The lesson I videoed was my students participating in
their first critical friends. I chose
this lesson because I had never used this technique before and I wanted to use
this as a time to reflect for future lessons. I adapted the critical friends
protocol from this summer to best suit my student’s needs.
Each group had the opportunity to share their STEM
journal sketch, which included labels and materials needed for their piece of
playground equipment. After groups shared their sketch, materials list, and how
their equipment uses force and motion, the rest of the class wrote down one I
like statement and/or I wonder statement on a sticky note. Students then had the opportunity to address
the presenting group and share what they liked and/or wondered. The group that presented had to listen to
what their peers had to say and then gather the sticky notes. The sticky notes would be used by students to
make changes to their projects if they desired.
After watching the video I realized how animated I am…hands
are going everywhere and I can make some goofy facial expressions. J After
I stopped laughing at myself, I was able to focus on what worked and what
needed improvement. To my surprise, most
of my students stayed on task and had a good understanding of what they were
expected to do. I noticed most of my students
were engaged as other groups were talking and providing good feedback with
their I wonder/I like responses. I was
impressed with some of the conversations I heard as students discussed their peers’
ideas and sketches. One area of
improvement I saw was in the introduction to the lesson. I talked for over five minutes about what
they needed to do and my expectations.
This is something that I am going to try to be more mindful in the
future. However, even though I feel like
my introduction was way too long, my students did know exactly what to do. So I’m thinking the next time I should
explain it the same way, but don’t take as much time to do it. I also noticed that some of my students
became inattentive while groups were sharing.
I had one little boy in the back that played with his pencil a lot and
at one point was in the floor instead of listening or providing feedback.
My students totally exceeded my expectations on this
lesson. They were engaged,
collaborating, and open to hear new ideas!
I am excited to try this lesson with other projects.
Hi Lindsey,
ReplyDeleteI loved hearing how your students exceeded your expectations with the critical friends! You shared how choice was a powerful tool and your students did a good job with this because they had this opportunity. You explained how this unit validated that having clear and specific expectations is important so students know what is expected. I appreciate your reflective practice and how it revealed to you that your beginning was more teacher directed because you wanted more control over their work but as they went on with critical friends you released the lesson to the class. You also explained that engagement is time sensitive. You explained that when students didn’t have time in between critical friends to decompress or have a brain break they struggled with attention. I really appreciate your honesty in this part Lindsey. You explained how you expected the worse but hoped for the best and your students really surprised you. I love that they were able to provide thoughtful constructive feedback to each other. What the proof was for me that this protocol was effective because students were able to really understand and use the feedback they were given by their peers to improve their designs.You explained how you wanted to reduce the introduction time and to split the presentations of the critical friends group over two to three days. You also explained how you wanted to finish their directions before students start to talk instead of talking over them. I also want to continue to grow in my role as a facilitator. With pbl structure we have to continue to grow in this area.