Shanna Pittman
For my first implementation observation, I asked Dawn to come visit my classroom and help me with teaching my young students with critique and revision. That visit was a great success and Dawn was able to see my students as they began their final products for the unit. She and I decided that it would be exciting for everyone if she did her second observation on the day my students presented to their classmates and another kindergarten class.
Dawn did not co-teach on her second classroom visit. She came to observe presentations of their culmination projects and give feedback. She and I both took videos of the presentations, which were done in a variety of media; Play Doh, Lego builds, posters, books, etc. I was extremely pleased with the culmination projects that both my class and my colleague's class presented. Our students were respectful as each small group gave their presentations. They were excited about their own projects and those of their friends. When students talked about their projects, it was clear that they had met the goals of the unit! They had extensively researched Arctic Animals and used all of the information they gathered and applied it to create a new, fictional animal with all of the characteristics an animal needs to survive in extremely cold temperatures. Some of the presentations were quite entertaining! There were a few students who were shy, but overall my students spoke loudly and clearly and conveyed the information concisely and accurately. I was glad Dawn was in my class to see their success. That is a tall order in kindergarten! I have examples for my gallery walk on Thursday.
I am still so in awe of this unit! Your kids did an amazing job, and I loved the animals they created! :)
ReplyDeleteAwe! I wish I could have been there to see this! The examples you brought in were amazing and they have come such a long way since the first day of school. Well done.
ReplyDeleteHi Shanna,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you thought your pbl implementation observation went as well as I thought they did. I was impressed by how independent your students were as they presented in front of their peers and I attribute that to the many levels of choice that you provided them. I know many of our classmates and our visitors were also in awe of your students' creativity with their arctic animal creations at our pbl gallery walk the week before last.
Sincerely,
Dawn
This is incredible. I have enjoyed hearing about your successes and how much your students have grown. I hope they will remember this for a long time, yet even if they don't, the skills they've learned will carry with them throughout their school career. Great job.
ReplyDelete