Clinical Field Experience C: Mini-Lesson Implementation

Clinical Field Experience B: Science and Health Pre-Assessment

Part 1: Pre-Assessment and Implementation

Grade level of mentor class: 2 Standards being taught in mentor class: Students can 1. Categorize appropriate foods into their respective food groups. 2. Identify the servings of food from each food group that is required each day. 3. Discuss the impact of a nutritious diet. 4. Identify the benefits of healthy eating. 5. Discuss the benefit of drinking enough water. 6. Describe how to protect food from germs. 7. Identify healthy snacks. 8. Explore activities outside the school for regular physical activity. 9. Discuss how eating habits and physical activity impact a person’s health. Description of unit being taught in mentor class: The health science lesson being taught in mentor class is about germs. Students are taught about the popular events that aid in spreading germs, e.g., holidays, physical activity, etc. The teacher commences the lesson with an oral pre-assessment where she inquires on the different holidays the students have attended (Heather, 2019). The students respond to the pre-assessment by raising their hands and answering the questions by presenting answers like ‘Thanksgiving, Christmas’ etc. The health science unit also focuses on health and nutrition among different cultures worldwide, e.g., Nigeria and the United States. The main topic during the lesson is how germs are spread and how to prevent the spread of germs. The teacher applies instructional strategies like experiential learning, collaborative learning, assessments, independent study, direct instruction, and indirect instruction (Ford, 2018). The teacher provides the students with a report sheet to reflect on what they have learned (Heather, 2019).

150–200-word description of Pre-assessment: The pre-assessment is developed for grade 2 students to test their knowledge of a healthy lifestyle. The pre-assessment contains eight questions outlined in a sheet issued to the students before the health science lesson. The total score for this pre-assessment is 15. This pre-assessment is fundamental in helping the teacher identify the knowledge gaps for each student within the classroom. The time given to students to complete this pre-assessment is 15 min. The teacher will collect the health pre-assessment sheet and grade the student's answers. This pre-assessment is also optimized for students below, at, or above grade level. The main content areas for this pre-assessment are health and life skills. These topics will help the students remember prior concepts and knowledge about health, nutrition, and life skills. This is vital because it allows the students to fall into the lesson's theme, comprehend new concepts easily, and capture new vocabulary during the lesson. This pre-assessment is also helpful to the students in preparing them for formative and summative assessments later in the course.

Feedback from mentor teacher:

Part 2: Reflection

The field experience in the health science lesson was insightful. The grade 2 students were taught how germs are spread through human contact and handling bad food. The health science lesson explains how a person’s eating habits and physical activity can impact their health. The process of identifying students below, at, or above grade level involved observing students present in my mentor class and noting their capabilities in handling questions, pre and formative assessments, coordination, engagement, and content comprehension (Lynch et al., 2018). This tactic helped identify four students, i.e., one below grade level, two at grade level, and one above grade level. This pre-assessment provided knowledge gaps for students on health, nutrition, and life skills. This is fundamental because it will allow the teacher to zero in on key concepts of these knowledge gaps. The pre-assessment is applicable for all identified students, i.e., below, or above grade level. Hence, the knowledge gaps for these students are easily identified and planned for. The ethical use of assessment data and assessment during this clinical experience entailed: detailed planning for the pre-assessment; guarding against unintended bias; asking a fellow teacher on the perspective of the pre-assessment before issuance to students; the following procedure and avoiding rushes; and including questions and choices that are clear to the students. During the development of the pre-assessment, the main challenge was to identify the right balance of questions and choices that did not fall out of scope for the students (Bukhari, 2019). It is vital to assess students on the content they have already learned from previous lessons. This will prevent the students getting a negative impact on the lesson being taught. I will use the knowledge gaps identified during this pre-assessment to develop more focused assessments, i.e., continuous and summative assessments. Challenges in developing pre-assessments will be used to avoid such pitfalls in the future.

References

Angkasuwan, C. (2017). 1st and 2nd grade NGSS lesson: 5E/Sci model. Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUwSSM5rc0o ( 22:17 minutes)

2nd Grade Science Lesson. (n.d.) (2016). Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqVpZNK7WKI (40:22 minutes)

Crosslin, R. (2016). Grade 2 science: What is force, motion, and position? Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD1T27chY4o (31:45 minutes)

Bukhari , S. S. F. (2019). The Effectiveness of Pre-assessment to Differentiate the Reading Tasks :for the Mixed-Abilities EFL Learners. In English Language Teaching Research in the Middle East and North Africa (pp. 125-152). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Dotson, C. (2017). 3rd grade science: Greenbrier elementary. Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kPBQnkWmpE (30:07).

Ford, C. (2018). Effective practice instructional strategies: Design of an instrument to assess teachers’ perception of implementation. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 56, 154-163.

Heather N., (2019). Health Science Lesson Plan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu3-0GJxnLw- 56:09 minutes)

Lynch, S. D., Hunt, J. H., & Lewis, K. E. (2018). The productive struggle for all: Differentiated instruction. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 23(4), 194-201.

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