To kick off our AEE 412 Labs, we presented 10 minutes of a "first day of school" lesson. I think everyone can relate to the first day of school gitters, even teachers, but its important to remember this lesson is vital for setting the tone of your classroom for the rest of the year. I chose to write my lesson plan for my first block Ag Mechanics 1 class. I began the lesson by having students create name tags for themselves and introducing myself to the class. I made sure to cover my classroom procedures, expectations and consequences and allowed students to create their own expectations of me as their teacher (of course with a little guidance).
A few things I feel I did well on during my lesson was clearly articulating my expectations and taking time to check for student understanding. I also felt well prepared for my lesson. Overall, I am proud of how my lesson went, however I feel there are a few areas that I can improve on moving forward.
Allowing more time for activities
Timing is always very important, and with a 10 minute lab its difficult to get a real feeling for how these activities will go in a real classroom setting, however I feel that I need to allot more time for student discussion and sharing. Specifically, allowing students to work through a full think, pair, share while creating teacher expectations would be beneficial.
More student engagement
After watching some of my classmates present and reflecting on how I chose to go over classroom expectations, I feel that having students contribute to the meaning of my expectations would be beneficial to there understanding. For example, allowing students to brainstorm behaviors that would show respect to others or the classroom and then sharing with the class.
Working on transitions
Factoring in transition time between activities is very important, and I would like to work on making these transitions smoother for my future lessons. I also think making sure students understand my expectations of staying on task will help with this.
From this lab experience, I learned that the first day of school sets the tone for the rest of the year. Making sure students understand my expectations is very important. Moving forward as I prepare for my student teaching I will focus on the timing of my activities and find more ways to increase student engagement during my lessons.
Questions: What advice would you give a new teacher to help accurately plan for activity times?
In what ways do you increase student engagement? Specifically, for days where lessons are heavily lecture based.
Great reflection and great questions! I think the best way to determine times for activities is to practice the activity and then add several minutes to whatever the practice takes. After you teach the activity for the first time with students, be sure to note if you were rushing or if you had extra time. Then adjust for the next teaching opportunity. Also, have "flex" instruction planned for each lesson, as this helps when the timing doesn't always "hold out".
ReplyDelete-Dr. Ewing
Elise, Your lab was awesome! I love how you had us create name tags as well as use it as your ticket out the door. I think it was a clever way to create a resource for you to use to get to know the student's names as well as allow the students to demonstrate their participation in the day's lesson.
ReplyDeleteThank you Megan!
DeleteCongratulations on completing your First Day Lab!
ReplyDeleteTiming is always challenging, I keep a folder of countdown timers from YouTube on my bookmark bar. They are easily accessible but they hold me and the students accountable to staying on time.
Looking forward to watching you launch this on day 1 at L-S!
Thank you Janae!
DeleteI have a bit of work to do on my lesson to get ready for student teaching, but I am so excited to start interacting with students! I just hope it can go as smoothly as my lab did.
Your First Day of School Lab was great! I loved the way that you had the students come in the class and already had instructions for the students to do on the name tag. I agree with you that it is hard to have student engagement, especially with such little time, but I thought you did a great job including your students into the lab!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michaela,
DeleteI think using tools like Nicole did with the sticky note activity, instead of just asking students what expectation they have will help with student engagement. I will be adding something to that effect for my lesson in the spring.
Hi Elise,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I really appreciate the humor that you bring to your blog, it makes it super readable and engaging! I agree that the short period of time made it difficult to fully do the activities that we wanted to in our lessons. I really enjoyed how you allowed the students to decide what they expect from you as a teacher, and it's definitely something that I would like to do with my own students.
Thank you Alyssa!!
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