Week 2

This week Alisha and I taught our second science lesson. I definitely felt better prepared and less nervous than week one. Although our lesson this week wasn't as interactive as the Mystery Bag, it was still hands on and I think the class had a good time.

One of our focuses this week was starting the lesson off with a strong hook to engage the students. We focused on the fact that the caterpillars will be arriving next week, and because Alisha and I won't be there every day, we will need the students to be good observers. This made the lesson more relevant to them, because soon they will be hosting the caterpillars in their classroom. Hopefully this motivated them to learn to use the hand lens properly and to think about the different parts of the caterpillar. It definitely opened the door to a lot of stories and ideas about caterpillars, which was great.

Another important part of teaching is managing materials. A lot of this happened before we even got to the classroom. Last week, Alisha and I planned exactly what we would need and made sure we had plenty of supplies for everyone. When we got into the classroom we had a few minutes to lay everything out on a table in the order in which we would need them. We never had to dig around to find what we needed, so we didn't have to waste any class time. It was nice to have two of us coteaching the lesson so we could hand out materials more quickly and keep the lesson moving.

Finally, we really thought about how our lesson related to the state science frameworks. The frameworks are a great resource for lesson planning, because they guide you to what students should be learning at each grade level. Another reason it is important to keep the frameworks in mind is because there are so many lesson plans available online or through educational companies. It might be tempting to just follow along with the plan as it is. However, if the lesson doesn't fit with the frameworks, it might not be the best use of class time. It may be possible to just alter lessons a little bit to make them fit with the frameworks better.

All in all, I think we had a good week two! Next week we'll introduce the caterpillars to the class... just in time for Halloween. Scary!

What's in the bag? A fun science lesson!

Yesterday was our first science lesson with the second graders. Although I was very nervous going in, I had a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back next time!

Alisha and I carefully planned our Mystery Bag lesson well ahead of time and made sure we had all of our materials and handouts ready to go. We checked with the classroom teacher to get her input and made some minor but important changes based on her feedback. We thought about what we wanted to say and who would lead different parts of the lesson, so we never had a moment where we were standing in front of the class with blank looks on our faces. I think we were able to adjust our plans as the lesson went on too, adding a few minutes here or cutting something a little short there to keep things flowing. The result was- the kids loved it! Their screaming was my biggest clue. They could barely contain themselves when they finally got to open the bag and see what was inside. Although the noise level might have been more playground appropriate than classroom appropriate, everything they were chattering about was directly related to their observations and the lesson.

One of our major focuses was how to make observations safely. We couldn't have asked for better kids. It felt a little bit like someone planted some little science geniuses in our class. For every sense, they had serious input about what might be unsafe. They brought up ideas like "if you smell something it might be poisonous and hurt your nose," and "an experiment might have an explosion and then you would never be able to hear ever again." I tried to acknowledge their input while reassuring them that we would not be doing anything that would permanently damage them in any way. One part of the feedback that we got on our lesson was that although the kids all practiced the wafting technique, some of them went ahead and took a big smell of the bag without wafting. We will definitely make sure to keep reminding them of safety throughout the unit.

Finally, I know this lesson wouldn't have been as fun or successful without my coteacher Alisha, aka the other Ms S. Working together we came up with a plan that I wouldn't have been able to pull off on my own. It was really nice to know someone had my back in case I couldn't come up with a word or lost my train of thought. Alisha took on the lesson intro which I am very grateful for, because it gave me a few minutes to get settled before jumping in. For our first experience working with a full class of second graders, it's nice to have two sets of eyes and two people to circulate and answer questions and check in with different groups. I'm glad to have Alisha for a partner!

Next week we'll start talking about caterpillars with the class. Hopefully the idea of having some long-term classroom guests will keep the kids excited about what's coming up next!

T Minus Ten Days!

In just a little over a week, my co-teacher and I are going to walk into a room full of second graders and teach them science. Seriously. We're being kicked out of the nest. After meeting the class this week, I am very excited about the next couple weeks. And also a little nervous.

First, the good part. I think that I am going to have a great time working with these students. We are planning to do lots of fun, hands-on activities. Every student is going to get their own caterpillar to observe for a few weeks to see what happens... don't wreck the surprise ending! This class has a lot of very smart kids in it who will be ready to jump into science. They were tossing around terms like "chlorophyll" during story time last week. I know they'll be able to get into this unit. I am also excited to teach this class because they haven't had any science yet this year. I think they will have fun with it.

There is also a little kid part of me that's really eager to do this science kit because I have never done this experiment myself. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to our little caterpillar friends!

Although I am mainly excited to get going, part of me is nervous about the coming weeks too. I have done some tutoring and worked with small groups of students, but I have never stood in front of an elementary school class with all eyes (hopefully) on me and tried to teach a full lesson. I'm big on planning which I think will be beneficial. The flip side of that is that I don't always like surprises or having to improvise, which I'm sure will happen on a weekly basis. There are so many what-ifs to think about. What if the kids get bored? What if we finish 10 minutes early with nothing else planned? What if all the caterpillars die? What if the lesson goes off the tracks? What if I lose control of the class and there are kids and caterpillars going every which way?

I think that most of my concerns are shared by a lot of new teachers. They are the things that probably get easier with time. I'm sure that planning, knowing your students, and managing the class all require practice. Hopefully none of these will be big issues because as I said before, I am really excited about the science part of teaching science. I think it's going to be a good 7 weeks!