September 15th, my first day beginning my rocks, minerals & erosion science unit. The first couple weeks of school consisted of classroom procedures (setting up class expectations and routines). Today I taught a science lesson where we went over the definition of “observation” as well as explored rocks from different geological locations, including from our local environment through a virtual class field trip. Below this post I am hoping to upload documents which include the virtual field trip through a google slide, and the supporting document/activity (through a passport workbook).
During this lesson I asked my coop teacher to observe the following:
1. Time management: I chose time management as a professional goal to work towards due to the fact that I find myself feeling rushed when the end of a lesson is nearing to ensure that everything gets covered and indicators that I have set out to reach are met. I asked my coop teacher to observe the speed of my voice and to note if it increases as well as how I handle the end of my lessons. I planned for a calm ending to the lesson and was set out to be okay with the fact that time may run out during the lesson.
I set up my lesson in a way that ensured that I could end the lesson whenever needed so that I would feel less pressure to get through everything. I did this by having students observe and compare rocks from different geographical locations. In total I set up 6 locations to visit, but as long as we as a class simply got through 2 locations the goal of comparing and observing rocks was being met.
2. Clear directions: I chose clear directions as another goal to work on to ensure I did not get ahead of myself during my lesson time. I was very excited for this lesson as it is my first one within the subject of science. Making sure I took the time to explain the activity in a clear way multiple times helps students understand expectations that I have for the output of this lesson. My coop teacher sat at the back of the room and observed students to see how they were reacting (engaged/disengaged, understanding/confused). Having my coop teacher observe and make note of how students react to my directions helps me to understand which parts of the lesson was made clear, and make note of any parts that students are confused on so that it could be revisited next science class if needed.
My feelings after executing the lesson:
I think that this lesson went very well! I was nervous that students perhaps would not find the videos of rocks from different countries entertaining, but I was happy with how the class reacted. They took their jobs of observing each video very seriously and they stayed engaged with the activity the entire class time. Each student followed directions and wrote their observations down from each country that was viewed, therefore I believe that the indicators for this lesson was appropriately met. I would definitely teach this lesson again in the future. My coop teacher was also pleased with how the lesson went (Co op teachers notes are attached to this post). At one point I found myself talking a little bit too fast to students, so recognizing and correcting this is something I would like to continue doing moving forwards. I also found that students were blurting a lot when they were sharing what they had observed while watching the videos. In the moment I didn’t mind the blurting as I felt that it showed the students level of engagement was high; this being said, it is the beginning of the school year so class management expectations for students I think should be strongly enforced, so next lesson I will remind students to raise their hands is they would like to share their thoughts with the class so that we can all hear one another and we each have a fair turn at speaking. I felt that students understood my directions throughout my lesson, and I received positive feedback from my cooperating teacher!
Overall I think that this was an excellent start to my Rocks, Minerals & Erosion unit! I look forward to many more lessons to come.
My lesson plan– includes links to the lessons resources/activities