1. What went well in this lesson? Why?
I thought that this lesson went well because the students were engaged that they were able to use a new method (sponge painting). I think the amount of background knowledge that students already had about the different types of patterns also worked well. Most of the students were able to quickly decide on a pattern and repeat it with a high percentage of accuracy. I think that giving each student their own set of cut sponges was good because there weren’t any sponge wars between students which increased their opportunity to do their paintings. Also, in the lesson plan I was going to have four paint colors out, but because of a lack of materials to put the paints on, I just chose two paints. I think this worked out well because it didn’t overwhelm students who might want to use all the different shapes and the different colors in their pattern. I am also glad that my art buddy suggested not to have students clean the sponges themselves; having them put their dirty sponges in a container for me to clean up made more work for me later but saved a lot of time and prevented problems from coming.
2. What problems did I experience? Why?
During the lesson I faced several problems. The first problem was that students did not have a paper to explore the sponge paints on if they ran out of space or had a difficult time making a pattern. So during the middle of the lesson I had to try and find some paper that these students could use since I had only prepared for each student to have one paper to explore on. Another problem was that some students got started on their sponge pattern painting before all the paints were out so they decided that they wanted to use the other colors and had to start again. This was also my fault because I spent a long time tapping the newspaper to the table that I didn’t have enough time to get the paints ready by the time the students came back to class. Another problem I experienced was that students did not understand they needed to do the same pattern they made on their small paper on the snake paper. I had to remind many students about those instructions because they wanted to put a new pattern on the snake.
3. How did I engage and involve the students?
I engaged the students by allowing some of them to come up to the smartboard individually to point out and describe the pattern that they see to their friends. I also engaged them during the sponge paint demonstration by going through each of the sponges and taking their ideas about concerns.
4. What could I have done differently?
There are several things that I would do differently and several ways in which I could change them. I would have definitely been more prepared by having multiple extra pattern snakes cut out and multiple pattern or exploration paper. And I would have changed the sponge painting part of it. I think it would be neat if I could have just let the students experiment with sponge paints for one lesson and then do this lesson after it so that they’d be able to see the sponge painting apart from the patterns and with the patterns. My mentor also suggested that I just give each student one piece of newspaper for all their things instead of taping the newspaper to the table. This would minimize teacher set up and would allow students to be able to clean up their own
5. What did I learn from this experience that will help me in the future?
I think I learned about the importance of modeling from this lesson. I really went step by step through the process of how to use the sponge paints right in front of the students, including problems that students might face such as putting too much paint that it looks like a blob or using the same sponge for a different color. This really helped because the students all used the sponge paints properly.
6. Preparation and research - Was I well prepared? - What could I have done differently?
I was both prepared and unprepared, but in different aspects of the lesson. I was prepared because I bought a bunch of sponges and cut them up and had enough sets of sponges cut for each student to have their own set. I cut out the snake template for each student to use, but I did not have enough extras for students that needed to start over. I was prepared with the newspaper on the tables, but not prepared with the paints. I could have had just one sheet of newspaper per student to give me more time for getting the paints ready.
7. Written plan – Was I organized? Did the written format work? Is there a better form?
My written plan was organized and the format worked for me. I had a copy of it printed out and referred to it during the lesson as needed.
8. Presentation – Were the students involved? Was I clear in my presentation? How was the pacing? How did I engage all of the students and allow as many as possible to answer questions?
I think overall the pacing of the lesson was good. It would’ve been great to have a time period longer than 1 hour because the lesson ran a little long. I do know that the sponge paint demonstration period was a little long for the students so I would’ve had to be more consistent in making sure that students were paying attention. I engaged the students by allowing them to come up to the smart board to point out a pattern they saw.
9. Assessment – Does my method of assessment measure what I want? How did the class do? What should I change for next time?
My assessment was checking whether students had one pattern on their snake and whether that pattern was repeated correctly on the snake. However, when I added the step where students have to make a pattern on their paper before they start on the snake I didn’t change the assessment. I would’ve liked to include that part into the assessment so that I’d assess not just the pattern snake but also the paper with their pattern on it. Overall the class did well and was able to make a pattern out of the sponge paints. Although there were also a few accidents or mess-ups in the pattern, no student’s pattern was horribly wrong.