Lesson 2 reflection Education 466

Malea Vitt & Katrina Cronin

Entry #2

September 24, 2021

Experience Narrative:

Friday was our second day of Service Learning teaching at Lopez Elementary. We taught our rotation Week 2 class, which has 20 students in total. Each student had different personalities and ways that they interacted with us, which led us to know them better and how to better assist them in the creative process going forward. In this class we introduced the first lesson making sketches for their final expressive self portraits. There were some minor issues that arose during this lesson, which will be important to keep in mind during our second lesson with this group. One issue was a couple of students needed more support than others, whether in the ideation process or just constant checking in to get them back on track for the assignment. The insight I gained is that some students will always need more guidance or get distracted easily, it only takes a couple of seconds and a small conversation to get them back on track, which can keep them from disrupting other students at their tables from their work.

What Worked Well / Interpretation/Content Meaning:

This was a student group that I had already met and interacted with, so I already knew from observation some of the students' styles and how to help them ideate which made me feel more competent helping them. In some ways the students were more forward in communication with us, as it was easier for me to focus on them and be more confident, however the communication during the beginning of class was slower and as a result we spent more time on that area. Mrs.Burnham gave us some great tips after class on how to help get the conversation started without giving them the answer. I think by implementing some of those conversation techniques like further probing, and defining terms right away will help the students create a stronger understanding of the material up front.

What Did Not Work / Personal Significance:

Some of the students needed a little bit more motivation one on one, combined with the fact that we spent more time on the discussion section with the group of students it was very clear why differentiation matters in lessons as some students were done much faster than others on certain sections. I was glad we had plans in place for this, but since the kids who were naturally going slower needed more help I was concerned they would not be where the other kids were by the time of their lesson 2. Given this it made me rethink some of the guidelines on what their final lesson two needs to be given where some students were able to finish. Moral of the story is, I learned that differentiation is key to the success of all types of learners as it allows them to do what they need to do at a pace that works for them.

Future Actions: In the future, I will work more on motivating/ ideation activities for students who need a little bit of help and come up with some other differentiation ideas that could benefit them, such as ideation words for a project like this to keep them on track. This lesson was much easier than our previous lesson as I had some ideas on ability, but this lesson helped me work one on one with them in a student/teacher capacity rather than a third party observer- and therefore I learned more about how they think, learn, and discuss art. Now that I have done this it has made it very clear what sections of my lessons need to be developed a little bit differently to meet their needs. My goal for these students it to allow them to express themselves and discuss their expressions in a learning environment that is suited to their individual needs.