End of Fieldwork

After completing fieldwork and watching four groups including my own group instruct lessons I have learned so much. Each group had instructed three different lessons for their unit plans.
Generally, the first lesson for each group was the Direct Instruction. Like I had already blogged, Direct Instruction introduces the topics and goes over the unit. They go over different vocabulary and definitions so the students can understand. After Direct Instruction comes Inquiry. This type of lesson is to review what was taught during Direct Instruction and also test the students knowledge. The final lesson is the Cooperative Learning lesson. This is a review of the first two lessons and also more group work activities for the students about the unit. 

Here is the cycle:

Direct Instruction

Inquiry

Cooperative Learning

After seeing all the groups present their lessons, I have learned the many different teaching skills people use. Many of the lessons were taught both the same and different in some ways. Each teacher included a powerpoint for the Direct Instruction and included vocabulary for the students to review. For the Inquiry some teachers did a full review while others did a brief review and a longer activity. Both are fine as long as students understand the topic. For the cooperative all teachers included a fun filled group activity. Cooperative differed between groups in some ways. The main occurrence was that each group allowed students to have roles in their activities. Some teachers assigned the roles while others allowed the students to pick the roles. I think it is better to let the students pick their roles so no feelings are hurt and no one is left out. Altogether, every group did a fantastic job teaching their lessons and units to the second grade class!

Public and Private schools.

After observing in both a public school location and a private school location, I have noticed many similarities with both along with many differences.

In the public school, there is only one teacher assigned to a class where in the private school they have the main teacher and a teachers aid. In the public school they switch teachers and classrooms during their RTI intervention classes. These classes include: Mathematics and ELA. In the Private school they do not switch classes for these subjects. Everything is taught by their primary teacher in one classroom. I feel the private school way is a bit more organized and topics and subjects aren't scattered everywhere. Public schools seem to be unorganized and students are much more wild and hyper. Private schools have more of a stricter view on things because parents are paying extra for the extra care of their children.

Above is a chart of the percents of the behavior by students in the public school and private school locations. 

Here is a chart that shows an amount of students who are enrolled in public schools, private schools, or not enrolled at all. It shows that a great amount are not enrolled or are most likely home schooled. Public schools have a greater amount of enrollments than privates as well. Private schools usually cost a great amount of money which becomes difficult for some parents forcing them to send their children to public school locations. 

There is nothing wrong with public schools. You are getting just as good as an education as you are in private schools in my opinion. Yes, private schools are a bit more organized, but you will have students who struggle in some subjects and students who excel at any school you attend. 

Current Events

Many elementary schools focus on Current Events during their Social Studies lessons. Carly and I had presented a current events lesson on articles we found from Newsela. We shared small facts and then tested the students knowledge by using Kahoot. They find kahoot fun because they can each compete with one another and see what was learned. Newsela has many articles that are occurring in today time. 

Current Events are important for learners because it gives them a chance to learn and see what is happening across the world. Current events can be found in any magazines, newspapers, and even the internet. 

Cooperative Learning Lessons

Cooperative learning is usually the last lesson that is prepared for students.

This lesson is known to be fun for students. Every lesson should include a reflection from what students had learned during the following lessons. Cooperative usually begins with a short recap and then fun group activities. Students have a chance to work in groups and share ideas with each other. This is good for them so they can all hear the different ideas of their classmates. During cooperative learning you can also have a lesson where roles are assigned to students. Students like to take charge and have roles in an assignment. Cooperative learning should be mainly group work having students working together. Besides group work, there should also be independent work to make sure all students have a full understanding of the topic. 

The image above shows a good example of what cooperative learning should consist of. 

Teaching an Inquiry Lesson

Inquiry learning is the middle part of learning between Direct Instruction and Cooperative. When vocabulary and definitions of a topic are explained and repeated in Direct Instruction, Inquiry is being put to the test. Questions, problems, and scenarios are usually shared during Inquiry to test the students knowledge. This is all problem-based learning techniques.

Above is a chart of the Inquiry Learning Technique. You have the opening problem statement, to the data collection, to the analysis, and finally the closing conclusion. 

Teaching Direct Instruction

Teaching Direct Instruction is very essential for young learners.
When teaching a type of DI lesson, many of the vocabulary words and definitions used should be repeated multiple times so students can have the full understanding. Direct Instruction lessons can be very fun because you can come up with different activities or different ways to get the student to memorize what is being taught.

For example, a student has to memorize what a good is. They can use a symbol which could be rubbing their stomach. Doing this over and over will help the student be engaged and have fun while learning.

Below is a basic model of Direct Instruction and how it is processed.