Melinda Smith-Woods
Peer Pre-Confrecence

Cynthia' s Lesson 

The lesson plan that I want to work on first is one involving proportion.  It is a cross curriculum lesson using TEKS for both for art and for math.

I want to incorporate visuals from Pythagorean mathematics and Fibonacci.  Hope I spelled that right.  I will have a human proportion lesson and would like visuals and mathematic information, perhaps using Da Vinci's Universal Man.  I would like to analyze that (but would hope to find a visual of it a little less anatomically graphic lest that cause an uproar) in more depth than I would usually do with lower level classes.

The lesson will be a patterning lesson with a host of elements and principles applying.  Color, unity, balance, proportion, etc.  That I can refine later when times come for me to put it in my lesson plans.

A way to start research might be sacred geometry. 

I will be looking forward to working with you to get an interesting and updated lesson for the kids.

How are you going to include technology in the lesson?

From my understanding, she wants to present a visual to the students, I could ask her if she wants to show the pictures from the internet on the projector, saved from her favorites, or include the pictures in a Power Point, w/ hyperlinks.

That is an end product for her.  What will the students projects look like??

I suppose that the students will be drawing anatomical figures after learning how mathematics plays in to drawing them, hence the Universal Man.

Very good. Now we know the main objective.  How are you going to start her on the path of creating the visual/s to use in her class?

Ask what visual methods she has used in the past, if she wants to present this to the students as a class or have the students research the info. and if she has an idea or a direction that she wants to take concerning visuals through technology.

Is there a program or technique that she wants to go over with the students that she will need your assistance with?

I will need to ask her that.

Have you all discussed a time line?  Do you know how long this lesson will take?

No, I'm not sure.  In fact, it might be an ongoing lesson that might take several class periods.  I think initially she wants to show them examples, before they start applying the techniques.  I'll ask her. 

How will the images, websites or information you will use be located? Will you be using websites or printed material?

Internet research is what she had in mind.  I will help her search, and she will decide what she wants to use.  I could ask her, because scanning could be another option.

Will she preview the sites, or will she be using the class to develop the resources?

I'm not sure, I'll try to find out when I meet w/her.

At this point what are the questions you feel you need to ask her to help to structure the lesson?

Let me recap first, from what you and I have discussed:

I will try to guide my session w/her to find out what means of delivery she will use to show the students examples of how mathematics enters in to the drawing of the body; what she needs to learn in order to use the technology, what sources she wants to use, how she will break down the lesson as far as time spent in showing the examples, whether she wants to learn the technology or if she wants me to facilitate the lesson, whether the students will be a part in locating the examples on the internet (not necessarily in that order.  Just depends what direction we go in the ongoing discussion.  I'll try to ask first of all what she wants to accomplish with the students (to get clarification) and what ideas she has for giving them examples.

This looks like a good starting point. I think with all the current unknowns, you will have to let your teacher help to guide the lesson. I think we are at a point that we need to have our conference, and then go from there.

I will set up the conference with my mentee to work towards developing the lesson.

Mindy's Lesson

GOAL: Student groups will develop a teach piece that will be presented to the class as a final project.  They will be able to select between a cartoon, flipchart or movie.  Each group will also create a podcast explaining the cause of the Civil War they are studying.

Content of the lesson:

Causes of the Civil War -

Slavery

States Rights

Tariffs

Cultural Differences

Economical Differences

The kids would be in groups of 4 or 5 - depending on how many are in the class so that each group would cover one of the 5 causes.  I really like the visual and audio so they could podcast their lesson for the audio.  I think it would be good for them to have a choice of a movie/video type thing or a flipchart or something else - but give them a choice - for the video part.

Timeline: Introduction 1 day; One Day in class to assign parts, topics and groups. 3 Days to research and plan outside of class.  2 days to work on their assignments in a computer lab.  3 more days to get it finished, and turned in. 1 day to present to the class.

Technology used:

Audacity - One day to learn how to record and edit.

Activslate, flipcharts - one day to show the basics, and each specific technique as needed

Moviemaker, video w/ video one day to show how to capture and edit a movie

Photostory, video using still images - one day to show how to compose a story, add audio and transitions.

These are the optional part.  Groups will decide how the visual part of their project will be presented.  Skills will be taught as students need them 

Sounds like we already have a good start.  What is the target goal that teacher/mentee wants for the students concerning a learner-centered environment.

She wants the students to be able to create a part of the lesson and teach it to the rest of the class.  Her students will most likely develop a list of questions that there classmates will need to answer.

What nested learning objectives/skills will the students have in order to make these presentations?

They will need to know how to search for and validate the information they are presenting.  They will need to be able to organize themselves in a group, and work together to get the project done. They will need to employ their speaking skill in order to present.  Artistic skills will be used it her creation of the visual.

Have they already learned these or will there need to be mini lessons, if so, how will they be incorporated?

The searching and validation skills may need to be a mini lesson, but the other skills should be things they already know.  The only concern is monitoring the group to make sure that all the member are doing their part.

Will you need to facilitate in a team teaching role at any time during the class sessions, or will you need to give the teacher some lessons on the tech part?

I think I will team teach with her.  When the students are working on their project in class, I will be there to answer questions with her.  But, I am going to give her a crash course in all the programs we will use so that she will be able to assist the groups as well.

Will there be considerations for modifications, tech wise or in the executing of the group process?

I think by allowing the options for the student to select the type of visual project we are hoping that will be enough modification, but if a student with and IEP is just adamant that they want to do something different, I think we can work with that.  I am not sure though, I'll have to ask.

Will students be given a prompt to get them started in the right direction and will each group be responsible for finding certain points on their subject matter?

I think she will do a lesson on the causes of the Civil War in general, and then tell them to break into groups, and begin working.  SO the general knowledge about each cause she will teach, and the students will give more in dept insight into each one.

Back to technology...Are the programs she will be using on the hard drive or from the network drive?  The reason I'm asking is that in our district in bad weather our network often goes down.  Is there an alternate way they will be able to accomplish this or will it need to be postponed during subsequent class sessions?

The sound recorder and movie makerare on the hard drives.  Audacity is on the network, so we may have issues there.  I am not sure about photostory or activslate.  I'll have to verify that.

Is learning the technology the goal that the teacher is expecting to achieve through this lesson?  does she have any other objectives as far as she is concerned?

I believe that she is looking to learn how to use the programs so that she will be able to offer more projects, and use the skills she develops to help her in her teaching.  But I'll have to ask to be sure.

Do you know what goals you would like to achieve during the process of guiding the teacher through the lesson development and facilitating the learner-centered class sessions?

I will get those ready for Saturday.