Monday, January 21, 2013

Ghady- had a problem posting my comment on your wall too


Ghady, your lesson reflected your personality in so many ways. It was organized, well managed, and very smooth. I like how you used a famous Disney character as a hook to gain students attention and using that as a starting point for your lesson. The lesson was a combination of indirect approach and student center approach. Having the students to use their imagination to predict the story and organized the sequence of it was very effective. Using your phone to create a feeling of an underwater atmosphere was great. God bless the Iphone!

Rola - had a problem with posting my comment on ur wall


Rola, you delivered your math lesson creatively. The concept of greater than and less than was demonstrated in an age appropriate manner. I like the idea of the alligator eating bigger numbers and personally I benefited from the lesson, specially that I have my own weaknesses in math (and dislikes). The video brought the lesson to life and visually stimulated the students, yet you verbally explained the concept and physically too on the board. Not to mention engaging the students through the activity to make sure they digested the concept of the math lesson. Getting the students to participate as a class and watch their classmates demonstrate the right and wrong answers on the board with the help of the rest of the class was the best part of the lesson. Good luck!     

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Mirco-Teaching 2 (my reflection on myself)


Once one of my teachers was observing me teaching my first class (during my teaching diploma) as I was very nervous and systematic. I was worried about the steps of my lesson plan rather than to enjoy teaching this class and passing this joy on to my students. So, by the end of my lesson my teacher said one thing to me, she said " your students will forget what you said, they will forget what you did,, but they will never forget how you made them feel.." . Ever since, I always try to live my teaching experience and make sure my students live and love their learning journey.
My introduction (or my hook) was a character; his name was Camel, which came from another country with a warmer climate. The purpose of having a new Camel in lesson and using this character as an introduction is for many reasons. One, the character is a new element and anything new that gets introduced in a class is a reason for students to pay attention to. I made sure that this Camel not only gains their attention but to keep it to. So through the indirect teaching and learning though questioning, the students asked Camel what they needed to know and they answered all his questions and exchanged knowledge.
Then the hands-on part of my lesson was not only related to the topic of the lesson (paper snowman), which is new task, but also reinforced pervious knowledge. Students built on their previous e knowledge of colors, face and body parts, and skills (pasting and coordinating).
For a KG2 group of students, those are back bone of my lesson and lesson planning:
-          To always pay attention to time of the instructions and tasks (due to their short attention span)
-          Movement (fine and gross)
-          To shed awareness on as much topics I can introduce  to my students
-          To build on previous knowledge
-          Move from simple to complex
-          Improve my students skills (physical, social,..)
Most importantly to enjoy my lesson with my students and let them feel this joy!    

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Microteaching 2 - Lesson Plan


Teacher: Ms. Sarah Abdallah
Room Number: 114
Class Period(s): 4
Grade Level: KG2-B
Course Tile: Art
Unit Topic: Winter
Lesson Topic:  Paper snowman


General Objective: Students will be able to explore the idea of a snowman through developing their own paper snowman and will be roughly introduced to the concept of "melt" and "freeze" in relation to snow.

Physical objective:
Students will enhance their gross motor skills through general movement and dance (if they choose to) while playing the "freeze and melt" game.
Students will work more improve their fine motor skills through manipulating objects like glue, paper, and cotton balls
Students will develop their eye and hand movement and coordination through out the paper snow man activity

Cognitive objective:
Students will be able to work on putting together pieces to make a whole (snowman) and that focuses on the holistic and visual operation through cutting and pasting to form a one figure as a whole.
To increase artistic awareness
To develop a basic understanding for weather, focusing on the winter theme
To develop a good shape and size recognition

Social objective:
To socialize with a new character (the puppet) and to share and exchange knowledge with the rest of the class.

Material:
Puppet
Video on the board
Paper plates
Cotton balls
Construction paper
Glue
Pencils
Introduction

Introductory activity: (10mins)
Students will sit on the carpet and will be introduced to the guest (puppet)
Sharing stories and exchanging knowledge with the puppet will be followed by a video song called little snow flake (http://youtu.be/tbbKjDjMDok)
The concept of "melt" and "freeze" will be roughly introduced in relation with the following art activity.

Developing activity: (10mins)
Students will change their setting from the carpet to their desks.
Students will observe the teacher while introducing and putting together the art activity (paper snowman) as a model for the students to learn from
Students will develop their own snowman

Closing activity: (5mins)
Students will be reminded of the concept of 'freeze and melt' while they are working. The teacher will walk around and say "freeze" and the students should stop and freeze and when the teacher says "melt", students will move around.