Phase III

My overall experience in teaching this lesson was a pretty good one.  I felt that there were things that I could have been better prepared for and used better examples to fully explain the concepts to my students.  I feel that  my accessing prior knowledge could have had a test or worksheet that would have helped me to understand the level of students that I was trying to teach.  Also having a discussion, more in-depth discussion about directions could have lead me to find out who needed to go over the actual lesson and who might have been able to go onto a different lesson all together.

When I was planning on teaching this lesson I felt at the time that I knew what I was talking about and that I had everything that I needed.  In the future, the lessons that I feel that I know a little less about I will run through the lesson at least once to make sure that I have figured out every possible outcome of where the lesson may end up going.  Unfortunately, in teaching there are never any guarantees and preparing myself by making sure I had everything would make a great big difference.

The instructions that I gave to explain the concept could have gone a lot better.  Like one of my peers suggested I could have enhanced my lesson by bringing in different maps and using different compasses to show that in every kind of map can be read the same way.  I could design a worksheet with road maps and questions that the students could follow to end up at a different spot. I could have had one on the board and had the students work together to complete the map, this would have enhanced the idea of a compass and also brought the students attention to the task at hand.

I think that my assessment was fairly good, if they had had more time to complete the brochure they could have included a map on the front and had better directions written out on the front.  This could have been more of detailed instructions and included pictures of the trip, like landmarks along the way.  I think that this lesson could be used for a lot of different subjects like economics or history.   My instructional part of the teaching I thought went ok due to the fact that I used other students to help explain the material in ways that I may not be able to.  My idea of creating a brochure was a pretty good one and if given a few days to complete them I think that the students could create really great, thought out brochures that show what the students really know and exactly what they are capable of.

Phase II

During my instruction I made a few adjustments for individual instructions.  When a student had trouble understanding the concept of direction I tried to bring other students into the instruction and to get their point of view.  I find that everyone thinks a different way and if my students can explain something in a different way so others may understand better then it will help everyone.  During the lesson there were some things that did not go the way I had planned and I tried to bring the concept back to directions and make it come out the way I had wanted.

The papers I had the students fill out and the brochures I had them make gave me an example of how much attention was paid during the actual lesson.  The amount of participation was also an indicator in how well the students learned the concept of directions.  I think I did ok in teaching the lesson, I feel that I got a little stumped in the teaching part of the directions.  I felt that I didn’t know how to explain a part of the compass or how to give an appropriate explanation as to why things were that way.

Peer Evaluation

Hi Guys!!!
    Thank you for being so helpful and fun for my lesson I really appreciate how nice you guys were!

Please put a sentence or two(if you want) about each point.
1.Assessment
2. Individualized Needs
3. Content
4. Preparation

Phase 1

Original lesson plan off of Microsoft.com
Titled:
Plan and take a road trip through your state
http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/plans/Pages/road_trip.aspx

Revised Lesson with technology
https://w.taskstream.com/Lesson/View/877C67C67FEA9C9CBBFE853166A016E1

*** The biggest problem I had with trying to find a lesson to present was the fact that I had an idea of what kind of technology I wanted to use in my lesson but trying to find a lesson that went along with my ideas.  I looked at many different websites and each one made me realize that I had no idea how to actually teach these lessons and what I needed to do to teach them.  I liked the lesson I found but soon realized that it was too long of a lesson for an hour class.  So I decided to change the lesson to make it a little quicker.  I am hoping I can teach the concept well enough by only doing what I changed the lesson too.  Microsoft.com was very helpful when I looked at the lesson plans they had.  It was very interesting to see how a big company like Microsoft actually tries to help in education.
****To find out my student's prior knowledge about Arizona's geographical landscapes and if they can tell where each of the cities are by knowing the different types of land I would give them a handout of Arizona and see what cities that they do know. 
****My goals of this lesson is to have the students be able to differentiate between the where the cities are based on knowing what type of land is common in each city.  According to the state standards a geography PO has to deeal with describing the geographic characteristics of a state in the United States with the assistance of maps, the internet, atlases, and other reference materials.  This lesson would go along with this standard because the students will be discovering things about each city when they make their brochures.
****My instructions for the class will go along with the fact that knowing how to read maps and the differences between landscapes of places, because of how it affects the things that make a city what it is, from mountians or to plateus to desert.  This will also help students realize the different types of resources needed to allow people to live in these types of climates.
**** My planned assessment will be looking at their brochures to see if they have found enough information about the different cities.  Also seeing if the students can find the differences between each of the cities based on what the landscapes look like using a worksheet.