Josh Pidkowa Education 2500 logbook/reflective Journal

Practicum 4: Tuesday, May 23 2017

Though the entire day had been a good one, and throughout it I had seen several
lessons/activities that I considered writing about, the final lesson of the day was so wonderful that it
was almost awe-inspiring, and as such it will be the focus of this journal entry. The lesson was
composed of several stations that had different sets of building materials. The students were to listen to
a piece of music played on the stereo by my TA and build a structure that corresponded to the tone of
the music. For example, a slow, steady song would be represented by a low wide structure, while a
fast, exciting song would be represented by a tall, pointy structure, etc. At one station were fairly
typical blocks, at another were Space Chips flat, round building pieces with slats cut into them for
interlocking purposes. Another was a set of building materials that were similarly flat but square, again
with slats cut into them to allow the pieces to interlock. Another station was composed of 'ball &
socket' style building pieces that allowed for articulation, another was composed of burr-like squishy
balls that connected together like macro-scale velcro, while the last station was filled with simple
dominoes. The students could either build their own structure or the entire group could build one
together. Following the completion of their build, the students were asked to then name it and draw a
sketch in their notebooks. The students moved between their stations in their table groups, spending
about 5 minutes at each station before moving on. At around 2:40 PM the activity began.

Of every activity I have witnessed during my practicum so far this one was my favourite. The
reasons for this are numerous, and I will attempt to explain them throughout the remainder of this
journal entry. Perhaps the most important reason for this is how unbelievably engaged the students
were through the entirety of the activity. Despite this activity taking place at the end of the day, which
one would imagine would lead to many of the students being restless and unfocused, the students were
so engaged that many did not even notice when the bell had rung. Once they were informed that it was,
in fact, time to go home, the news was met by a chorus of Noooo! I don't want to go home yet! If
these aren't signs of student engagement in an activity, I genuinely don't know what is. Even students
that normally need constant reminders to stay focused were locked on like laser beams. I believe that
the students were so engaged in this activity because it was exceptionally well designed. It drew from
many different teaching strategies that were woven together to become something truly greater than the
sum of it's parts. Firstly, the activity used gamification and play to be engaging and enticing to
students. The promise of a fun time playing with exciting toys was obviously a huge draw to the
activity. It stopped being an exercise that needed coaxing to engage in and became playtime, and the
positive effects were obvious. Secondly, the activity was inherently creative. I believe humans to be
inherently creative beings, and an activity that allows for creative expression of some sort will be
inherently engaging to us. Thirdly, the activity allowed for the students to have a great degree of
choice and determination over it's direction, which I believe increased student engagement as well.
After all, the students were able to build collaboratively or not, which meant that regardless of the
student's choice the activity was still suited to them. This approach to being adaptive to the diverse
needs of the students took into account not just their personalities, but even their moods meaning that
the activity could be engaging under a wide variety of circumstances. Another method that kept the
students engaged was that the activity was fast-paced and involved moving around the room. No group
of students was allowed to work at one station long enough to get bored, and the different types of
building materials made them switch up their building techniques constantly. In addition, having them
move around the room rather than moving each station to them kept the scenery changing and their
bodies moving. Another factor was that the activity was very social, with students sharing their ideas
and their creations even if they were working independently. This outlet for social interaction meant
that the students who typically have a strong desire for socialization could do so to their benefit rather
than detriment. Another factor in student engagement was without a doubt the element of music that
was introduced into the activity. By making careful listening a key part of the task at hand, students
were forced to engage many different parts of their brain to a high degree. Though some students were
too excited about the building aspect to listen to the music as intently as others, the students who took
the music aspect seriously were extremely engaged in it. Several students even left their desks and
approached the stereo to hear the music more clearly when an especially quiet song was playing. This
myriad of different factors helped this activity be extremely engaging to the class.

So the activity was extremely engaging, but was it educational? Were the students learning?
The answer might be obvious as I probably wouldn't be heaping this amount of praise upon it if it
weren't, but yes. It was especially excellent because it helped develop the students' skills in a wide
variety of different areas simultaneously, and due to the level of class engagement every minute spent
on it was extremely valuable. The students were developing skills in spatial reasoning, fine motor
control, creative expression, music appreciation and understanding, language arts (by naming their
creation and writing it out), drawing (by sketching their structure after completion), cooperation and
leadership skills, etc. Many of the creations that the students made were extremely impressive. One
student, who has some behaviour problems and isn't always the most engaged, approached the 'ball &
socket' style toys and began building a robot. This might not sound impressive, but the robot certainly
was. This student built a robot with such a high level of skill that it looked like something that would
have been printed on the box! Wow! Another student made a lasso out of the same materials, and
another a (quite cleverly designed) snake. It may have been play, but it was constructive play. And
when one thinks about it, what is play (at it's most fundamental) but a tool to help someone learn? If
play can be harnessed to keep students engaged than it seems paramount to do so.

By using this approach of combining many different educational aspects into a single highly
engaging activity, an enormous amount of learning can be done in a short period of time. That is
perhaps the second most important aspect of this lesson; that multi-subject activities and projects are an
exceptionally effective learning tool. After witnessing this lesson it made me wonder why school
subjects were ever so rigidly separated to begin with. The world is a vast interconnected place, so why
shouldn't we learn about it in the same way? Mathematics does not sit alone in some metaphysical
corner of the universe, it is ingrained into everything that exists, so why do we simply put math
problems on a sheet of paper and expect students to care? We have all heard that age old saying,
What does this have to do with real life? Well, I can't really blame students for thinking that if it's all
they've ever been shown. In order to combat this mode of thought it needs to be demonstrated that
these subjects are being taught because they have everything to do with real life. Any problem or
project that a teacher can think up can be expanded to encompass many areas of thought and learning,
and I am beginning to believe that problem/project based learning is a very promising area to look into.
As such, I am starting to design a lesson plan with my TA that I will be teaching to the students in my
class. My TA has been extremely helpful and encouraging, and I hope that it will be as exciting and
engaging to my students as this activity was. It will likely be a multi-day lesson, and will incorporate
as many things from the curriculum as I possibly can. Only time will tell how successful this lesson
will be, but I am sure I will learn a lot from the experience.