This experience was extremely beneficial and I learned more than I thought I ever would. Being able to observe another intern's classroom was a huge learning experience, especially because I have never seen an intermediate grade. During our pre-conference, me and Meghan debriefed each other about what our activity was about, and how we could help each other. I explained to Meghan that I was going to use the cube strategy that we learned in our Instructional planning course in order to assess students' learning and understanding of the George Washington biography. Furthermore, I asked her to assist me by monitoring one of the groups to see if the questions were level appropriate, and how engaged they were. Meghan explained to me that her activity was based on a smart-board, and that she would use this while the class went over a review test. She asked me to monitor student behavior and to do whatever I saw necessary.
First, Meghan came to my classroom, just after the students had finished reading George Washington's biography. She was aware that students were going to be divided into homogenous groups of three. Depending on their level, they were given a cube that had questions on each face of it. There were 6 groups- 1 below level, 3 on level, and 2 above level. I explained to Meghan that this linked to my inquiry (engagement) as I wanted to find ways to keep students of all levels engaged, rather than only paying attention to below level students. When I showed the students the cubes they were going to work with, they were extremely interested and in awe of how "cool" they thought they were. I knew this was a good sign as they were immediately engaged. I then broke them into their groups and assigned them different areas of the classroom to work in. Meghan worked with an on level group, and monitored their comprehension as well as application strategies. They were given fifteen minutes to work on this, and then I called on each group to share something they found interesting. This was a good recap of all of the new information.
I then followed Meghan into her fourth grade classroom for her Math lesson. The students were arranged in table groups, which was like my classroom. Her CT was not present, so I was not able to get a full experience of her procedures and techniques. Meghan set up the review of the Math test on the smart-board, and students were very engaged. She was faced with some technical difficulties at the beginning, but did not allow this to be a disruption. She managed it well and kept the lesson flowing smoothly. Throughout the lesson, she only called on silent hands. Students were able to come up and write on the smart board, in order to show how they figured out a problem. To keep students on task and engaged, she use popsicle sticks to call their names. This definitely helped with student participation, and I think this is something I can definitely use with my inquiry. Because the students knew that they could have been called on at any time, they remained on task at all times. Meghan also implemented formative assessment via the thumbs up/thumbs down approach. She also asked higher-order questions throughout, and continuously reminded students of her expectations.
From Meghan's lesson, the two things that stood out to me most were the use of the smart board as well as the popsicle sticks. These are two materials that I could definitely use to aid with my engagement inquiry. Watching my peer execute the smart board encouraged me to try it, and made me less hesitant. I would definitely use these materials in the future. My second graders would be absolutely amazed by the smart board and all the tricks that it can do. Secondly, the use of popsicle sticks would aid with those who tend to drift off and lack participation.
At our post-conference, Meghan gave me tips that would help me in the future. This included to do the cube activity for longer as some students would take longer to answer questions. Furthermore, she suggested grouping them heterogeneously, which I do plan to do in the future. I plan on varying the questions within each cube- some would be more challenging than others. Group members would be able to help each other, so that the varying skill levels within the groups would be beneficial. Hearing feedback from a peer was definitely helpful and constructive.