Teaching the Lesson

This past week was an interesting with science because I was able to teach my lesson plan to my students. I did my lesson on sound, and I was surprised by some of the results. Many of the students had a great time using the sound systems, which is something that I knew going into the lesson because many of the students can get off-task very easily and hands-on activities are a great way to keep them involved in the lesson. Behavior management has always been a problem that I have had in this classroom because the students know that I am not “the” teacher as my CT is. Because of this, they know they have a little more freedom to goof off when he is not always around. However, I believe that I have gotten better at it as the year has gone, even though there is still plenty of room for improvement. Anyway, the students experimented with the systems in a productive way, but I had to continually remind them that they need to write their evidence in their science journals. This is something that took a little more effort because the students continuously wanted to play with the sound systems. The discussion also went very well because of the level of real world experiences the students were able to bring to the conversation. Many different students were dying to tell their own little stories, and I tried to relate each one to what we were learning so this learning opportunity was not wasted. Sometimes some of the students just wanted to tell their story, so I had to ask them a question or comment further so that a connection was made between the comment and the material that we were covering in the lesson. I think that this lesson was a productive one and is something that I could have continued on with in the activity sequence. It can definitely be built upon, and the type of activity that I did with them is a great way of reaching the students on their level instead of lecturing.

In-Class Bird Observation

The activity with the bird observation was very interesting. It was a fun way to learn about observations and how they can be helpful in the classroom, especially because it gets everyone else involved in the activity. People are going to have different observations and thoughts about anything that goes on in the classroom, and this activity proved that. While I had my own observations, other people in the class had similar or different observations, but it was interesting to hear everyone else’s views on what was going on. There were some things that were pointed out that I did not realize, but once they were pointed out, it made more sense to me. This can be translated to the classroom because you need to take into account that each kid is going to learn differently, not just make observations differently. Accounting for these differences is extremely important because some students may have an easy time understanding something while another student may have a much more difficult time. This is where hearing others’ comments come into play. Through hearing other people’s views and opinions, it may help other people see things that they did not see initially. Also, everyone in the class is going to have something interesting to say, whether they know or not. Giving them the opportunity to do this is extremely important, as we found out today in class. I liked this activity because it did get other people involved and you were able to see how people thought during the process of the bird observation period. It may have gone on for a little too long, but it was still a very rewarding experience because it is something that we can use in our classrooms.

The Past Week

This week the 3^rd graders went through some smaller science projects and how they were going to present them to one another in the classroom. The students had to figure out who was going to present what material. I walked around and listened to the groups as they discussed what they were going to do. My CT said he was giving them total freedom in their presentations and allowing them to do pretty much whatever they thought was necessary in order to present their material. It was interesting to listen to the students in their groups because many of the students did not want to be the ones to present their project. My CT did not have much time with them today, so that is really all the students were able to do. I was able to help a few groups in figuring out how to organize their presentation, kind of the same way that I helped them organize their science projects and posters earlier in the semester. One of the girls practiced her presentation for me, and she seemed to really know what she was talking about. However, she was one of the smarter students in the class, so I am interested in seeing how well the other students do with this assignment because much of the time many students are off-task. They have a difficult time keeping their focus during these types of activities, which is why the science experiment itself was good for them. They were actively involved in the experiment, which kept their focus, but now that they have to present it they seem to be a little more off-task.

More in the classroom

This week I was able to discuss my lesson plan a little further with my CT and talk about what he will be doing before and after, mainly talking the activity sequence. We discussed how he has another intern at a different time and they will be teaching a different lesson before me, and he will be teaching the lessons that we do not teach in the order that the book has them. He let me know about what kinds of experiments and activities they will be working on. He will be using some of the same sound systems that I will be using in my lesson plan, but I will be asking them to look for evidence as they use them while he, at least in the earlier lessons, will be having them just explore with them and have some fun with sounds to get them excited about the unit. As stated in the previous post, the class is behind in every subject, and because of math and literacy, science is kind of taking a back seat until other areas are caught up. While the students were working on some individual work, I was able to look through a few of his science containers, which he has from his previous job, and he is one of the teachers in the school who truly loves teaching science. Some teachers even come to him for materials or advice on how to teach a certain lesson. He had some pretty simple stuff in there for the sound unit, including some metal “forks” and rubber stoppers, tongue depressors that make a musical instrument when put between pieces of wood, etc. I believe that the students will really have a positive experience as they experiment with the sound systems. It will also give my CT a chance to see how much they know before actually getting into the facts and deeper experiments about sound. These kinds of pre-assessments can be really helpful in planning out the lessons, and I hope to talk to him about what he has seen after he has done these lessons with the students.

Science talk and catch-up work

This week I did not see much science in the classroom as my teacher was working with the students in other subjects. However, I did perform my science talk with a few students, and this turned out to be very interesting because of the students’ responses as I prepared for my lesson on sound. One student that was extremely interesting to listen to is, in my opinion, the smartest girl in the class. I have written about her for other posts in other classes, and every question that I asked she was able to answer correctly or at least get part of it correct. She, as usual, was an exception in the class as many of the students did not have much prior knowledge on sound waves and vibrations, along with how they travel to our ear. The answers of many of the students are most likely comparable to the answers that the other students will have, which is obviously very helpful when I am planning my lesson. Other than performing my science talk, I helped some of the students individually on other work to help them catch up. All of this work that I do with them in the classroom is helpful because I am able to plan my lesson in accordance to how the students learn, and what types of activities will be the most meaningful for them. There are many different types of learners in this classroom, and many of them do not receive the support at home that is necessary to help students succeed. Therefore, I am learning what I have to do in order to get through to the students so that they learn the material and understand the best that they can. Keeping them on task is almost as important as anything else because of how energized they usually are, and I can use science to help this because of how interactive I can make the lesson. I was not able to talk to the CT too much about what was happening in science because of the amount of catch up work they were trying to accomplish.