Entry 1 Focus Practice

Avery Cornatzer

Entry 1: Focus Practice The lesson I observed in the classroom was a science lesson, since my assigned teacher teaches only science and math to her fourth graders. Her lesson was on fossils and their different characteristics. She led a whole group discussion after having the students work in groups on a matching game. The standards this lesson was based on are 4.E.2.1 and 4.E.2.2 which have to do with the comparison of characteristics of fossils. The teacher did very well with choosing a high cognitive demand task. The students were to sort the characteristics of different types of fossils into their correct type. This was engaging and fun for students while also really digging deep into what they know. The teacher also did well with her questioning the students so that they would justify their answers and their thinking. She would ask things like “Why do you think that is correct?” and “How do you know?” when students would answer her initial questions. This dove into their thinking and how they came to the answers that they did. I believe the teacher could have done somewhat of a better job with her follow-up questions. She would ask things like “Can you give me an example?” when students had not seen these fossils previously, and the only pictures they have seen are in their matching game or on the powerpoint that she had just shown. I also think that an improvement in multiple modalities would be helpful for this class group. They wrote in their science journals and then spoke in groups about what they found and what they were learning, but I believe that there could have been some technology integration into

Avery Cornatzer

this lesson, which would be helpful for those that have different learning styles, and even those that are differently abled. In the future, I plan to include many whole group discussions in my classroom. I think it is great that my teacher used a whole group discussion in science, a subject that does not get a lot of recognition, and made this subject more fun and engaging for the students. I would like to include something like that into my future classroom. I also like that the teacher used a game and small groups for this assignment. I believe that when students interact with their peers and make learning fun with games, they learn the material better than they would otherwise, or just from reading a textbook or listening to the teacher talk. I would like to have a safe conversation zone in my entire classroom, where students can feel comfortable sharing anything they believe in my classroom. I learned a lot from viewing this discussion lesson be taught, and I am excited to implement that into my classroom as well!