Elizabeth Pardo

PSY 205

Lesson Plan Analysis 1

January 29, 2011

Time to learn! The following is an analysis of a lesson plan entitled “Grouchy Ladybug Time Lesson.” The lesson is targeting students new to the concept of telling time. It has been constructed to best teach learners in the first and second grade or in the terms of Piaget-- pre to concrete-operational children. This lesson plan allows the teacher to guide the students through the concept of telling time by reading a book and practicing for themselves setting the time on a clock. Listening to Eric Carle’s The Grouchy Ladybug, observing the teacher model time on her clock and through practice with their own clocks-- both collaboratively and independently-- will help students understand how to tell time.

All in all, this is an effective lesson plan. Learning to tell time is not easy, but through application of several methods to assure the understanding, comprehension and retention the task can be accomplished with success. Basic knowledge of number recognition is necessary; the students must be able to recognize numbers 1-12. The use of information processing, constructivism, modeling and active learning are key to getting students to understand this concept of time telling and aiding in getting students to construct their own meaning. The result is effective learning and a stronger ability to retain and recall what they have learned!

By moving through the three stages of Information processing, telling time…and remembering how, is easy. The students initially receive the information when they are introduced to the clock and watch as their teacher models how the hands move and demonstrates different times on her clock. She explains the lessons’ defining attributes-- explaining what it means to be a clock. By mentioning terms associated with telling time such as ‘hour’ and ‘clockwise’ the teacher is creating associations and starting the network model needed to store the information. The students are learning to associate these new terms with the visual example of their teacher’s clock. For a short time, the children are allowed to experiment moving the arms on their own clocks to different times of the day. Applying physical connections with visual, the new learners are able to relate the arm movements to the numbers on the clock while making deeper and more personal associations. Practicing and experimenting for themselves will aid in the final step of information processing, retrieval from memory.

Next, they are read a book that walks through the day of a grouchy ladybug, again observing visually as the teacher pauses between pages to place the time on her clock. By implementing observational learning, as the students are watching the teacher they are starting to make sense of the clock. Again they are observing the spoken time, and the written numbers in the book along with the visual time on the teacher’s clock.

So far, the teacher has been able to tap into her students’ advance organizers and activate their current schemas (prior knowledge of the numbers 1-12). In addition, she has been able to attach new information to make sense of turning those numbers into time. Adding new ‘file folders’ of time information to the existing general concepts already located in the ‘numbers’ folder ensures successful storage and retrieval of the new information.

The children practice elaborative rehearsal through active learning with a hands-on approach as they are allowed to examine and experiment with their clocks. Subsequently, as the teacher reads, the children are asked to independently move the arms on their clocks to demonstrate a particular time in Grouchy’s day. Through repetition the teacher is promoting elaborative rehearsal by giving relevance to the new information. Active learning is forcing the children to make discoveries on their own aiding in the understanding of what they are learning while simultaneously organizing their thoughts and ideas. Active learning promotes elaboration making information meaningful by attaching associations and meaning to time visually, audibly and physically as the students move through Grouchy’s day seeing and setting the time on their clocks. Through elaborative rehearsal the children are able to connect the new material to existing networks. In addition, elaboration is promoted as the children make personal connections to the grumpy bug’s troubles further aiding in creating their own meaning resulting in deeper learning.

To intensify learning, a student that has automaticity and is competent in this task can be called to the front of the class by the teacher to demonstrate their new skill. He or she will serve as a ‘socially desirable peer model’ to further encourage other students who may be struggling. This technique can improve the self-efficacy of both the demonstrating student as well as the rest of the class. It is proven that self efficacy, confidence in his or her own abilities to accomplish a task, is critical for success- -something peer models often provide to struggling students.

Further elaborative rehearsal occurs when, after the story, the students are required to read the time under a blank clock diagram and then draw hands on the clocks indicating the time. This being a new technique, actually drawing the hands in the correct places, and being asked to repeat the task over and over five times, creates yet another connection. And the repetitiveness promotes maintenance rehearsal, the transferring of what was just learned from short term to long term memory. When the student is finished with all five practice clocks and has 100% accuracy, a positive reinforcer is administered via a gold star. Perhaps this type of reinforcer may be acceptable on this task but should it continue, satiation may result.

The teacher then further checks the students’ understanding as each student must now demonstrate on the manipulative clock the correct time requested by the teacher. Each student is asked to hold up their clocks as she scans the room for accuracy. Students are being forced to recall the information, and the correct time on the clock. Here the teacher is ‘using quizzing to promote learning.’ By quizzing them she is re-exposing them to information they have previously learned. The method is more effective after time has passed forcing the recall and thereby assuring memory retention of the task.

The teacher closes the lesson by asking questions of the students. By asking them questions like, “What did you like most about the story” or “What was the hardest part of learning to move the hands on the clocks,” she is encouraging further thought. This aids in recall, application of the task, reminds them of the relevance of what they just learned and helps remind them of the associations they have started to build in their ‘telling time network.’ In short, the teacher is promoting constructive learning as she forces children to recall the information they have learned and give it meaning.

Reviewing the lesson a little each day will enhance retention through distributive practice. This continual recall and practice forces students to retrieve the information they have learned and enhances retention of information. One fun way to review the ‘time’ lesson is to use a method such as painting a picture of their favorite time of day with a clock showing the time. This will be helpful in making further connections as it gives it personal meaning. They are realizing that Hanna Montana not only means channel 50, but also means 5:00pm; more scaffolding. Numbers have many meanings, not just for counting, or for choosing a channel but now can be used to tell time.

Another method for review as suggested by this lesson plan is to work with partners (cooperative learning) and construct their daily schedule of their time with the times of the day listed on the left, and next to them an illustration of what they are doing at that time. By teaming the students, the teacher is applying social construction resulting in a highly enjoyable and effective way of tutoring. Together through mutual communication, students construct meaning, bounce ideas off each other and in turn, raise self efficacy! Piaget and Vygotsky both agree that social construction is helpful in the classroom.

After extensive review, we have come to the conclusion that this lesson plan has been well structured but could be tweaked a bit to make it more our own. First, we would make it more of an interdisciplinary lesson. It would be beneficial to the students to integrate the other subjects implied within the story and perhaps leave a visual cue that otherwise may not have been deposited. There are several possible options we would suggest in order to accomplish this integration. Throughout the book, there is talk of many other insects and animals. A few of these would be: discussing the insects and the animals mentioned, noting the varying size of each as they get bigger through the book. Even covering the topic that there is “no good time to bully someone” would be a great way to interject social studies.

It may also be fun for the children when being called on to demonstrate their knowledge of time, to speak in a mean bug voice, or a friendly bug voice. This elaborative rehearsal could really help in retaining and retrieving information by further adding meaning.

Teaching students to tell time is not an easy task, and it’s not easy to learn, either! All forms of learning require associations, and this lesson plan has them! What a clever idea to introduce a snappy lady bug to help students understand time. Other associations are made through a variety of techniques assuring retention of the concept and retrieval of the information in the future. By implementing and completing this fun and interactive lesson plan, the teacher can be assured that they have helped improve their learners self efficacy toward a very important life skill and that they have just built a new schema for those youngsters to build on!