Case Study

CLASSROOM CASE STUDY

IMPROVING LESSON PLANNING

Terrell Green is an eighth-grade science teacher who has been teaching for two years. While he knows his content well, his lesson plans still lack organization. To spark intrigue and interest in his students, he likes hands-on and fun activities. Last year, Mr. Green’s students worked in teams to create pop rockets with effervescing antacid tablets. To increase student interest, he added incentives by rewarding the team whose rocket flew the highest. However, he did not bring enough effervescing antacid tablets for one class, putting them a day behind. Also, his lessons took longer than he expected, and his closing activities were rushed and poorly executed. His students began side conversations when they realized that Mr. Green was not going to have enough time to finish the lesson. Further, students were not required to submit lab reports and were graded only on class participation. This left students wondering about the main goals of the assignment and did not provide them with closure.

Mr. Green has revisited his lesson plans and is having trouble finding the problem. He has a good mental image of his lesson plans and briefly outlines his objectives and developmental activities on paper. He puts little consideration into the circumstances under which his students will perform activities, however. He is looking for some guidance.

FOCUS QUESTIONS

1. What factors contributed to the problems in the science lesson?

2. What specific suggestions do you have for Mr. Green to improve his lesson planning and to increase the effectiveness of the lessons?

3. How might Mr. Green put more emphasis and accountability on students’ assessment of their own learning?

During this recording, Professor Elvira Seidametova took the class through the modules and how many weeks we have in this course. Each module has an overview that provides essential information on assignments. All assignments that require a document must be submitted in Word. Not all jobs require documents, and attention to each lesson's directions is essential. Especially due dates. When asking a question about a project, students are to include the word “question” and the assignment name in the subject line. This is so the professor is prompted to view the correspondence as highly important. I think it is essential for the students to expect a response to questions within 24 to 48 hours. The professor also mentioned that if we need more time for an assignment or only have time to complete tasks one day a week, we must let her know; otherwise, this will affect our attendance and graded assignments. If we take the time to discuss this with her beforehand, she will work with us as she wants us all to be successful. Professor Elvira Seidametova stated that we must communicate with her if we have any issues or concerns, as she will not know unless we reach out to her. Any course-related emails will be in the inbox tab. The professor clarified how important it is to read all course materials in each module. The “Start Assignment” button is used when you are ready to turn an assignment in. Each franchise is set up the same way. However, the content is different. It is essential to pay close attention to the directions within the project as each one is not completed the same. Under the course summary, you will find all the assignments and when they are due. We also discussed the class project and teams and got a head start on working on the presentation.