Presentation/Assigment

RATIONALE STATEMENT TO LESSON PLANS 5

Rationale Statement to Lesson Plans

Anastasiya Nesterchuk

Dr. Cook

EDDN 625

08/16/2020

Rationale Statement to Lesson Plans

The lesson plans were created using intentional teaching practice. “Intentional teachers have a purpose for everything that they do, are thoughtful and prepared, and can explain their decisions and actions to other teachers, administrators, or parents” (Bredekamp, 2019). It is important to remember to outline the major points of the lesson plan before working on it. The teacher should list the lesson objectives, procedures for delivering the instructions, strategies of assessment, materials needed for an activity, etc. Moreover, to plan appropriate learning experiences, the teacher should be aware of the student’s backgrounds and create a culturally relevant lesson. “Applying knowledge of the social and cultural contexts in which children live, which helps teachers build on children’s prior knowledge and make experiences meaningful and responsive” (Bredekamp, 2019). Therefore, my lesson plans were carefully prepared and thought out so that the presented material would meet the students’ needs and developmental levels.

My first lesson plan was designed for low-level students. I build this lesson based on the Lev Vygotsky theory of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and scaffolding. Lev Vygotsky identified ZPD as “the distance between the most difficult task a child can do alone and the most difficult task a child can do with help. He believed that a child on the edge of learning a new concept could benefit from the interaction with a teacher or a classmate” (Mooney, 2013).

During the lesson activities, the students would receive a lot of teacher’s assistance and individual instructions to help them reach the learning goal. Also, in this lesson, I incorporated a lot of self-assessment rubrics, which can assist a teacher in identifying students who are struggling and might need additional instructions or individual guidance.

“Scaffolding assists a child to work in his or her zone of proximal development—the area just beyond a child’s current level of understanding or ability to achieve” (Bredekamp, 2019). I begin the lesson using the student’s prior knowledge on counting the numbers from one to ten, and then step by step, I introduced to them the addition. First, I introduced the easy addition problems and then began to challenge learners using the scaffolding concept to give the students an opportunity to practice skills they could not on their own. In addition, I used modeling as a key concept of the lesson so that all children can understand the steps of addition and later succeed in independence practice. Modeling works as visual assistance to children.

The whole lesson was planned with developmentally appropriate practice, which is “teaching that is attuned to children’s ages, experience, abilities, and interests, and that helps them attain challenging and achievable goals” (Bredekamp, 2019). With the support, individual assistance, modeling, and love, the students who are struggling to understand the math concept could reach the learning goal and succeed in their academic performance.

My second lesson plan was designed for high-level students. This lesson was built on a theory f B.F. Skinner of operant conditioning. “The most important principle of operant conditioning is that behavior changes as a result of its immediate consequences. Positive consequences strengthen the frequency of specific behaviors; unpleasant consequences decrease the frequency” (Bredekamp, 2019). In my lesson, I used a lot of verbal praise and feedback to students through classroom activities. For higher-level learners important to receive the response from a teacher and individual attention, it will keep the student’s motivation to work and achieve the higher goals.

“One of the most frequently used teaching strategies, questioning is used to elicit different types of responses and promote different types of thinking. Research on questioning finds that higher-level, open-ended questions—those that require children to analyze information in some way—are more effective learning tools than lower-level questions” (Bredekamp, 2019). In the lesson, I used questioning practice to analyze the student’s progress and level of understanding. Questioning has also helped to develop the critical thinking skills of my students. Instead of just straight answers to the papers, I wanted my students to demonstrate the knowledge of multiple addition strategies that can be used in one math problem. This way, I also challenged the students to work towards a higher level of developing math skills.

In both of my lesson plans, I used observation for formative assessment. “Observation can be used for both formative and summative evaluation, informal or formal. Teachers observe informally on a daily basis as part of the instructional process, and they also assess children formally using rigorously designed observational tools” (Bredekamp, 2019). Observation can be very effective to monitor and examine the student’s comprehension as they are learning new skills. Purposeful observation is an appropriate way to respond to students’ needs in my classroom. I was able to identify the student’s strengths and weaknesses of each individual child. This information is very helpful in managing the teacher’s instructions; the teacher can use the received data to modify the lesson and develop the appropriate activities that will meet all student’s needs.

Intentional teachers are always preparing the lesson plans that are developmentally and age-appropriate to their students and based on the knowledge about the children as individuals. This practice is extremely important since, in every classroom, we have students with special needs and language barriers. An intentional teacher would always prepare and think in advance about the assistance that should be provided to those students. In both of my lessons, I listed the accommodations that could be made to those students. Being culturally responsive is challenging for teachers, but it is essential to help students reach their learning goals. “Applying knowledge of the social and cultural contexts in which children live, which helps teachers build on children’s prior knowledge and make experiences meaningful and responsive” (Bredekamp, 2019).

Finally, the lesson plans are incorporating the student’s interests and implies a lot of funny activities where children can learn through play and movement. The visual and physical materials were used to support visual and kinesthetic learners. The music was used to support musical intelligence learners and help students move their bodies. My lesson plans are created to give the space for students thinking and discussion, supporting the student’s needs on a developmentally appropriate level and push the students to think further to reach the lesson’s goal.

References:

Bredekamp, S. (2019). Effective Practices in Early Childhood Education: Building Foundation. (4th Edition). Pearson.

Mooney, Carol Garhart. 2013. Theories of Childhood, Second Edition: An Introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget & Vygotsky. Redleaf Press.