The name has it right... this lab certainly was INTERESTING! Interest approaches are probably one of my favorite teaching tools and one of the most important to getting a lesson started strong and raising the bar for the students' learning experience for each day.
So for our interest approaches, which will not always be as elaborate or hands-on as the lab demos, we got to realize how they can spark interest and get us "set" for the lesson. For my interest approach, I kept to my wildlife unit and was continuing with the lesson for mammal identification. The interest approach was simple and can be very versatile - the students got to get their hands on some plaster molds of some common PA mammal tracks. They were asked to identify distinguishing characteristics of the track and then compare it to their neighbors' track. Then we tried to identify the mammals - a perfect way to lead into the objective of properly identifying 35 PA mammals using various distinctive traits.
Some of the difficulties with this lab were, again, classroom management - but I think I was able to get a handle on the students a little better by distracting Annette, sneakily taking Kate's phone, and addressing concerns with directions for the confused others. Also, to deal with sleepy students, we can get them super engaged in the interest approach by waking them up to a crazy/novel object or having them answer questions about it.
I definitely appreciated seeing some unique interest approaches and how my cohort-mates linked them to their lesson. I would have liked to see a bit more of the lesson content to see how it really could be tied in, but for time purposes, that would be difficult. However, I am excited to get into more lesson opportunities! I am just still struggling to believe that its already Thursday night and that we are coming to the 1/3 mark in the FINAL SEMESTER OF OUR COLLEGE CLASS EXPERIENCE! #crazy
Shout out to NATIONAL TEACH AG DAY!!! #taglive13 #hashtag
Allison,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that your interest approach worked well and that you are getting better at classroom management. I am sure that we will get better and better at that as the semester goes on. However, DO NOT MENTION AGAIN THAT IT IS OUR FINAL SEMESTER!! IT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY!
That is all, keep up the good work!
Hey Allison,
ReplyDeleteI just watched your video and wow, great job. I say that it seemed that classroom management was your worst problem this time. You have got a rowdy group there. I like how you kept at Annette. I honestly do not know how I would handle that group.
Keep up the good work and remember we are all in this together
Please stop talking about how far we are into the semester. lol ok thanks! (See Jeanne's comment above) I think your interest approach went well and I liked the way you handled the rowdy students. Classroom management is really hard but I think you handled it well.
ReplyDeleteAllison,
ReplyDeleteI watched your video, and great job with your classroom management. I think you handled every situation well! I think you did really well at figuring out your students and ways to keep the occupied before you even stepped in front of the class. Good job!
1st great job on your lab this week! It was really awesome seeing the way you managed your classroom well. I really liked your enthusiasm and how you kept your class moving. 2nd I cant believe we are 1/3 of the way done! I agree with Jeanne and Meagan let's not mention it anymore haha I don't even want to think about our last few weeks we have here before we get to somewhat experience what it is like in the real world!
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