Throughout the spring semester in class EDUC 350 Teaching and Learning, I have a great opportunity to be able to learn more about what it is like to be an educator, teaching methods, and getting the opportunity to create lesson plans and execute them. My three science lessons were 1) States of Matter Exist All Around Us, 2) Ahhh It is So Bright!!, 3) Let’s Bake Cookies!. During class, we got to use resources such as Peter Liljedahl’s Building Thinking Classrooms to understand further about inquiry-based learning for math, and following Lijedahl’s book, we were able also to apply it to science. We also got the opportunity to look at other resources such as a lesson from Robert Palinksy with the thermometer lesson plan, Kyle Evans and Megan Staples’s “Connecting Mathematics and Social Justice: Lessons and Resources for Secondary Math Teachers”, and MathCoachRivera. Throughout my lesson plans, I have identified ways that I have grown as an educator and lessons that I have learned from this experience.
Firstly, and what I will bring with me for my future is the understanding of inquiry-based learning. As a student with different schooling backgrounds, I have seen and experienced different teachers’ teaching methods. I often found myself struggling with grasping concepts the standard way. Plenty of people just like me have experience learning in the traditional method of memorizing and only ever doing worksheets and reading textbooks. However, not everyone can learn that way. I personally learn better with visual cues and hands-on learning. During class, we got a good grasp on how important hands-on learning is for students to be able to understand concepts on their own and allow teachers to follow up with more details. While students do hands-on learning, I learned over the span of the three classes that it is essential for teachers to add and ask effective guiding questions. The effective guiding questions should lead students in the right direction however, rather than saying that a student is wrong, which is the traditional thought process, we should encourage students to learn and investigate out of interest and to make sure that when they learn they feel like it is possible and effective for them.
Secondly, I learnt how to have a good presence in the classroom and manage a classroom. As someone who has taught in the past at daycares and summer camps, I have had a fair amount of practice on getting students attention to ensure their safety for example when we go out on field trips. However, I believe that situations can differ when in an enclosed environment such as the classroom. I got a better grasp on how to get students attention and ensure that they give an equal amount of respect. I was able to use and learn about using body language and verbal cues to keep their attention and get students to listen about the important instructions such as my “Let’s Bake a Cookie” class where it was essential students understand not to consume any of the experiments that were being done.
The third lesson I learnt was how to apply learning objectives and guiding questions in a lesson plan in order to ensure and keep in check that students understand what the lesson is about and what the required understandings are. Through speaking with Mr. Redden and my own teaching, I got a better understanding on how important it is to ensure students have a good grasp on what the objectives of the day are and what we are trying to achieve. It is important to grasp that point early on to ensure students don’t get lost in what we are aiming to do during class.
Lastly, a lesson I learnt went beyond the classroom. As someone who is not used to change, that is one of my personal downfalls that I know I need to learn before I am able to be a good teacher. I got to experience more about flexibility and understanding how to adapt my lesson plan if circumstances change. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, my initial class was Mr. Reden’s class with guidance by Jennifer Doherty, our coordinator at ELAMS; the second class was a different teacher’s class as due to testing the schedules were changed, and lastly, when Mr. Redden came back. I got to teach his class with his guidance.
Overall, I have learned quite a lot about lesson plans and what it takes to be an effective educator. This course allowed me to grow as an educator and learn how to make better and more informed decisions on creating lesson plans. I also got to learn the flexibility aspect of being a teacher.