Final Reflection
Creating and implementing a unit plan has been a whirlwind of an experience. There were days in which I was super excited and on top of things, and then there were other days in which it was really rough coming up with ideas, and then having my ideas play out in the classroom as great as they did in my head when I had planned them. When I first heard that I was going to be creating and teaching my own unit plan I got really nervous. I didn't know where to begin not did I know my students very well to teach to fit them.
As I slowly began working on my unit plan, I found that my biggest challenge was trying to keep my objectives in mind, while creating lessons that aligned with common core, fitting my students needs, fitting my students interests, and fitting in the allotted time for math everyday. This was a lot of information to be processing through every time I created a new activity for my students. Another thing that I struggled with was creating engaging authentic tasks that would benefit my students the most. I didn't want my students to just be filling in worksheets or mindlessly responding with answers, I wanted to challenge my students to connect this new knowledge to what was surrounding them. I wish that I would have been able to teach my main focus lesson on that, because I would have been so intrigued to see what my students would have been able to come up with.
The content that I included in this unit is dividing or partitioning a shape in halves, thirds, and fourths, as well as partitioning pieces of a set. This idea of dividing something was completely brand new to my students, and that was made very clear in the first couple of lessons, when I found myself needing more time to continue to go over the material to eliminate any false definitions my students had created, as well as continue to reinforce this new concept. Looking back if I had taught my whole unit, before teaching the unit on partitioning a group of objects I would have spent another day going over simply dividing one object into the certain number of parts.
My Christian perspective definitely influenced the creation of this unit. The main area that I saw my perspective influence my unit is that I included a lot of small group work, and partner work. This represents my belief that relationships are important as well as the idea that everyone is valued and it is important that everyone is able to speak and express what they are thinking.
Overall I would say my unit was fairly successful, there are definitely some changes that I have already mentioned that I would change if I taught this unit again in the future. I also don't have concrete evidence of my students learning, but from personal verbal exchanges with my students, I could tell that my students did learn fractions. There are quite a few that still make mistakes and the most common mistake is not putting the total number of pieces in the bottom of the fraction. I would say that my Unit was very effective in working to create an atmosphere in which students could work together to come to new conclusions and answers regarding fractions.
This whole process has helped me grow in so many ways. As a teacher I have grown in my teaching and managing a classroom skills. I would also say that I have grown in thinking quick on my feet to adjust to the concern at hand. That is definitely something that I improved upon, and it was even necessary in my own lesson when a certain lesson didn't go quite as I had planned. On a personal level I have grown in so many ways. I didn't know it was possible to love these kids so much when I only see them a portion of the week. I have learned that teaching is much more beyond the content of what I am teaching. Teaching is helping prepare my students for the world ahead and for their life. Yes, it is important that they learn the content that I am teaching, but it is more important that down the line my students remember the justice part of fractions and the being fair to everyone, rather than a test score they received in first grade.
As I slowly began working on my unit plan, I found that my biggest challenge was trying to keep my objectives in mind, while creating lessons that aligned with common core, fitting my students needs, fitting my students interests, and fitting in the allotted time for math everyday. This was a lot of information to be processing through every time I created a new activity for my students. Another thing that I struggled with was creating engaging authentic tasks that would benefit my students the most. I didn't want my students to just be filling in worksheets or mindlessly responding with answers, I wanted to challenge my students to connect this new knowledge to what was surrounding them. I wish that I would have been able to teach my main focus lesson on that, because I would have been so intrigued to see what my students would have been able to come up with.
The content that I included in this unit is dividing or partitioning a shape in halves, thirds, and fourths, as well as partitioning pieces of a set. This idea of dividing something was completely brand new to my students, and that was made very clear in the first couple of lessons, when I found myself needing more time to continue to go over the material to eliminate any false definitions my students had created, as well as continue to reinforce this new concept. Looking back if I had taught my whole unit, before teaching the unit on partitioning a group of objects I would have spent another day going over simply dividing one object into the certain number of parts.
My Christian perspective definitely influenced the creation of this unit. The main area that I saw my perspective influence my unit is that I included a lot of small group work, and partner work. This represents my belief that relationships are important as well as the idea that everyone is valued and it is important that everyone is able to speak and express what they are thinking.
Overall I would say my unit was fairly successful, there are definitely some changes that I have already mentioned that I would change if I taught this unit again in the future. I also don't have concrete evidence of my students learning, but from personal verbal exchanges with my students, I could tell that my students did learn fractions. There are quite a few that still make mistakes and the most common mistake is not putting the total number of pieces in the bottom of the fraction. I would say that my Unit was very effective in working to create an atmosphere in which students could work together to come to new conclusions and answers regarding fractions.
This whole process has helped me grow in so many ways. As a teacher I have grown in my teaching and managing a classroom skills. I would also say that I have grown in thinking quick on my feet to adjust to the concern at hand. That is definitely something that I improved upon, and it was even necessary in my own lesson when a certain lesson didn't go quite as I had planned. On a personal level I have grown in so many ways. I didn't know it was possible to love these kids so much when I only see them a portion of the week. I have learned that teaching is much more beyond the content of what I am teaching. Teaching is helping prepare my students for the world ahead and for their life. Yes, it is important that they learn the content that I am teaching, but it is more important that down the line my students remember the justice part of fractions and the being fair to everyone, rather than a test score they received in first grade.