Kristin Ortolani
How Animals Move Cyberlesson
I chose to develop a cyberlesson based around the Science curriculum pacing guide for first grade. Our district has started to implement a new pacing guide and standards that need to be taught. I took this pacing guide and decided that for the November Science unit, I would teach it through the use of a cyberlesson. The unit was “How Animals Move”. Up until the use of the cyberlesson, I taught the unit through guides and random lessons. The cyberlesson provided a vehicle for me to teach the unit to the students in an organized and developmentally appropriate way.
I implemented the cyberlesson as a whole group activity. I felt that because it was part of the curriculum and the pacing guide, all the students in the class should participate in the cyberlesson. For those students who I thought might have a difficult time, I had a parent volunteer work with them during the lesson. This worked out well for all the students who needed the additional assistance.
I received a very positive response to the cyberlesson from my class. As soon as I turned on the projector and showed the first slide, the class was engaged. They are not used to using computers, as we do not have immediate access to them, so they were excited to see the presentation when I turned it on. The students also very interested in what they were learning about and wanted to learn more by clicking on the links.
I think that the main strength of this lesson was that it allowed every student in the class to participate at their own level and their own pace while they learned the same material. It also got the students engaged in what they were learning through the use of the internet links and the picture clues on the slides. The other strength of the cyberlesson was that the slides and activities did not require a lot of sitting time. The students were able to actively participate in the lesson and tasks. At the first grade level, keeping their interest is what helps them to learn.
The main weakness of the lesson is that it requires access to the internet. I found this to be a little difficult considering our school does not have a computer lab or access to a computer, except for the fifth grade classrooms. This made it difficult to teach the cyberlesson. I had to plan around the fifth grade’s schedule in order to complete the lesson.
This leads to the next weakness which was time. It was difficult to teach the entire cyberlesson in a timely manner due to the lack of computers. I wanted to allow the students enough time to explore the internet and complete the tasks. This often led us to not completing the full lesson in the time allowed. I had to reschedule with the fifth grade class another time to come in, making it many days in between tasks to complete the entire cyberlesson.
I think that the cyberlesson allowed the students access to information they might not have known and allowed them to further their learning by inquiring more about how animals move through the activities in the lesson. I also feel that the cyberlesson allowed for individual student progress. The students were able to complete the tasks at their own pace and, if needed, they were allowed access to the internet to assist them with their learning.
The first modification I would make to the lesson would be on the first task. I provided the students with pictures of different animals and their job was to sort the animals into three different groups, fins, wings, and legs. I gave the whole class the same picture cards to sort. I think that I would change this so that there would be varying levels of animal pictures to sort, ranging from easy to more difficult. This would individualize the learning.
Another modification I will make is with the after reading project. I had a parent volunteer help the students find information about the animal that they chose to complete the profile. I found that the volunteer was providing the students with the information instead of allowing the students to research it. Next time I think I will arrange with the library clerk to have her assist them. That way I will know that the students are finding the information on their own.
My main recommendation for this cyberlesson is to have either a big book copy of the book or individual books for the class to look at. I used a big book for this lesson and the students were all able to see the pictures and the captions. I was also able to see who was paying attention and who was not.
Another recommendation would be to have unlimited access to an internet source. This would alleviate scheduling problems and it would allow you to complete the cyberlesson on your own timeline. It would also give the student more time to research their animals for the profile project.