Pedagogical
Expert
First
Placement Evidence
Description
and Rationale:
The
piece of evidence I
have chosen from my first placement to show that I am a Pedagogical
Expert is a lesson from a Penguin Unit that I taught. With this unit,
the students read the book Mr. Popper's Penguins.
Throughout the unit, along with reading Mr. Popper's Penguins,
students researched the different types of penguins finding out about
their habitats, their lifestyles, etc. Students were given the
opportunity to research by any means necessary. For example, they were
able to use books, magazines, and news articles that I had gotten from
the library and also were given the opportunity to use laptop computers
that we checked out from the lab and actually brought into the
classroom. In the end of the unit, students constructed PowerPoint
presentations in groups assigned by myself, so that the students were
differentiated with a mix of higher and lower level learners together.
This particular lesson was the introduction lesson to the actual
Penguin Unit. First we completed a KWL chart in which students were
asked to write on paper penguins what they knew and wanted to know
about peguins. The penguins were then placed on an iceburg KWL chart I
created and placed in the hallway. I explained to students that when
they learned something new about penguins, at any time during their
research, that they could take a penguin off the back table and write
the information and place it on the iceburg in the hallway. After this,
I questioned the students about the difference between fiction and
non-fiction books. The students were asked to read the first two
chapters of Mr. Popper's
Penguins for homework and were to write three reasons why they
believed the book was wither fiction or non-fiction. To me, this lesson
shows that I am a Pedagogical Expert because it gave all students the
opportunity to construct their own knowledge individuallty through any
means, whether it be internet research, reading books, or reading
magazines, that worked for them. Through allowing students the
opportunity to work both individually and in groups throughout this
unit, students were given guided independence to construct their own
knowledge, create their own schema of penguins, research and fact
and fiction, and also process infromation so that they were able to
understand for themselves and communicate with their peers. Along with
thiese ideas, I also feel that the unit and the lesson show me as a
Pedagogical Expert because was able to show students the
cross-curricular relationships between reading and language arts,
conducting research, using technology, and also learning about
penguins in relation to science.
Reflection:
I
feel that this lesson, was a lesson in
itself for me. When I began the unit, I was unaware of how exciting it
would become and how much it would change throughout the course of
teaching it. The students actually gave me the idea to create
PowerPoint presentations. This in itself shows the idea of
constructivism because the students themselves were so excited about
the new knowledge they were constructing. This unit began as something
small and ended up to be a wonderful undertaking. The students were
given independence to construct their own knowledge and I felt as
though I had become a true Pedagogical Expert when I saw how much
knowledge the students gained at the end of the unit through their
PowerPoint presentations.
Second
Placement Evidence
Description
and Rationale:
The piece of evidence I chose from
my second placement to convey myself as a Pedagogical Expert was a Math
lesson I created during my completion of a Zoo Unit. The students were
divided into groups and were given a bag of animal crackers that I had
sorted and counted so that each group had the same amount of each
animal cracker. I talked to the students about sorting the crackers
into the different shapes and had them to do so. After this, the
students were asked to record the number of each cracker on a worksheet
that I created. At the bottom of the worksheet students were asked to
total the number of crackers. When all of the groups were finished, I
began to talk to the students about creating a bar graph. I then lead
the class in creating our own bar graph of the animal crackers
that each group sorted. I feel that this lesson shows my ability as a
Pedagogical Expert because throughout this lesson, student used their
prior knowledge of animal crackers to understand or construct their own
knowledge of what it means to sort objects. I also believe that by
leading the class in creating a bar graph I was challenging the
students to create a schema and add to their prior knowledge. Through
this lesson, I feel that my growth as a Pedagogical Expert was
definitely shown.
Reflection:
I
was very impressed with how the student took their prior knowledge to
help them understand this lesson. I also learne dnever to underestimate
students. I was worried about whether the Kindergarteners would
understand the concept of a bar graph, but they definitely did. I will
remember this in my teaching.