Our Last Lesson :(

Today was mine and Laura's last rocks and minerals lesson, and honestly I'm a little sad that we aren't going to see our little friends anymore!  Knowing that this was the last lesson, we brought some gifts for the kids and a nice present for our teacher for letting us work with her and the class for the past several weeks. 

Lesson 9 was dealing with the luster of minerals, and to be honest this was probably one of the most confusing lesson plans to follow so Laura and I put our own ideas to the test.  We started off the class by having a discussion on the rug.  We reviewed the ideas of transparent, transucent, and opaque once more to refresh the little minds, and then we began learning about luster.  Luster is just a fancy word for shine, and today's objective was to find the different types of luster with each mineral, whether it be metalic, dull, glassy, or waxy.  We brought a few different objects that were made up of these materials so that the students had a good understanding of what each word meant.  We used a spoon and a piece of aluminum foil to distinguish metallic luster, a drinking glass to show glassy, the plastic top to a tuppoware container for waxy, and the back of a clipboard to demonstrate dull.  We seemed to be on the right track.

We demonstrated what the students would be doing with their minerals and penlights, and they returned to their seats to get started.  As the students were working with their partners, Laura and I went around the room to make sure they were grasping the topic.  I found that some of the students were a bit confused on metallic luster because they believed that if a mineral was sparkly, it was therefore metallic.  We tried to distinguish clear differences between minerals that were metallic and nonmetallic.  At the beginning of the lesson we figured writing a reflection would be a good iea for those students who finished early, but we ended up pairing groups that were finished early with others to compare their answers for each mineral.  In this way, we could use this as a tool to see if they were grasping each luster type, and it was also a way for them to communicate with one another.  Laura and I then decided to have a whole class discussion on the differences each group had, and made sure that the distinguished differences between each luster type were understood.  We then ended the class with a reflection, where the students could write about what they learned in the past few weeks, along with their favorite lesson or maybe even some more information they would like to find out about rocks and minerals.  I believe we did a fantastic job!

My overall impression of this experience of teaching science lessons was definitely amazing.  At first, I was completely nervous and did not know what to expect, based on the fact that I had never even observed a classroom and was about to teach one!  I believe that this was a great experience.  By allowing us students to be thrown into a classroom and to have control over a class was a good way to break the ice, and I believe that myself as an individual has grown tremendously. 

Teaching science was really fun and interesting.  I found that I learned a lot more things about rocks and minerals than I ever thought I would.  Having to read through lesson plans and prepare for a lesson every Monday forced Laura and I to really know our facts about each topic being presented.  I feel like science would be one of the hardest subjects to teach based on all the necessary equipment and knowledge needed, but overall it is definitely worth experiencing because there really is no right or wrong answer when pertaining to a specific topic.  Individuals are always asking questions and gaining information, and to realize that the children are actually leaving school with more knowledge than they entered with  is something to look forward to in the future.  I believe hands-on activities are a great way to teach a lesson, even when not dealing with science, because the students can get involved in the classroom, and work with one another to discover!

Receiving feedback from the supervisors was a great help.  Of course positive comments are always nice, but I think that the comments pertaining to what we could change to make our lessons better were very helpful.  It was quite nerve-racking to be observed by someone experienced every week, but I always looked forward in finding out what went good and what possibly went not so good.  I will be taking all of this feedback with me throughout my journey as a teacher because I strongly believe that the information will always be useful to have in the back of my mind.

Our classroom teacher was a great help when Laura and I were teaching our lessons.  She had not taught these lessons either, so we were all kind of on the same level.  She made sure that we were well prepared for our lessons beforehand, and was willing to share some ideas and strategies every time we taught a lesson.  We all wanted to make sure that the students were comprehending what was being taught, so she would give us some feedback on how to assure this was happening throughout the lesson.  Our classroom teacher also let us know that it was okay to be stern with the students, because classroom management is definitely a key to success.  She seemed to have great control over her students in the classroom, so she was a good model to look at.  When teaching students with IEP's, she gave us some ideas that would benefit each child depending on their individual problem.  Laura and I found this very helpful based on the fact that we had five children on IEP's that ranged from all over the scale.  This was an incredible experience that will never be forgotten.

After teaching several lessons on rocks and minerals, by content knowledge has completely increased.  I remember learning about rocks and minerals in fourth grade, but honestly none of the information stuck in my mind.  Going through each lesson opened my eyes to interesting information that I probably won't forget.  I never realized how many tests a geologist could perform on just rocks and minerals.  In a way I wish we could have done the entire unit with the students because there were various aspects of the lessons that we missed seeing as we didn't teach everything, and I think it would have been easier to stay at the same pace as the students.  Either way, I feel like a rocks and minerals expert!

While teaching these science lessons over the weeks, I learned that science process skills are vital and are clearly needed to bring out certain tasks for each lesson.  Students should be able to observe, classify, measure, communicate, infer, predict, interpet, experiment, and ask questions that hopefully will be answered sometime in the future.  I feel that the more an individual understands a topic, the more he or she will remember it and actually enjoy learning about it.  By using all five senses, students are able to try out different ways to find answers, and learn how to take risks.  Being able to relate certain things to the real world or to their prior knowledge is yet another way that students can become more aware of what is going on around them.  By working together, students can also benefit from one another.  Whether a student does not grasp a certain aspect of a lesson, or may be a bit shy throughout class, working with other classmates is a way in which to expand one's knowledge, and to express specific thoughts.  I also learned that process skills should be introduced at the beginning of each lesson taught because students should know the importance of each one, and understand how what they are doing is related to a certain process skill.

Before starting this education program, I feel like I was very shy and scared to be entering the real world.  I never experienced a classroom setting other than when I was in school myself, so it was very nerveracking to learn that I would be teaching lessons to fourth graders.  As the experience unfolded, I feel like I was more confident every time we taught a new lesson.  I am grateful for this experience because I feel like I have learned various aspects of teaching that individuals do not learn until the end.  By being aware of such things in the very beginning, I believe that it will only make me a stronger teacher in the end.

To be honest, I did not feel like blogging was useful.  I did find it interesting to see what other groups had to say, but I feel as though I got the same information by just talking to them in person.  I do not think that I will continue using a blog, but I may find that it will be useful in the future to at least jot about what may have went wrong or what I did really well with throughout my teaching career.  I feel like I don't have time to blog presently based on such a busy schedule, but I will definitely consider it for the future.

I believe that this experience was well worth the anxiety and overwhelming feelings that I went through, and think that it should be a continued experience for future students.  Being able to gain more confidence in the beginning of my journey will only help me in the future.  Having the opportunity to work with a certain grade level also helps to get an idea on what grades I would like to teach.  The only thing that I would suggest would be to stress to people that they do not have to follow the lesson plans given, and to just use them as a guideline.  Every class is different, and every teacher is different so making changes is definietly a good way to go about teaching a lesson.  Other than that, I will miss these interesting Mondays and hope to do something similar to this again soon.