My Most
Successful Lesson
A MiddleWeb Listserv conversation
Here's another year of Best Lessons chat!
MiddleWeb editor John Norton triggered this conversation string when
he asked the question:
Here's an inquiry I like to pose when I interview teachers for education
articles. I'd love for as many folks as possible on the list (even some
of the hundreds of Lurkers!) to post an answer to this set of questions:
-- What's the most successful teaching/learning experience that's
taken place in your classroom this year?
-- Why would you say so?
-- What made it successful?
I'm sure we have a lot of good stories and ideas to share!
-John
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Laura, shared a project-based unit that demonstrates the effectiveness
of integrating Science, Math, Writing and Technology into a real-life learning
opportunity.
During a Unit I call "Entrepreneur", students create a prototype
of a 50% recycled product. They develop business plans to market the item,
business cards, ad flyers, and TV commercials. On "Mall Day" -
The whole team gets involved. Students pretend to sell their products. They
were taught how to use a checkbook in the math class.
The excitement and engagement by all students tells me they are learning.
They would like to do the project all over again so they'd have better products.
The team staff enjoyed hearing them barter and help each other with check
writing.
This unit is project-based. Students have a problem of developing a 50%
recycled product. I'm able to teach technical writing and desktop publishing
skills in a unit that is truly engaging.
You may see the materials at:
http://www.derby.k12.ks.us/dms/lhayden/Units/EntreprUnit.htm
-Laura
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Marsha wrote about a lesson that required students to take on the role
of real scientists.
I think my cells unit would qualify. I gave my students an onion and a microscope,
showed them how to make a microscope slide, and told them they had four
days to figure out how the onion was "built". At the end of those
four days the class discussed their research and developed a generalized
statement about plant cells based on everyone's research about onions. From
here I gave them an elodea leaf (a green plant) and asked the students to
verify their generalization and make any revisions. I repeated this process
with a cheek cell, a wrist cell, and contrasting plants and animals. They
also explored pond water organisms, giving a single celled organism contrast
as well as a cell that can move on its own.
Students were excited to get into the lab. I rearranged the room (using
LOTS of duct tape) to look like lab benches and borrowed enough electrical
extension cords so everyone could sit at their table. I made up lab notebooks
and stocked the table with scientific "stuff". The room looked
totally different than before, so they bought into the idea that I wanted
them to take on the role of a scientist.
What made this activity so successful was that I didn't tell them anything-
I even outlawed looking it up in a book or asking an expert. I convinced
them to give me a month of struggling through the discovery process and
I bet them they could find out as much as our textbook told them. I did
help them learn how to use the microscope, how to focus, how to draw a stain
through a specimen. I didn't give grades- I used a checklist of the "Developing
Scientist" (yes, I know it's corny) and the skills had to progress
and refine over the month. They loved trying to meet the Accomplished standard
and came in before and after school and even during lunch to work on their
slides.
Maybe you'll think this ill advised, but I gave everyone but 2 students
an "A"(They were pains, never tried, and really thought the role-playing
was beneath them. I could have even accepted that, but when the class tried
to be instigators---the other kids shut them down so they sat and did next
to nothing.) Oh well, 49 out of 51 isn't too bad and I think the 2 probably
learned more than they'd like to admit by just being in the room and listening.
I think they all worked their fingers to the bone and gave it their all.
They certainly met and exceeded the district's curricular objectives for
7th graders, and learned more than the textbook chapter talked about. Our
class wrote the publisher a letter suggesting some other information they
might want to include in the next revision. (This made me laugh, but the
students were dead serious, so I thought why not?)
Students really bought into science and began to see themselves as scientists.
Especially when they realized they could use the scientific method to learn
as much about cells as their textbook was going to tell them. Needless to
say, they want to use the same method to learn all the body systems, which
is our next theme. Ahhhh!- I've created a wonderful monster!
-Marsha Ratzel
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Amy took the monotony out of grammar by adding flair to her grammar assignment.
I'd say the most successful lesson I did this year was a Parts of Speech
ABC book. After learning the parts of speech in my class, each student had
to pick a theme, and then write an ABC book using what they learned. For
example, if your theme was flowers, your "A" sentence could be
"Amazing asters, agonizingly ate apples at the airport."
Each student had to color code each word (all nouns underlined in yellow,
all adjectives red, etc.). I checked their rough drafts and then they illustrated
all of them. It could definitely be silly, but had to make some sort of
sense. Students were graded by how many different parts of speech they had
in each sentence (3 =C, 4 = B, 5= A). It was really fun and challenging.
I know it was successful because every semester I do a little evaluation
about what they learned. Most students say they really liked this project
and learned a lot.
-Amy
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Donna discovered that "fun in the sun" was a great way to teach
her students math skills!
One activity that I use to teach percents is to take the kids out to the
basketball court! I let them each take 20 shots. (Could be more or less...
let them draw cards for the number of shots they can take, to make a larger
variety of fraction possibilities...) We keep a record of who got how many
shots- Ex: 3 out of 20 shots would turn into 3/20, 17 out of 20 shots would
turn into 17/20 ths, etc.
The students take each fraction and divide them- Ex: 3/20 would be "3
divided by 20", to equal 0.15, then they move the decimal over two
places to the right, and it becomes 15%, which is also written as 15/100.
17/20 would be "17 divided by 20", to equal 0.85, then they move
the decimal over two places to the right, and it becomes 85%, which is also
written as 85/100.
I made a table from a Word program, with the topics listed below in bold
print, using 5 columns and as many rows as needed for each member of the
class to be listed. The students fill out the Number of Shots, (fraction
number) as each student takes their shots, the rest we do in class.
Student's Name---- X/20 (X=# of shots scored; Ex: 3/20)----- Decimal # (Ex:
0.15)------Percent (Ex: 15%)----- Percent/Fraction (Ex: 15/100)
The students always remember this math class! They got to get "out
of class" and really got involved in cheering each other on to success!
They could also readily identify and reduced from the percent/fraction.
- Donna
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Brenda documents a project in which her students and her collaborated together
in their search for a better way to learn fractions. She ended up learning
as much as the students did!
Last month our school hosted a "Profound Learning Open House".
Classes were to profile something from classroom learning that pushed the
kid's thinking. I decided to use something we were currently working through
in Math.
The "Fractions" unit has historically been a weak point in my
math program. In the past, no matter what I've done, my Grade 6 students
seem to leave Grade 6 with no more competency in this skill than when they
came in. I decided to approach the unit differently. I broke the steps down
into tiny steps (ex: adding/sub fractions with common denominators, then
adding/sub fractions with uncommon denominators, then simplifying answers,
then applying what you know in problem solving).
I know that the above is not revolutionary- how I paced the lessons was
what was different (for me). Interspersed, was an "ongoing assessment"
strategy on my part. I assessed students frequently and then planned the
next step in my lessons based on the outcome of that quiz. Students tracked
their scores on these quizzes on a tracking sheet. My goal was long term
retention so little by little I lengthened the time between assessments
and review sessions.
As student tracking sheets evolved, a learning profile started to become
visually evident. As a class we discussed what the tracking sheet might
tell the observer (ex: if each quiz score improved, and then suddenly dropped,
what might that tell you? Perhaps a new skill had been introduced or perhaps
there had been a longer than usual length in time between that quiz and
the previous quiz. This data could help the teacher know what to do next.)
We (Teacher and student) discussed all of this. It occurred to me that I
had a group of students discussing assessment in the very way we do as educators.
I had a moment of epiphany! This would be my "Profound Learning Open
House" project. We called our project: "What Happened Between
Assessments?"
I provided students with a hypothetical student learning profile (for our
fractions unit) and the students became teachers as they wrote an assessment
report on the student. Each student profile included a tracking sheet, a
file sharing background info on the student (Affective domain stuff), and
a schedule stating when the teacher taught what and when quizzes occurred.
For their report card, they had to give reasons (from data) to support any
statement they wrote.
We also discussed terms like "Affective Domain" and "Cognitive
Domain" and how both these areas need to be considered when assessing.
As part of our Open House demonstration I put the project on a web page,
which I'll share here. It will show you what was in each (there were 6 different
ones) hypothetical student profile:
http://www.masters.ab.ca/bdyck/assessment/
What did they learn? Here are quotes right form the students:
We learned:
-- How to make a prediction or decision based on data
-- There is much more to assessing learning than we thought
-- You need to consider both the cognitive and the Affective domains in
order to make an accurate assessment
-- Students learn math skills in different ways
-- There is a similarity between how doctors diagnose and how teachers diagnose.
They need to use similar thinking skills
-- There is a connection between frequency of review, frequency of testing
and retention
-- How to use a little information to write a big report
-- The affective domain influences the way you learn
What made it successful to me? Hearing students using the language of assessment,
discussing their own learning and analyzing data to make a decision blew
me away! You should have heard them explain it at the Open House. The students
will never look at a report card in the same way (neither will the parents!)
Sincerely:
Brenda Dyck
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Melba discovered that student enthusiasm goes a long way in helping the
learning process along.
My most exciting and successful lesson this year has been the learning format
I used. My goal was inquiry-based learning. I put up a story problem (I
teach math to 6th graders) on the overhead and asked the students to solve
it, but to be aware of their strategy so they could teach it to someone
else. There were some rules involved in the mathematical process so they
had to formulate the rules in order to get the problem correct.
Several students took turns teaching their "method" to the rest
of the class. After that I assigned different examples out of the math book
for each group of students to learn and explain to the other members of
the class. This presentation was accomplished through a jigsaw activity.
Once all groups were finished, we came together and held a class discussion
as to what they had learned. Most students came up with the correct rule
and even some variations of it. The closing was a jeopardy game based on
the lesson for that day. The amazing thing is that I did not really plan
this lesson to so much detail, but I have been attending a series of training
on standards based instruction so I basically "winged it".
I was so excited that it went well and that my students were so eager to
participate. Now I try to plan my lessons along those lines. If I was able
to "wing it" so easily, then I know actually planning lessons
to this extent will be a lot better. I only wish my principal or ANYONE
(besides me) for that matter had been in the room to see my kids in action!
What made it so successful? I think the students' enthusiasm for learning
this way made it a success and of course, the fact that they "got it"
on their own without my intervention during the lesson. The hardest thing
for me was to "let go".
-Melba Smithwick
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In this favorite lesson, Kathleen engages her students in a quality learning
opportunity and basks in the synergy of the moment.
The best lesson or unit I have done this year is my ecosystem unit in Science.
Students were totally engaged in the scientific processes and learning content
in the life science area at the same time.
The students worked in pairs to create a terrarium and aquarium out of two
liter soda bottles that will be an eco-column early the next week. They
built the terrarium first using potting soil, grass, alfalfa and mustard
seeds. Then they built the aquarium using gravel, water, elodea and duckweed.
They did observations on both regularly, but the
"mega-cool" part came when we added the live animals. They were
each given 2 mosquito fish (gambusia) and two pond snails for their aquarium.
It has been so neat to hear the excitement in their voices as they share
the changes they observe daily. Yesterday brought some real changes. Here
are some of the quotes:
-- "We have babies. Our fish had five fry"
-- "My fish is pregnant"
-- "Look at the baby snails"
and many, many more.
The recording of data became so much more specific and detailed as the delighted
students started their written observations and diagrams. For the first
time all year, students started using the vocabulary of the unit in their
written.
The first thing students did in the morning was to check the schedule to
make sure we are having science. When I led any discussion, they were responding-
almost all of their hands were raised. I loved this!! It made me feel alive
knowing I am teaching a subject that I love and am learning at the same
time as my students, and they are crazy about it too!!
The students don't want science to end! The conversations I am hearing and
the actions of my students are cementing my feelings about this. For along
time I have believed that "science talk", the things kids discuss,
can be an accurate measure of their learning. Now I realize that the dialogue
taking place between students, between students and teachers is "science
talk".
What made this project successful is the fact that it was hands-on, but
even more so is the opportunity to work with live animals. I think this
is one unit in science they will always remember- truly amazing!
-Kathy Renwick
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Sue's experience with her student teacher proves to be both thought provoking
and rewarding.
The most successful teaching experience I have had this year is still ongoing--for
the first time in 17 years, I have a student teacher. We first met last
summer and worked together on a grant developing a solar energy curriculum
for use in my school. He asked me to be his cooperating teacher this January.
I was pretty hesitant at first, since I had never done this and I had witnessed
some less than successful arrangements in the past, but I took the plunge
since I had already worked with Ken. The partnership has been fantastic!
First of all, I have someone to talk to--about curriculum, about students,
about philosophy, about successes and failures. And these are conversations,
not the diatribes you usually hear in the teachers' room. Second, I have
found my teaching to be energized. We have created many new lessons, labs,
and projects together. Ken has ideas that I have never thought of and as
we bounce ideas off each other, they just spiral up and up.
Because he was in my room watching me, I found that I was looking at myself,
and what I did, with a more critical eye. Having to explain why I did certain
things or taught a topic in a certain way made me step back and question
whether another way would be better. Finally, two of us are better than
one. I have never had the opportunity to team-teach and this is fun.
We have been able to split the class between us to do complicated labs and
challenges, thus doubling the amount of teaching and learning. And we can
have more one-on-one time with students as they work. My only regret is
that I will have to start leaving him alone in the classroom next week and
he graduates in May.
-- Sue
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Bill, French teacher turned Music teacher, surprises himself by leading
a group of novice Middle School students onto becoming polished performers.
I can't pass up this one! Although I am primarily a French teacher, it seems
for better or worse that most of the successful work I have done this year
has been in music, so that's where my example comes from.
It seemed a daunting task to prepare the newly-formed 7th/8th grade rock
band to perform in public at an evening coffeehouse with only 12 rehearsals
in less than one month's time. They had to learn to listen to each other,
learn their own and each other's parts well enough to always know exactly
where they were in a song, and develop their technique in order to handle
the more difficult parts.
To further complicate matters, the lead singer/guitarist went off to Scotland,
missing five rehearsals, leaving an advanced beginner guitarist who didn't
know all the chord fingerings and a 2nd vocalist who had to learn the songs
from scratch to carry the band! When she returned from Scotland, we had
to back up about a week to bring her up to speed. Meanwhile, the whole school
was buzzing with excitement over the impending debut of this group, and
hopes were high!
The fact that two kids in the group are members of the Outreach Committee
and the performance became combined with a benefit for a program to buy
books for a library in a poor rural school in South Africa added to the
hype. The pressure was on, and the kids came through magnificently.
In the end the students performed wonderfully, were very well received,
and felt good about it. Most people who talked to me were warm and enthusiastic,
and often astonished that a middle school band could sound so good. They
raised over $200 for the books program, not a bad sum for a little school.
Furthermore, they had built such incredible "group feel" and learned
the pieces so well that over three weeks later, when we held a special rehearsal
to get ready for a daytime all-school assembly, they could still run the
pieces start to finish with very few errors. Needless to say, the assembly
went well. They love playing together so much they are giving up free time
for rehearsals, and have at least three more performances planned by the
end of the year.
What made it successful?
-- the level of talent and dedication of these kids.
-- the fact that they do listen to and respect each other.
-- although rock music demands no less work and commitment than any other
activity, it is just plain fun, and the kids respond well to that.
-- the fact that they had such a concrete and public goal.
Me - well, I think most people nailed it when they thanked me not for actually
teaching these kids but rather for providing a context where their talent
could come out. There you have it! It's fun to relive.
-Bill
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Kate shared a lesson where her students were able to connect the various
parts of the process with meaning.
My most successful teaching experience this year was a simulation of the
rock cycle that integrated probability to have each student represent a
grain of sandy material that undergoes changes. The kids made charts and
diagrams of their own cycles. They evaluated the traditional rock cycle
diagram.
They used such great analysis of the activity. They really got it. It was
fun and they started to appreciate the time scale of these changes. One
student was amazed to be a grain of sand for 1.5 million years. (We hoped
she was on a St. Croix beach for part of that time!) They figured out that
most rocks spend most of their time under the surface of the Earth.
I think this lesson was successful because students were ready for every
part of this activity. They understood each part of the process and were
ready to put it together in a meaningful way. And it was fun (the wailing
when one spend hundreds of thousands of years moving to the surface and
some one else "burst" up in 200,000 years!)
-Kate
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Barbara remembers a time when she became the student and her student
became her teacher.
Sometimes the best teaching moments have nothing to do with paper, pencil
or books...They have to do with the great students we share 6 and1/2 hours
of our day with. I recently was diagnosed with asthma and didn't realize
how serious it is. How many of us have seen kids with inhalers and thought
nothing of it? Well, is can be very frightening when you have an asthma
attack! I had a really bad one in school and the person who was the most
comfort to me, was my 11 year-old student, Hector. He set up my nebulizer,
a machine used to deliver medication when you're having an asthma attack.
He said, "You're scared, Ms. Wasserman, aren't you? It'll be okay."
He then did my Language Arts lesson and kept checking on me. I eventually
felt better and was able to "return to normal." What impressed
me the most was the maturity and compassion of all of my students. They
followed the lesson from their peer and behaved beautifully. The best lessons
in our rooms sometimes have nothing to do with academics!
- Barbara Wasserman
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Brenda and M. Field back up the thoughts expressed by Barbara.
I agree, Barbara. In a true learning environment, both the teacher and the
student learn. Sometimes we teach them, sometimes they teach us. I think
this often comes as a surprise to us.
-Brenda
Thank you for sharing that story. I have always felt that only after many
years have gone by can we truly measure the success of a teacher. We don't
just teach subject content. We teach the whole person. Students learn everything
we say and do. We may feel that our efforts are in vain, but when we see
and hear of students responding to others in the way you have just shared,
we know that our level of success is often immeasurable.
- M. Field
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Nancy shared a "never to be forgotten" lesson with her seventh
grade students.
My best unit this year was with my seventh graders. Our human body unit
grew into the production of an Owner's Manual for the Human Body, based
on the premise that when you are born you don't come with an instruction
manual for how to take care of your body. But you only get one body, and
if you mess it up you can't trade it in for a new one! So for each of the
body systems students included labeled diagrams of what every part is and
what it does, descriptions of the functions of the system, labs done to
show how each system works, and information on how to keep the system healthy.
Several students commented that they would keep theirs for future reference--what
an affirmation!
From that unit, by far the most successful lesson was the HIV lab. After
the lesson on what HIV is, its effects on the body, and how it may be contracted,
each student was given a clear plastic cup half-full of clear liquid. All
were water, but one also contained 5 ml.of sodium hydroxide. Students were
told that the liquid represented their bodily fluids. They were told that
they could share their bodily fluids with no more than three people in the
room whom they REALLY TRUSTED. They were to pour the entire contents of
one cup into the other, then pour half of the liquid back into the first
cup. They were given about a minute to complete "sharing".
Then I told them that their sharing represented sexual contact with those
people they really trusted. I asked, "Did any of you refuse to share
bodily fluids with anyone because you didn't trust them? Did anyone trade
bodily fluids with only members of the same sex, or only with members of
the opposite sex?"
Next I said that years had passed, they had never had sexual contact with
anyone else, and now they have met that special someone they truly love
and want to marry. That special someone says they should go for a blood
test before they marry, just to be sure neither of them has any disease
they could pass on to their children. I told them all to hold their cups
up high so everyone could see. I passed by each cup and added two drops
of phenolphthalein, a base indicator. I told them that if there was any
change in the color of their liquid they were infected with HIV.
The most amazing thing was the expression on each face as I approached,
added the indicator, and everyone saw their cups remain clear or turn pink.
Visible anxiety turned to either sheer relief or astonishment and embarrassment.
What made it so effective? The students were totally engaged from beginning
to end. At the end of the lab, they had to respond in writing to either
of these questions: How did you feel when you saw the results in the cups?
What did you learn about HIV from this lab? Their responses were so profound
and honest, so thoughtful that I know the lesson had a big impact. Many
wrote that they never realized you could get HIV from "nice" people,
or that you could get it even if it was your first sexual contact, or that
you don't get it just a little bit--if you are infected you die. Several
vowed to wait for sex until marriage, and one girl called me aside and told
me, sobbing, that her mother has AIDS and they are waiting to see if her
two little sisters have it.
Another way I know the lesson was effective was that one girl had told her
mother we were going to have an AIDS lab that day, and the mother came to
class with her daughter. She participated in the lab and the ensuing discussion.
As she was leaving the room, she hugged me and said, "Thank you. That's
just the message I wanted my daughter to get." Guess we passed inspection!
-Nancy
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Michaela demonstrates the power of connecting student learning to a "real-life"
problem.
I teach computer to middle school kids. We were working on databases in
my 8th grade class. They were not seeing the power of a database and frankly
thought I was a little weird for waxing poetic on databases.
I created a lesson/real life situation where they had to create a database
for the school Vicar. This database was to help him keep track of the hymns
sung in chapel. They were given a list of the needs that this database had
to fulfill for the Vicar. The students were so enthused by the idea of getting
to help the Vicar and not sing the same songs in chapel again that they
jumped right into it! Students who were previously bored with and stumbling
through the database program were enthused by the thought of database design,
primary keys, and relationships.
What made it successful? The students were actively engaged in learning.
This was a small group activity and you could see the groups working through
the thought process of designing and refining this database. The students
knew from the beginning that there was no one "right" solution
to the problem and that I was not going to "tell" them the right
track to take. In fact, I based their grade not on the finished product,
but the process that they took to get there. This relieved a lot of the
grade stress on this assignment and allowed them to brainstorm and try new
ideas.
I will definitely use this (or something similar) again!
-Michaela
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Anne points MiddleWeb readers to the Web for her favorite teaching idea.
Here's my favorite teaching idea for limited computer access with a group
of students. I've pointed you to a health focus, and I think you and your
kids will like it! It involves a lot of problem solving and can really build
teamwork, discussion, and decision-making.
Go to one of my favorite sites - Access Excellence.
http://www.accessexcellence.org/index.html
From there, click on the AE Mystery Spot and scroll down to "The Blackout
Syndrome." It begins with a mysterious illness that has struck a child.
"A mother rushes to the hospital. Her child is bleeding from the eyes,
hands and mouth. Where did this mysterious disease come from? What is it?
And how can it be stopped?"
From there, the kids can participate in the mystery online - they choose
a course of action, are presented with a set of facts, work together to
make choices that lead them into other courses of action, and finally solve
the mysterious illness. (This especially works great if you have an LCD
projector, but several kids can work together on one computer to do this
problem solving.)
I love this site! There is also a number of exciting, creative Science teaching
units online developed by science teachers. Give it a look!
-Anne
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Melba shares a learning opportunity that presented itself out of pure desperation,
an emotion that all educators have experienced from time to time.
"This was the bestest lesson you ever taught us!" said my fourth
period students as they left for the day.
As I struggled to teach my second period class the formula for finding the
area and perimeter of squares and rectangles, I kept thinking to myself,
if they don't get this, how am I ever going to teach them circumference?
I talked, I lectured, I scolded when they put their heads down, I had them
on the floor measuring the floor tiles with a ruler, I yelled at them to
drop to the floor and measure two more tiles only to hear, "but I know
they are exactly the same, I don't need to prove it, I can see it."
Aren't students supposed to do what I say, aren't they supposed to like
moving around, getting out of their seats, using manipulatives? NOT THIS
CLASS! Planning time came around and I thought of the little tennis ball
size basketball and hoop that I had in my file cabinet. So when fourth period
came in I decided to change my strategy. I had them read pages 145-147 circumference
of circles. Then I tossed the basketball to one and asked for the formula.
He got it! He tossed it to another student and asked a question from the
reading.
On it went until one the kids asked about the basketball hoop. So I took
the ball and told them that in order to shoot the ball, they would have
to answer my question correctly. Where does pi come from? correct- shoot
the ball. Is pi equal to 3.14 exactly or is it an approximation? correct-shoot!
On we went. At the end of the 20minute "basketball game" I gave
them 5 problems to do and all but one student scored a 100%!
I wonder if that will work for my second period? Tomorrow will tell.
-Melba
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Earlier in the year, Ellen Berg shared the success of her Jigsaw
activity. An editor at Education World happened to see Ellen's description
and arranged for a freelance writer to do an article for the popular website.
See it at:
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr324.shtml
Also see Ellen's diary entries about this project.
http://www.middleweb.com/msdiaries01/MSDiaryEllenB14.html
http://www.middleweb.com/msdiaries01/MSDiaryEllenB15.html
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Finally, Mary Anne Kosmoski shared a strategy she's using that was described
in a recent web magazine article:
There is a fabulous article in the current ENC Focus- a great journal by
the way--about a science teacher who realized her kids "read it--but
didn't get it!" during a unit on photosynthesis. The article is all
about what she did--using reading strategies and concept maps. The article
is available on line at
http://www.enc.org/focus/standards/documents/0,1948,FOC-001933-index,00.shtm
- Mary Anne
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