"Show Me" Missouri’s Temperatures (Video)

For today’s classroom observation we watched a video about a teacher named Ms. Sally Camden, who was teaching her “Show Me” Missouri’s Temperatures activity to her fourth grade class at Perryville Elementary (in Perryville, Missouri). To start the lesson Ms. Camden first focused on using subjects that were familiar to her students, such as the four seasons and temperature change. Instead of simply discussing these topics, Ms. Camden incorporated the use of music into the lesson by playing the spring portion of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and asking each student to think of words that reminded them of spring. The class then discussed and organized their responses on the board. When watching this scene I really enjoyed Ms. Camden’s approach to reviewing these topics. Not only was she able to encourage the class to discuss the seasons, but was able to integrate music and vocabulary skills into the lesson as well.

Once the class had completed this activity, Ms. Camden led the group in filling out a “Know-Wonder-Learned” (K-W-L) chart about Missouri’s weather (temperature and seasons), watched a short video (about the seasons), and used paper cutouts to divide the state into five geographic regions. The students then chose a city from each region, researched its seasonal temperatures, recorded the data onto a spreadsheet, calculated the average temperatures, and created graphs. In order to perform these tasks, tools including the Internet and Microsoft Excel were used.

In the video, when discussing her lesson plan, Ms. Camden states that she “…designed it so that students could integrate skills in math, science, social studies, and language arts.” The fact that Ms. Camden’s approach has given her students an opportunity to gain experience (using technology) as well as improve other various skills (reading, writing, and vocabulary) is certainly one of the many strengths of her lesson plan. Also, Ms. Camden’s pace and use of visual models greatly assisted in the success of her lesson plan. By using a KWL chart Ms. Camden was able to determine the current knowledge of her students, encourage questions, and assess student learning. It was such a cool experience to see Ms. Camden ask her students, “How long does it take the earth to rotate around the sun?” and to instantly see a hand pop up with the answer, “one year.” It is moments like this that make teaching so awesome!

Although Ms. Camden could have given the students more experience working in Microsoft Excel, I think she gave them an excellent lesson that not only taught them about specific subjects, but gave them a number of experiences using different tools and forms of technology.

Mr. Hungerford's Virtual CEO (Video)

Although most high school students certainly know how to spend money, they often lack the fundamental economic skills needed to manage their own personal finances. One way of educating students on the subjects of business and economics involves the use of computer programs, which give the students an opportunity to experience real-life situations in simulated settings. At EXCEL Alternative High School in Marshalltown, Iowa, Mr. Chris Hungerford, the 9-12 grade business teacher, used this method in his classroom. Before assigning each student a virtual corporation, Mr. Hungerford first gave the class a tutorial in the computer program Capitalism Plus and taught them some of the key concepts of economics, such as supply and demand. Once the class was comfortable with these concepts, Mr. Hungerford gave each student the opportunity to create a corporation and compete in the virtual market. Mr. Hungerford also required each student to create a website for their corporation (which contained daily press releases and financial updates), and to use spreadsheets (to organize data and create charts/graphs). To perform these tasks the students were required to use programs such as Microsoft Front Page, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, and Capitalism Plus.

As I observed Mr. Hungerford’s constructivist class, I recognized several strengths that made this lesson a success. These include Mr. Hungerford’s hands-on approach (Capitalism Plus and other programs), relatable real-life examples (Playstation 2 discussion), pace, and ability to capture the students’ interest and attention. Instead of simply lecturing about this subject, Mr. Hungerford incorporated several forms of technology into the lesson (discussed in the previous paragraph), which allowed the students to gain knowledge and experience in a number of areas. Also, the pace at which he progressed through his lesson had a major impact on the students. By first using a tutorial on Capitalism Plus, Mr. Hungerford was able to slowly introduce his students to these new concepts (supply and demand, revenue, profit, quantity sold) through numerous examples, which allowed him to ask questions (“Do you think what we just did is true for the real world?”) and evaluate their understanding.

Even after carefully re-watching the video, I do not believe that there are many weaknesses in Mr. Hungerford’s lesson. Although he did an excellent job questioning his students and testing their knowledge on the subject, the only weakness that I noticed was the fact that he sometimes rushed the student or would answer a question (or correct a mistake on the computer) himself.

After re-reading Mr. Hungerford’s lesson and considering the content covered, I do not think that much more information, if any, should be added to this lesson. Yet, if more material was needed to “expand on student knowledge of business,” I believe that he should continue explaining common economic themes and possibly focus even more on the stock market.

Although Mr. Hungerford covered a lot of information in his lesson plan, no aspects of the lesson should be excluded. Each and every assignment that was given to his class had a purpose, and seemed to help with their understanding of the material and the development (or progression) of skills. It is important for these students to interact with each and every one of these programs, as they are used in almost every field of study.

By having each student declare the goals (both long and short term) of their individual corporations, Mr. Hungerford has encouraged his class to actually think like CEO’s and put themselves in that position. This helps to add a realistic feeling to the assignment, which might assist in motivating and capturing student interest. This might also improve student learning because it gives the students something to strive for and challenges them to work towards achieving it.

Meaningful Learning in an Information Age (Video)

Today, at the start of class, we watched a short video that examined a unique hands-on project given to the sixth grade students of Cedar Ridge Elementary (Branson, Missouri). This assignment, which allowed the students to directly interact with various forms of technology, challenged the class to create a daily news program that aired each morning throughout the school. Students were given the responsibility of researching and organizing information, creating scripts, directing, filming, reporting, and even editing each show. In order to perform these tasks the students used computer programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint (to display the weather forecast) and Word (to write and edit scripts), as well as technology that included digital cameras, video recorders, the Internet, and more.

When watching this video I was not only impressed by the project itself, but by how well these students handled the assignment. Although I was not initially expecting it, I found the production to be organized and surprisingly professional. This was due mainly to the filing and script writing process used by the class, as well as the directing of the show (“you need to speak up and have a clear voice”). The students did an excellent job in distributing the work load, teaching one another how to properly use equipment, and simply producing quality work. It is clear that the teacher had little to no interaction in the production of the show as, according to the teacher, the students were “completely responsible” for each broadcast. This authentic experience not only challenged the students, but impacted the curricular skills of each, and taught them how to work as a team.

In a world where technology is a vital part of our society, it is essential that students of all ages are given the opportunity to interact and build basic technological skills.