It was a good day!
I presented an interest approach for a lesson that I anticipate teaching in the spring semester. Here I will set the scene.
CLASS: Animal Science
UNIT: Small Vet Skills
LESSON: What animals does a small vet tend to?
I had set up seven stations around the room. station 1 was a picture, stations 2-6 were physical skeletal features of different animals. station 7 was a hamster that proposed the question: Why is it a good tool to use live animals or preserved specimen in a class like this?
The students went around and attempted to identify the different items at each station. The behaviors that I had to cater to were: Sleepy, confused, and the average Joe. right off the bat it was easy to handle the "sleepy" behavior because for the most part of my interest approach the students were up and moving around. It's difficult to sleep when you need to walk. I believe that I handled the confused student well because I was able to provide clarity when the student did not quite understand what was going on. The average joe was super easy because they typically don't present any issues.
One thing that I wish I had done was actually put numbers on the stations and explain better that each station was suppose to correlate with the number that they had on their sheet of paper. Something as simple as labeling can make it so I am more clear with my students. Not labeling the stations is what I put as my opp for this lab because it is important to be as clear as possible with your students and not labeling the stations caused me to falter in that a little.
Now for my gems!
I got students moving! an active student is an engaged student because they have to pay attention to what is going on around them. I hope to have some form of movement in all of my lessons even if it's something as simple as standing up and taking a mental break for 20 seconds. It will help break the monotony up in a lesson.
I kept the students interested by keeping their curiosity peaked. when a student sees something in front of them that they aren't quite sure what it is they are going to be naturally curious about it whether they want to admit it or not. As a teacher I hope to continuously tap into that natural curiosity to keep students engaged!
Rachel, great reflection! Thanks for providing a summary of your activity as well as your gems and opps and a discussion of both. I also really like how you shared about how your dealt with the different characters in your class and what you did to successfully engage them.
ReplyDeleteIts great that your lab went much better this week. I also watched your video and I think you were really able to keep students interested and well engaged in your lab!
ReplyDeleteGreat job Rachel, you're exactly right. One of the worst thing any teacher can do is have their students just sit and listen/watch. It's a no brainer. Most of us don't like to sit and not be engaged with what is happening around us, students are no different.
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