So this week we took our expertise to real life classrooms at Central
Mountain High school, and it sure was fun. It was cool to see everyone
preparing and piecing together lesson plans and to see the combination
of excitement and nervousness among the cohort.
I was to teach environmental science lessons, specifically soil erosion
on day 1, the water cycle on day 2, and renewable and non renewable
resources on day three. Relatively easy topics in which I am familiar,
and all have a lot of material that you can use.
On day 1 I had prepared a long powerpoint with lots of pictures to
demonstrate what I was teaching. They were good pictures, with even
actual pictures that I took in Arizona. I learn the best with pictures
and discussion, so I wanted to implement that strategy. Unfortunately I
did not include any stand up and do activities or anything to actually
get the student up and moving. I noticed that the kids were bored by the
end of the class period, and didn't even get through the amount of
information I wanted to.
After heeding some advice from Dr. Foster and Laura, I scrapped my day 2
lesson plan and tried to make it more student centered. After finishing
up my soil erosion stuff from the day before (thanks Todd by the way) I
had them do an activity where they acted out the water cycle to the
class. Mr. Bohnert said that initially he thought the kids were going to
hate this activity, but he was surprised when they actually got up and
participated. He said he could tell they were having fun. I tried to
reiterate the key points I wanted to make after they were finished. Then
I ended the period with a game where the class was divided into two
teams and they were to name as many natural resources they could in 3
minutes, with the winner receiving a piece of candy. They tied, and I
gave everyone candy.
On the third day, we started back into the natural resources lesson. The
interest approach I did involved a candle, and Mr. Bohnert said it was
the best one he has seen a Penn State student teacher do. Not because it
was extravagant, but just because the kids were into it.
We then transitioned into ways they heated their homes, defined
renewable resources, and had them do another activity where they
separated the resources into columns, renewable and non renewable.
Afterwards, they took a 20 point quiz on the three days I taught.
All in all, I am very happy how my time at Central Mountain went. I was
able to practice a few classroom management and delivery strategies, and
got some valuable feedback that I will never forget (from Foster,
Laura, Ewing, Bohnert, and the STUDENTS). I think that this has been the
most valuable experience for me this semester. I am looking forward to
my next chance at a real life classroom in my life knowledge lesson
tomorrow at Gettysburg.
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