Day 1
01 Workshop Opener 02 Previously, on 03 Break 04 Model Lesson 05 ML Reflection 06 Group Dynamics 07 Lunch 08 Curriculum Investigation 09 Conclusions and Connections 10 Break 11 Unit Planning 12 Wrap Up 13 Debrief

Session 5: Model Lesson Reflection

20 minutes

discussion-based

Purpose

This session is designed to highlight choices and teaching strategies used in the model lesson. The goal is for participants to reflect on how they might implement similar strategies and techniques in their own classrooms. An emphasis is placed on teaching strategies related to supporting students working in groups and helping students develop the skills necessary to solve large problems.

Objectives

  • Participants begin thinking about how to develop a plan for supporting students during group projects
  • Participants engage in the “think, pair, share” and “journaling” teaching and learning strategies
  • Participants understand how iteration and decomposition can be used to help students work through the problem solving process for large problems

Supplies & Prep

Room Setup:

  • Participants are seated in pods

Supplies and Prep:

Teacher Materials

  • Journal
  • Pen

Agenda

Iteration and Decomposition (7 minutes)

Highlight and Discuss Choices (6 minutes)

Role of the Student (7 minutes)

Facilitation Guide

Iteration and Decomposition (7 minutes)

(1 minute) Context Setting

Remarks

In Unit 4, there is a strong emphasis placed on the problem solving process as it relates to designing for a user. In chapter 2, students will engage in iterative team project. Throughout the unit, students will need to decompose larger problems into smaller components.

Facilitator Note: Project the definitions of iteration and decomposition while explaining their meaning.

  • Iteration - Students engage in the process of continuous improvement in order to modify and enhance creative projects

  • Decomposition - Students break large problems into smaller components in order to begin taking small steps towards the larger goal

(6 minutes) Think - Pair - Share

Discussion Goal

Unit 4 places a strong emphasis on the problem solving process. Students will engage in this process multiple times within the unit to solve large problems. This will require students to decompose large problems into smaller problems and iterate through multiple versions of a product. This is the first introduction to decomposition and iteration, but participants will return to this idea later in the workshop during the curriculum investigation. The goal here is for participants to understand what these words mean and how these processes can help students as they engage in the problem solving process.

Prompt: Where did you see both iteration and decomposition embedded into lesson 3?

  • (1 minute) Think: individual reflection
  • (2 minutes) Pair: discuss with a partner
  • (3 minutes) Share: share and discuss with the whole group

Highlight and Discuss Choices (6 minutes)

(4 minutes) Choices

The facilitator explains the choices that were made along with the reason for the choice.

Facilitator Tip

The goal here is to highlight the importance of preplanning grouping prior to implementing a lesson. There are many ways to form groups, and there is research to support when and how to select certain group types. Due to time constraints, digging deeper into how and why to use specific group types is beyond the scope of this workshop. However, this is a great seed planting opportunity for participants that are ready to dig a little deeper.

  • Grouping: Learners were separated into groups prior to this lesson. There are many ways to divide students into groups (homogeneous, heterogenous, random, student selected, etc.). The grouping choice depends largely on the activity and the students in the room. However, in all situations, it is important for the teacher to both consider how students will be grouped and how this grouping set up will be communicated to students. This planning should be done before the lesson is implemented.

  • Individual Brainstorming: Learners were asked to brainstorm individually before brainstorming with their group. This sets the foundation for inclusion within the group. This choice was written into the lesson plan and not a specific choice made by the facilitator, however, this is an example of a choice that can be made in other situations where the teacher is supporting group work.

  • Roles: Giving students a specific role to play in a group is a way to ensure all members of the group have a way to contribute to the success of the team. The role itself is not as important as the tone this sets within the team structure that all members have an active role to play. The specific roles can shift and change to meet the needs of specific projects or activities.

  • Peer Feedback: Peer feedback was incorporated into the project presentation portion of this lesson. This was intended to be an opportunity for learners to practice both giving and receiving feedback. The peer feedback strategy can be implemented in a variety of ways. The key to any implementation of the peer feedback strategy is outlining clear expectations for the feedback. In this situation, learners were asked to respond using the prompts:

    • I like…
    • I wish…
    • What if…

(2 minutes) Journal

Prompt: Often times in teaching, there are many things going on in the background that are not always obvious to an outside observer. In the model lesson, the teacher needed to preplan and consider many factors related to creating a classroom environment that is conducive to students working in groups. When supporting group work, what will you need to plan for ahead of time in order to effectively manage your classroom and support effective group dynamics?

Facilitator Note: There is no share out here because this is an idea that the participants will return to multiple times throughout the day. The purpose of including this prompt here is to have participants start thinking about this independently before engaging in the discussions that will come later in the day.

Role of the Student (7 minutes)

(1 minute) Journal

Discussion Goal

The goal her is for participants to recognize that active learning goes beyond simply participating in an activity. This will lay the foundation for a future reflection where participants dig deeper into the role of the teacher in creating a classroom environment where students are able to work on developing these skills. Some signs of active learning might include: Students know the learning goals and are actively working to achieve those goals Students are comfortable making mistakes and know how to use those mistakes and failures to improve on their work Students practice meta-cognitive skills - students are able to think about their thinking Students know how to find and use resources to support their learning goals Students able to collaborate and communicate effectively with their peers Students are able to give and receive feedback

Prompt: What skills does a student need in order to be an effective and successful active learner? What does it look like for a student to develop these skills?

(6 minutes) Share Out

As participants share out to the whole group, add to the padlet from the opening session. Participants can interact with this padlet by adding comments or “liking” posts.

Remarks

Students don’t always walk into our classrooms with the skills they need in order to be an active learner. This can be especially true during team projects and can vary from class to class. As we move through the day we will continue to reflect on the role we would like students to play in our classrooms. As we do this, we need to also think about what we, as educators, need to do in order to support students developing into their active learner role.