Reflections on Simple Machines Work Sample

Reflections on Simple Machines Work Sample

By Kimberly McGraw Blankenship

The Simple Machine work sample is a thirteen-lesson unit designed to bring students to a third grade level of understanding regarding the functions of simple machines. More importantly, the unit enhances the enduring understanding that “Simple Machines make work easier in our daily lives”. Through my experience in researching, designing, and teaching this unit, I have grown a great deal as a teacher candidate both in my professional knowledge as a future teacher as well as my personal experiences and expectations.

There are so many facets of teaching that came into play as I executed the work sample. It became important to be extremely organized with the day’s events and materials. I found it helpful to do as much cutting and collating with the hands-on materials ahead of time as I could. Supervising the students while assembling materials for an activity can give them time to lose focus. In using a great deal of manipulative activities, I could recognize where some teachers might find this a bit more challenging. Manipulatives can challenge classroom control and offer more opportunities to lose the students’ full attention. In addition, the room is livelier and there is a great deal more movement at times. This is more engaging for the students and I highly endorse the use of manipulative activities, but I realize it can be more work for the teacher than traditional lecturing. I also found that individually assessing each child through the interview process is more time-consuming than the traditional worksheet. It is important to ensure the students are adequately engaged in an activity before attempting to meet with them individually and conference. This is where I find it extremely helpful to post directions on the white board so students have a point of reference should they have questions. Rather than the teacher repeat herself to answer the same questions, students know the answers are on the board, or even with a neighbor. This is a system that would require consistent practice and implementation for the students to grow accustomed to it.

Keeping a grade book can be another area of great difficulty at times, which I did not really expect. Students are absent, come in late, are pulled for other areas, turn in work late, pile things on my desk, etc. I found myself making a checklist for students to ensure I had all facets of the unit from them. Even so, to ensure success I had to personally see to it that each student completed missed work. This is not practical when I have full classroom control and responsibility. This uncovered for me the true meaning behind the statement I have heard from my own children’s teachers as well as teachers I am learning from – ‘They have to learn to take responsibility for themselves’.

The need for a strong and established behavior and classroom management plan became more real as I taught. In order for things to move smoothly, students need an easily implemented behavior plan. Trying to bring students in to focus on instruction takes time and energy. With an effective plan in place, students can be in charge of their own transitions. There is also the challenge of students in the classroom with behavior issues. The work sample is written with an attentive group in mind, but reality brings chatter, negative feedback, and sometimes-even belligerence from students who may have difficulties coping in the classroom. In order for learning to take place effectively for all students, the more challenging students must be dealt with in some form. I can understand the difficulty in dealing with a challenging student while trying to execute a lesson, panicking that the job is not being done effectively; wishing I were two people, so one of me could help that student and the other me could teach my lesson.

Another professional challenge I experienced was in the form of schedule disruption. No matter how much time and care was put into the planning of the day, the week, and the unit; no plans were made for student absences, special events and programs, fire drills, and even snow! Each day requires reshuffling, rethinking, replanning, and reevaluating. The need for flexibility is so real. The students also feed off of the panicked feeling that can come with rescheduling and the teacher must demonstrate a feeling of control with them when things change.

This is a great opportunity to branch into the personal aspects of my reflections. The issue of control is a struggle for me. I am discovering that I need to be much more flexible than I am. I can feel myself getting nervous when things do not go as planned. I am learning how important it is to be able to go with the flow and find time to rework things later. I began my unit with 13 lessons and was able to only teach 8. I worried that students would not do as well on the post-assessment and that the learning would not happen like I had planned. I learned quickly that the students are absorbing much more than I realize. My post assessment scores proved that learning did take place for all the students!

Teaching the work sample also revealed some unrealistic expectations I had before I began. Many of my lessons were very full of a variety of activities; some had 5 or 6 tasks total for a single lesson. In reality, I would be lucky to finish one task completely. I found that the students struggled with many transitions in one time frame. Although on paper, my lessons would move smoothly, it was tough to bring the class back for more instructions once releasing them to another activity. Even the best students struggled with this. I learned through this experience as well as from advice given by Mrs. Yeatts, my supervising teacher, that it is best to plan one activity, two at the most, and do it thoroughly and well. This makes since too, when considering trying to make up work for students who are pulled out for other groups. It would be much easier and simpler for them to work on something that is concise, than several detailed activities.

Classroom control was my biggest source of personal frustration for the work sample. The children were excited to have me teach them and wanted so much to be a part of things. Having very little time as their sole instructor, they would work me over quickly when it came to behavior issues. I found that I would have to be firm with the classroom behavior plan, which is name on the board, then check, then silent lunch, etc. I found that it was very hard for me to execute this. I did not want to punish them! I kept threatening the name on the board until finally, on the third day of my teaching, I actually put a name on the board. They were as shocked as I was. But, it let them know I meant business and control was not as difficult after that. I also found it difficult to execute someone else’s behavior plan. I think it would be much easier if it were a plan I had devised myself. In the area of behavior issues, one of the most grueling challenges was with a young man; I will call him “D”, who is in the process of evaluation for an ED placement. When this child is in the classroom, very little teaching goes on. He is physically and verbally disruptive and can be abusive at times. Of course, there is a paperwork issue, which presently keeps him from being in the ED classroom. He did respond very well to the manipulative activities, but required a great deal of individual attention. He and 5 other students are not normally a part of science curriculum, but our classroom schedule changes so frequently, that these children are in and out at different times each day. It was reasonable to expect “D” to burst into the classroom in the middle of a lesson and cause a tremendous change in the tone of the classroom. His situation is not common, but it is real. Although I may not think I should be expected to teach under those conditions, I will. It was a tremendous learning experience to have “D” in the classroom for parts of my lesson. I learned that flexibility is the name of the game.

The most rewarding part of the work sample, in addition to the success in the pre and post assessment, took place on the day the Science Museum visited. I had introduced the six simple machines, the concept of work, and touched on compound machines. With the distractions and schedule changes, as well as being a ‘rookie’, I really did not feel that I had been all that successful thus far. I knew from the pre-assessment that the students had a long way to go. I was almost afraid that I had made a bad topic choice. The SOL’s cover simple machines a great deal. If I did not do a good job, I could affect their results. On the day the Science Museum came, the group met with the presenter for grand conversation before the activities began. She began her presentation with questions about simple machines and to my surprise, the children’s hands flew in the air and they knew the answers. It felt as if I was seeing my child take a first step or hearing their first word. I was so proud of them for learning and so amazed that my teaching ‘worked’.

I have learned through my experience with the work sample that teaching is full of challenges that can easily manifest into rewards if handled efficiently. I have developed a better understanding of planning a lesson and a unit. I have also learned the importance of flexibility and a positive attitude when confronted with the issues of the reality in a teacher’s daily schedule. Overall, I consider my first ‘experience’ in teaching a success. The results show that my students have learned. That is the most important part, and the most rewarding!