Block I Experience

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Block I Experience

• Amanda Gray
• December 15, 2003
• Photo Assessment
• Social Studies and Language Arts Lessons

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Amanda Gray

• My Block I Experience was with Mrs. Spencers
  5th and 6th Grade class at Rutherford Elementary
  School.

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My Theme

• The 5th and 6th grade house at Rutherford was
  studying ancient cultures, and Ancient Egypt was
  one that they would be spending a large amount of
  time studying. Mrs. Spencer suggested that I
  teach my lessons covering parts of Modern Egypt
  to supplement what she would be teaching. I
  decided for my social studies lessons to focus on
  the Aswan Dam and how it affects Egypt today. For
  my language arts lessons, they made travel
  brochures on Modern Egypt.

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Materials for Social Studies

• For my first social studies lesson, the
  students made river systems and put in a dam to
  see the effects of a dam on a river. They used
  foil, cardboard, pans, cups, bowls, and clay to
  construct their rivers.

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Social Studies Lesson 1

• I broke the students up into five groups of
  six students. I gave them their materials,
  directions, and their direction sheets and told
  them to start making their river. They had to
  first build a river and get it flowing, and then
  I gave them a lump of clay for a dam. There was
  water flowing everywhere, but they were very
  creative and cooperative. They LOVED it!

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Direction Sheet
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Students building
The students worked very well together to design
a river and dam system.
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Student Comments

• Oh cool, Ms. Gray! Our dam is making our river
  overflow!
• Our dam stopped ALL of our water!
• One of the boys asked me on the following day,
  Ms. Gray, are we going to do another cool
  experiment in your class today?

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My Thoughts

• I was very pleased with how my first lesson
  went. The students were so excited, and I really
  believe that they were able to construct their
  knowledge so that it was meaningful for them.
  They were so interested in how the dam works and
  why people put them in, that they were sad to see
  the lesson end. Mrs. Spencer told me that she
  really liked the lesson and had even tried to
  make a set-up like this herself but couldnt come
  up with such great ideas for materials. I was so
  relieved to have my very first lesson go so well.

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Social Studies Lesson 2

• For my second day of social studies, the
  students researched on the internet for the pros
  and cons of the Aswan Dam. I gave them some
  websites to look at, and they found and listed
  the pros and cons on their worksheets.

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Sample Worksheet
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Lesson 2 Continued

• After the students found some pros and cons,
  we came back together to discuss what they found.
  As a group, they came up with about an equal
  number of pros and cons, so we talked about
  weighing decisions and how they would have to
  sacrifice some things to benefit others.

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Student Comments

• I found way more cons than pros!
• They should not have built the Aswan Dam because
  look at all the bad things that happened.
• Well, I found way more pros than cons, so I
  think it was good that they built it.

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My thoughts

• I was so excited to hear them discussing what
  they found out on the internet. Their comments
  were the perfect set-up for what they would be
  doing in my next lesson. Once again, the students
  were quite attentive and willing to listen. They
  all wanted to tell everything that they found out
  about the Aswan Dam.

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Social Studies Lesson 3
On the third and final day of my social studies
lessons, the students had to decide whether they
would have voted for or against the building of
the Aswan Dam if they had been on the deciding
committee.
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Position Paper

• After they picked a viewpoint, the students
  had to write a paper describing their position
  and why they supported that decision. Then they
  had to pick one of four other rivers in the world
  and say why they would or wouldnt build a
  similar dam on one of those rivers.

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Student Comments

• Ms. Gray, I dont have a position on it. I can
  see both the good and bad things, so how can I
  pick?
• I wouldnt have wanted to be on the council that
  decided. This is a hard decision.
• But they didnt know all the bad things that
  would happen when they decided to build it.

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My Thoughts

• Some of the students werent so excited to
  have to pick a position and write about it. They
  kept asking me if they really had to write it and
  whether it would be graded. I told them that I
  just wanted to know what they thought about it
  and that it didnt matter which side they picked
  as long as they supported their ideas. This
  lesson went fairly well, but they werent as
  eager as in the past two lessons because they had
  to do some writing. I dont think they liked the
  pressure of having to decide a big decision, even
  though it was not a real situation. Some of their
  papers were very good and insightful. I enjoyed
  reading them.

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Language Arts Materials

• I provided the students with published travel
  brochures, their graphic organizer, checklists,
  extra activities, and examples of my work.

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Some Examples of Brochures
I brought in about 25 travel brochures for the
students to look at so they could get ideas for
how they would need to make their brochures.
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Language Arts Lesson 1

• On the first day of my language arts lessons,
  the students looked at travel brochures to find
  persuasive words and adjectives.

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Lesson 1 Continued

• The students found many adjectives and
  persuasive phrases and were all very eager to
  read what they found out loud to the class.

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Lesson 1 Continued

• Then I taught them what superlatives were and
  had them find those in the brochures.

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Lesson 1 Continued

• The next thing we did was brainstorm anything
  they could think of about Egypt, so they had some
  ideas to begin looking for.

• I then gave them time to begin researching on the
  internet for things to put in their brochures.

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Working hard
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Student Comments

• Ms. Gray, I have been on lots of vacations, and
  we went to a travel agent before we picked where
  we were going, and she had brochures like these.
• Can I read mine? I found some really good
  adjectives.
• My aunt has been to Egypt, so I bet she knows
  all about it. Maybe I can even get some pictures
  from her.

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My Thoughts

• Once again, I was very excited after my
  lesson. The students were very eager to listen to
  me, and they were so excited to get started on
  making their own brochures. I think the lesson
  went quite well, but it would have been
  beneficial to have a few more brochures for them
  to look at so that they wouldnt have to share.

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Language Arts Lesson 2

• On the second day we went over their graphic
  organizers and talked about how far they should
  be on their information. Then we talked about
  what audience to write their brochures to, how to
  make a lay-out plan, and how to begin drafting.

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Lesson 2 Continued

• The second day was a mostly a work day and the
  students used it well. They worked very hard at
  their lay-out plans and rough drafts.

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Lesson 2 Conclusion

• We concluded Day 2 by going over our
  procedural checklist so that they knew what they
  needed to have completed for my next lesson.

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Graphic Organizer

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Lay-out Plan Example
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Draft Example
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Student Comments

• For our lay-out plan, do we have to write
  everything on it?
• You will never guess how much stuff I was able
  to find out about Cairo!
• I definitely want to go to Alexandria someday.
  You should see all the sweet pictures on the
  internet!

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My Thoughts

• I thought the day went very well. The students
  were very quiet and diligent. It was a bit hard
  because they were in a lot of different places
  because some didnt bring it home for homework, a
  few had been absent, and some kids missed parts
  of my lesson for band or speech. After getting
  them all caught up, it was a breeze because they
  all had things to get done.

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Language Arts Lesson 3

• On my last language arts lesson, we went over
  their revising and editing checklist, and the
  students helped me make changes to my rough draft.

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Lesson 3 Continued

• Then we compared two published brochures to
  show them how using pictures and color makes a
  brochure more exciting and convincing.

I then gave the students work time to continue
writing and start on their revising and editing
with a partner.
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Lesson 3 Continued

• When the students finished with their
  revising and editing, then they brought it to me
  to for the final check.

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My Thoughts

• Overall, I was quite pleased with how my
  language arts lessons went. I think the students
  enjoyed making the brochures, and I really loved
  looking at their final products. I would have
  liked to have given them more class time to work
  on their publishing, but they were able to bring
  them home and make some very impressive products.

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Student Comments

• How many pictures do we have to have?
• Can we get pictures off the internet?
• Jackie checked mine, so Im ready for my final
  check.
• Ms. Gray, look at all the cool pictures I found
  of the Sphinx, the Great Pyramid, and the Aswan
  Dam!

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High Quality Travel Brochure
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High Quality Brochure Assessment
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Low Quality Travel Brochure
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Low Quality Brochure Assessment
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Extra Activities

• I kept the students so busy that they didnt
  even need to use the extra activities. However,
  some of the students brought them home and did
  them anyway.

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Experience Like None Other

• I thoroughly enjoyed my pre-student teaching
  experience at Rutherford. I absolutely loved my
  time with the 5th and 6th graders and was sorry
  to see the time end. I was quite pleased with how
  well my lessons went. The students in my class
  were completely wonderful, and I will definitely
  miss them. After this experience, I truly believe
  that 5th and 6th grade is the grade I want to
  teach in the future.