Lesson Plan/Delivery Reflection

Ed3501 (MNO)

Kathy Kawade

In my Acadian booklet lesson I wanted to use a few different teaching strategies to try to
reach more of my students. In my class of 22 there are four of my students that are VERY
behind in their reading and writing and one that is almost completely illiterate. This
makes it very hard to use worksheets that need to be read and answers written in or
reading excerpts out of our Social Studies book. Having them make this booklet was my
way of trying to get the same information to these weaker students without making an
entire different assignment just for them, all while holding the attention of the stronger
students. With this lesson we reviewed information that the class had already been taught
so that I was more confident everyone was getting the opportunity to really learn the
same information. Basically Im hoping that I successfully provided the information to
my class through auditory, visual, written, and verbal learning avenues.
Throughout my lesson I tried to keep the class working at a similar pace so that I
wouldnt have some students finish while others were just beginning. To do this I used
my stronger students as teachers to help slow them down while the others caught up. I
had them helping the other students with their building of the booklet and had them read
and spell the words on the SMARTboard to the students that were struggling so they
would also get the opportunity to write it down, all without me spending too much time
with one on one teaching. This worked fairly well to keep the entire class busy and
engaged which helped cut down on the behavioral classroom management needed from
me.

I had never considered how difficult some of the kids would find cutting a half page into
thirds and had to repeat instructions several times and again resort to using my student
teachers to help keep kids on track. In retrospect I should have had a prototype for the
class to look at AND folded and cut my paper the same way I wanted them to. I thought
about having the papers pre-folded and pre-cut in thirds for them but feel like listening
and following instructions is an important skill that they needed to practice. I still feel
like my decision was valid and would again make them do it themselves if I ever try
something like this again.
At one point one of my more difficult students threw a pair of scissors at another child
and I had no choice but to abandon my lesson for several minutes to deal with him. I
immediately sent him to the corner, which has no throwable objects in it, and quickly told
the class to draw a picture of what they imagine an Acadian settlement would have
looked like and that if they finished they should colour it until I returned. I then went to
deal with L.S and took him out in the hallway to discuss it. I did not invite him back to
our class for the remaining 10 - 15 minutes of the project as I felt like his actions earned
him the banishment from his classmates and this project. It also gave the other student
the chance to calm down and work while feeling secure in the knowledge that no more
scissors would be coming his way. Later, I made L.S. apologize to the second boy, but
Im not sure that it wont happen again another day. I dont believe I could have foreseen
the scissor incident but it did force me to change my classroom management strategy and
deal with him one on one outside in the hallway. At this point I dont think I would
change the learning activity just because of one boy and, in my grade 2 classroom,
scissors are always in a bucket at their table within easy reach and access to everyone.

In the end, one 70 min class was definitely not long enough to complete our activity and I
had to complete it in the next (35 min) Social Studies class. I chose to allow my difficult
student to participate with us but had pre-cut his paper and quietly told him that I did not
want to see a pair of scissors in his hand during the entire lesson as there was now no
need.
Because there was cutting, colouring , gluing, discussions, drawing, and writing all
interconnected during this lesson, I feel like the kids were too busy and engaged to cause
me too many behavioral problems. I do believe that the majority of the time, if a teacher
can find that balance between the fun things that students like and the learning needed,
behavioral classroom management will be more limited.
I still find it very tricky to plan how much time will be needed for each and every lesson,
as these grade 2s are inconsistent in their performances. The timing in this lesson was
rotten but I believe if I were to try something like it again on another random day, things
could either go more smoothly or could possibly go even worse. I just havent mastered
my classroom timing yet. Ultimately I feel this lesson was a success, it just happened to
take two days to complete instead of one. In the future I would allot this two solid
lessons but would make sure I had a sponge activity planned just in case things went
surprisingly smooth and quick.