So hard to believe I've already been in Education 250 for over a month! Time is flying but I am learning so much and very grateful. I got lucky with the professors I got this semester because I know a lot of kids who say they came out of their first education class not really sure about a lot of things and did not feel confident about their abilities to write a lesson plan. I know that when I leave this class that will not be my reality! I already am feeling more confident about my education knowledge and am feeling more certain about what grade levels I want to teach. I had the super neat opportunity to observe a 6th grade Social Studies class on Monday. This was actually much different than I thought it would be. I expected a much more rowdy bunch than the kids I observed. The teacher was calm, cool, and collected and never had to be firm with the kids. They were respectful and were eager and ready to take notes. I know that this is probably not always the case, but it was nice to see kids that age acting so mature. The maturity level of the middle grades is something very different from elementary.
I think some of the lesson planing might be easier because the kids are old enough to have real conversations with. They were studying Mesopotamia and used GRAPES which is an acronym to take their notes and prepare for their test. I think I would like to bring something like that into my future classroom because it looked like a really neat way to help students organize their notes in an easy format. The teacher was very accommodating to every child and that was prominent in my observation. Before the notes began she had a child who had a hard time seeing up to the front of the room. She was also very engaging when she asked the students questions. It was clear that she was fluent in the NCSCOS. She had the learning target written on the board. This day it was "I can explain the direct and indirect characterization of characteristics in a text or a video. the SS was "I can establish the GRAPES of Mesopotamia. This made it clear to the kids what they were learning this specific day and was written in an easy to understand way.
An aspect from this learning experience that I will try to take into my future classroom is the way the teacher smoothly transitioned form one topic to the next without losing the students full range of attention. I know this takes work to achieve fully but I am in awe of teachers who can accomplish it well. Middle schoolers are a whole new world compared to elementary schoolers but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
GRAPES video:
I think it is very cool that you got ideas on how to teach your students from your past observation. I'm glad you had an observation that was very rewarding to you! I think it's always fun to find new ways to teach students to take notes like GRAPES because the old way of taking notes nowadays doesn't cut it for most students. They need that extra push and new, fun ways sometimes help them. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the idea of using acronyms to teach a class. From my experience as a student, I remember this being a very beneficial tactic that allowed me to truly retain the information given to me. I also am so glad that you got to witness smooth transitioning. I believe transitioning is one of the most important aspects of teaching due to the fact that if it is not completed correctly, it will be easy to lose the students' focus.
ReplyDeleteYour blog was really interesting to red this week and I really enjoyed it! I liked reading about how you plan on using acronyms in your future classroom because this really is a good way to remember and learn the information a student is taught. Another thing I really enjoyed in your blog is the meme you put in, it really made me laugh because it is so true!
ReplyDeleteCarol,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to see you have already learned so much this semester! I appreciate your approach in the class. You are demonstrating to us that you WANT to be the best teacher possible. Keep it up!