Reflections
1. Background information on cyber lesson.
I designed this unit for a second grade science unit on butterflies. I thought this would integrate nicely nonfiction reading strategies with my science unit on butterflies. However, since I am not teaching this year I asked a fourth grade teacher I am working with on a project in another class if I could try this with her students. Butterflies are part of the first grade curriculum this school. The students had more back ground information than most second graders. Had I designed the cyberlesson for fourth graders I would have changed some of the before, during, after, and beyond reading activities. However, I tried to find websites appropriate for fourth graders.
2. How did you implement your cyberlesson?
I implemented this lesson in the computer lab. Students had their own computers. The computer lab teacher was unable to put the cyberlesson on the computers before the first day of the lesson. I was able to do the first part of it on a smart board. This actually was not a problem as the beginning of the lesson was filling in an anticipatory guide, accessing prior knowledge using a WIKA chart and then going to a website, which I was able to share with them using the smart board. By the next lesson the cyber lesson had been put on all the computers so the students were able to continue on their own. The classroom teacher and I paired the students based on their reading levels and any other learning issues which would affect their ability to do this lesson independently. Since the students did not have their own books the second day of the lesson began with a read a-loud of the book. They then worked with their partner to complete the lesson.
3. How did your students respond to the project?
They were very excited about doing a cyberlesson as they had never done one before but this is part of the first grade curriculum and some of them said they already knew everything. However, once they started going to the websites, especially ones which had videos they were very enthused.
4. Strengths?
I think the strength of this lesson is that it integrated the use of technology, science, and reading strategies. The students were engaged and motivated. The websites allowed them to choose their own areas of interest about butterflies while still meeting my objectives. I think using technology also made the before, during, after and beyond reading activities more concrete.
5. Weakness?
The main weakness in this lesson was with the technology. For some reason some of the computers would not go to certain websites during the beyond reading activities. This affected the grouping of the students. Instead of working in pairs they worked in groups of three. In this part of the lesson students were to try and find answers to any questions they still had about butterflies. Since not all of them had the same questions some of the students were frustrated at having to wait their turn. Since this was not my class I had limited access in the amount of time I had them for. Consequently, I felt like I was rushing the students through the lesson. Not all students completed the beyond reading activities. I also noticed that since I was moving the students through the lesson that some of them were confused as to which slide to go to. For instance there are two before reading slides and three after reading slides. Some of the students were confused on how to use the graphic organizer even though the slides gave explicit directions. I had to stop the class a number of times to give directions. The rubric was at the end of the lesson and the students were unsure exactly what they had to do.
6. How would you modify the way in which you implemented the project to make it more successful?
The students had never done a cyberlesson or used a WIKA chart during reading. I would explicitly teach how to use the chart and explain the format of the cyberlesson to them prior to the lesson. Before the students began the lesson I would go through the slides on the smart board so they would be familiar with the format. On a technical note I would number the titles of slides (i.e. During Reading 1, During Reading 2) to make teacher references to slides easier to follow.
I put the rubric at the end of the lesson which I think was an instructional mistake.
The students asked questions as they went from assignment to assignment about what they had to do (quantity). Next time I would put the rubric first and discuss the criteria they would be graded on. I feel that the quality and quantity of the work of some students would have been higher had I explained the rubric beforehand.
7. Recommendations?
I recommend that before the students do the cyberlesson to make sure the links work on all the computers. The lesson took longer than I had anticipated so I would allocate more time than you expect the students need just in case. Make sure the students understand what a cyberlesson is and how yours is sequenced. Review or explain any graphic organizers the students will be using. Explain any rubric for the tasks before the cyberlesson.