Micro Lesson #2: Blog Phase #2

Micro Lesson 2:

Blog Phase 2: REFLECTION

1.Instructional Decisions/Teaching:

I thought that this lesson went very well. My anticipatory set of showing them a piggy bank and asking what it is used for really seemed to grab my student’s attention. I think that the final activity went very well. The students were asked to do some research on the internet and come up with their own budget. The students really got into researching and they seemed to really have fun with the activity. I think overall the lesson went smooth. The thing that didn’t go so well during the lesson was the timing. The students flew through the other parts of the lesson. I should have had more ways for my students to interact during the guided practice of the lesson. I think that my standards and objectives stayed aligned throughout my whole lesson. I really made sure not to steer away from the objectives that I had set for the lesson. One modification that I made during my lesson was sharing ideas. After all the students had submitted their own budgets I had them share what surprised them about their research. I also had them share the responses they had written down on their exit tickets.  

2.Mechanics:

I used a lot of technology resources within this lesson. I presented a power point with key information and vocabulary for the lesson. I also used a “Doc Cam” to help guide my students through the guided practice budget worksheet. Next, I had my students log onto their google accounts and complete a google form worksheet. They were to use the internet to do research and create their own budget. After they were finished with the worksheet they submitted it online for grading. My lesson ended about 7 minutes before the required time. It was short because the power point and the guided practice went way faster than I had planned. If I would have added a short video on the importance of financial planning or creative ways to save money than I think my lesson would have ended right on time.

3.Assessment of Learning:

The two artifacts that my students have created from this lesson was their own personal budget and an exit ticket that assessed their knowledge of personal financing. My students were very successful in achieving mastery of the standards and the objectives that I had created for this lesson. All of my students were able to create their own budgets with 80% accuracy as well as list the benefits of personal financing and budgeting. The comments from my classmates were all very positive and helpful.

4.What did you learn from designing and teaching this lesson and how will you use this in the creation of future lessons/ learning activities?

I learned that it is important to always over plan for a lesson. As a teacher, you always need an extra activity in case the students catch onto the material fast. I also learned that my students learn best when they are given a chance to explore for themselves and create their own product at the end of a lesson. My students really enjoyed the hands-on activity of doing their own research and I look forward to continuing to implement this strategy in my future lessons.