotton cycle process, introduced during the development. Although some students could recall this knowledge, others had some difficulty with this task. It is for that reason that I believe this activity was once again too complex for the second graders. In the future, I would eliminate this third activity. This would have saved time for additional review of the basic factory terminology.
Due to limited time, my partners and I engaged the students in a brief review of the elements of a factory during the closure part of the lesson. I learned that students learn best when they receive positive reinforcement, so I made sure to congratulate the students by saying, "good job, boys and girls!" Even when they guessed incorrectly, the teacher should always make sure to motivate their students' to keep trying their best. Our independent practice went well. The students were told to write 1-2 brief sentences for each factory term (i.e., factory, producer, goods, consumer, and factory process). I found that the students had no trouble with terms 1-4. However, some of the students had trouble recalling the steps of the factory process. Next time, I would make this worksheet either multiple choice or fill in the blank with a word bank. In my opinion, younger students need less complex tasks when introduced with a new topic (i.e., direct instruction).
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