Reflection 3

Manar Karaja
09/13/2017
Lesson 3 Reflection
Because my students are pre-K age with special needs, they lack many of the prerequisite
skills in fine motor, math, literacy and science area which makes the job harder. Yet at
the same time, it is more of a reason to teach all these skills so that they will be ready for
kindergarten.
The I Wonder sheet was totally new to my students. Many of them did not know how
to draw a recognizable picture and talk about it. Nevertheless, with teacher support and
modeling, they performed the activity. Only one student understood the purpose of the
activity. Again, I have to start at one point in teaching the scientific method, and I need to
spend more time introducing the vocabulary words investigate, observe, predict, and
hypothesis. I believe that the students should be challenged and words should not be
dumbed down for them. It will just take more time and effort to teach them.
The activity outside was very engaging for them. The three types of pushes needed to be
modeled and practiced before data recording started.
Data review of the time for pushes: two of the four students did not know their numbers,
and one out of the four did not know how to compare. For a similar activity in the future,
I will use real objects (maybe paperclips) to show the numbers, and I will video record
the experiment to discuss it in class. The students need the visual reminder and support.
At this point, all the students understand the concepts push and pull. One student is
starting to use the vocabulary force and motion during the day. One student is
improving when answering questions, such as, is the car moving now? Who moved
the car?
One of the discussions I had with my teacher assistants is that they think that what I teach
is too high for the students. I explained that this science unit is a baseline to identify all
the weaknesses and strengths my students have and what prerequisite skills to focus on.
Moreover, I explained that it takes our students more time to understand concepts and
more support, but they will get it eventually.
When I started the unit, I was thinking to myself that this is too hard even for me. As I
worked more and more in preparing for the lessons, I am starting to understand more, not
only about the content, but also about strategies for teaching science. In order to be at the
comfort level I am in right now, I had to put lots of effort. In order for my students to
progress in learning their science objectives, they will also have to put lots of effort and I
will be there to support their learning.