Impact on student learning, is the effect that teachers have on their students’ learning whether it’s positive or negative. It is important for teachers to consider what they teach students; especially ones in early childhood education. What they teach affects the student’s outlook and opinion on school throughout the rest of their educational career. Therefore, it is vital that teachers put their heart into teaching because educators are the primary designers of future citizens. According to Mamorella (2013), the most important factors that have an impact on student learning are the teacher, the interest level of the student, and the class activities and assignments. Teachers are the primary factor; therefore it is their job to ensure that they are engaging and encouraging every student to learn. They also have to ensure that they offer options for classroom activities and assignments based on the student’s preferred style of learning and based on differentiated instruction. Moreover, Mamorella (2013) research shows that class environment also has a huge impact on students’ learning. Educators must ensure that the classroom is a safe, orderly, and a developmentally appropriate learning environment in order to conduct a lesson and have student‘s attention.

According to Stipek (2010), a teacher’s behavior and attitude towards her students have much to do with impacting their learning. Stipek’s research shows that students who are given more clues, are called on more often, and who are given more opportunities to learn are more successful in school. Moreover, Stipek (2013) found that teachers often show more hostility, tenseness, and anxiety towards students who are labeled as “low-achievers.” If all students were treated with equity in the classroom, the academic achievement gap would not be so wide.

Positive impact on student learning is important to me as a teacher because there are many hidden pressures on early childhood educators. We are responsible for shaping the child’s early views on learning and we are expected to prepare these students for the next grade level. It is vital that Preschool and Kindergarten teachers give children the best learning and social experience in the classroom because what they learn in the classroom shapes their views for what school will be in other grade levels. As a future educator, it is my goal to ensure that I am reaching every child, respecting each child’s demographics, and providing an effective and safe classroom environment.

Moreover, I want my students to remember me as a positive, influential, nurturing, and caring teacher. I know as a teacher I have to fulfill expectations of being an effective teacher and impose high standards for all students. I also must ensure that they meet the expectations. All students are capable of being taught to their full potential and they have the right to know that they are capable of doing anything that they put their minds to. I will not treat any child differently; instead, I will focus on each child’s individual needs and ensure they leave my classroom knowing their worth.

Prior Knowledge & Assessment Graphs

I taught a spring lesson on mud to Ms. Morrison’s and Ms. Alvarenga’s Preschool class at Hall-Woodward Elementary School on April 15, 2015. There are 14 students on the roster in this classroom; however, on the day that I taught my lesson only 12 students were present. I was not able to retrieve information on each child’s baseline academic achievement because Ms. Morrison said that the information was confidential. She was not allowed to retrieve and give me the data. Therefore, I created a table below that provides information on the ethnicity and age of each student anonymously. From viewing the data below in Table 1 and Graph 1, you probably observed that over half of the students in the classroom (80%)are Hispanic/Latino, 40% of the students are African American, and 1% of the classroom is Caucasian. Moreover, 50% of the students in the classroom are both four and five years old. I believe that this information is important because it gives you the demographics of the classroom.

Table 1

Student	Ethnicity	Age
Student 1	African American	5
Student 2	African American	5
Student 3	Hispanic/Latino	4
Student 4	Hispanic/Latino	4
Student 5	Caucasian	4
Student 6	Hispanic/Latino	5
Student 7	Hispanic/Latino	5
Student 8	Hispanic/Latino	4
Student 9	African American	4
Student 10	African American	5
Student 11	Hispanic/Latino	5
Student 12	Hispanic/Latino	5
Student 13	Hispanic/African American	4
Student 14	Hispanic/Latino	4
Totals:	Hispanic/Latino:8 \| African –American:4\|Caucasian :1 \| Hispanic/African American 1	\|Age four: 7\|Age five:7

Graph 1

In order to determine and measure the students’ prior knowledge of mud I created a pre-assessment (Appendix A). I created my pre-assessment questions based off of the North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development Standards goals and objectives. The domain of my lesson’s subject is Cognitive Development and the domain element is Scientific Exploration and Knowledge. Goal CD-14 of the North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development Standards states that children observe and describe characteristics of living things and the physical world (DPI Standards). My purpose of teaching this lesson was to observe if the students would be able to identify what two components make mud by observing the mixing of water and dirt. For my pre-assessment I decided to do a KWL chart on what the students knew about mud. I chose to use this format as my pre-assessment because I wanted to see the progress in students and how much information they have accumulated by the end of the day. Also, Ms. Morrison commented that the students love when she does a KWL chart with their responses and putting it up on the wall after so their parents can see. I started my lesson by asking the following questions:

Pre-Assessment

What do you all know about mud?

Can someone raise their hand and tell me how mud is made?

Only a few (4) of the students on the pre-assessment raised their hand to tell me something about mud (sample responses below). The pre-assessment helped me discover what prior knowledge the students had on the subject. After seeing that majority of the students lacked information it made me instantly think of scaffolding tools to use to help these students, such as reading a story, and emphasizing when mud is mentioned, listening to a song about mud, and having a child-directed discussion while we paint with mud. For the students who did have knowledge about mud I came up with enrichment activities that would keep them interested in the subject (Appendix B). After asking these questions and writing down the students’ responses on the KWL chart, I read the book Mud, by Mary Lyn Ray. Although this book is on a preschool/kindergarten level it went along with the questions that I asked for the pre-assessment, on-going formative assessment and the summative post assessment.

Chart 1

Table 2

Student

Age

Response to Pre-Assessment

Student 1

5

“Said mud was made from water and dirt”

Student 2

5

Did not answer

Student 3

4

“Said rain”

Student 4

4

Did not answer

Student 5

4

Did not answer

Student 6

5

Did not answer

Student 7

5

Did not answer

Student 8

4

“Said dirt”

Student 9

4

Did not answer

Student 10

5

“Said dirt”

Student 11

5

Did not answer

Student 12

5

Did not answer

Student 13

4

Was not present

Student 14

4

Was not present

Lesson Plan & Instructional Intervention

I am in pre-clinical this semester for the BKE program requirements; therefore I have been in Ms. Morrison’s Pre-K classroom since the beginning of January. I have been observing and working very closely with her and Ms. Alvarenga on how they teach, differentiate, and inspire the students in their classroom. Ms. Morrison has her lessons already mapped out for the entire year and revises when necessary. Therefore, it was not challenging coming up with a subject to teach. However, I did have to decide how I wanted to present my lesson, what activities I wanted the students to do, and what prompts I wanted to put in each center. I also had to work around what Ms. Morrison had taught the class already in the beginning of the week so I could ask them review questions and have an idea of what they have been learning about.

With that being said, for that week Ms. Morrison arranged her lesson around the season spring, including the season changing, the months in spring, rain, and mud. I decided to do my spring lesson on mud, not only for pre-clinical but for ISL Project (lesson plan: Appendix C). During the planning of this lesson I focused on the North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development Standards (Goal CD-14). Moreover, my purpose of teaching this lesson was to have the students identify what two components make mud by observing the mixture of water and dirt. I believe this was a very fun and informative lesson for the students because they got to learn about what makes mud; they got to feel the texture of mud, and paint with mud paint. Moreover, they got to see how much they have learned during the course of the day on the KWL chart.

I created my pre-assessment to see what the students already knew before I began my lesson and it guided me to think of questions to ask to enhance their learning. Then I read the story to them Mud, by Mary Lyn Ray which is a book about a small boy witnessing the seasons changing from winter to spring and how mud could be a fun thing to play in. The boy ends up putting his toes and hands in the mud and describing how it feels. This book was very enjoyable to read because the students loved the descriptive words such as, “ooey gooey” and “squishy squashy.” Also, there was a lot of laughter while I was reading the story so that let me know that the students enjoyed it. After we read the story, we listened and danced to a song called I Love Mud (sung to the tune of Three Blind Mice). Ms. Morrison always encourages the students to get their wiggles out by dancing to a song after sitting down for 15 minutes.

Subsequently, we transitioned into centers. On this day, I named different colors and told the students that they can go to a center if they had on the color I called. The students are able to go to a center of that they choose, but some centers are limited to 4-5 students at a time. In the home living center, I told the students to pretend like they were growing a garden and in the science center I added flower seeds that they could observe. Students were encouraged to make mud pies at the sand and water table. The students were encouraged to use different shapes of blocks to build a garden in the block center, and the special activity in the art center was painting with mud paint. I called on three students at a time to come to the art table to observe and talk about what makes mud, how mud feels, and they also watched me put food coloring in the mud to make different colors. The ingredients for making mud paint was one bag of topsoil, a cup of water, one bowl, one box of food coloring, and a spoon for mixing. The students painted on a white sheet of paper and had a choice to use their fingers or a paintbrush to paint their picture. I began by asking the students what two things made mud and they all answered water and dirt! I was very impressed. The students were in awe as I began mixing the water and dirt together and seeing it turn to mud. I encouraged the students to help me stir it up and add a few drops of food coloring to paper cups so they could have different colors to paint with. Moreover, I asked the students if they wanted to touch the mud and only two students actually wanted to touch it! I found it interesting that preschoolers did not want to get a little dirty. After the students felt the mud I asked them how it felt, one girl answered, “squishy and wet”, and the other girl responded, “ooey gooey”. I told them that those were a very good choice of words to use. I encouraged the students to draw a nice spring picture or anything that they wanted to, using the different colors, and I was very impressed with their paintings! Some of the students told me they painted a garden, flowers, and mud. Also, as they were painting one of the students commented that their mother would not let them play in mud and that it gets very messy. I responded that it can get messy, but I bet it feels very good on your toes and fingers! They all laughed. I believed the students enjoyed painting with mud and were very surprised that you could actually do such a thing. I believe it very important to ask questions and have child-directed learning while doing activities because you and the students learn so much during this process and it creates creative and open-minded learners.

Formative Assessment

My formative assessment was ongoing; therefore I asked the students questions during the fifteen minute lesson (Appendix C) and during center time. While the children were engaged during the lesson and while they were painting mud the following questions were asked:

· Can anyone tell me what we might be learning about today by the pictures in the book? Sample answers: mud, spring, grass

· Can anyone raise their hand and tell me how mud is made? Sample answers: It is made by rain, by water and dirt

· If water and dirt is mixed what will the two make? Sample answers: It will make mud, it will be muddy

· Has anyone ever played in mud? Sample answers: my mom will not be play in the mud, ewww you will get dirty and messy, yes it is fun

· Sample question: How does mud feel? Sample answer: “ooey gooey, squishy, wet”

· Teacher response: Those were a great choice of words, great job class!

The ongoing formative assessment helped me to see if the students were grasping the idea that when water and dirt is mixed it makes mud. Also, this formative assessment allowed the students to think critically and creatively, moreover, it allowed the students to respond to each other’s responses which created child-directed learning. I added some of the student’s responses to the “L” column of the KWL chart to help me check how the students are progressing with the subject.

Summative Assessment and Data Analysis & Graph

My summative assessment was the same as my pre-assessment because I wanted to compare how much information each child had attained during the day. Also, the students became very engaged with the lesson topic as they painted with mud and actually observed and assisted in the process of dirt and water becoming mud. This let me know that the students were relating hands-on experience to the lesson and the questions that I was asking. I created the same chart to compare and contrast the progress of each child during the pre and post assessment. I also created a simple checklist evaluation for each individual student.

Student

Age

Response to Pre-Assessment

Student 1

5

Mud was made from water and dirt and it can get messy

Student 2

5

Mud came from rain and dirt

Student 3

4

Rain!

Student 4

4

Dirt and Water

Student 5

4

Water and dirt

Student 6

5

Water!

Student 7

5

Did not answer

Student 8

4

“Said dirt”

Student 9

4

Dirt and rain

Student 10

5

Dirt and rain

Student 11

5

Did not answer

Student 12

5

Dirt and rain made mud

Student 13

4

Was not present

Student 14

4

Was not present

Chart 2

According to Table 2, 10 out of 12 students who were present responded to the questions that I asked during the post assessment. That was more than half of the students that responded during the pre-assessment. During the post assessment all but two students participated and majority of the students said that water or rain and dirt mixed together made mud.

Checklist Evaluation for Pre-K Mud lesson (for each individual student)

Did the students understand how mud is made?

Yes No

Comments:

Did their answer include water or dirt?

Yes No

Comments

Did they associate rain with mud?

Yes No

Comments:

Did they paint a picture associated with spring?

Yes No

Comments:

This checklist evaluation was for my own personal reflection and it allowed me to see where each child was at. Although, I was not able to go into detail for the students who did not fully understand the lesson or needed a little more guidance because of time permitting, I did let Ms. Morrison know and she said that she would work on it with the students more.

Reflection on ISL

After teaching this lesson I learned that when planning lessons you have to take your time and think very thoroughly on how you are going to implement it in the classroom. Also, I learned that it is very important to know your students because you may say something that hurts their feelings or offends them without even knowing. Moreover, I was very nervous during this lesson because this is the one that Dr. Warren came to observed for preclinical. One of my weaknesses is when I get nervous or anxious I speed and rush through a lot of things. In this case, I feel as though I rushed through the lesson a little and I forgot to do a few things that I wanted to share with the class. On the other hand, I believe I did well with the activity mud paint; the students enjoyed it and it really was not as messy as I thought it was going to be. I saw changes in my classroom management skills so I felt more confident. However, I did make one student cry because I told him that he could not put any more food coloring into his paint because his other classmates had to paint too, I said it in a very calm tone. I was informed by Ms. Morrison that he was a very sensitive child. I believe that goes along with knowing your students, and at that moment, it had slipped my mind and that that was the way he was how he was going to react.

Although, everyone but two students still did not participate in responding to the questions I do feel as though I made a positive influence on the student’s learning because they all really enjoyed the lesson and they were very engaged with the activity mud paint. I was able to bring hands-on experiences to the classroom so that made a very huge impact; not only was the students able to discuss the concept they also had a chance to actually see it happen as well. I am very proud on how drastically the results differ between the pre and post assessment, these results make me feel very confident about my effective teaching skills. It warms my heart to know that I had the power to make a positive impact on a child’s life and learning.

Graph 2

Works Cited

Mamorella, D. (2013, March 12). What Makes the Biggest Impact on Student Learning? Retrieved April 29, 2015.

Stipek, J. (Jul 20, 2010) How Do Teachers’ Expectations Affect Student Learning

Retrieved April 29, 2015.

http://www.education.com/reference/articles/teachers-expectations-affect-learning

Appendix A

Pre-Assessment

What do you all know about mud?

Can someone raise their hand and tell me how mud is made?

Only a few (4) of the students on the pre-assessment raised their hand to tell me something about mud. The pre-assessment helped me discover what prior knowledge the students had on the subject.

Appendix B

Student

Age

Response to Pre-Assessment

Student 1

5

“Said mud was made from water and dirt”

Student 2

5

Did not answer

Student 3

4

“Said rain”

Student 4

4

Did not answer

Student 5

4

Did not answer

Student 6

5

Did not answer

Student 7

5

Did not answer

Student 8

4

“Said dirt”

Student 9

4

Did not answer

Student 10

5

“Said dirt”

Student 11

5

Did not answer

Student 12

5

Did not answer

Student 13

4

Was not present

Student 14

4

Was not present

Appendix C

Student B

Dr. Tafari

Edu 4338

Preschool Lesson Plan

April 11, 2015

Lesson Plan for Preschool

Identification:

Candidate: Student B

Cooperating Teacher: Ms. Shanda Morrison

Subject: Science

Grade: Preschool

Time period: 15 minutes

_____________________________________________________

Title: Mud is fun! (Introduction week to spring)

Purpose: The students will be able to identify what two components make mud by observing the mixing of water and dirt.

Lesson

Goals/Objectives/ Learning Outcomes

1. HS Outcomes Framework

Domain: Cognitive Development

Domain Element: Scientific Exploration and Knowledge

Indicator: Notice and react to the natural world and the outdoor environment. CD-14l

2. North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development Standards

Domain: Scientific Exploration and Knowledge

Goal CD-14: Children observe and describe characteristics of living things and the physical world.

Developmental Indicators:

Younger preschoolers: Notice and react to the natural world and the outdoor environment. CD-14f

Older preschoolers: Notice and react to the natural world and the outdoor environment. CD-14l

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to know what components make mud, and recognize the indicators of Spring.

Learning materials/ resources

Book: Mud by Mary Lyn Ray, 1 bag of mud, 1 cup of Water, 1 spoon, 1 bowl, blue, red, orange, and green food coloring, 14 sheets of painting paper, 5 paint brushes, 1 construction paper, one marker, radio

Technology: Radio (Spring and Mud Songs)

2 ipads: Alphabet games (during free/center play

Pre-Assessment

Ask the children do they know what makes mud?

Sample Answers: When the rain falls from the sky!, Water and the grass!, Dirt!

I will make a KWL chart and write what the students answer the question. We will come back to it later

Learning activities

Story Time: Mud by Mary Lyn Ray (How does mud feel boys and girls?)

Music Activity: I Love Mud! Sung to the tune of Three Blind Mice

Mud, mud, I love mud.

I'm absolutely positively, wild about mud!

I can't go around it, I've gotta go through it.

Beautiful, fabulous, super-duper mud!

Big Teddy White, his clothes were mightily clean

Went swimming in a pool of mud, he made quite a scene.

He started with the backstroke, followed by the crawl.

You should have seen him swimming when he heard his father call!

Julianna Root, in shiny yellow boots,

Saw a pool of mud that she wanted to go through.

She only took two steps, then she disappeared,

Nobody has seen her for twenty-five years!

Art Activity: Mud Paint (paint a picture with mud mixed with food coloring)

Sand/Water Activity: Students will make mud pies.

Block Area:

Students will use different sizes and shapes of blocks to make a garden.

English Language Learner Students: Majority of the students in the classroom are Hispanic, and fortunately the assistant teacher is Spanish speaking, she will assistance in helping the students understand the lesson by translating in familiar terms.

For students who have difficulty with saying words, we will spell it out together as well as sound it out while looking at the word.

On-going Formative

Assessment

Questions for students”

What are we learning today?

Can anyone raise their hand and tell me how mud is made?

If water and dirt is mixed what will the two make?

Has anyone ever played in mud?

Sample question: How does mud feel?

Sample answer: “ooey gooey, squishy, wet”

Teacher response: Those were a good choice of words, great job class!

I also will go back to the KWL chart and compare the students’ responses at the end of the lesson.

Sample

Summative Assessment

Sample responses in K column for KWL Chart for Mud: What have we learned about mud today class?

-It is made when with rain and dirt

-It gets messy

-You can’t play in it

It is ooey gooey

Sample reflection questions:

Did the students understand how mud is made?

Did their answer include water or dirt?

Did they associate rain with mud?

Did they paint a picture associated with spring?

Enrichment/

Remedial Activities

Students who are finished with their art painting and other center activities, can put together spring floor puzzles, use the alphabet letters to spell out the letter mud, and read books about mud or spring.

Reflection

Did the students understand the concept?

What could I have done differently?

What was my overall strength/weakness during the lesson?

Did the students enjoy the lesson?

Pre-Assessment Results Students who raised their hand (4) Students who said water and mud(1) Students who said rain (1) Students who said dirt (2) 4 1 1 2 Post -Assessment Results Students who raised their hand (10) Students who said water and dirt(7) Students who said water or rain(2) Students who said dirt(1) 9 7 2 1 Pre-Assessment Students who raised their hand Students who said water and dirt Students who said rain Students who said dirt 0.4 0.01 0.01 0.05 Post-Assessment Students who raised their hand Students who said water and dirt Students who said rain Students who said dirt 0.8 0.65 0.05 0.01 Ethinicity and Ages of Preschool Students African American Hispanic/Latino Caucasian Hispanic/African American Four year olds Five year olds 4 8 1 1 7 7 Pre-Assessment Results Students who raised their hand (4) Students who said water and dirt(1) Students who said rain (1) Students who said dirt (2) 4 1 1 2

Student	Age	Response to Pre-Assessment
Student 1	5	“Said mud was made from water and dirt”
Student 2	5	Did not answer
Student 3	4	“Said rain”
Student 4	4	Did not answer
Student 5	4	Did not answer
Student 6	5	Did not answer
Student 7	5	Did not answer
Student 8	4	“Said dirt”
Student 9	4	Did not answer
Student 10	5	“Said dirt”
Student 11	5	Did not answer
Student 12	5	Did not answer
Student 13	4	Was not present
Student 14	4	Was not present

Did the students understand how mud is made?	Yes No	Comments:
Did their answer include water or dirt?	Yes No	Comments
Did they associate rain with mud?	Yes No	Comments:
Did they paint a picture associated with spring?	Yes No	Comments: