Reflection on Videotaped Lesson
Background:
On December 11, 2006 my second period standard biology class was videotaped. This is an inclusion class with 25 students, 4 of whom are in the Exceptional Children (EC) program. At the time of the videotaped lesson I was about half-way through teaching a unit on plant biology. The plan for this class period was to begin with a warm-up on the differences between monocots and dicots. We would then have a quick discussion of the previous day’s Plant Identification Activity. This would be followed by a lecture and note-taking session of plant reproduction. Finally, we would finish up the class with a lab on fruits and vegetables (Grocery Store Botany). This was a typical 90 minute block schedule class. However, it was meeting at an unusual time due to the week’s Benchmark Testing schedule. Instead of seeing these students from 9:05 – 10:35, I was teaching them from 11:25 – 12:55, immediately following lunch.
Lesson Narrative/Observations:
I was at the door, greeting students as they entered the classroom. As students entered, they found their assigned seats and saw that a handout with the day’s warm-up activity was waiting for them at their desks. Prior to the bell ringing, only a couple students appeared to be working on the warm-up. Instead, most were talking to each other at their seats and some were milling about the classroom. As soon as the bell rang, I shut the door, went to the front of the classroom and asked students to find their seats and settle down. I then told students that they would be given about 5 minutes to do the warm-up and that I would be collecting it. I also told students to get out the previous night’s homework and set it on their desks for me to collect. Most students sat down, began to work and got out the requested homework.
As students worked on the warm-up, I collected homework. I also circulated the room to see if any students needed help. For students who seemed to be having a hard time getting started, I suggested that they look at their notes from the previous day and see if those would be helpful. As students finished the warm-up, I took them up. This activity ended up taking longer than I had planned, more like 10-15 minutes rather than 5 minutes. Most students seemed able to finish the warm-up when given the extra time. However, for students who had finished quickly this turned out to be dead time.
After collecting all of the warm-up handouts I went over the activity with the class. For the activity, students had been asked to look at two diagrams, one of a bean seedling and one of a corn seedling, and determine which plant was a monocot and which was a dicot. Students were also asked to explain how they could tell which plant was which. I asked students to raise their hands if they could answer the questions from the activity. I then called on volunteers to share their answers. When a student provided a partial answer I tried to prod her into figuring out the rest of the answer by asking her questions, rather than calling on a different student to fill in the remaining answer. I also called on some students who had not volunteered to answer questions and worked them through the thought process needed to figure out the answer when they did not know it right away.
After the discussion of the warm-up, I shared a moss plant with the students that I had found during a weekend hike in the Duke Forest. The moss sample was interesting because it contained the sporophyte generation which is only present at certain times. I passed the moss around so that students could look at it close-up. This provided a good segue into our next topic for the class, which was to review the Plant Identification activity that we had done during the previous class period. During that activity, students had been asked to classify a variety of plants as being either bryophytes, seedless vascular plants, gymnosperms or angiosperms (also if an angiosperm was a monocot or a dicot). For the review of this activity I held up examples of plants that students had struggled with and asked students to give input on how to identify them. I allowed some choral response during this review. I tried to get many students involved by calling on both volunteers and students who rarely raise their hands. I tried to move around the classroom so that students could look more closely at the plants being discussed. I was pleased to see that some students who do not generally volunteer answers were able to think through a question and come up with the right answer when called on. However, it did seem like a small number of students dominated in terms of providing answers.
During the next activity, a PowerPoint presentation on plant reproduction with guided note taking, I felt like I was having a really hard time keeping students engaged. In observing the video later, it did seem as though students were less engaged than would have been preferred, though it did not appear quite as bad as it had felt in the moment. I thought that I was doing a pretty good job of explaining the material and trying to tie it back to things that had been covered earlier on in the unit and in previous units. I did ask questions of students and generally got good responses from them. However, it seemed like there were sometimes fairly long stretches between questions. A number of students had their heads down and looked like they were falling asleep. I was constantly circulating the classroom and when I came to a sleeping student I would tap him on the shoulder and tell him to get his head up. This was generally successful for a while, but before long the student would have his head down again. Overall, this part of the lesson was frustrating as students seemed so sluggish. I had presented the same lecture to my other biology class earlier in the day and the students had been very much engaged and asking a lot of questions, so it was an interesting contrast. I am not used to seeing 2nd period right after lunch, and I wonder if having just eaten had anything to do with this.
The final activity of the class period was a lab I had designed called Grocery Store Botany. For this lab, students were working with a partner to classify various fruits and vegetables based on what plant part is eaten. Students also had an accompanying set of questions to answer. The fruits and vegetables were contained in trays that were passed from group to group. Students seemed to wake up a lot for this activity. Most students were paying attention as I explained the activity and then got right to work on classifying the produce. Throughout the activity there was a lot of talking and some milling around the room, but most of the talking appeared to be on task and the movement was to exchange trays. I spent this time circling the room and checking in with groups on how they were doing. I was pleased to see that students were calling me over to ask questions of me. Also, I like the fact that despite the busy atmosphere of the classroom I appeared to have an eye on all groups and was able to check in with all students multiple times. Most students were able to complete this activity in the time provided. For those who did not, I told them to finish the questions for homework and that I would collect them the next day.
Conclusions:
Strengths of lesson/classroom management:
- I like the fact that I was at the door to greet the students. This is something that I try to do every day.
- Good job of calling on lots of students. It was clear that I was trying to call on both students who frequently volunteer answers and those who only rarely speak up.
- When a student does not know an answer, or has it only partially correct, I try to work him through it by asking additional questions and giving hints, rather than just moving on to someone else.
- I acknowledged students’ correct responses and input by saying their names and repeating their ideas so that the rest of the class can hear.
- I think I did a good job of responding to questions, for example when I was asked what the structure at the top of a corn plant is as we were discussing the warm-up.
- I tried to tie in past material during the lecture and discussions, an important way of reviewing during a very fast paced course.
- I gave students individual attention during the lab activity and seemed to have a good idea of how each student was doing.
- Other than some talking and sleeping, there were no behavioral problems during this class.
Areas for improvement:
- Although students are used to warm-ups they generally do not begin them until directed by me after the bell has rung.
- I felt like at the beginning of the lesson, my voice would sometimes trail off making me sound a bit hesitant. This seemed to have improved a great deal by the end of the class.
- It would be good for the students who finish the warm-up early to have something to do. Perhaps I should have directed them to work on their Plant Booklets.
- I still think that I say “so” and “ok” more than desirable, though I know this has improved over the course of the semester.
- I should try to ask more questions during lectures, especially when students seem as unengaged as they did during this class.
- Just telling sleeping students to put their heads up did not seem to be working. Maybe I should have had them stand up?
- I noticed that although I try to circle the room a lot when I am talking, I seemed to be avoiding the side of the room where the projector is during the lecture. I think this was so that I would not be in the way of students copying down notes, but it would still be good if I could find a way to move through that side of the room more frequently.