As you create your DLU and all the components you need to prepare for (a realistic dose of what your teaching life will be like!), address each of these questions, if you can:
1. How have you made your Unit cohesive? In other words, have you made your unit fluid, do all your lessons go together well, and have you covered your unit well? If you haven't Googled your unit topic to see what practicing teachers included in theirs, do that now!
2. While choosing your three lessons, are you keeping in mind how to make your lessons fun, engaging, and relevant to kids? i.e. Will your kids be "active" and not just passively listening? Explain.
3. In preparing to present your findings, your job is to simply share your Intro, Outline, and Unit Rubric, then to do a mini-teaching of one of your lessons. What are you planning to teach and WHY?
4. Every one of us will be preparing to ask a question relevant to our own interests, so be prepared to respond to these. What is the value in adding this component to your presentations?
5. Share any other thoughts, concerns, questions you have in getting ready to present your DLU! I answered quite a few when I met with most of you this week, but your peers will have additional insights I didn't!
Post by Sunday, Nov. 1 and respond by class time on Thursday, Nov. 5th.
I have made my entire unit flow together by making all three lessons weather related. My first lesson is learning the weather, my second lesson is learning about season and my third lesson is using math while relating it to weather because my students will be counting the number of raindrops they see under an umbrella. During all three lessons my students will be actively involved by doing hands on activities. There will be a lot of arts and crafts to make while learning all about the weather. I am planning to teach the different types of weather and then have the students pick their favorite type. After they pick their favorite type they will get with a partner that also chooses that type of weather and then they will put given materials on their weather type. For example if they pick cloudy, they will get cotton to glue on the cloud to make it look like a real cloud. I picked this to teach because it is interactive and something fun for them to do. The value of adding in answering questions is so that we have a chance to experience answering questions to students like we will have in the real teaching world.
ReplyDeleteCounting the number of raindrops under the umbrella is an awesome idea. What other arts can crafts are you thinking about teaching?
DeleteArts and crafts are a great way for kids to learn and keep their minds active on the task at hand. You really retain info when you use hands on with learning. Great ideas!
DeleteMy lesson flows by starting at small ideas and vocabulary that gradually build to larger concepts and ideas. Each new lesson builds off the previous one, eventually arriving at deeper and more complicated concepts. I plan to keep students engaged by employing differentiated instruction and using techniques such as videos and worksheets. This will encourage students to listen actively in order to participate in discussions and activities. I plan to teach memory recall activities because it is a great way to engage students through fun activities and is a topic that most will find interesting and engaging. By allowing questions to be asked, it forces you to think outside of your own perspective and learn more about challenges you may encounter in the future and use this in the future to improve you lessons. I am worried that I will under-plan and not have enough to fill my time. I am also concerned about not having enough material to keep the students' attention.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that you are very prepared for your lesson. You have everything that you want to accomplish in order. I do not think that you will have a problem filling your time. If you are concerned that you are under-planned for your lesson, have something that you could have the students do or something that you could teach, but that you do not have to teach as a backup for extra time.
DeleteIt looks like you are prepared for your lesson. You have everything you want to do put in order. I do not believe that you will have any trouble keeping the students attention or filling up the time, but if you are concerned come up with a backup activity to do with the class.
DeleteI like that each lesson you have builds off of another one and that you are going to employment differentiated instruction to keep your students focused.
DeleteI have made my unit flow because it covers one specific topic in algebra and I broke it down into three ways to learn this topic. I also know that this unit flows well because as I did my practicum 1 these are three topics my teacher taught and in the same orders to help the children grow on this topic. During my lessons I plan on having the students go up to the board to show their problems and maybe even do competitions of solving these equations. I am planning on teaching the class how determine the slope of the line and then create the line. I wanted to teach this because this is a fun lesson where students gets to arrange the equations then learn to express the equations through a line. By having other students ask important questions will help the presenter learn what things their students or even parent might be asking. This is where as a teacher, we need to be prepared to expect and have an answer to these concerns. This way having us ask questions will help prepare us as future teachers. Some concerns I have are on being able to address accommodations and even be prepared for that in the classroom as well.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting lesson. I really like the set up of it and the fact that the students are presenting and that the class has the opportunity them questions. I feel like with your lesson you are already addressing some of the accommodations that might be addressed.
DeleteI have made my unit fluid by building an overarching theme with Cold War politics. By starting my lesson with describing the world dynamic after World War II, I am setting up a central theme of rising and competing world superpowers: The U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. By establishing this rift in world politics, I will explain the relevance to today's world and how students are affected by this schism even today. Using teaching strategies like differentiated instruction, and gallery walks and line ups to keep students involved and engaged. I am going to teach a mini-lesson on the fall of the Berlin Wall. This is significant to the Cold War because it marks a symbolic revolution and crumbling of an oppressive regime. Adding a personal question to the presentation is valuable because even with only nine students in our class, each can potentially add or suggest better ways of operating in our classroom. A concern I have is that I planned on taking the class to the section of the Berlin Wall in Latshaw Plaza, and I hope I can stay within my 10 minute mini-lesson.
ReplyDeleteI like how you have gallery walks and lines ups built into your lesson because those were really fun activities for us to do in the class. I have learned about the Berlin Wall in my freshman seminar so I do know how it is really important to the Cold War. I am really excited to go to the Latshaw Plaza possibly. It is really cool that you were able to bring us there and that would be really cool if you were teaching around here you could take your actual class here.
DeleteI have made my unit about area, volume, and surface area cohesive by these three things together. Area and surface area are similar because they both deal with area and volume and surface area are dealing with the same shapes. This will help my students even though it still is a lot of information being taught. I am going to keep my lessons active by doing a lot of hands on activities with the different shapes and even a shape seek and find, where the students go around the room and find as many two and three dimensional shapes as they can and try to find the area, volume, and surface area of them. I am planning on teaching area because that is the one that is most used throughout the students day to day lives also it is really fun. By having the class all ask us personal questions that relate to them will give the teacher more feedback then compared to if the class just sat there silently then clap.I have some concerns about being able to teach in the time limit for this class but also keeping the students focused on learning about each of my different lessons.
ReplyDeleteI feel like my unit is very cohesive. Each lesson prepares the students for the next and they build off one another giving great insight to short stories. I have done some research from other teachers and each one provides more ways to teach the lesson, so i tried to incorporate the most important aspects of the lesson i found. Because every teacher needs to teach based on many different styles of learners, I plan to keep my students pretty active and try to captivate their interests. I am still debating on what exactly i will be teaching, but i hope to make it very interesting and easy for each student to follow. The value of adding this component is that if you have a bunch of teachers evaluating what you are doing, then they may have a better approach for what you are trying to teach and you can always improve the way you teach and this is a way to do that.
ReplyDeleteI feel that you are pretty prepared and once you have figured out which lesson you will teach to the class I believe you will do a great job making it interactive. I agree that when people ask questions it deepens our thinking about what we are talking about.
DeleteI agree that students need to stay active in the classroom to keep their minds busy and brain stimulated. I believe that you will end up figuring what kind of teacher you want to be fairly easy.
DeleteFinishing the DLU lesson has been quite the work load but I like where I stand with it. I think overall my unit flows really well and is constructed to a point where it easily flows from lesson to lesson. I think my lessons will be very enjoyable. There will obviously be many learning points, but games and activities will be a big part of each lesson. I plan to teach the 3 man weave with the class, because it is an easy activity to get everyone involved in, its pretty basic and I think could end up being really fun! This allows for us as a class to search deep in our learning to find answers for questions other teachers/ parents could have for us. This is a great tool in preparing us for what is to come. Honestly I am pretty nervous going on the first day because I really don't know what to expect but I am confident in my work and my preparation so I hope you all are ready for me.
ReplyDeleteI think going on the first day will be the best because none of us have gone yet so it's just going to be a learning experience for all of us and we will all be confused together! Plus you don't have to base your presentation off of anyone else's so that good also. We are all going to be super nervous so you will be just fine!
DeleteHow do you know your lessons will be enjoyable? What aspects did you include that make sure of this? The three man weave is a good basic drill for us to be involved in.
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ReplyDeleteI’ve made my unit cohesive because we first learn about insects and the places they are found and finish by the students exploring their own favorite types of insects and researching about them. I also think my unit flows well because it doesn’t just include one subject. It is a focus throughout different subjects throughout the day. My lessons will be very engaging and relevant to kids. For example, my first lesson involves sorting. It is a hands-on engaging activity where they are still learning about math and about insects at the same time.The lesson I am planning on teaching is Day 3. During this lesson, I will give my students rice and small insects and tweezers. They have 30 seconds to use their fine motor skills to pull out as many insects as they can out of the bucket using their tweezers. They must count their insects and write the number next to each round that we play it. This deals with one-to one correspondence and will help with their counting skills while they stay engaged. I am choosing to teach this lesson because I think it is the most interactive lesson while they get to touch and see what insects look like as well. It may be messy, but these are often the most fun! Adding a question to our presentation is causing us to think critically about our unit plan. These will help because we are able to get other future teacher inputs and what we need to look deeper in to and possibly change about our units to bring them to their full potential.
It sounds like you are very prepared and ready to go. Your lesson sounds like a lot of fun. I have actually enjoyed this project as soon as I finally got started on it!
DeleteI noticed how we were talking the other day that you were concerned about all the extra you would have to do for the class, but I think if you have the class go out and find the insects and things you will cut down on your work load. Great ideas!
DeleteI have made my unit cohesive because it is all about one time period and each lesson ties to the last lesson. My lesson also flows into different subject areas, social studies, literature, and mathematics. My lesson will be engaging by allowing the students to take part in creative projects. For example, in the lesson I will be doing with the class there will be an art project during which each of you will design your own Coat of Arms. I am teaching my lesson on the life of a knight. This lesson includes Coat of Arms, how to become and the duties of a knight. Adding a question to our presentation makes us think deeper about our overall unit plan. This helps because it allows to hear input from others, because sometimes we know what was supposed to be said or done, but others may not.
ReplyDeleteI like how you explained how your lesson will be engaging and you seem very prepared. I like how you want students to think deeper about what you are teaching them and how talking about it will help everyone understand the lesson better.
DeleteI like that you will be adding questions to your presentations to make the students think deeper about the over all lesson.
DeleteI do think I have made my unit cohesive, because even though each lesson will be short, they are progressive and each lesson leads to the next. The first day will be introductory and we will just go through some things, but the next day will be a lesson on passing, the next day will be a lesson on dribbling, and the last lesson will be over shooting. I will always start each day with a hook and then a warm-up and then we will get into the activity so the students will always be active. I plan on teaching the passing lesson to the class and we will go over the basic steps of passing as well as how to receive a pass and do a couple of passing activities. I think the value of everybody asking questions is that it helps me catch something I might have missed and gets me thinking like a teacher so I can be better the next time.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a fun lesson to do in class. I would think it would be hard to come up with a week long pe lesson but it sounds like you did it! I just remember doing all different things in pe but basketball would be a good one to do!
DeleteHaving lessons flow to the next and not be choppy is a big part of the unit plan. I like that each day has a different aspect of basketball involved. What are some hook examples that you may use?
DeleteI did basketball for my lesson for the class and I found a lot of challenges keeping certain students engaged and involved. Make sure you can in cooperate all learners to your content. My biggest trouble!
DeleteEach one of my lesson plans for my DLU flowed into the next. In order to learn something that comes next the students had to be engaged at each lesson to be able to move onto the next. I also go over things twice. Once when I teach the original lesson and once the next day for review. Almost all of my lesson plans will allow students to be active in some form. I'm planning on teaching physical education and health. In physical education my unit would have covered creative rhythm and movement. I planned on teaching about the different elements of dance. Teaching about the different elements of dance will allow students to have a better understanding of dance as a whole. Allowing questions opens up discussion which can lead to new ideas.
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