Section I: What did I like about the lesson?

I liked several things about the Bird Beak Lesson I taught with my 1 st graders.

The first thing I liked about my lesson was that I structured it to have lots of movement

for the students to help me keep their attention better (because 1st graders are so

wiggly). We started on the rug, we moved to the desks, we moved back to the rug. I

also like that I started the lesson with my students on the rug and the materials on their

desks, so they weren’t able to be distracted by the materials I brought, but also the

experiment was ready to go when we were ready to start exploring.

Another thing I liked about my lesson plan was that it had a lot of manipulatives

for the students to use. I think after students get over the initial excitement of having

manipulatives in front of them, they learn better and are more focused when they have

things to touch and do with their hands because it incorporates more of the 5 senses in

their learning.

The last thing I really like about my lesson plan was that It incorporated the

students using a science journal to write about the things they had learned about that

day. I loved reading their writing and I adored their drawings of the birds and their

beaks.

Section II: What would I do differently?

If I were to teach this lesson again, I would change two things. I liked my lesson

plan as a whole, but after I taught the lesson and talked with my mentor teacher, I

realized I should have used more “bird language” while teaching the lesson (for

example, used words like gizzard). I think I could have used a few more vocabulary
words during the lesson to help direct the students thought processes on the main focus

of the lesson. Another thing I would change if I were to teach this lesson again is I would

come prepared with more “attention grabbing” phrases. I kept using the same one

repeatedly and gradually it got harder and harder to gain their attention.

Section III: As I was teaching the lesson, how did I change it from the original
plan and why?

In the transition from the engage part of the lesson to the explore part of the

lesson, I lost a lot of students with the directions and what was expected of them. I had

to stop and go back to re-explain and clarify what I wanted them to do when they left the

rug and moved to their desks to start the exploring part. I stopped and explained the

directions differently than I had planned because I could see the confusion on my

student’s faces, and I knew that if I didn’t clarify what I had wanted them to do before I

moved them back to their desks then I would lose their attention for the rest of the

lesson.