Summary of Conclusions

Summary of Conclusions

Through the implementation of this lesson, I was able to draw a number of conclusions about my future practices as a teacher.  In terms of teaching and learning, the results from my lesson and my students’ achievement helped me to formulate a number of ideas to influence my beliefs.  I learned that the feedback administered is vital to student perception of their progress.  Throughout this lesson, I really hoped to focus my feedback to my students on giving the students’ information to help them understand their learning.  In the article by Susan Brookhart entitled, “Feedback that Fits,” the author states that giving students appropriate feedback allows them to take charge of their learning and understand that they control their own progress.  I tried to focus my feedback on helping the students clarify their own misconceptions rather than simply informing them of them.  Additionally,  when focusing on my conclusions of teaching and learning, I was able to determine that checking for all student understanding is vital when conducting an effective lesson from start to finish.  One of the things that was a big concern to me during this lesson was that the students would be overloaded with the volume of material presented within the lesson.  This lesson was heavy loaded in terms of content and it was a concern of mine that the students, especially those that normally struggle would have trouble meeting the standards at the same level as their peers.  Going into the day with these concerns and a realistic outlook on the level of material within the lesson, I feel that I was better prepared to ensure that I was actively checking for all student understanding throughout the lesson.  In an excerpt taken from the book, “Effort and Excellence in Urban Classrooms” by Corbett, et all., the author stresses the need to check for student understanding as a way to both keep students positive about learning and to fix problems before they impede learning.  While this strategy is recommended for increasing achievement in inner city schools, it rings true that it will be effective in all classrooms.  My students responded very well to the constant probing that I implemented and I was able to monitor student understanding before sending them into independent practice.  

Through this lesson study, I have also found the incalculable benefit of achievement motivation strategies within the classroom.  Although I have always tried to make my lessons engaging and interesting, I never gave much thought to the different ways that I could specifically increase motivation for the students to achieve.  Focusing on allowing students to engage in a number of activities that each highlight different learning styles helped all of the students to demonstrate success in one way or another.  The students were focused on the enjoyment of the tasks and thus, wanted to achieve.  Not only did this implementation give me some insight into the benefits of incorporating different types of activities for increased motivation, but it also allowed for more meaningful methods of assessment.  The article in Educational Leadership, entitled “The Rest of the Story” by Thomas R. Gushey, the author writes  that “effective corrective activities engage students differently in learning.  They consider different learning styles or modalities.” (Guskey 30.)  The formative assessments that were conducted prior to this lesson allowed me to evaluate that a change was needed within our normal lessons to make learning more effective.  I wanted to develop the “Body Parts Lesson” with corrective activities that would help clarify prior misconceptions about life cycles, ensure that prior knowledge was accessed effectively,  and ensure that the students had an engaging independent activity to make learning meaningful.  These were all areas that were lacking in previous lessons and through the different types of activities provided within this lesson, I believe that not only were children able to learn new material, they were also able to cement understanding of previous lessons on similar concepts.  I learned that assessment needs to be completed in a variety of styles that allow all students to showcase knowledge.  Conclusions following this lesson have allowed me to incorporate new beliefs and practices into my ideas about teaching overall.  I plan on using what I learned from this lesson to influence the rest of the lessons that I design for this group of students and my future students.