Lesson Plan & Implementation:

Reflection and Analysis

College of Education
Childhood Education & Literacy Studies

Reflection is a critical process for supporting your growth and development as a

professional. At the end of each lesson, you should reflect on the experience and analyze its
effectiveness. This part of the process consists of two parts: the reflection and the analysis.

In order to receive full credit your reflection and analysis must include specific references
to the video with time correlations. For this reason, it is strongly suggested that you
complete a chart as you watch your video with the following headings and focus your
viewing on the student learning goal and/or teacher instructional goal​.
Time Celebration/Struggle/Question: Claim about teaching practice

6:19 Celebration: It is crucial to link real world

Students were able to identify
real world situations that they
have encountered relating to
conduction as an engage for the
lesson.
10:14 Struggle:
I failed to have the students turn
and talk about what they thought
conduction is.
experiences to academic
concepts that students may not
connect to the real world unless
prompted to do so. This is best
practice
Collaborating with peers and
sharing ideas about new
concepts is a great way for
students to learn from one
another rather than learning
only from the teacher.

16:23 Celebration: Having students observe the

The students were broken into
groups and observed the
materials that they would be
using with their eyes. I drew their
attention to the thermometer
asking the question, “What do
you think this science tool is used
for?”.
27:19 Celebration:
Once the snakes were made, I
assigned the role of temperature
reader to one student in each of
the five groups. In the group at
science tools that they will be
using throughout the lesson to
gain an understanding of their
purpose will make the
investigations that much more
meaningful.
I realized that once I gave my
behaviorally challenged student
a job or responsibility in a group
setting, she was more likely to
participate and interact with the
 the back table, I made my
behaviorally challenged student
the temperature reader and she
was able to participate and
complete work appropriately.
32:14 Celebration:
Once I placed the hot water
bottles on the students desks, I
advised them not to touch them. I
was surprised at the levels of self
control that the students
exhibited.
41:38 Struggle:
There was a question for the
students to answer about what
they predicted would happen to
the snake after sitting on the hot
water bottle, but I did not allow
enough time for everyone to
answer that question before
moving on to measuring the
temperatures of the snakes.
44:20 Celebration:
While the students were waiting
to read the next temperature of
their snakes, I had a page for
them to fill out and include their
observations throughout the
lesson.
49:18 Struggle:
One student was using the snake
inappropriately, and rather than
correcting his behavior right
away and moving his clip I asked
him to put the snake back.
54:45 Struggle:
I was trying to show the students
how to graph their results using a
line graph, but they were unable
to understand how line graphs
work and did not accurately
represent their data in a graph.
other students and materials to
complete her work.
It is crucial to review lab safety
rules before dealing with any
materials that could be
potentially harmful to students
such as hot water in a thin bottle.
For future lessons, I must ensure
that I give enough time for
students to make predictions
before we dive into the
experiment. This will give me a
better understanding of their
background knowledge and
current understanding of
content being taught.
I created a paper for them to
record their observations
because it would have taken half
of the lesson time for this group
to create an organizer in their
science notebooks. It is all about
keeping our students needs in
mind when planning instruction.
It is always important to correct
negative behaviors and set the
precedence that they are not
acceptable in the classroom
through the use of the class-wide
behavior management system
set in place.
While bringing other content
areas into your lesson is very
important, if the students get
stuck on something that they
may not have learned yet, and it
does not align with the current
content objective, it is not wise
to waste instructional time
 teaching them something that
does not directly apply to the
current lesson.
61:34 Celebration: I always ensure that my exit
tickets align with the objective to
There were many students that inform my practice and let me
answered the exit ticket question know whether or not the
correctly. students were understanding the
material.

You do not have to answer all of these questions, choose 3-4 and answer thoroughly.
They are meant to prompt your thinking. Your reflection should make sure to
address both reflection and analysis.

The Reflection:​ The reflection component should make you think about your overall
impressions and feelings that you had. You also might address something that surprised
you or something that made you pause.

Questions to consider in your reflection:

1. What connections can you make to your lesson today from your coursework, the
literature, and any previous lessons or experiences?

For this lesson, I conducted a science lab about heat conduction. This was the first

time that I introduced content for the first time during a lab, but had enough time set aside

at the beginning of the lesson to review the content. I was able to identify misconceptions

and have a student share the objective and look fors for the lesson that I taught. By teaching

the content for the first time during a hands on lab, the students were able to see how

conduction works rather than just hearing about it and what it is and does. While I have

taught labs before, this was the first time that I introduced new content and the students

loved being able to explore and figure out for themselves what it was that they were

learning for science that day. A lot of literature that I read about science refers to the

importance of students investigating and discovering for themselves, and I saw how

engagement levels were higher using this kind of lesson rather than a traditional “let’s read
about it” type of lesson. The behaviors and levels of interaction from various students who

typically do not participate in science was a good indicator that I designed a great lesson to

teach the new content. Also, because the students wanted to participate in the lesson, at 32

minutes and 14 seconds in my video the students practice self control by following

directions not to touch the hot water bottles.

The Analysis:​ The analysis part addresses the lesson’s effectiveness – to what extent did the
students meet the objectives stated in your lesson plan and how do you know? Make a
claim about student learning and support it with evidence that you gathered from the
lesson.
1. To what extent did the students learn what was intended? How do you know?
As part of your answer, please indicate:

a. In what ways were your teaching methods effective? How do you know?

My teaching methods were effective because the students exhibited

high levels of engagement, and were able to define heat transfer and

conduction by the end of the lesson at 61 minutes and 34 seconds into the

video. They also recognized that we measure heat using a thermometer and

taking the temperature of objects as they are being exposed to hotter

materials.

b. In what ways were your activities effective? How do you know?

My activities were effective by demonstrating how conduction works

in a “real-world” example of a snake being warmed by laying on hot rocks.

The students learned how to measure heat transfer by checking their

thermometers every two minutes and recording and charting the results. The
students then had to interpret the results and determine the conduction that

did occur.

c. In what ways were the instructional materials effective?

The instructional materials were effective by being purposeful in

showing how conduction works. Each material used served an important

purpose. The hot water bottles were not too hot for students to use without

using gloves, and the thermometers worked perfectly for students to

measure how heat is transferred from a hot object to a colder one. The

graphic organizers provided to the students involved charting and questions

that prompted discussion among their groups. At 44 minutes and 20 seconds

into the video, the students are seen recording their predictions on one of the

sheets given to them.

d. How did any special considerations of accommodations affect the lesson?

My afternoon class requires much more guidance than my morning

group, so the steps within the lesson were timed and done together rather

than giving instructions and allowing the students to explore on their own

from there. If I were to have done that, there is a high chance that no work

would have gotten done, and the snakes would have not been used for

science purposes. This additional scaffolding positively impacted the lesson

by keeping up with the pacing of the lesson as well as being able to help

students while they were completing the same step. This also allowed for me
 to identify and clarify common misconceptions that students had not only in

the beginning, but throughout the entire lesson.

2. Identify an individual or group of students who did especially well in this lesson
today. How do you account for this performance?

My student who exhibits the most defiant behavior at all times throughout the day

thoroughly enjoyed each aspect of today's lesson. She was seated at the back of the room

with a few of her peers. She was given the task of being the thermometer reader at 27

minutes and 19 seconds in the video, and was very excited to have been given such a big

responsibility. In addition to participating in her group, she also completed all of her work

and did it well. This leads me to believe that by creating a sense of responsibility in a

group, this student is more likely to participate and work well with others. It was also a fun

activity, and she absolutely loves reptiles. By including her interests I saw an increased

level of engagement and work completion than I have seen all year.

FEAPs

1a. Aligns instruction with state-adopted standards at the appropriate level of rigor;

The lesson was designed around the physical science standard that requires students

recognize that heat flows from a hot object to a colder object, and that heat flow may cause

objects to change temperature. Once I established with the students that heat was flowing from

the warm water bottle onto the room-temperature snake through free exploration, I then had the

students record the temperature of the snake as it continuously sat on the hot water bottle for ten

minutes. The students recorded the snakes temperature in fahrenheit every two minutes.
1c. Designs instruction for students to achieve mastery;

Being that this was a hands on lab, the instruction was meant to be impactful and a great

way for students to see and measure the transfer of heat energy as it occurred right in front of

them. The students had to explain conduction in their exit tickets, as well as measure the transfer

of heat energy from the hot water bottle onto the snakes that they created. Students are still

talking about this lab, which lets me know that they were engaged and understood the content.

1f. Develops learning experiences that require students to demonstrate a variety of applicable

skills and competencies

Students were required to apply their knowledge of the nature of science as well as their

knowledge of conduction and measuring heat throughout this activity. Lab safety rules were also

followed during this lesson. They had to demonstrate the ability to collaborate with their peers

through turn and talks and measuring the transfer of heat onto their snakes.