Artifact #10: Video Analysis (Use of Objectives)
The Do Now; “Get out your Unit 7 Outline. Write what you specifically need to do for each of these objectives on your do now sheet. (1-2 specific skills for each) 7.1a) & 7.1.f)” began the class. The purpose of this Do Now was to allow students to individually review the objectives they have already practiced in previous lessons and think about what specific skills they need to use in order to achieve each of these objectives. Students were given four minutes to brainstorm on their own about what these skills are necessary to use to accomplish objectives 7.1.a and 7.1.f of unit 7. I prefaced the class discussion of the Do Now with; “What I did in this outline [Unit 7 objective outline], I didn’t make it as specific as I have before [previous unit outlines] because I want us, as we go, to think about what it actually means to do those things [objectives]… That’s what the textbook says as an objective but I want us to be thinking about what do I have to do in order to actually be able to do this.” Next I asked students to share their ideas to facilitate a whole class break down of what skills are needed. As a class we addressed the skills for each objective. I asked students to raise their hands and share what they wrote for their answers to the Do Now. I would also ask students to repeat themselves to insure I correctly understood their answers. As they answered I would clarify and pinpoint the specific skills into a single sentence or short phrase. I would then write the sentence or phrase as a bullet point under the relevant objective. As I modeled this on the Smart Board I asked students to make the same additions to their unit outline. This process allowed students to break down each objective into the specific skills that they had to do in order to fulfill that objective. It also helped students who might have struggled with, or missed a key point in individual process of answering of the Do Now, to think through what skills they need to have in order to successfully complete each objective. This process of having students individually reflect on what they know about the topic, what is required of them to achieve each objective, and articulate it is a critical process in self-regulation and being metacognitive about ones learning. In addition, this group activity helps students process the connections of these abstract objectives (Unit 7 outline) to more specific and concrete tasks.
Next I asked students, in their Do Now, to “One a scale from 1 to 5 (1= least & 5 = most). How confident do you feel with these objectives?” I asked students; “How confident do you feel solving those types of problems or setting those things up that we just talked about.” This served two purposes. First, it helped inform my instruction by allowing me informally assess student’s confidence with these particular objectives, which would allow me to focus attention to where they need more support. Secondly, it gave students an opportunity to think about their abilities and self-assess their own learning in a low risk manner. I asked them to this individually, rather than in groups, in order to reduce any pressure they may have felt to inflate their confidence rating or alter it based on a peers confidence levels. Next I instructed students to put away their Do Now papers and introduced the daily objective; “I will be able to: determine the molar mass of atoms, molecules & compounds. (Under objective 7.1.d).”
Once students had their periodic tables and notebooks out I directed their attention to the board. After I read the objective out loud I had students write the objective number and the objective at the top of their notes for that day. I informed students that the reason for way I was having them do this was so they would have easy access notes that are relevant to this objective when they go to study and review this material. To begin the lesson I started with a mole map. I used this organizational map and chart throughout this unit to support students understanding of how the daily objectives we were learning are getting us to the “end goal”, which for this unit is stoichiometry, the quantitative study of chemical compounds.
The energy level of the class certainly increased as we transitioned into the next portion of class. The lesson began with a story about a twenty-six pound gummy bear. I told students that they were about to have a huge party at their house. All their friends were invited and everything for the party was set up. At the last minute everyone baled on them and they were left all alone with this giant gummy bear to eat. I noticed some students are having side conversations during my explanation of the gummy bear story and while I was introducing how the video relates to the story. The comments are relevant to the story of the gummy bear and the reaction was undergoing. Students are very engaged with the story and video portion of the lesson. This story served as a means of getting students engagement with this topic and to see how the objective could be applied to real life scenarios. By knowing the mass of sugar they were consuming, from eating the giant gummy bear, they could use stoichiometry to calculate the amounts other compounds that would be needed to break down the sugar, ie. oxygen, and what would be produced, ie. water and carbon dioxide. Students are laughing during the story of the gummy bear, as well as after the video as they make observations as a whole class. The video we watched provided a visual representation of the chemical reaction that was used in gummy bear story, which introduced the day’s objective. I asked students to focus their attention on what they see happening in the video. During the video the majority of students are highly engaged and focused on the task at hand. I even noticed some students jot down notes during the video. I paused the video in a few place to question students think about what they saw in the video. I began by asking them to make qualitative observations, which they have had practice with in class through activities, such as the chemical reaction lab. After some joking about when they eat a gummy bear they wouldn’t have smoke or light coming out of them like the test tube did, I moved into relating the video back to the objective of the whole unit; “We are going to be able to make a quantitative analysis using stoichiometry.” Next I use images from the video to relate back to the Do Now we started class with, balanced chemical equations. I also tie in knowledge of the Law of Conservation of Mass from the previous material in unit 6. Lastly, I bring them back to the original equation on the board and practice the day’s objective with them by modeling it on the board. Then I gave them problems to practice in their small groups and on their own for homework.
In the majority of my lessons I use technology to support the daily objective. The technology helps hold the students and myself accountable for recognizing and addressing the objectives. I would do this by using slides that make stop and interact with objective in the Do Now, the introduction to the lesson, closure of a lesson, and exit ticket. Having students reflect on what the objective means, in terms of how to achieve it or how confident they are with it, allowed them to engage with what the objective means in terms of their understanding and learning. I am a long way from perfecting this. After watching this video (above), I realized the need to improve in how I formatively assess students’ understanding of objectives in real time. Some approaches I have tried are exit tickets, getting the “temperature” of the room with students raising their thumbs (up = good/confident, in the middle = needs more help/time, or down = confused/lost), and asking more specific probing questions. For instance changing; ‘Who is having trouble with balancing chemical equations?’ to, ‘By a show of hands, who thinks they could balance a chemical equation by themselves right now?’ As I move forward in my development as a teacher I will continue to work on how to better formatively assess my students’ understanding of objectives and ability to preform relevant skills. In addition I will continue to improve my pacing and rhythm of teaching. I keep things constantly moving and students have little to no down time during a lesson. This can be observed in this lesson as well as the lesson I recorded during my first month of student teaching (Fall Video). By implementing strategic down time where students can process what they are being asked and then implement that in their own practice, such as doing homework and during class activities, will be something I strive for as I continue to develop as a teacher. This will be beneficial in two major ways; to keep students from getting lost during lesson and to facilitate their ability to develop metacognition and self-regulate their learning. This will give students the opportunity to ask themselves questions such as; ‘What do I know about this topic?’, ‘What are the possible ways to approach solving this problem?’, ‘Could I solve this without the help of my peers or the teacher?’ or ‘Does the answer I found make sense?’. This reflective questioning process I have modeled for students during teacher guided class work and guided readings.
My intention of this lesson was to engage students with the day’s objective in a fun way with the use of the giant gummy bear story. I used the Do Now facilitate students’ interaction with the previously learned objectives, that are the foundational for this lesson and subsequence classes. The Do Now required the students to think about how they would achieve each objective by breaking it down in to specific skills and their confidence level carrying them out. The mole map kept the lesson and objectives in perspective of why we were learning this material to help us in the long run. The giant gummy bear party story helped students place this objective into real world circumstances. The video provided a real world visual of the chemical reaction we were discussing in the story. Then finally the lesson closed with a teacher lead example of how to carry out the day’s objective and student practice.
References:
Fox, E. & Riconscente, M. (2008). Metacognition and Self-Regulation in James, Piaget, and Vygotsky. Education Psychology Review. Vol 20, pp. 373-389.
Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Next I asked students, in their Do Now, to “One a scale from 1 to 5 (1= least & 5 = most). How confident do you feel with these objectives?” I asked students; “How confident do you feel solving those types of problems or setting those things up that we just talked about.” This served two purposes. First, it helped inform my instruction by allowing me informally assess student’s confidence with these particular objectives, which would allow me to focus attention to where they need more support. Secondly, it gave students an opportunity to think about their abilities and self-assess their own learning in a low risk manner. I asked them to this individually, rather than in groups, in order to reduce any pressure they may have felt to inflate their confidence rating or alter it based on a peers confidence levels. Next I instructed students to put away their Do Now papers and introduced the daily objective; “I will be able to: determine the molar mass of atoms, molecules & compounds. (Under objective 7.1.d).”
Once students had their periodic tables and notebooks out I directed their attention to the board. After I read the objective out loud I had students write the objective number and the objective at the top of their notes for that day. I informed students that the reason for way I was having them do this was so they would have easy access notes that are relevant to this objective when they go to study and review this material. To begin the lesson I started with a mole map. I used this organizational map and chart throughout this unit to support students understanding of how the daily objectives we were learning are getting us to the “end goal”, which for this unit is stoichiometry, the quantitative study of chemical compounds.
The energy level of the class certainly increased as we transitioned into the next portion of class. The lesson began with a story about a twenty-six pound gummy bear. I told students that they were about to have a huge party at their house. All their friends were invited and everything for the party was set up. At the last minute everyone baled on them and they were left all alone with this giant gummy bear to eat. I noticed some students are having side conversations during my explanation of the gummy bear story and while I was introducing how the video relates to the story. The comments are relevant to the story of the gummy bear and the reaction was undergoing. Students are very engaged with the story and video portion of the lesson. This story served as a means of getting students engagement with this topic and to see how the objective could be applied to real life scenarios. By knowing the mass of sugar they were consuming, from eating the giant gummy bear, they could use stoichiometry to calculate the amounts other compounds that would be needed to break down the sugar, ie. oxygen, and what would be produced, ie. water and carbon dioxide. Students are laughing during the story of the gummy bear, as well as after the video as they make observations as a whole class. The video we watched provided a visual representation of the chemical reaction that was used in gummy bear story, which introduced the day’s objective. I asked students to focus their attention on what they see happening in the video. During the video the majority of students are highly engaged and focused on the task at hand. I even noticed some students jot down notes during the video. I paused the video in a few place to question students think about what they saw in the video. I began by asking them to make qualitative observations, which they have had practice with in class through activities, such as the chemical reaction lab. After some joking about when they eat a gummy bear they wouldn’t have smoke or light coming out of them like the test tube did, I moved into relating the video back to the objective of the whole unit; “We are going to be able to make a quantitative analysis using stoichiometry.” Next I use images from the video to relate back to the Do Now we started class with, balanced chemical equations. I also tie in knowledge of the Law of Conservation of Mass from the previous material in unit 6. Lastly, I bring them back to the original equation on the board and practice the day’s objective with them by modeling it on the board. Then I gave them problems to practice in their small groups and on their own for homework.
In the majority of my lessons I use technology to support the daily objective. The technology helps hold the students and myself accountable for recognizing and addressing the objectives. I would do this by using slides that make stop and interact with objective in the Do Now, the introduction to the lesson, closure of a lesson, and exit ticket. Having students reflect on what the objective means, in terms of how to achieve it or how confident they are with it, allowed them to engage with what the objective means in terms of their understanding and learning. I am a long way from perfecting this. After watching this video (above), I realized the need to improve in how I formatively assess students’ understanding of objectives in real time. Some approaches I have tried are exit tickets, getting the “temperature” of the room with students raising their thumbs (up = good/confident, in the middle = needs more help/time, or down = confused/lost), and asking more specific probing questions. For instance changing; ‘Who is having trouble with balancing chemical equations?’ to, ‘By a show of hands, who thinks they could balance a chemical equation by themselves right now?’ As I move forward in my development as a teacher I will continue to work on how to better formatively assess my students’ understanding of objectives and ability to preform relevant skills. In addition I will continue to improve my pacing and rhythm of teaching. I keep things constantly moving and students have little to no down time during a lesson. This can be observed in this lesson as well as the lesson I recorded during my first month of student teaching (Fall Video). By implementing strategic down time where students can process what they are being asked and then implement that in their own practice, such as doing homework and during class activities, will be something I strive for as I continue to develop as a teacher. This will be beneficial in two major ways; to keep students from getting lost during lesson and to facilitate their ability to develop metacognition and self-regulate their learning. This will give students the opportunity to ask themselves questions such as; ‘What do I know about this topic?’, ‘What are the possible ways to approach solving this problem?’, ‘Could I solve this without the help of my peers or the teacher?’ or ‘Does the answer I found make sense?’. This reflective questioning process I have modeled for students during teacher guided class work and guided readings.
My intention of this lesson was to engage students with the day’s objective in a fun way with the use of the giant gummy bear story. I used the Do Now facilitate students’ interaction with the previously learned objectives, that are the foundational for this lesson and subsequence classes. The Do Now required the students to think about how they would achieve each objective by breaking it down in to specific skills and their confidence level carrying them out. The mole map kept the lesson and objectives in perspective of why we were learning this material to help us in the long run. The giant gummy bear party story helped students place this objective into real world circumstances. The video provided a real world visual of the chemical reaction we were discussing in the story. Then finally the lesson closed with a teacher lead example of how to carry out the day’s objective and student practice.
References:
Fox, E. & Riconscente, M. (2008). Metacognition and Self-Regulation in James, Piaget, and Vygotsky. Education Psychology Review. Vol 20, pp. 373-389.
Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT