lesson plan reflection
Overall, I think the lesson went well and was very effective. The students discovered that smaller things/shorter straws make higher pitches and larger things/longer straws make lower pitches. The students understood the content by the results they recorded. I collected their results and looked over them and saw that almost all the students answered the questions correctly.
When the students were asked to strike a ruler at different lengths, students worked together very well in pairs. Some of the students got very excited and struck the rulers with their two fingers a little harder than they should have and complained that their hands hurt. The activity was very guided and each pair was asked to do the same thing. Students were asked to first observe what they heard at the lengths specified and then were given the freedom to try at any other lengths. The lesson was also extended by creating a pan flute to auditorily and visually see the differences. They did this by cutting straws at different lengths, taping them together and blowing into them to hear the differences.
Students connected pitches to their daily lives by realizing that small animals, such as a cat, makes a very high pitch, while large animals like whales make very low sounds. I paired students who were struggling with a student who understood how to put the pan flute made from straws together, instead of working individually.
Overall, I think the students learned that a lot from this. The students learned that things of different sizes make many different pitches. I would definitly do this activity again. Next time, I would have the straws pre-cut for the students before I gave them out. The students got very excited and at one point, I had trouble keeping the class calm enough to where I could help them. I used a countdown to bring the class back together but class management was a minor issue I encountered.
I learned that I expect a lot out of my students. I had to adjust my activities as I saw how the students were interacting with material and with each other. I also saw that some of the students needed more help than others so I immediately paired them with students that weren't having trouble. I learned that I understand and learn things more if I see it, rather than being lectured, so I like to teach my lesson that way. I want to be able to accommodate for all types of learners. I think this lesson is how I would want all my lessons to be taught. I used pictures for the visual learners, the pan flute for the auditory learners and used the ruler activity for kinesthetic learners.
When the students were asked to strike a ruler at different lengths, students worked together very well in pairs. Some of the students got very excited and struck the rulers with their two fingers a little harder than they should have and complained that their hands hurt. The activity was very guided and each pair was asked to do the same thing. Students were asked to first observe what they heard at the lengths specified and then were given the freedom to try at any other lengths. The lesson was also extended by creating a pan flute to auditorily and visually see the differences. They did this by cutting straws at different lengths, taping them together and blowing into them to hear the differences.
Students connected pitches to their daily lives by realizing that small animals, such as a cat, makes a very high pitch, while large animals like whales make very low sounds. I paired students who were struggling with a student who understood how to put the pan flute made from straws together, instead of working individually.
Overall, I think the students learned that a lot from this. The students learned that things of different sizes make many different pitches. I would definitly do this activity again. Next time, I would have the straws pre-cut for the students before I gave them out. The students got very excited and at one point, I had trouble keeping the class calm enough to where I could help them. I used a countdown to bring the class back together but class management was a minor issue I encountered.
I learned that I expect a lot out of my students. I had to adjust my activities as I saw how the students were interacting with material and with each other. I also saw that some of the students needed more help than others so I immediately paired them with students that weren't having trouble. I learned that I understand and learn things more if I see it, rather than being lectured, so I like to teach my lesson that way. I want to be able to accommodate for all types of learners. I think this lesson is how I would want all my lessons to be taught. I used pictures for the visual learners, the pan flute for the auditory learners and used the ruler activity for kinesthetic learners.