Anna Ward

14 January 2015
North River Elementary
5th Grade
Word count: 1188
After 1st Lesson Reflection
Teaching my first lesson for my EDUC 380 practicum gave me great experience and
insight into my future teaching. I taught a social studies lesson about Virginians moving
westward in hopes of finding new land and opportunities. My lesson was mainly lecture based,
but it included an HPE integration during guided practice. I also made sure to ask the students
questions throughout the lesson to try to keep students engaged. For independent practice, the
students used a graphic organizer (nonlinguistic representation) to demonstrate their mastery of
the content. Overall I felt my lesson went fairly well, but I also know there are plenty of ways I
can improve for the future.
Before starting my lesson, I shared my objectives for the lesson with the students.
Sharing objectives and goals with the students gives a clear purpose and focus for their learning
(Dean, Hubbell, Pitler, & Stone, 2012). I chose to explicitly share my goals for the lesson
because it can help improve and guide student learning. Immediately, students knew they would
be learning something new because they had never learned about push and pull factors.
To begin my lesson, I asked students to think about the 5 most important things they
would take on a long trip. This was an effective hook that got the students excited for the lesson
and got most of them involved. In fact, so many students had ideas about what to take on a trip
that it was hard to call on all of them! I think my hook worked well because it got the students
interested and involved to begin the lesson. The students were enthusiastic and excited to share
their thoughts.

After presenting content about push and pull factors, the students played a game to
practice identifying push and pull factors. I would give an example of a push or pull factor and
the students had to do a dance move to show what kind of factor was presented. To demonstrate
push factors, the students would making a pushing motion with their hands. They were
encouraged to have fun and add some extra creativity into their motions. Students identified pull
factors by doing a pulling motion. This activity served as an informal assessment as well as
guided practice for the students. I wanted to ensure that they understood and could identify push
and pull factors before independent practice.
I think my dance activity went well because the students really enjoyed getting up and
moving around. Some of them got really creative with their moves but still made sure to answer
my questions. Research has found numerous benefits for including physical activity in the
classroom. Incorporating physical activity in the classroom improved student behavior, reduced
classroom noise, and improved student concentration. Overall, students that had physical activity
integrated into academics performed better on traditional assessments (Erwin, Fedwa, & Soyeon,
2012). Personally, I had fun watching the students let loose and getting to be silly with them. I
enjoyed getting to dance around and show my silly side to my students.
Using nonlinguistic representation in my lesson was both a strength and a weakness.
Graphic organizers combine linguistic and nonlinguistic representations and have students
organize their knowledge (Dean, Hubbell, Pitler, & Stone, 2012). I believe that my graphic
organizer provided the students with an opportunity to describe what they learned and represent
it in a visual way. This was also a weakness of my lesson because I did not allow the students
enough time to complete their activity. Time management was a struggle as I taught this lesson,
so indirectly, the graphic organizer was less effective because the students did not have adequate

time to complete the activity. I hope that in the future practicing and reviewing the content I am
presenting will help me be more concise and therefore save time. Lecturing less may also save
time because more interactive teaching will allow for less distractions and student boredom.
For my next lesson, I hope to have less lecture-based teaching and more interactive
opportunities for students. As I was teaching my lesson, I could tell that I was lecturing too much
and I had the students inactive for too long. I asked them questions throughout my lesson and
lecture, but I wish I had included another activity to get them more involved. I also only had one
guided practice activity that covered push and pull factors. For future lessons, I would like to
have a guided practice activity for each portion of content I cover. I did not have guided practice
related to cultural landscape, and the students struggled explaining cultural landscapes in their
independent practice. In the future, I hope to become a better manager of my time and provide
my students with more opportunities for guided practice.
My lesson included two different assessments for evaluating student learning and
understanding. The push/pull dance game informally assessed students understanding of push
and pull factors. I used this activity to determine if the students were ready to move to the next
concept. For independent practice, students had to complete a graphic organizer. The activity
required students to represent and describe push and pull factors for Virginians moving westward
and the cultural landscapes that spread through the frontier. For personal application, the students
had to draw aspects of their culture that they would bring with them if they had traveled
westward. Even before students had completed the activity, I could tell which students mastered
the content and which students needed more clarification. Most students were able to
demonstrate an understanding of the content presented, but a few students still needed some
guidance. I believe that my poor time management and lecture-based lesson may have

contributed to some student confusion. I rushed through giving the directions for independent
practice, so many students asked questions once they began their work.
I believe my assessments were appropriate measures of student learning given the SOL
and the objectives for my lesson. During my second presentation of the lesson, students asked if
they could use their notebooks to help with the activity. Due to the time crunch, I quickly told
them that they could use their notes. After debriefing with Dr. Carr and some self-reflection,
allowing students to use their notes on the activity undermines the assessment of their content
mastery. In the future, I will more carefully consider my assessment(s) and make sure that they
match the SOL and my objectives. Additionally, I need to keep the goal of my assessments in
mind as I teach so I do not make the mistake of undermining my assessment again!
Like all other experiences, the opportunity to teach this lesson provided me with ideas
about how to improve my teaching for the future. I also learned what things worked well and
what I may want to try again in the future. Specifically, I would like to incorporate physical
activity into my lessons on a regular basis. It provides the students with an opportunity to move
and helps make connections for kinesthetic learners. Hopefully with practice I will manage my
time more efficiently and add more interactive components to my lessons.

References
Dean, C., Hubbell, E., Pitler, H., & Stone, B. (2012). Nonlinguistic Representations. In
Classroom instruction that works research-based strategies for increasing student
achievement (2nd ed.). Alexandria, Va.: ASCD.
Erwin, H., Fedewa, A., & Soyeon, A. N. (2012). Student academic performance outcomes of a
classroom physical activity intervention: A pilot study. International Electronic Journal
Of Elementary Education, 4(3), 473-487

Reflection

Rubric for Teaching Reflections

A
B-C
(10-9 pts)
(8-7 pts)
Analysis of the first
teaching experience is
Weak, lacking details, or
thoughtful and insightful.
superficial analysis of
Details about your
experience, your learning,
learning and growth as a
and growth as a potential
potential teacher are well
teacher.
developed.

F
(< 6 pts)
Analysis is limited to
general statements such
as I liked ..., I learned
a lot from or I did
not like with no
supporting details.

Weight

x2

Total

Influence on
Future
Teaching

Detailed explanation of
how this experience will
influence your future
teaching (i.e., what you
will do or not do in your
teaching).

Conclusions about the

impact of how this
experience will influence
your future teaching are
not well developed or
specific.

There is no mention of
how the experience will
influence future teaching.

x2

Evidence-based
Instruction

Clear details of impact on

student learning.
Articulate response with
evidence for student
learning.

Lacking specific details

as to how the teacher
used evidence to ensure
student learning

There is no mention of
evidence-based
instruction or student
learning.

x2

Citations

At least two quality

references are included
within the assignment.
Citations within the text
and the reference page
are correct APA 6th
edition format.

References are included

within the assignment but
they are not quality, or
incorrectly cited using
APA 6th edition format.
Citations are not
supported but inserted.

No references are
included within the
assignment

x 1.5

Quality of
writing

Paragraphs are well

developed with no, or
few, grammatical,
spelling or word choice
errors. 750 words or
more. All formatting is
correct

Paragraphs are poorly

written, some
grammatical, spelling or
word choice errors.
Minimum of 750 words.
Most formatting is
correct.

Paragraphs are brief,

many grammatical,
spelling and word choice
errors. Essays are less
than 750 words.
Formatting is mostly
incorrect.

x1

Professionalism

Focus of the assignment

is on your learning and
growth as a potential
teacher and impact on
student learning.
Analysis of CT is
objective and respectful.
Pseudonyms are used.

The assignment is
subjective and
opinionated. Writing
focuses on the
candidates (your)
feelings. No attention is
given to impact on
student learning or your
learning and growth as a
potential teacher.

Critical and negative

judgmental statements
about CT, students and/or
school are overt. For
example She is not an
effective teacherNo
attention is given to
impact on student
learning or your learning
and growth as a potential
teacher.

x1

Formatting

Assignment formatted
correctly

Assignment formatting
mostly

Assignment formatting
incorrect

.50

Final Grade