Facilitating Learning

As I implemented my plans, I focused on fostering a collaborative and supportive classroom environment. I encouraged students to self-advocate, helping them articulate what learning methods worked best for them. This approach allowed us to build a sense of teamwork, where students felt comfortable expressing their needs. Over time, facilitating lessons became more intuitive as I adapted on the spot to accommodate students and create an engaging learning experience. My ability to balance flexibility with structure helped the students and me work more effectively as a cohesive group.

At the end of each lesson of my three connected health lessons, I would remind the students of our mascot "Pedro the Pineapple." This would give purpose and meaning to the importance of sleeping well, eating well, and exercising. By consistently reflecting on how these pillars of health affect our friend, Pedro, the students could remember the lessons better and connect with them. They seemed to care more about health as they physically saw Pedro's face change when he lacked discipline in an area of health.

I used a variety of games and activities to keep my student engaged and foster his enthusiasm for literacy. By customizing his experience, I was able to focus on his independent struggles and individual needs. I was able to make notes of activities he did or did not enjoy as well as when his progress was most notable. He was very engaged during a game of letter BINGO and that was when I realized the letters i and n started to stick. In my future teaching, spending this much time and attention on one student is not realistic so I am grateful to have the opportunity now. Building the skills of creating a customizable learning plan will benefit me in my future career. 

I spent a fair bit of time customizing groups for my lesson plan. The student's goal was to “escape” the room and they did this in the groups I made. I ensured that all students' needs would be recognized and tailored to the groups of students I created. I did this by having consideration of which students cannot work with each other, which students need a buddy to work with, familiarity and friendships in the group, a balance of loud and shy students, a balance of higher and lower students, etc. All these factors and more helped me create customized groups in that the students worked very well. 

I created, practiced, and presented a lesson on gratitude. This lesson included strategies such as scaffolding, think-pair-share, accessing prior knowledge, visual learning, and walking around. Overall, the students were engaged and interested throughout different parts of the lesson. This activity showed me each student learns differently and it is important to include an array of different activities to support all students collectively and individually.