After last weeks learnings of rock & mineral physical properties, I provided a quick 5min assessment for students to complete. The first question was asking students to identify what a physical property is (the definition of “what makes each rock different”) and then to list 3 of the properties that we have learned so far within the unit (possible answers were smell, texture, colour & size). I was excited to provide this assessment, as we have now spent a week on this topic, and based on class participation, I believed students would have a good understanding of physical properties.

My goal for this class was assessment; ensuring that the assessment was appropriate/inclusive for all learners in the class and adaptable for certain individuals.

The following are the steps that I took to achieve my goals:

1. Explain to students that we will be doing an assessment, but not to worry, we will do it as a class.
2. Read aloud the assessment instructions multiple times to ensure students’ understanding of what is expected.
3. Assessment will be projected onto the white board for students to follow along.
4. Students will be writing 3 of the five words “colour” “texture” “smell” “size” “lustre”. It will be explained to students that spelling does not count and to sound out the words if they are not sure. My hope is that this task is not too difficult as I have written the four words on the board for them to visually see, the class we learned about the property and every class following.
5. If _____ becomes frustrated, he may tell me his answers and I will make note of what he said, this is an adaptation that will still allow me to understand what he knows.

The assessment went really well during class. After class I took a quick glance at the students work and was surprised at the amount of incorrect answers. This lead to an incredible post conference where my coop teacher and I discussed how I could try creating a different assessment for the following class, but in a different way to see if students can recieve higher marks that then show their understandings.

attached is a copy of the data that has been collected by my coop teacher

What a fun afternoon I had. Today we discovered the physical properties of texture and smell. The students had a great time using playdough to take a closer look at the textures and using their smell to understand their rock collections better (just like real geologists do!)

This lesson had a lot of fun activities throughout, so class management was my top priority to keep students on track, having fun while ensuring learning was happening. I loved the challenge and think that I handled it well. One thing that I messed up a little bit on was that I had students place their rocks in playdough to observe the textures…. and then had them smell the rocks.. OOPS! I had a good laugh as the students told me “but Ms Finlay, the only thing we smell is playdough!”. This was not a huge mistake, but I definitely would have students smell their rocks before placing them in playdough if I were to teach this in the future.

My Co op teacher provided great feedback, and asked how I will ensure students understand the meaning of physical properties. I was happy that she had brought this up because I have an assessment in mind, but was planning on doing it next week. After my co op teacher brought up this topic, I now would like to provide students with a quick assessment at the beginning of next science class as a review and check in, before moving on to test rocks and minerals.

Overall I was happy with todays discussion during pre/post conference as well as the lesson itself and I look forward to next class!

Please see the attachment below for my lesson and co op feedback!

Lesson Plan

Co op Teacher Notes

Today I placed each student with their aisle partner. Together they examined their rock collections, looking at the colours and sizes. I created a workbook for groups to work through where they document the different properties using ven diagrams and different charts.

My goal today was to ensure students are aware of class expectations of raising hands to share ideas and listen while others are sharing. With this goal, my co op teacher recorded how I spoke to students during the lesson. I was quick to notice that I say “shh” more often than I would like. My teacher also recorded how often I circulated the room and visited each group. I was happy to see that I naturally move around the room and circulated even more than I had thought.

Moving forward I will consciously make an effort to reduce the use of “shh” and implement more descriptive words as an alternative that helps guide students in a gentle way.

Lesson Plan

Data Collection

Today I took the class outdoors to create their very own rock collections to be studied within the future of our unit! Students were very excited, and examined many rocks closely, trying to find the perfect ones. I limited students to only choosing 5-7 rocks each, which I think was a good idea because it aloud students to look closely at their rocks and pick only the ones that seemed most interesting to them.

Before going outside, we discussed outside procedures as well as behaviour expectations. Students were then provided a cup t place their collections in and we headed outside!

Overall this was a very fun lesson to teach. My goal today was “Awareness & Responsiveness”. I asked my coop teacher to make note of the time, student name, and student action that was not meeting class expectations as well as the time it took me to respond to the student. This was an excellent goal as I had many parts to the lesson (inside, transitioning to outside, outside, transitioning inside and finally back inside). During post conference, my coop teacher and I discussed all of the different behaviours during the lesson, and how difficult it is for the teacher to respond to all students and see everything that is happening. My coop teacher was happy with the execution of my lesson, however, I would like to continue this goal into my future classes and become even more aware of students actions throughout my lessons being taught.

Science Lesson (Includes Assessment)

Data Collection

Todays continuation from yesterdays class went very smooth, and I was pleased that my co op teacher agreed with my thoughts as she wrote it within her comments! During this lesson I taught students the difference between rocks and minerals as well as similarities. Because this lesson consisted of me simply sharing information, I wanted to ensure I was providing information through a multiple ways. I used the projector to display an image, white board to write down definitions, and visual representation/demonstration of rocks and minerals using chocolate. I absolutely loved teaching this lesson. I believe that most students understood the difference between a rock and mineral by the end of the class! One thing I did not totally love is the exit slip that I gave students and some seemed very confused on how to compare rocks and minerals to other objects…

Tomorrow before I move on with the unit I will create a new exit slip for students to complete to check for understanding that does not involve comparing to other materials.

Lesson Plan

Data Collection

The first science lesson I taught, was used for the purpose of engaging students within this unit. Today I questioned students as a review of last classes engagement activity and then handed out student duotangs which I had pre placed the learning “I can” statements within for the RM4.1 outcome. During the class I had students read aloud the statements and I explained that this is what we are going to be learning about for the next few weeks. I found that this part of my lesson went smoothly, however it was a little bit noisy during the process of handing out each duotang… Is there a way I could have done this more quietly? Perhaps if I were going to do this again (which duotangs will be handed out again in the future) I will explain to students the importance of keeping the volume down and raising their hands when they would like to share a thought or idea with the class.

Due to the fire alarm going off during this science lesson, the above is as far as I got. Tomorrow I will be picking up where I left off and completing the lesson that I had planned to get through today.

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During my post conference, I realize that their are lots of things happening within the class that I had not noticed, example being that one student was reading her book that was hidden inside of her desk, instead of reading the “I Can’ statements with the rest of the class. Moving forwards I would like to make it a goal to notice all students and their actions by circulating the room more often while teaching. Comments that my co op teacher left me were incredible as she let me know what I missed for students that weren’t paying attention, but she also let me know that I was very respectful and kind to all students throughout the class time that we had together.

Please see the pdf below for my lesson plan and data recorded.

Lesson Plan

Data Collection

September 15th, my first day beginning my rocks, minerals & erosion science unit. The first couple weeks of school consisted of classroom procedures (setting up class expectations and routines). Today I taught a science lesson where we went over the definition of “observation” as well as explored rocks from different geological locations, including from our local environment through a virtual class field trip. Below this post I am hoping to upload documents which include the virtual field trip through a google slide, and the supporting document/activity (through a passport workbook). 

During this lesson I asked my coop teacher to observe the following:

1. Time management: I chose time management as a professional goal to work towards due to the fact that I find myself feeling rushed when the end of a lesson is nearing to ensure that everything gets covered and indicators that I have set out to reach are met. I asked my coop teacher to observe the speed of my voice and to note if it increases as well as how I handle the end of my lessons. I planned for a calm ending to the lesson and was set out to be okay with the fact that time may run out during the lesson. 

I set up my lesson in a way that ensured that I could end the lesson whenever needed so that I would feel less pressure to get through everything. I did this by having students observe and compare rocks from different geographical locations. In total I set up 6 locations to visit, but as long as we as a class simply got through 2 locations the goal of comparing and observing rocks was being met. 

2. Clear directions: I chose clear directions as another goal to work on to ensure I did not get ahead of myself during my lesson time. I was very excited for this lesson as it is my first one within the subject of science. Making sure I took the time to explain the activity in a clear way multiple times helps students understand expectations that I have for the output of this lesson. My coop teacher sat at the back of the room and observed students to see how they were reacting (engaged/disengaged, understanding/confused). Having my coop teacher observe and make note of how students react to my directions helps me to understand which parts of the lesson was made clear, and make note of any parts that students are confused on so that it could be revisited next science class if needed. 

My feelings after executing the lesson:

I think that this lesson went very well! I was nervous that students perhaps would not find the videos of rocks from different countries entertaining, but I was happy with how the class reacted. They took their jobs of observing each video very seriously and they stayed engaged with the activity the entire class time. Each student followed directions and wrote their observations down from each country that was viewed, therefore I believe that the indicators for this lesson was appropriately met. I would definitely teach this lesson again in the future. My coop teacher was also pleased with how the lesson went (Co op teachers notes are attached to this post). At one point I found myself talking a little bit too fast to students, so recognizing and correcting this is something I would like to continue doing moving forwards. I also found that students were blurting a lot when they were sharing what they had observed while watching the videos. In the moment I didn’t mind the blurting as I felt that it showed the students level of engagement was high; this being said, it is the beginning of the school year so class management expectations for students I think should be strongly enforced, so next lesson I will remind students to raise their hands is they would like to share their thoughts with the class so that we can all hear one another and we each have a fair turn at speaking. I felt that students understood my directions throughout my lesson, and I received positive feedback from my cooperating teacher!

Overall I think that this was an excellent start to my Rocks, Minerals & Erosion unit! I look forward to many more lessons to come.

My lesson plan– includes links to the lessons resources/activities

Data Collection