On our final week at Brigham, my
group and I led our engineering lesson about wheels in motion. We were assigned
four kindergarten students to work with. Because this was our last week, the
children looked familiar from the previous times I have worked with them. I
feel as if I did a good job when working towards my goal because a student at
our group told me that he remembered me from the other times I had been in his
classroom. Not only that, but he told me that he had fun whenever I was
teaching him something. When I heard this, my heart melted. My goal for this
semester has been to learn about each student’s personalities and interests. “I
hope to accomplish this goal by knowing the strengths and struggles each ELL
student experiences.” Throughout the lesson, I feel as if I grabbed the
children’s attention with my own enthusiasm with the lesson. After I heard that
little boy’s comment, I felt as if my battery was supercharged! I was ready to
teach this engineering lesson!
The
lesson started off with the children noticing a lego car made with square
wheels, a wheel and axel mechanism, and hot wheels cars. We asked the children
what they noticed about these toys and they said all of them reminded them of a
car or a truck. We used this information and ran with what they already knew to
begin our lesson. The boys seemed more interested than the girls (we have four
students total, two boys and two girls) so we wanted to engage the girls on
this topic, as well. Kacie read a book about wheels in motion to the kids and
the book included other examples of contraptions with circular motion
(pinwheels, windmills, Ferris wheels, etc.). One little girl seemed distracted
during the lesson based on the other groups that were being taught simultaneously.
She continually got up from her seat, looked around the room, and tried to
wander over to the other groups. With assistance, she was able to stay on task
when the children participated in their small group activity. I remember seeing
these students previously and remembered the strengths each one contributed to
the group.
One
little boy was the jokester of the bunch. He loved being silly even though he
understood the content. For example, he understood the concept that circular
wheels were best for cars, trucks, and motorcycles based on the fact that they “did
not have corners” but drew a picture of a car with triangular wheels. When
asked about his drawing, he told us that he wanted his ride to be bumpy so he
preferred wheels that were different shapes. The other little boy was very
observant and knowledgeable about the different contraptions mentioned in the
book, as well as coming up with beautiful explanations to his drawing. He drew
a monster truck and told us that this truck needed circular wheels because it
needed the power to go fast. The little girl who sat closest to me was quiet
but was internalizing the information being taught. She didn’t say much, but
when she did, she was right on with the concepts and objectives we were
covering in our lesson. She even talked to one of the little boys in Spanish about
drawing the Ferris wheel accurately with the different shapes seen from the
book. Lastly, the little girl that sat furthest from me struggled with this
concept. I believe part of it was the language barrier and the other part had
to do with the commotion happening in the room. She seemed distant and aloof
during the lesson and required constant reminders to try and pay attention to
what was happening at our small station.
I made
these mental observations throughout the entire lesson but feel that they are
accurate with the previous information I have inquired about these students.
Granted, I have only had a minimal opportunity to work and get to personally
know these children, but with the time given, I feel that I made immense
progress towards my goal. There are still so many things I hope to advance and
grow towards when working with all students, but this provided me with an
opportunity to teaching science to young children and from their responses,
they seemed to enjoy it! I know this based on their responses of laughing,
engaging, and telling me that they remember previous science lessons. Knowing
that the children had fun during these lessons make me think that I have
achieved my goal of wanting to know the students on a personal level. When kids
are having fun, they enjoy and remember the information that is being taught to
them. I am glad that I had this experience when working with these young
students.
Exceeds: Exceeded the word count and added a photo of our
checklist/observations from our lesson.
