EDTS 234

Mentor Group

Liz Lobert

Journal #7 April 4, 2016

Retell
My mentor teacher offered me a second chance to teach my Order of Operations lesson
plan. She has two grade seven classes and I had already taught 7D, but not 7C. Today I taught
7C. In planning my lesson I tried to differentiate my instruction by teaching to several
intelligences. The introduction to order of operations was meant to remind students of what they
had learned in grade six and introduce decimal numbers to the mix. I addressed the needs of
intrapersonal learners by making them think about the purpose of BEDMAS with my hook and
through individual work in one of the activities. Interpersonal learners benefitted from group
efforts to solve broken calculator problems. Kinesthetic learners benefitted from writing
problems out and when we did the acrostic, those students who are linguistic learners were
challenged. Auditory learners listened and participated in discussion about the application of
BEDMAS and visual learners saw the work being done in front of the class, on the smart board,
and on their own whiteboards.
Reflect
Including several different intelligences and learning styles was not difficult because of
the training we have had this semester. It makes sense to offer students several ways to interact
with the material. The challenge to help students find something interesting about the things they
are learning becomes a lot less daunting when I have insight into the various ways learning can
be accomplished. In Educational Psychology we looked at motivation, specifically motivating
students. Motivation is sometimes driven by interest, but sometimes by avoidance. The multiple
intelligence theory is really built on trying to find ways to motivate students to learn. Today I
was thinking that I am fully engaged in what I am doing when I am creating something; whether
that something is a paper for school, a blanket, music, a painting, or dinner, I am drawn into what
I am doing until I am finished. I tried to find an intelligence that addressed the drive to create,
but no one intelligence focusses on creation. After all creation comes in many forms. I suppose
inquiry based learning can address learning through creation, but it makes me wonder if there are
other methods of engagement and learning that we have not yet covered in class.

EDTS 234

Mentor Group

Liz Lobert

Self-Analysis
I believe knowing the students in the class better could have helped me create a better
lesson plan, since I can especially target those students who are resistant to participation or who
think they are bad at math to draw them into the learning that the more internally motivated
students do on their own. I still struggle with assessing learning, so I am not sure that I could
identify the students who didnt understand the process. I know I still have a lot to learn in the
area of assessment, so I am looking forward to deepening my understanding of assessment.
Knowing my students personally and having a more thorough knowledge of their educational
history would be very helpful to developing a more effective lesson plan.
I wonder how I can incorporate the process of creating things and ideas to help students
learn into my lesson plans.
Besides creating things, I wonder what other processes are capable of drawing students
into learning.
Is curiosity (the need to know) related to creation or is it another process that drives
learning?