Origami+Penguin+Lesson+Reflection

1. What did the students learn from your lesson? How do you know they learned from your lesson? The students learned how to create an origami penguin by following my instructions. I also checked for understanding by asking followup questions such as "What does origami mean again?" and "Why is origami paper square?" I also know they learned from my lesson because they were all able to create a penguin and a construction paper scene for their penguin.
 * Analysis of Instructional Planning and Impact on Learning**

2. What did you think about or consider when planning the lesson? (Be specific.) Miss Quamen told me that I could do whatever I wanted with the students, but she also mentioned that they had not done origami yet. I am very familiar with origami, so I knew that anything beyond a penguin for their first origami project would be too hard. This project only requires 4-5 folds, so I knew that the 2nd graders would be able to follow along with the short time it would take to teach them.

3. What do you think was the most effective part of the lesson? Why? I introduced the lesson by asking the students what animals we have in our area and "arguing" with them about penguins living around here. They were then able to describe where penguins live and I think this got them excited about making a penguin.

4. How closely did you follow your lesson plan? If you deviated from the lesson plan, what decisions did you make during the lesson and why? Very closely. I suppose I deviated some just becuase 2nd graders tend to be easily distracted and wanted to tell me lots of stories about unrelated topics. But, for the most part I stuck closely to my plan. We did have some extra time at the end, so I had the students draw in other sea life and add eyes or more color to their penguins.

5. Were the activities/materials/visuals/aids appropriate? Why? Why not? Yes. I brought a large piece of origami paper to demonstrate on, so that helped them see the steps. I also brought a book on paperfolding and showed them three examples of other origami animals.

6. What part or parts of your plan would you consider changing before teaching this lesson again? I would have liked to add more cultural elements into the lesson plan. I did talk some about the history of origami, but I could have asked the class more follow-up questions about what they had learned from the mini-lecutre. They had good memories for remembering what "origami" means (folding paper) and even remembering my name! Now that I know their abilites, I would add more questions for them.

7. What do you see as your teaching strengths? Patience. When I practiced making the project, I completed it in less than 5 minutes. So, I had to be patient becuase it took the 2nd graders around 30 min to complete the project. I think another one of my strenghts is to not do the project for the students. Even if they ask for help, I assist them in a way that still makes them do the project on their own. It's hard to hold back and not just do it for them, but I know that doing so would not help them learn as much.

8. Identify a goal you would like to have your field-based supervisor assist you in achieving. A goal of mine is to learn how to be interested in the students lives and comments, but not be drawn away from the task at hand to listen to them. Today the 2nd graders were full of stories and comments for me, but I want to learn how to balance listening to them and keeping on task.