My first CEL lesson plan!
Last week I had the opportunity to go to Lakeview Elementary to teach a class of third graders how to use the app ShowMe. Because the following week was the student's spring break, their teacher asked me to incorporate the history of Saint Patrick's Day into my lesson! I had a lot of fun doing research about the history of Saint Patrick's Day and finding different creative ways to present the information to the students!
I structured my lesson by first introducing the students to the topic on the reading carpet. I asked them what they thought of when they heard "St. Patrick's Day." I got a variety of answers ranging from leprechauns to Lucky Charms to Blarney Stone. I loved seeing how excited all the students got to share their answers and thoughts on Saint Patrick's Day. I then proceeded to have the students sit on the carpet while I read them the story "A Fine Saint Patrick's Day." Before I started the story I asked them to look out for some of the things we had just talked about throughout the book. When the story was over, I asked the students what they noticed was in the story that we had talked about before reading it. I think that asking students questions to think about while listening to a story forces them to be active listeners.
When we finished our discussion I had them return to their seats where I had them open NearPod. I did a quick presentation on the history of the holiday and at the end there were questions to check the students comprehension of the material. From here, I explained that we would be using the app ShowMe to create our own stories of the history of Saint Patrick's Day. I went through step by step how to use the app, I had my iPad screen on the projector through a mirroring app on the computer. When the students were finished with their stories I asked for volunteers to come up to the front of the classroom and show their peers their stories. I had them connect their iPad to the projectors so everyone could see their creation. Everyone was so proud of the stories that they created!
During my field experience I was pleasantly surprised by how fast the students were able to pick up how to use ShowMe. I only had to go over how to use all the tools that the app offered once or twice and the students were able to create their own projects easily. I was also really happy with the way I was able to use the computer to have my iPad screen projected at the front of the classroom. This was a great way for me to have the students follow along while I was teaching them how to use the app. The mirroring tool also made it very easy for me to point out what tool I was using in case anyone got confused or didn't know what some of the tool symbols meant. This aspect of my lesson was extremely successful and I will definitely use this mirroring tool in my future lessons.
Before I go in to teach again, I hope to improve the way that I teach information to students. For this lesson I created a NearPod presentation, although this was an interactive presentation I think that I could have made it more engaging and interesting for students. I want to continue to use NearPod in my future lessons, but before I do I want to become more familiar with all of its features that enable collaboration amongst students. I would also like to learn how to make the lessons more colorful and interesting. Although the NearPod I created was not as interesting as I had hoped, students still retained a lot of the information. However, in the future I want to promote collaboration and discussion during lessons instead of me just explaining the material in the front of the classroom.
For my next lesson I hope that I have students more engaged and interacting with their peers. Whether it is working in groups to brainstorm elements for their story or whether they are working together to create something on their iPad, I want there to be more collaboration in the classroom. In the future I also hope to have a better way to end the lesson. Although ending my lesson with the students sharing their creations worked out, I want there to be an activity at the end that is more structured to end the class. Whether this is just sharing what they made with their elbow partner so that every student gets to show someone their work or if it is having students answer a question as their exit ticket, I want there to be better closure for my next lesson.
After teaching last week's lesson about St. Patrick's Day I felt like I had learned a lot about the classroom. I feel like I had the opportunity to practice classroom management which is something I do not have a lot of experience in. I had students raise their thumbs in the air if they for example had the NearPod app open or if they were able to find the background tool on the app ShowMe. Another thing I learned was how to use a mirroring tool on the school computers. This is a great way to share with your class what you are doing on your iPad. It allowed me to show them exactly what I was talking about on the app and they could just look to the front of the classroom to see what I was doing. This is also a great tool to have students share their work with the rest of the class.
With my fist CEL lesson completed, I am excited to continue to find creative, engaging and interactive ways to teach different subjects using new apps! I look forward to creating more lessons in the future!
I structured my lesson by first introducing the students to the topic on the reading carpet. I asked them what they thought of when they heard "St. Patrick's Day." I got a variety of answers ranging from leprechauns to Lucky Charms to Blarney Stone. I loved seeing how excited all the students got to share their answers and thoughts on Saint Patrick's Day. I then proceeded to have the students sit on the carpet while I read them the story "A Fine Saint Patrick's Day." Before I started the story I asked them to look out for some of the things we had just talked about throughout the book. When the story was over, I asked the students what they noticed was in the story that we had talked about before reading it. I think that asking students questions to think about while listening to a story forces them to be active listeners.
When we finished our discussion I had them return to their seats where I had them open NearPod. I did a quick presentation on the history of the holiday and at the end there were questions to check the students comprehension of the material. From here, I explained that we would be using the app ShowMe to create our own stories of the history of Saint Patrick's Day. I went through step by step how to use the app, I had my iPad screen on the projector through a mirroring app on the computer. When the students were finished with their stories I asked for volunteers to come up to the front of the classroom and show their peers their stories. I had them connect their iPad to the projectors so everyone could see their creation. Everyone was so proud of the stories that they created!
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| ShowMe |
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| NearPod |
During my field experience I was pleasantly surprised by how fast the students were able to pick up how to use ShowMe. I only had to go over how to use all the tools that the app offered once or twice and the students were able to create their own projects easily. I was also really happy with the way I was able to use the computer to have my iPad screen projected at the front of the classroom. This was a great way for me to have the students follow along while I was teaching them how to use the app. The mirroring tool also made it very easy for me to point out what tool I was using in case anyone got confused or didn't know what some of the tool symbols meant. This aspect of my lesson was extremely successful and I will definitely use this mirroring tool in my future lessons.
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| White board screen of ShowMe. |
After teaching last week's lesson about St. Patrick's Day I felt like I had learned a lot about the classroom. I feel like I had the opportunity to practice classroom management which is something I do not have a lot of experience in. I had students raise their thumbs in the air if they for example had the NearPod app open or if they were able to find the background tool on the app ShowMe. Another thing I learned was how to use a mirroring tool on the school computers. This is a great way to share with your class what you are doing on your iPad. It allowed me to show them exactly what I was talking about on the app and they could just look to the front of the classroom to see what I was doing. This is also a great tool to have students share their work with the rest of the class.
With my fist CEL lesson completed, I am excited to continue to find creative, engaging and interactive ways to teach different subjects using new apps! I look forward to creating more lessons in the future!
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