I feel the key to my ability to be an innovative instructor lies in my ability to think on the spot. I am not afraid to go off script in a lesson or start over. I recently encountered a situation in which I had this lesson that was perfect on paper but required the student to have an array of background knowledge that would render them incapable of understanding the text. The one thing I did notice that even though they had no understanding of the text, they were able to identify a wooly mammoth in one of the pictures in the book. The student began to talk about how wooly mammoths were extinct and part of the ice age so while I continued the mini lesson that day, I completely scrapped the lesson at the end of the day. I found a book about animals over time who had become extinct and animals that survived many periods of extinction like sharks and cockroaches. The lesson was supposed to be a simple reading comprehension activity in which the student reads an informational text and uses details from the text to answer questions. I innovated the lesson by changing the book, and incorporating the students’ love of drawing. I had the student read the story, then answer comprehension questions. Afterwards, I had the student create their own animal species and describe whether they survived extinction and if not what time period they were from. They had to use the text to determine what it was about the animals that survived extinction that allowed them to survive. This lesson integrated science, ELA, history, and art. The student was able to make real world connections because they were able to identify the animals that survived extinction in today’s society. Along with the book, the student was allowed to use the internet to research various extinct animals as well as ones that survived extinction. By innovating this lesson I think I ended up with a better lesson and the student was more engaged and took away more from the new lesson than they would have taken away from the original lesson.

 

InTASC Standard 7: Planning for Instruction The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.

 

Description: This artifact is a lesson plan in which I took an existing lesson, and innovated it to be more effective and relatable to the students. I took two things the students love (music and dance), and paired it with something the students were struggling with (short vowel sounds). In doing this, I had hoped the students would be able to grasp a struggling concept by placing the concept in a familiar context. This artifact showcases Intasc standard 7 by using knowledge of the learners to develop the lesson. The group of students I designed this lesson for love doing the whip and nae nae. I knew doing a lesson that involved the whip and nae nae would engage them and give them a strategy for retaining new concepts. If they ever forget the short vowel sounds they can sing the song and it will help them remember the sound. The students have now learned that if they have a hard time retaining something, they can turn it into a song to remember it. 

 

Artifact: Innovative Lesson Plan

 

Reflection: I feel that society is changing and the way students learn is changing and we as teachers need to be innovative in our practices. After teaching this lesson and realizing how well it worked with the younger students. I took the same strategy of learning a new concept through song but applied it to a different age group and subject. With a group of fifth graders, I used the song Trap Queen by Fetty Wap and made a song about multiplying and dividing decimals. Whenever they are doing a math problem involving multiplying or dividing decimals they can always refer to the song to remember the steps. With both groups I see students rapping the song or doing the dance when working on math or ELA.