I thought that overall my lesson went pretty well, but there are definitely things that I need to work

on as I teach. When watching a video of yourself you can really see what you as a teacher can improve on and work on. I noticed that when I taught my lesson there are many improvements that I could have made, but there are also some things that I thought I did well on. There are some aspects that I used when teaching to promote different aspects of learning theory. When watching the video I noticed that I moved around the room quiet often. I did this to make sure everyone was listening and to answer any questions, but I did it to keep everyone actively mentally engaged, which relates to constructivist learning theory. I also thought that my activity kept the group actively mentally engaged because they had to think of what materials they needed and then problem solve to figure out how to lift the jug with the pulley and without it. I also tried to use wait time in order to keep them actively engaged. I feel that I did not use that much wait time because the students always would have their hands up with their ideas ready and so I think that this shows they were engaged. I maybe should have though, waited longer for the students that needed more time to think and did not get a chance to raise their hand. But I think that many of the students did answer my questions and were engaged ready to answer questions. I did try to call on a wide variety of students to make sure everyone was engaged. In addition, when I taught I used aspects of social learning theory. I set up my lesson to teach within their zone of proximal development. I thought that most of the time during the activity the students were being challenged just enough. I could tell this because they were giving me many ideas and then eventually figured out what tools they needed to lift the jug. They were trying out different ideas and eventually came to the conclusion that I wanted them too. I do feel though that when the actually pulley was introduced they had a little trouble. This could have been at the top of their zone, but in the end they grasped the concept and so it worked out, it was just a more challenging task. I put all of the students into groups so that they could learn using each others ideas and so they could problem solve together. The students learned together and helped eachother come to conclusions to how pulleys worked. However, I also used developmentally learning theory by having them reflect in their journals. This helped them reflect on their own thoughts and they could come conclusions on their own as well as with the groups. I also gave them a concrete activity to understand pulleys because this is what children need around this age to really help them grasp and understand concepts. If they did not have this concrete experience they may have had a harder time understanding what pulleys actually do (developmental learning theory). Along with the idea of a concrete experience, they also exemplified developmental learning theory when they gave me real-life examples of pulleys. By giving me examples it showed that they understood what pulleys are and were able to actually give me concrete examples of them, which was great. I also thought that my lesson was a good representation of the nature of science. I thought that my questions really made the children think about where they wanted to go with the lesson. Most of the time I asked questions that made them think and then I built upon their thoughts. An example of this was when I asked them what tools they needed to lift the jug. Then a child responded with spring scales and I asked them how they would use that and what a spring scale does. I did not simply ask them a yes or no questions. I did

think that a few of my questions though were poor because they were yes or no questions or were simple answer questions. These questions I just should have thought through more before I said them in order to truly ask a good thought-provoking question. I also thought that I promoted nature of science because my lesson was so concrete. They truly got to see how heavy the jug was with and without the pulley. Then this eventually led them to the correct conclusions about pulleys. Moreover, during the lesson I also never told the children that they needed to follow the scientific method. I did not simply tell them how to do the lesson and I used my questions for them to get to the conclusions I wanted them too. I had them reflect in their journals and record observations to show that scientists are reflective and to help them have notes to lead them to their conclusion. I helped them find out and think about what tools they would need in order to complete the task that I asked them too. Then the figured out from their with my scaffolding that they needed the pulley to help make lifting the jug easier. I do though think that I could have done a better job questioning the students to figure out that they needed the pulley. I almost gave them the answer because I felt like I was running out of time and so I wanted to get to using the pulley before the class ended. I should not have rushed it here and instead I should have just gone with the pace of the class and finished the lesson on a different day. As a teacher I know that I will have to do this at times and I should not force anything like I kind of did during this lesson. Though it was good that they understood the concept at the end. Then when writing my lesson I remembered to always keep my student goals in mind, which is what should always happen. The students thought critically with most of my questions because I would build on them and I would try and take them a step further. I also would not ask yes or no questions, except for a few times. An example of this was when one student offered the idea of lifting the jug with spring scale. Then I proceeded to ask how that would work and then followed that up by how spring scales actually work. I also had them problem solve throughout the entire lesson by figuring out what materials they need to lift the jug, what can make it easier, and how exactly to lift the jug with the pulley. Also the students were demonstrating a robust understanding of science content through their prior knowledge and through the lesson. They applied what they knew, such as the spring scales and pulleys, in order to solve the task at hand. They also were being independent by figuring out what they wanted to do to lift the jug and figuring this out for themselves. I could make an argument for just about every goal being promoted some way in this lesson, but those are the ones that stood out to me most. As a teacher if the goals are in your mind when writing the lesson then the goals will be promoted. But the goals will also be promoted on the spot even if you did not plan it. This is because as a teacher I need to use effective teaching strategies and since I am doing this goals will be promoted because they are ingrained in my memory. Promoting goals will eventually be something that I will not have to think about, but it will be something that I just do naturally. When watching the video and filling out the STATIC form there were definitely some things that were annoying that I did. There is definitely room for improvement for my desired level that I one-day want to teach at. I noticed that when I would speak I would sometimes use fillers such as um when I was thinking what I wanted to say. This would become annoying and it made it sound like I was unsure of what I was asking exactly. I think that in future lessons I should really think through what I want to ask and say before I say it. If I am confident in the wording right off the bat then this will allow me to ask effective questions and give concise directions. It would probably also be helpful to keep

video taping my lessons to check if I am still using filler words to check up on myself. Another thing that would be useful for me to do would be to write side notes on my lesson to be aware not to use filler words. Another thing that I noticed was that I lacked in a few of my classroom management skills. I thought that I did some things well such as having the materials ready for the students before they even got into the classroom. I know though that I did a few things poorly relating to classroom management. One thing was it was a good idea to use Popsicle sticks to pick the groups, but I should have had the sticks ready before hand. This would have saved time and could have kept the children actively mentally engaged the entire time (constructivist learning theory). Another issue was that some of the groups would finish the tasks early and I did not have anything for them to do. One group did finish early and I told them to make sure they wrote all of their observations in their notebook and that did not take that long. Next time and for future lessons I need to make sure to have other tasks prepared for the group that gets done early. This way I can keep the groups attention and can keep them engaged through the entire activity. I tested my lesson on a couple of my friends prior to teaching it, but I think that I could have done one thing in the lesson a lot better. When practicing it with my friends my friends were able to attach and use the pulley with no difficulties. But with the students they had trouble figuring out how to attach and use the pulley. I wanted them to figure it out and do it on their own to promote the nature of science and social learning theory. It promotes social learning theory because they are figuring out how to do the task with the entire group and it promotes nature of science because they are making discoveries through thought provoking questions that I ask them and through problem solving. However, I feel that I lost some engagement because the students wanted to give up because they really could not figure it out. I still do not think that if I did the lesson again I would just tell them how to attach the pulley, but I would give them more direction and would ask them more effective questions to get them to the conclusion I want them to. In addition, there were a few more classroom management things that I could have done better and this was because I did not set up some rules at the beginning. One thing I did was when I picked groups I did not think about how I was grouping the students; it was all at random. I should have grouped them by who works well together and who does not and I should have known the abilities of the students. This was a problem for me at times because sometimes the students were not actively engaged and got distracted easily. Also the back group in the classroom was constantly fighting on who was going to do what and could not agree on what to do. I feel like I lost them on some of the activity because of this and I think that the activity could have worked a lot better if I thought more about how I wanted to group the students based on each individual. I think that I could have done this a lot easier if I knew the students since the first day of school and had experience with them. Since I did not have this experience I had a little more trouble with it, but next time I will pay more attention into how I actually group the groups. Another thing that I was disappointed with was that I did not know all of the students names. This is important to establish right after the first day of school because the students will respect you more and listen to you more often. This way they will be more actively mentally engaged, which promotes constructivist-learning theory. Instead during my lesson I called on people by pointing at them, which is annoying and I felt almost bad doing it. At one point I was so annoyed with it that I asked the girl her name so I could make her feel like I valued the

comment. I also learned a couple of the students names through the lesson because they were acting up. But later on I was able to use this and call on them by name and this made me feel better because I think that they thought I valued their comment more. Learning students names is so important to do right in the beginning of the school year to truly gain this respect. I know that I will not be pointing in my lessons to call on students anymore because knowing a students name can make a big difference in how the lesson will go. One last thing that I should have established at the beginning of the lesson is how I want the students to quiet down from one activity to the next. All teachers should do this in the first week of school to effectively and efficiently run their classroom. When having a strategy to transition from activity to activity is in place there will be no time wasted and the students can stay engaged during the class time. During my lesson I tried to use a transition by putting my hand up and counting down, but it did not work because I did not establish that I was going to do that in the beginning of the lesson. Instead I would try to talk over them and say things such as hey, hey, quiet down. This almost raised the noise level and lost some of the students engagement because they would continue talking to eachother. When having a loud transition like this it can get the class riled up and can give the lesson a negative spin. With a silent transition it is smooth and the students will all gradually quiet down and they can stay engaged. One last thing that I want to note about the video and something that could have gone better is that towards the end of the lesson the class was disrupted. A girl in a different class was having a tantrum and so there was a loud noise and some screaming. This really lost any engagement that the students had with the lesson and so at this point I had to think on my feet. As an effective teacher I will always need to think on my feet in order to keep the students as engaged in the lesson as I can. There will always be unexpected things that will happen and the teacher just needs to have the right reactions. I thought that I did well with it because I had them go to the front and reflect on the lesson in their journal. Then at this point they also gave me examples of pulleys used in the real life and told me exactly what pulleys do based on the lesson. A few things that I thought went best were I think even though the students got off track at times they understood the underlying purpose of the lesson. I knew this because of their comments about real life pulleys and how they said that when using pulleys it took less effort. Also later on I could have read each of the students science journals to check for each individuals understanding of the lesson. I also thought that I did a good job with most of my questions because they required the students to think critically about what they wanted to say. I thought that I did a good job moving around the room to engage all of my students in the lesson (constructivist learning theory). I circulated the room to also make sure each group was on track and to question them further to see where they were going and to get to the desired response. They worked in groups to get to this desired response because they could bounce their ideas off of one another and eventually come to conclusions (social learning theory). I also thought that I had a good concrete activity for the students because they could actually see, record, and experience the amount of effort it takes to lift the jug without the pulley and with it.

SATIC Questions: 1. What do you have in front of you? (3b) 2. What can we use to lift the jug of water to the same level as the desk without simply lifting it up and putting it on the desk? (3c) 3. How would you use the blocks? (4) 4. What are you guys trying to do here? (3b) 5. What do sping scales do though? (3c) 6. Is that heavy? (3a) 7. Why did you guys decide to measure from there to there (pointing from one side of the pole to the other)? (3c) 8. Was it difficult or easy? (3b) 9. What are some observations you wrote? (3b) 10. You guys were all able to do it right? (3a)