November 15, 2024

 What?

        During my fifth visit to Agnes B. Hennessey School my partner and I taught a lesson about the culture, anthropology, and sociology of Brazil. Throughout the lesson we made introductions, lesson 4 recap, went over vocabulary for the unit, completed a venn diagram activity, a read aloud, a carnival activity, and finally a blooket. 

        To start our lesson, we had the students go around and say their names and our names just as a refresher. As a small icebreaker we had the students tell us their favorite holiday that their family celebrates. During this time, the students talked about holidays they do with their families such as halloween, christmas, thanksgiving, and more. I love learning about the students so these icebreakers are my favorite to complete. 

        Miss Reynolds and I provided the students with vocabulary strips and a vocab wall before we began talking about culture. The vocabulary words we went over were, culture, anthropology, and sociology.  For our first activity we completed a venn diagram activity to compare and contrast differences between Brazil and the United States. During this activity the students discussed different cultural activities in the US and Brazil and some similarities as well.  The students were able to complete the venn diagram activity and then we read the similarities and differences aloud. This showed the students how both countries have a lot of differences but some similarities too. This went extremely well as the students were eager to learn about the different types of activities, holidays, traditions, and more throughout the world. 

        After the venn diagram activity, we read some of Brazil’s culture from our book to the students. This included the celebration known as Carnival that occurs in Brazil. After learning about Carnival, we explained the next activity which was an artifact crafting activity. This activity let the students create their own carnival mask. This allowed the students to be creative while still learning about different cultural aspects of Brazil. The students were also able to be creative during this time. After completing their own masks, they presented them to the group.

        After participating in the multiple activities, the students ended the lesson by completing a blooket. This was a great way to see how the students successfully met the objectives. A few students struggled with this part and got many answers wrong. It showed that some of the objectives were not entirely met. By the end of the lesson the students were not 100% able to talk about key parts of Brazil’s civics. However, this gave me a great learning experience on what to change for the next lesson.

        An area of weakness  we could improve on is to include another interactive activity to keep the students engaged but to learn information on Brazilian culture. The students struggle with vocabulary throughout the lesson sometimes and including an interactive activity that includes vocabulary could enhance their understanding. However, the students excelled with all the activities we did during class time and were extremely engaged. After further evaluation of my lesson, I believe that I need to include more beneficial ways for the students to actually learn the vocabulary especially  and succeed within the lesson. The students were still eager and ready to learn throughout the lesson which was extremely helpful and positive.

So What?

        During this lesson I learned that I have to continue to make the lesson really interactive so the students are engaged and excited while still making sure there is learning taking place. My partner and I did a better job of that this week compared to last week, but there is always room for improvement. This lesson went right to the end of the time provided so I want to make sure we are not rushing to complete the lesson next time. Even though we finished everything we had planned, I still felt as if I rushed towards the end. The more I practice and work on my time management, the smoother the lesson will go. Now that I know more about my students, I need to put the students’ abilities into more consideration for each lesson plan. I can add more electronic activities because they seemed so happy to participate in those. I can incorporate more coloring activities because they enjoy being creative. This lesson continued to expand my knowledge for the future lessons I teach. I was really happy with this experience, and I hope to continue to improve these skills to make me a better educator.

Now What?

        This experience will influence my professional identity because I am still learning and trying to figure out the best ways for me to teach my students. Throughout this lesson, I found out that there are many ways I can improve when it comes to making sure the students are retaining the information being taught. I need to balance fun activities with actual learning. I am learning different ways on how to handle a group of students. I am learning different ideas and strategies that can make me a better teacher. Throughout this lesson, I taught culture, anthropology, and sociology which I had never done before. 

        Overall I think it went well, but there is always room to improve. This experience will influence how I plan/teach/assess in the future. I have learned how important it is to be organized, prepared, and how important timing is. For this lesson, I was very well prepared and organized. I had everything labeled and put together in an orderly fashion. If I was not prepared to teach this lesson it would not have gone as well as it did. I am extremely grateful for this experience, and I am excited to plan/teach/assess in the future.