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I am able
to reflect on this lesson with 4 key ideas in my mind:
- Were
students engaged?
I definitely feel that they were engaged with the first activity (the
example using Venus) and with their own searches. I saw good listeners
while I was speaking. I also saw students very quietly searching for
their information. When I walked around by the crews, I could overhear
them telling each other some neat piece of information that they just
read and showing each other the pictures they found. I saw them clicking
from section to section reading and looking at the pictures and tables
provided.
- Was
the lesson age/ability appropriate?
For most 3rd Graders, yes, this was an appropriate means of finding
information. We have been working in the lab for several months this
year, often maneuvering around the Internet. So I knew that they could
use the technology developmentally, but I knew some would struggle
academically with reading and understanding new vocabulary. I saw
that very clearly with Amber. She struggled with the text in a particular
section. I knew she and a few others would have this challenge so
I had previously viewed the different sources with the objective of
identifying general reading levels so that I could give them an alternative
that would make them feel successful.
- Was
the technology effective for this lesson?
Yes! Luckily, I had few computer glitches. From my experience within
this old lab, I knew that I would have to run through each part of
the Web Quest and its related links to be sure they all worked. I
learned that the hard way in the past. Once that challenge was overcome,
I was confident that the Web Quest was the best way to allow students
to gather research information in an organized way. By using the 4
research links, the students were led on an organized search. At their
level of development, I knew that this structure (opposed to letting
them use a random search engine) would lend itself best to achieving
their goal. Also, I knew that the designers of the Web Quest had intended
it for 3rd Graders and could see that they found links that most 3rd
Graders would find interesting and be able to understand. The best
thing the Planet Web Quest designers did: The 4 links they provided
for each planet were from the same 4 sources (except they led the
crew to their specific planet within each web site). This helped me
judge the resource for its readability and its quantity and quality
of material prior to the task.
- Did
the students complete the objective for the lesson?
My lesson objective was: "To successfully find and record
data about a planet from scientific sources using Internet links."
I feel that, yes, most students completed this objective and will
be ready for the next part of the Unit that will use their data to
write a paragraph. While looking at their completed data sheets, I
see that a few students wrote their answers in complete sentences
instead of jotting it into a noteform. I think that's okay even though
it was not the form I had directed them to work with. At their age,
they are emerging to be independent writers and it is sometimes difficult
to go against the norms they have been trying so hard to achieve (writing
in complete sentences, restating the question within their answer,
using correct spelling and punctuation, etc.). However, most students
were able to write their answers in notes. I notice that in doing
so, a few small details are missing. For example, Aundrea had to find
the day and nighttime temperatures of Mercury and she wrote: 427 &
-183. She's missing the temperature descriptor (C or F) and when she
comes back to this next week, I wonder if she'll remember that it's
Celsius and which temperature matches for the day and for the night.
This tells me 2 things; 1. I need to talk about this in next week's
discussion about our results, and 2. The next time I teach this lesson,
I need to review some key things that would be necessary for writing
a more complete note.
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