Lesson Plan Analysis Lesson plans are a crucial part of teaching that if constructed appropriately can really enhance a student’s learning abilities. In order to create and administer them properly, it is essential for a teacher to take in mind what encompasses the development and learning of the students they are working with. After reviewing a lesson plan created by Andrea Maurer that incorporated the work of Frida Kahlo into first and second grade classrooms, I found its design to be an effective and useful tool to use with students she was working with.
First and foremost, children in first and second grade typically fall within the age range of six to eight years old. According to Jean Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, these students would either be placed in the preoperational stage or experiencing a transition into the concrete operational. Considering that the preoperational stage can be characterized by children being egocentric within their thinking, focusing the lesson plan on Frida Kahlo and the idea of self-portraits seems to be a fitting topic. However, for those who are transitioning or already in the concrete operational stage, concepts such as inferred reality and decentered thoughts are important to incorporate as well. Personally, I felt that this was taken care of within the lesson plan from the start. After introducing the lesson by reading a book about Frida Kahlo, the teacher asks the students to help brainstorm different things that they think are important to Kahlo. It was noted that the teacher places these items in a t-chart and leaves one side blank for later. First, having the students consider another individual’s perspective on things they value pushes those in the preoperational to work in their zone of proximal development. This would be by encouraging them to use what information they were given from the book to stray away from egocentric thought and instead think of what Kahlo thought. If unable to identify Kahlo’s values or if they replaced hers with their own, the teacher has a chance to correct the students and act as a guide within the process of brainstorming. As for students in the concrete operational stage, this portion of the lesson will only strengthen their ability to consider other’s perspectives outside of their own. After creating a list of what students thought Kahlo felt was important, the teacher asks them to tell her what a self-portrait is to indicate whether or not students have any prior knowledge of it. After, she provides them with examples of Kahlo’s self-portraits to guide their understanding. This was useful but could have been more advantageous if she considered using an inductive learning approach. This could have been done by presenting students with the examples of self-portraits and asking them to induce defining attributes of it based off of what they see. This would be a constructivist approach to teaching and can be very beneficial for that it allows students to create their own meaning of concepts. In addition to that, it is an engaging form of learning that avoids losing the participation of the students. Moving forward, the teacher continues the first day of the lesson by grouping students into pairs and supplying them with a mirror. They are then asked to take turns pointing out details of what makes up the upper half of their body. This includes the color of their eyes, hair, the shape of their face, etc. I found this to be a great learning tool for the students for it involves elaborative forms of rehearsal. Instead of simply repeating what they have just learned, students are given the opportunity to elaborate by using devices (mirror) and the help of their peers to further understand it. At first, students may feel uncomfortable after being asked to stare at themselves and their partner in the mirror, but this strange act will allow them to attach personal associations to the concept of self-portraits. It will also help them remember it better in the end for that it is a strange act and an unusual classroom activity. After the mirror activity the teacher advises students to begin working on their own self-portraits to conclude the first day of the lesson. Following the instructions of this task, the teacher creates a model by showing students how she would approach her own portrait. It is advised in the lesson plan to give different examples on the whiteboard of how to draw a variety of face shapes and parts. The teacher is acting as a good model by giving students an idea of how to approach the task that many may feel confused about considering that it is the first day of the lesson. As students observe her example, they are able to create their own with some sort of framework provided on how to do so. Moving along, the second day of the lesson begins with the teacher reading another book regarding Frida Kahlo’s life. The teacher then asks for students to expand on their saved list of things she valued while still keeping one half of the t-chart blank. They also are given the opportunity to work with mirrors again and add more to their self-portraits. This time, the teacher encourages them to use color and be more specific on what they see in themselves. By adding more content into what they’ve already gone over, the teacher is attempting to make the student’s process of retrieving this new information easier. She avoids cognitive overload by not adding too much new information at once but instead building off of what they have already learned. This grants students the opportunity to create even more associations and guides the process of moving this knowledge into long term memory. On the third day, the teacher continues the lesson on self-portraits by revisiting the stories from the first two days as well as the t-chart the students created. This can be seen as forced retrieval for that the students are asked to remember what they have been taught and what happened in the stories they read together. Even if they are not able to remember everything or have some flaws in their understanding, revisiting already learned information strengthens their long term memory of it. Again, this is done by creating new associations and prevent retrieval errors in the future. After reviewing what they’ve learned, students are now given the opportunity to finally fill out the second half of the t-chart they started on day one. It is now their turn to create a list of what they find to be important by proposing ideas as a class. Prior to creating this list together, they were asked to silently brainstorm at their desks. Instead of simply asking students to give her a list, the teacher takes this activity a step further by splitting the class into two different activities to complete this. One half of the class is given a worksheet to work on independently at their desks while the others are instructed to join into a small group. The group activity termed the “Weave a Web” activity has students sit on the floor in a circle with one in charge of holding a ball of yarn. When the teacher poses the question of “What is important to you?” students are able to provide a response and contribute to the white board t-chart. Each student is given the opportunity to propose their own ideas of what is important to them while also considering their peers. After completing the t-chart the teacher allows each student to take turns dropping their end of the yarn to look at the web they created. She initiates a discussion about what would happen if they did not work as a group. The idea here is to not only create a class list of what is important to the students but to also emphasize the importance of working together. Working as a group allows students to achieve greater creativity and clarity within their understanding. They can be faced with challenges as the control over the outcome is distributed and if they do not agree with others. Teaching students group work skills early on will benefit them in the future when they are expected to do so in school as well as when they are employed. Instead of basing their responses off of what they learned about Kahlo, students were able to gain a better insight into what people their age and similar to them value. Throughout this process of collaborating ideas, social construction can occur for that students are given the opportunity to work off of one another and be used as peer models. This use of peer modeling is a good way to increase a student’s self-efficacy on the subject and increase their willingness to participate in the activity. Allowing the class to work in groups to create one list allows them to again think with an egocentric approach which is something they know well but at the same time decenters their thoughts by taking in the different perspectives of their peers. Once the entire class has a chance to participate in both activities, they are asked to think of the list they created as a class while finishing up their individual self-portraits. This is done by advising them to add pictures around their self-portrait of what they find to be important on a personal level. After completing this art project, the teacher goes around and asks them individually what the items they drew are and what they mean. The teacher then types up the student’s responses to cut out and add to the bottom of each portrait prior to hanging them around the classroom. I felt that this was a great way to finish off the lesson for although students partook in multiple methods to learn the information, it ultimately ended with their own take on it. This finishing touch took a constructivist approach on learning and left students with the task of creating personal meaning to the concepts they were introduced to. By displaying their self-portraits around the classroom, the students now have a visual cue to trigger any associations they made and increases the retrieval of the information they learned. Imagery has been shown to improve the storage of information so having these portraits created by the students themselves will be very useful for their long term memory of the lesson. Overall, after going through Andrea Maurer’s lesson plan and reflecting on the first and second graders she aimed to produce it for, I felt that she created an effective plan that is fitting for her students. She used activities and resources that were appropriate for the age group she is working with and emphasized the abilities Jean Piaget included in his stages of cognitive development. The teacher gives students enough time to work independently to encourage constructive learning but also makes use of the benefits of working in groups. She allows students plenty of opportunities to create associations and make meaning of the material in order to remember it better later on. All in all, I believe that this lesson plan was very well-made and would be a good guide to use in the classroom. |