REFLECTION ON STEM/ 5 E LESSON PLAN

Planning the lesson for this week was a mixed bag for me.  Using the 5 E’s Strategy was helpful but took some getting used to.  I learned about the 5 E model in my undergraduate coursework some years ago, but have not really re-visited the strategies in my professional career. I found that I have been using many of the 5 E’s already in my lesson planning, just in a different format.  After planning this lesson, I know that I need more practice with the 5 E model to gain a more in-depth understanding of how to plan using the 5 E’s and implement that plan effectively in my classroom.  I think that the 5 E strategy model is great for science curriculum and would also work great in math classes as well.  STEM is something in my county we have been working with for a couple of years now, so this element was not new to me. Using STEM in conjunction with the 5 E model was a different process than I usually use for lesson planning, however, I am seeing how beneficial using these two tools together can be for my students.  I do use a similar lesson to the one I planned in my 6^th grade science curriculum. However, the mathematical applications I used in this lesson were much more difficult and may present issues, especially in my inclusion classes. I know that if I were to carry out this exact lesson, I would have to do several mini-lessons focusing on the mathematical applications in order to ensure student success within the lesson.  Overall, this has been a great planning experience for me and opened my eyes to various ways to use different strategies in my curriculum.