The video under review shows an ongoing grade one learning session. The day’s lesson is about past and present modes of transportation. The teaching applies guided learning as the main teaching strategy. For example, she pronounces the words and asks the students to repeat after her. The teacher also uses digital learning resources which can make learning interactive (Lin & Chen, 2017). Primarily, these are images showing the different past and modern modes of transport.
Students have diverse cultural backgrounds. Some students come from wealthy families that can afford advanced means of transport, for example, cars and airplanes, while others come from modest families that cannot afford advanced modes of transportation. The teacher recognizes this factor in the lesson and asks the students to describe the various means of transport they used to come to school that day. Some mention cars, vans, trucks, buses and even told a classmate that he walked. The teacher illustrates these means of transport using images, and where there is none, she attempts to draw one. In this way, she ensures that each student’s preferred means of transport is documented; hence they do not feel left out.
To prepare better for the lesson, I would have ensured that I collected all possible images of past and present means of transport. Where it is impossible to acquire a picture, I would have sourced video evidence. Overall, the teacher properly engaged the students because she allowed each to speak by asking them to “raise their hands” and interact with one another (ELLISA Project, 1:05-2:00). She also interacted with a few students to get their opinions.
The teacher also monitored the lesson by ensuring that students who already aired their opinion did not deny others an opportunity to speak. She also allowed the students to ask questions and inquired whether they understood assignment instructions. She also walked to some to hear their views, as earlier mentioned. The teacher also adjusted throughout the lesson by rephrasing students’ opinions and correcting them instead of critiquing them. For example, when they confused ‘present’ with ‘president,’ she pronounced both words and emphasized that the former has two syllables.
Using images ensured that the lesson was interactive and engaging for the learners. However, to make the class more exciting and engaging, I would have introduced videos showing each mode of transport in daily life. In this way, I would make the lesson more memorable. To summarize, I would apply the feedback I received from my mentor to customize learning resources to meet every student’s needs.
References
ELLISA Project. (2019). Past and present 1 – transportation – grade 1 social studies lesson. YouTube. Web.
Lin, M. H., & Chen, H. G. (2017). A study of the effects of digital learning on learning motivation and learning outcome. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(7), 3553-3564. Web.