Lesson Plan Reflection

Ultimately, my reaction towards my lesson plan was that I was completely surprised. I went up there thinking, "Wow, they're going to rip me apart!" As the lesson plan unfolded, I was basically just waiting for the big blow. Who was going to jump out the window? Or walk out of the class without me realizing? Who was going to GROWL during the entire lesson? But it never happened! I'm not sure if it was because I set the rules out on the line from the beginning, or if the students were just tired from the weather and anxious to begin their Thanksgiving break, but I was honestly blown away at how behaved everyone was!

Overall, I think my lesson plan itself went really well. I think I handled the class behaviors decently. (I guess I should thank my years of working with children to that..) I was so upset that my little ice cream tune didn't work as I expected it! But I'm so glad Dr. Luongo intervened and helped me MODIFY to still incorporate it into my lesson (thanks!). I remember thinking that 40 minutes was a LONG time to come up with one little lesson, but in the end, I didn't even have enough time to finish! I wish we would have been able to color and cut out our ice cream cones so we could display them, but oh well. :[

Anyway, I think I did a good job! I wish we could do lessons everyday!! :]

Happy Thanksgiving everyoneee!

Report Cards

How fitting! As we speak, students all over are anxiously waiting for their parents to come home from Parent-Teacher conferences with their report cards/progress reports! (at least the school I work at is doing it now?? lol) I, for one, was never bothered by report cards. Overall, I was a student who pulled mostly A's with little effort *not to toot my own horn..toot! toot!* The only thing I can remember about getting report cards, was my father looking at it and saying "An A-? How come it's not an A+ like Catina (the dreaded genius older sister)?" --- yes, it was JUST like coming home with those 92's instead of 98's ! Personally, I look at report cards as a motivation slip. If I got a B in Science, it would annoy me and make me work harder and focus more to get that A. I was determined! But I know every student is different. Some may think report cards are discouraging. Those who try hard and still don't do as well may give up. Some may even disregard the report card all together! Regardless, I think they're important and positive for the student, teacher AND the clueless parents.

Portfolios

I think that when used appropriately, portfolios can be extremely effective. They are a great way for students to get involved. I clearly remember being in elementary school and having my teacher make us pick out stories we've written for our writing portfolio. Naturally, I made sure to pick out my "best" work! I can still remember the amount of pride I felt in having control over what was going to be shown at parent/teacher conferences. I just KNEW my parents would be blown away by my creative writing pieces! (And they were, of course!)

Looking back, I can't really remember any teachers that didn't use some sort of portfolio during the year. If I remember correctly, there was a portfolio that followed me from 1st grade to 5th. It was a compilation of all stories I'd written over the years, and in 5th grade, we were allowed to take them home. It was great to see how much I had progressed over the years!

Portfolios are helpful to the teachers as well. They are a way to organize the students work, making it easier to track progression. I agree with the concept of having the student and teacher work together to put assignments into their portfolio. It's important to have them work together to make it a fair evaluation of their progress.

PS- Dr. Luongo, I totally love the idea of using pizza boxes or something more creative as their portfolio, rather than just the plain folder!