Final Reflection

Allison Plummer

Final Reflection

Creating lesson plans can be difficult and intimidating, I wanted to create my lesson plans and be able to learn and grow from each one I created. I designed my lessons around the basic idea of having my students be as active as possible and be able to enjoy their learning. I aimed to create lesson plans that would create a fun learning environment for all my students.
At first I struggled with what material to include into my lesson, I couldn’t tell if it was too much or too little. But after observing the classroom at Intergraded Arts Academy I learned how much 3rd grade students can participate in before losing focus. I also learned how much work they were being given and how well it worked for them. Like I said before I wanted my lessons to include my students and have them use the arts to be able to learn. It was a struggle, but a good challenge coming up with engaging activities that would fuel my student’s learning. I would first start creating my lesson plans by finding activities that my students could participate in, then I would focus on the content they were learning, through the activities I was providing. Then I would make sure that the content they were learning could be tested; making the assignment plans was a little bit of a challenge. I wanted to make sure that my students were retaining the knowledge that I was providing for them, so I wanted to asses them on how active they were in the activities I provided, that they participated and that they were able to continue this knowledge they have gained.
One of the main points of my lessons, were that they all tied together. I wanted to create a unit that flowed nicely together and was easy for my students to follow. At the beginning of each lesson, I wanted to be able to talk and review the past lesson, to refresh their memory on the things they learned before. By doing this I created a more engaging and “excited to learn” environment for my students. With this learning environment I also wanted to make my lessons so that every student would feel comfortable and able to complete the task at hand. I wanted to make my ELL students able to follow along and ask any questions they had regarding the lesson.
One of my challenges while completing this unit was creating lessons that I knew my students would enjoy. Knowing from experience as a 3rd grade student, I know curriculum can sometimes be dull and boring to learn about. I made sure that my lessons contained enough content to be able to have activities that were exciting to do it the classroom. I found that sometimes it was challenging to come up with fun ways to learn a certain area, but it was also interesting to see how many different learning opportunities there were for in the classroom. I loved the idea of using the arts in classrooms to provide a more active learning environment for students, I think it’s a great way to fuel student’s learning abilities. It’s also a great way to show how students learn differently, some students might be able to express their learning better by using the arts; by acting out a scene from a book, creating a collage, drawing, painting, using blocks to build, etc. There’s so many ways to form a lesson plan around the arts and use our own imagination and passion to create a unit for students. I also enjoyed that we were able to choose our own topic, this also made me more passionate in my work, for creating these lesson plans. I enjoyed learning how to create lesson plans, even though it was a struggle at first, I now feel somewhat more confident in creating a unit and lesson plan. I feel more comfortable know forming a lesson plan for students, and I have a better idea of how students learn. I have gained more knowledge in how students can use the arts as a tool for their own learning opportunities. I am more prepared now for teaching students in active and creative ways than I was before. I strongly agree with using the arts to create more imagination in the classroom, to provide students with a better way to learn that focuses on their own passion.