With my daughter having surgery and being in and out of the hospital 3 times this week, I apologize if this post is not as entertaining as the previous ones, but to say that this has been an extremely difficult week would be an understatement.
That said, I think the first rocks and minerals lesson went fairly well! The students made observations and comparisons between 3 rocks; granite, gneiss (pronounced 'nice'), and conglomerate. For a more detailed description, check out my teaching partner
Tracey's blog post for this week. She did a great job explaining the smooth and rough parts of the lesson, gneiss job Tracey!!She and I worked really hard preparing for our first lesson, and I was glad to say we were "ready to rock" as Tracey said! She had made these great colorful name tags that had the students names like "Suzie the scientist," which I think they liked and it made it so much easier to call them by name. I also think this made them excited about the lesson! I was really impressed with how much they knew about rocks already, and how much they were willing to share. In fact we didn't have enough time to call on everyone that had their hand up! The classroom teacher, Miss Mary Poppins as I call her, gave us a great suggestion to not only call on students who didn't have their hand up, but to encourage them to share by saying, "I know you made some great observations, why don't you share one with the class." I thought
that was a great way to get all the students involved, feeling part of the activity, and that their observations and opinions matter.I felt Tracey and I did a good job of dividing up the lesson and instruction time, but next time we need to schedule the parts of the lesson so that it doesn't run over time. We were also told we need to work on speaking more formally and not addressing the students as "you guys," but since I was so nervous I don't even remember doing that! I will definitely be more aware of my diction during the next lesson. We wouldn't want the kiddos speaking like Sloth from the Goonies, "Heeeyyy, yoouuuu guuuuyyysss!!!"
Now we know what worked well, and what didn't, so we know what not to do for next time!
Gneiss work Tracey! We rock!
Hey Sarah!
ReplyDeleteI know how tough this week was for you, but you made it through! And still managed to do an awesome job on your presentations, lessons, and tutoring! Bravo! Sounds like your first science lesson went really well! Name tags are a good idea! Kathy and I are managing by reading the names off of the desks, but they are upside down and in cursive, so it's not the easiest! Sounds like your teacher is really helpful! Can't wait to hear more!
~Becky