EDEL 523 - DR.

DONOVAN

DE LEARNING EXPERIENCE
KARLA DE LA CRUZ (CHRIS DE LA CRUZ AS GUEST TEACHER)

A. DESCRIPTION OF DISTANCE LEARNING AND WHY?

As a third grade Spanish teacher at a dual immersion program school in San Diego, I have
combined school work with what I do daily with my students - interact through a distance
education medium, Zoom. We were starting our new unit in social science, and I saw the
opportunity to include the studies of Native Americans in California as part of this
assignment. The standards covered in this unit included HSS3.2.1 and HSS3.2.2. We briefly
described the American Indian nations in their local region. The objective of the lesson was
to learn the way in which “physical geography, including climate, influenced how the local
Indian nations adapted to their natural environment”
(https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/histsocscistnd.pdf). This lesson adapted the
distance education definition as stated in Week 1, Chapter 1 - A Teacher’s Guide to Distance
Education (1999, 2009), distance education means “that the teacher and students are
separated by distance” and it must be collaborative and student-centered.” This unit
included the factors needed to be considered a DE Learning Experience.

The lesson included a collaboration of a guest teacher, Chris De La Cruz. We both created
Google slide presentations with images and videos linked in the presentation. The unit was
delivered in sections. I, Karla De La Cruz, introduced the unit with a KWL chart to engage
the students in the new topic, activate prior knowledge, share unit objectives, and monitor
students’ learning. As each teacher presented at different times, each slide being
introduced was stopped momentarily to go over important information, and to give the
students a chance to write down key details, sketch or write down questions to encourage
active participation.

GOOGLE SLIDE PRESENTATIONS:

Chris De La Cruz Karla De La Cruz

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1i https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1T
MvuTvs-7PhEJqbHe8aOMS4PtpS6TXB5iCKo euXvT4yqZxkFWi8Wl84NLUC2pLuNqJEnLm
LTVyzyw/edit#slide=id.p gFB_lSIo/edit#slide=id.p

STUDENTS TAKING NOTES:

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 B. DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITIES
The activity included a Google document with images, questions and fill in the blank
statements related directly to the lesson. This activity along with the lesson were posted in

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Google classroom. Students collaborated together in breakout rooms, while Chris and I
jumped around to assist each group.

ACTIVITY:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fxgk28-AUTxKD3MgeuOtB6zawozg3IHLYmxmBq
mLIE0/edit

C. EXAMPLES OF STUDENT WORK

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 D. FEEDBACK FROM CLASSROOM STUDENTS WHO
PARTICIPATED:
The students participated in a short survey a day after the lesson and activity were
completed. This survey referenced 5 questions in total that were related to the activity.
Out of those 5 questions, 3 were multiple choice answers, and two open ended questions.
Overall, the students stated that the lesson was very good, and that they had ”learned a lot
about the tribes of California.” Out of the 13 students who participated in the survey (2
students were absent), 3 of them stated that they had “nothing” to share with their teacher
about the lesson. One student stated that his/her least favorite part of the lesson was
knowing that the Native Americans “eat bugs.” A few shared that the breakout rooms were
their least favorite.

SURVEY RESULTS:

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https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZLM66Nz-1i2yqAILitoswt5f2dVrMp5n5VoTwnPuT
cY/edit#responses

E. REFLECTION:

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SURVEY: First and foremost, the survey was such an eye opener, by finding out what
learning activities students enjoy the most and least about the lesson, it made me rethink
the makeup of my future lessons. Perhaps I can deliver the same content in a better way.
Additionally, by asking students how well the learning activities suit their academic abilities,
I can adjust my teaching/instruction to better meet their needs.

CO-TEACHING: Co-teaching a lesson was not what I was expecting during this assignment.
In my head, I had already planned it out: Lesson, virtual field trip, activity, guest speaker,
oral presentation, done. However, co-teaching a lesson with Chris proved fruitful. Yes, I
had to modify my unit to include his lesson, but observing other teachers is a key part of
development; it improved my own self-awareness of his skills and made me identify areas
for further growth. Even though I was trying to take a step back to let him lead the lesson,
I, sometimes, intervened to clarify a keyword, or an important fact. After the day was over, I
took a minute to sit down and analyze the lesson and I believe that I did not provide Chris
enough room to really lead the lesson. Next time, I will be sure to clearly define roles and
responsibilities and stick to them.