Nov 10
Today I went in and taught first and second hour. The lesson was in line with what Mr. Borton was teaching and consisted of a lecture/discussion and note taking on heat transfer, conduction, convection and radiation, and a review on temperature. I used a powerpoint presentation and talked as the kids took notes. I felt better about pacing out the time to give the kids enough time to write down what they needed to this time. I think that the lecture was not as good as I wanted it to be. I tried getting the kids to participate but it was like pulling teeth and I think the kids were half asleep. I ended up finishing the lecture kind of fast and so I went back and reviewed temperature with them. I was feeling pretty frustrated by the end of first hour because it just seemed so dead to me. I think that Mr. Borton was unimpressed to say the least.
Then I went on with second hour. This time I tried a few new ideas and used some different examples as well. For some reason second hour was so much more willing to participate, more awake and energetic. The kids were excited to share what they thought of when they heard the word 'radiation' - everything from bombs to shaky, squilly particles. When I was about to move on there would be another kid that wanted to say something. I won't say it was great but it went better than first hour. There is a boy in the back that is sometimes getting into trouble and somehow he was interested in this lesson and he just kept raising his hand and commenting and was excited about the topic and that made me very happy to see this.
After not feeling very confident in what I did I had to stay and see Mr. Borton teach third hour. He used some of the same examples as I did, and some others, and drew a lot on his experiences outside of the classroom to explain the concepts. His experience shows in that he can come up with things he knows that 6th graders like such as imaginging things to help them understand which I would never have thought of. The kids in 3rd hour were so excited that they would keep raising their hands to comment and many times the kids wouldn't get called on because of the emphasis of getting through all this material. It's easy for me to do this as well, but I do try to include the kids and I really think the lesson is more fun for me when I can do this better.
Then I went on with second hour. This time I tried a few new ideas and used some different examples as well. For some reason second hour was so much more willing to participate, more awake and energetic. The kids were excited to share what they thought of when they heard the word 'radiation' - everything from bombs to shaky, squilly particles. When I was about to move on there would be another kid that wanted to say something. I won't say it was great but it went better than first hour. There is a boy in the back that is sometimes getting into trouble and somehow he was interested in this lesson and he just kept raising his hand and commenting and was excited about the topic and that made me very happy to see this.
After not feeling very confident in what I did I had to stay and see Mr. Borton teach third hour. He used some of the same examples as I did, and some others, and drew a lot on his experiences outside of the classroom to explain the concepts. His experience shows in that he can come up with things he knows that 6th graders like such as imaginging things to help them understand which I would never have thought of. The kids in 3rd hour were so excited that they would keep raising their hands to comment and many times the kids wouldn't get called on because of the emphasis of getting through all this material. It's easy for me to do this as well, but I do try to include the kids and I really think the lesson is more fun for me when I can do this better.
posted by James Madsen | 11:39 AM
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