Our Second Lesson!

For our second lesson, I was more comfortable teaching, but still a little nervous. The group of students that we work with are so great, so I always feel like theres less pressure on us! The three criteria we focused on during Mondays lesson were frameworks, materials, and our introduction.

First, frameworks. Sarah and I chose a framework centered around life cycles and students understanding that they vary among animals. Mrs. K. suggested that we introduce the children to life cycles before we introduce the caterpillars and this turned out to be great advice. Sarah and I decided to talk about the life cycle of frogs. The students actually knew quite a bit about this topic, however, I think the clarification of this issue was beneficial to them. They were excited to share the information that they did know as well as learn information they didn't know. We compared the frog life cycle to that of humans and we discussed how they vary. For example, humans are born with 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 eyes, etc. But, frogs changed intensely as they develop.

Second, materials. Sarah and I provide our students with Science Activity Folders every week. This makes things easier for us regarding organization and this makes the distribution of materials much smoother. We fill the folders with worksheets or whatever else the students might need beforehand and we ask the students to take out whats needed as the lesson progresses. On Monday, our materials consisted of cut out frog life cycle pieces, a worksheet to glue these pieces onto, and blank paper for their journal writing. Everything worked out great material-wise on Monday!

Finally, our introduction. Sarah and I put a lot of time and thought into how to launch the students into this lesson. We threw around a few ideas and ended up having a conversation with the students to get them interested. We told the students that while walking around a lake in their town, we saw a frog. From there we invented a debate over what baby frogs look like. The students were eager to take sides and only 1 student agreed with me that baby frogs look like frogs and not fish (tadpoles). It made the lesson more personal and it created a smooth transition into the lesson itself. 

I'd say it was a pretty good lesson! Can't wait for next Monday! :-)

Our First Day

Well, I now have my first taught lesson under my belt! I was so, so nervous to teach a lesson on Monday, but it went pretty smooth and the kids loved it! With that said, I'm going to talk about the three criteria.

First, lesson planning. I can't tell you all (though you probably already know!) how much I was relying on my lesson plan Monday. It was definitely helpful to have a solid plan for how we were going to teach our lesson. It was awesome to finally put a lesson plan into practical use to see how it all works out. What ended up happening was not what I expected. The students did everything quicker than we anticipated. For example, items that we planned to take 10 minutes may have only taken about 5. While writing the lesson plan for next week, Sarah and I made sure to have extending-the-lesson activities on hand! Also, while talking to the teacher, Mrs. K., she gave us some advice that we are definitely going to incorporate into our next lesson plan as well. She suggested only focusing on one key question, we had 3! This was a good idea because it allowed the students to truly understand the topic we were going over. If we included other key questions, yeah we would have gone over them, but the children wouldn't have as deep of an understanding.

Next, safety was something that we focused on during this lesson. Part of this lesson included talking about the senses. We first asked students to list them, and then we talked about the safety involved while using them. We mentioned how students should waft when using their sense of smell. We also told them that they should never use their sense of taste in a science lesson unless their teacher says its ok. We furthered the safety talk by reminding childen about general classroom safety tips such as no running, pushing, etc. I feel as though these reminders were very useful to go over because the classroom proved to be a very controlled environment for the duration of the lesson. I think its important to give such reminders before any lesson.

Finally, teamwork was another focus of ours this week. I can't tell you how glad I was to have Sarah there with me for my first lesson! We worked back and forth in a great way that definitely made me more comfortable in this new role as a teacher. There was one specific moment during our lesson that Sarah came to my rescue, of course the kids could't tell! We had gone over who would say what and I was going to discuss the senses and then talk about safety. Well, I went over the senses and then my mind went blank! I knew I wasn't done with my schpeal so I looked at Sarah and she started talking right where I left off! Our teamwork was great on Monday and it really paid off being well prepared.

The kids reacted so positively to our lesson that I'm excited to go back next Monday. I hope they're ready to learn about Life Cycles! :-)

Butterflies Rule!

As we're about to start our unit on the butterflies, I am excited about many different things! On the flip side, I'm also scared/nervous about lots to things too. 

Let's see, what am I excited about...

Well, when we entered the class today and I felt immediately welcome. The children greeted us "Good afternoon, Miss Graham" (that will take some getting used to!) and it was exciting to be recognized as a teacher. Also, the students themselves were great! While we were observing today, the comments alone were entertaining. The children shared research articles about insects. One of the articles mentioned that crickets can eat fabrics. The students were commenting left and right, their enthusiasm is contagious! One student commented that maybe this was why there was a hole in her couch. They were so ready to participate that I am excited to do the lessons because I have a feeling they will be extremely receptive and equally as excited for the entire unit. 

I'm also excited because of the subject matter that we will be teaching. Sarah Turner and I get to teach the butterfly unit which I think these children will love. They spent their entire science lesson today just talking about different kinds of insects. I think they're going to LOVE this unit!

To keep the excitement train going, I'm also excited about the teacher we get to work with. She was extremely kind to us and to the students. She's also really helpful and seemed very willing to assist us however she could. I won't mind getting feedback from her! 

Now, what am I nervous about...

Well, I've never taught a lesson. I'm a newbie. I guess we all have to start somewhere, and I'm glad my first lesson is now, while I'm still learning. But still, there are so many what-ifs. 

What if the students misbehave? 

What if my lesson goes terribly wrong? 

What if the students are simply not interested? 

What if I am faced with a question I don't know the answer to?

The list goes on and on. I have mixed feelings about doing my first lesson. Part of me is so nervous I'm borderline dreading it. But, the other part of me is excited to finally do what I've been wanting to do. I honestly feel that I'm going to be very, very nervous the first day. But after that I'll hopefully have gotten the butterflies out of my tummy (pun intended :-] ) and I'll know what to expect next time. 

Theres a first time for everything. And who's not nervous in such a situation, am I right?