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SLED TEACHER REFLECTION HUB SUBMISSION
There are three parts to this reflection submission. The first part requires a brief description of
your instructional activities over the course of a SLED design task. The second part includes
your reflection on a student who performed well and your reflection on a student who performed
unsatisfactorily. The last section includes your response to two short questions.
Save your file as: Reflection_YourName_YourSchool_YourGrade_Date
Example:
Reflection_Capobianco_Purdue_Grade5_10-15-12
When uploading to the hub, use the title: Teacher Reflection: YourName, Activity, Term
Example:
Teacher Reflection: Capobianco, Prosthetic Leg, Fall 2012
Teacher Name: Judy Weirauch
School: Taylor Intermediate School
Grade: 5
Date: Oct. 29, 2012 PART I:
Day
Overview of your SLED lesson(s):
Brief description of lesson activities you enacted
What do you think your
each day over the course of the SLED design task students learned each day
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 Vocabulary on foldables in Science
 I think they walked
10/30/12
Notebooks (SNB): weight, mass, volume,
away with a working
density. Meniscus was also put in the SNB;
knowledge of weight,
it was added to the volume section. Increase
mass, volume, density,
and decrease were also learned and a
increase, decrease.
kinesthetic motion attached to help with
 They learned how to
retention.
use a balance scale and
read a graduated
 Demonstrated each vocabulary concept with
appropriate tools: balance scale, graduated
cylinder to determine
cylinder, liquid, cotton balls, marbles.
volume.
 Discussed and modeled reading each tool,
 They learned how to
finding volume of liquid and marbles,
find the volume of an
finding weight of beaker and marbles,
object using liquid in a
increasing and decreasing density using
graduated cylinder.
cotton balls.
 They learned how to
figure the weight of a
sphere using a
container, the sphere,
and a balance beam.
2
 “Bones” video
 The students were able
11/01/12
to identify t the three
 Smart board presentation of different types
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11/06/12
of joints.
Discussion on where the types of joints are
found in the body.
Added foldable with pictures and places
found for the following joints: ball & socket,
hinge, gliding.
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Reviewed vocabulary and how to use
balance scales.
 Divided class into two smaller groups.
 Students spent major part of class time using
balance scale to find mass/weight of objects
listed on the chart.
 Came together as a group and
compared/contrasted our data.
(We could have only two groups because we had
only two double beam scales for the entire class.
When I showed how to use the triple beam scale, we
had to all work together because we have only one
of those.)
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11/08/12
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Reviewed vocabulary using a quick Q & A.
Worked as a class to find mass of liquids.
This is a difficult concept and they all
already struggle with mathematical concepts
so we did this section as a group.
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11/13/12
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Introduced and discussed design process
using foldables in the Science NB: 5 steps to
process.
Introduced/delineated between difficult
vocabulary used in design process: client,
user, constraints, and criteria. Used foldables
in Science NB to go over these words.
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types of joints we
wanted them to know
(ball & socket, hinge,
gliding) when given a
picture cue.
The students were able
to list at least two
places in the body
where these three joints
are located.
Students learned how
to use the double beam
balance scales.
Students got practice
entering data.
The discussions were
great. They became
excited about using the
tools and discussing
data. They did a pretty
good job of recording
their data.
By the end of the class
they were all able to
tell me how to figure
the mass of a specific
amount of water using
a subtraction
calculation.
 By the end of the class,
they were able to talk
me through the steps to
find the mass of water
using a subtraction
calculation.
I’m not sure my students
learned much because we were
so rushed. We had little time
to discuss. I will do a quick
review and be sure to use the
needed vocabulary as we
engage in the prosthetic leg
activity.
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6
11/15/12
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11/19/12
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11/20/12
Watched smart board videos on prosthetic
leg and reviewed joints
Glued the SLED design task sheet into the
notebooks and filled in the index.

Read activity paper, discussed and entered
into the notebook the following points:
- Who is the client?
- Who is the user?
- What are the criteria?
- What are the constraints?
 Discussed materials available for prototype.
 Drew individual designs.
 Divided class into teams of two.
 As we worked through each step, we
stopped and looked at our design process
foldables pages to discuss where we were in
the process.
This was an extra class session scheduled because
we are behind the gen. ed. students. It helped but we
are still behind at least one class time.
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Gave 5 minutes for teams to plan design.
The rest of the time was spent on design.
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It was a good review of
the types of joints.
I took extra time today
to talk the class
through the expected
process of filling out
the notebooks. I have
decided to spend extra
time on this each class
session throughout the
prosthetic leg activity
because my students
are still struggling with
this so much. This may
put me behind the
others in schedule but
if I want them to have
a successful year I
think this is going to be
important.
Gained more of an
understanding of what
is expected in the
notebook. (I am
focusing on this and
taking extra time to
help them cement more
what is needed.)
 Students demonstrated
a sound knowledge of
client and user. They
continue to struggle
with criteria and
constraint. Will work
on that more
throughout this year.
 The students are
gaining a clearer
understanding of the
steps in the design
process.
This was quite difficult for
these students. Most of them
struggle with planning and
problem solving. I was not
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11/27/12
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11/29/12
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Opened with a review of the design process.
Did a review of vocabulary (mass, weight,
density, volume, added matter).
Discussed Ping-Pong/golf balls and
soccer/bowling balls.
Tested the prototypes.
Worked on table of measurements for Ping
Pong and golf balls.
Gave the students 5 minutes to draw a
prototype with corrections they would make
if we had the time to do a re-test.
Handed out reflection paper from power
point and discussed then answers. Filled this
out together.
Administered the post-test.
Had the students enter the following four
questions in their journal and assigned it as
HW due the next class session.
1. Two things I liked.
2. Two thinks I did not like.
3. Three things I learned.
4. One thing I would do differently.
Please answer the questions below:
1. What worked well?
able to stick to my original
rule that they could only use
what they had on paper. Some
of them didn’t even have a
brad in the drawing.
We are two classes behind the
gen ed population. This is
taking this class so much
more time and much of it has
to be done as a whole group
because they are struggling so
this. The Thanksgiving break
did not help us any.
 I think the students are
beginning to get the
feel for the design
process. They were
disappointed when I
told them we simply do
not have the time to do
a redesign.
 We worked on finding
volume of a sphere
using a beaker with
water but they are still
quite lost on this
concept.
The students commented on
how much more they felt they
knew this time on the posttest
than when they took the
pretest. I used this as a
springboard to get their brains
thinking about what they have
learned through this activity.
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1. My class joined Mrs. Stamm’s for the opening power point presentation for this project.
They enjoyed this and it helped set the stage for what was to come next.
2. Much of this activity was done with the class as a group; they weren’t ready to do this on
their own. They really struggled with the design part of this project.
3. The modeling and question and answer format used through the course of instruction I
believe helped the class pick up more information than they normally would have.
4. I also created a new rubric for grading the notebook. I’m sure that, as I continue to do
this, I will tweak this more. I feel like this is still in the beginning stages.
2. What are two ways you can improve your efforts toward integrating design?
1. I think the first thing I need to do is simply review, review, review. These kids need lots of
review and I feel like they did not get enough of that. In the stress of completing the
activity, I often did not review as I should have. I need to stop more through the course of
the lessons, have the students go back to the notebook pages on the design process, and
discuss where we are in the process and what should happen next.
2. I need to figure out a way to shorten this to use less time. This project took 10 class
sessions and we didn’t get to a re-design. I don’t know what I would leave out, though. As
it was I didn’t do the hand like the other students did.
PART II:
Reflection#1 on student performance:
Include an image of work from one student who you thought performed well on the task. Insert
the image here within the Word document. This image may be a copy of the student’s notebook
entry(s) or an image of the team’s artifact or an actual picture of the student at work.
In the space below describe what the image(s) is about and why you would explain or
characterize the student’s performance as mastery or excellent.
The above pictures are of one student’s notebook, final product, and working session. This
student’s prototype indicates that he understands the correlation between the parts of the
prototype and the anatomical parts they are to represent and mimic. His notebook was well
planned, neat, and well labeled. He also worked well with his partner to accomplish the task.
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Reflection#2 on student performance:
Include an image of work from one student who you thought did not perform as well
(unsatisfactory) on the task. Insert the image here within the Word document. This image may
be a copy of the student’s notebook entry(s) or an image of the team’s artifact or an actual
picture of the student at work.
In the space below describe what the image is about and why you would explain or
characterize the student’s performance as unsatisfactory.
The above pictures are examples of work from a student who struggled with this activity. His
notebook is disorganized and difficult to follow. The prototype demonstrates that, in his mind,
there was not a connection between the anatomical representations of the prototype materials.
His partner’s ideas were more connected to the desired representations but he wouldn’t listen to
or work with his partner.
PART II:
Reflection #3
Describe one thing you enjoyed about instructing this SLED task.
I enjoy using the notebooks and foldables. I think that these are great interactive instructional
tools and they provide a great source of review for the students. They also provide the students
with their own artifacts, which they enjoy and are proud of. I also think this is a great tool for
teaching organizational and study skills, not to mention offering a bridge between concrete and
abstract thinking, which can be very difficult for exceptional children.
Describe one thing in your practice you would improve upon next time you implement this
engineering design task or another SLED design task.
Time is a serious problem and the design activity takes a great deal of time. This takes time away
from direct instructional time so I would try to balance the time devoted to direct instruction and
design. The activities are great fun and they are good for building problem solving skills and
thinking skills. However, exceptional children need a great deal of direct, explicit instruction to
build the schemas needed to make sense of the design activities. When we finally wrapped this
activity up, I felt that the exceptional students had not developed the necessary schemas to make
the connections needed to learn what was expected of them.