Special Assignment Lesson Plan - Teamwork
Attention
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able
- Students will work together towards a common goal.
- Students will develop a plan of action to implement a family night or natural playground.
- Students will exhibit proficiency in critiquing themselves and each team member.
Teaching
Throughout this class we have discussed the importance of partnering with families to build trusting relationships. Children are in an educators care for a large part of each day they attend a program. Educators provide many learning opportunities throughout the day. Often family members do not understand the origins of the goals during those learning opportunities. It is a teacher’s responsibility to educate families on the significance of the goals and how they are met. This sharing of information aids in the home-school connection while building trust and a stronger relationship with families.
We have also discussed the State of Maine Early Childhood Guidelines. Two components of the Guidelines are Approaches to Learning and Social Studies. These two sections are often very difficult for family members to understand how they apply to a child’s day. We learned earlier that in Approaches to Learning one observes a child’s initiative and curiosity as well as her ability to be persistent and reflective.
Often time’s family members understand initiative and curiosity. That is something they are very familiar with as they have heard and answered many “why” questions. However, they may not have even thought to consider persistence and reflection as they look at their child’s development and education. Well, maybe they have looked at persistence; however that was probably viewed as a negative when their child is resisting their wishes. In other words, she is being stubborn or not conforming to family member’s wishes.
Families may have similar misconceptions when hearing their child is learning Social Studies. Think back when you were in school….what did it mean on your report card when the header was Social Studies? What were you learning? Did it mean you were learning about yourself in relationship to a family, group, community and culture? Generations? Job responsibilities? Community workers? Often time’s families wonder why my preschooler would need to learn about the world and politics.
Another fairly new concept is natural playgrounds. Family members are very familiar with school playgrounds and area parks having slides, swings and merry-go-rounds. They have seen colorful metal playground equipment and sturdy plastic climbers. Why would someone want to replace all that good and familiar equipment with tree stumps, rocks and raised beds? It becomes the educator’s responsibility to explain natural playgrounds offer the same opportunities to develop similar skills as the ones that they are familiar.
As an educator, one needs to be prepared to answer family member’s questions on many topics. This assignment is designed to gain confidence in sharing knowledge with families. Students will work in a team to create a plan to inform families how and why specific materials are used by children and what the goal or outcome should be when using the materials. Depending on the material and/or the way it is used by children, students may also discuss additional options or adaptations that occur to meet a different goal or the same goal in a different manner.
Each team will be responsible for the entire evening events to involve adults and children. Planning information for each team’s topic will include (but not limited to) an Agenda/Action Plan for the activity, resources/research needed, materials needed, types of promotional items used, and a written discussion on this evening event/action plan. Students will also evaluate themselves and their teammates to provide the instructor with information valuable in the grading process
Assessment
Group Tools
Each group will be assigned a space in Bb. That space provides a set of tools that is only accesible by the members of that group and the instructor.
You will use this group section and the tools in it to communicate with each other about the project (Online) and to submit the required materials for this assignment (Online and Face-to-Face).
Materials you need to submit include the following:
- A document that outlines the planning process you followed (This will be a written paper worked on collaboratively in the group.)
- Activity/Agenda Plan
- Recourse and Research Information Document
- Materials List Document
- Promotional Materials for your Activity
Based on ALL the materials that have been gathered and evidenced in the group process (Online or Face-to-Face) the instructor will evaluate the GROUP's performance using the RUBRIC (notice that the materials listed above are ALSO included in this grading rubric. Please be sure to review this rubric throughout your process.)