Northlander.org is the online persona of Dan Bowling, a web developer living in Missoula, MT.

Student Teaching Week 2 (so far): My First Lesson

Well, I taught my first lesson today. In fact, I taught all the classes, all day because my science lesson on circuits ran into the math time. Circuits… they certainly are an interesting concept to middle-schoolers (they loved the lab, some students even didn’t finish it just so they could come back during resource hour to work on it again.)

A list of Lessons I learned

  1. Practice makes perfect. The middle school child needs to practice good behavior in order to show it when it is expected.
  2. Sticking to my guns is worth the battle, so far. Today, I picked pairs for the (which they were not happy about) just so things would go a bit more smoothly during my first day of teaching… they resisted, but now they know I mean business and follow through.
  3. The clearest of directions are not clear enough. Spelling out items in written directions, with the important verbs bolded is not enough to make sense to a 6th grader. Frequent repetition is required.
  4. Anticipation can make wonders. Not telling the kids what is next causes them to really look forward to it.
  5. Practice makes perfect. Again
  6. A teacher cannot talk over a class. Nuff said.
  7. Practice makes perfect.
  8. I am turning into Harry Wong. Procedures rule!
  9. Practice makes perfect.

All in all, it was the best day yet. Even some of the more troublesome students did their work today, and even without being asked.

The Energy Cycle

Mr. Nemec and I picked up the Energy Cycle from the physics lab today. It still doesn’t work, but if we can get the wiring fixed, the students will love it. I hope to wear a few of the more energetic ones out while they learn about energy and its costs.

3 Comments

Nikki
02/01/06

Sounds like you’re really on a roll with this student teaching and that you’ve already established yourself as a teacher who makes learning fun for the kids. Keep at it! And thanks for sharing your thoughts about the experience. It’s inspiring.

Alison
02/02/06

Congratulations on a very successful first lesson! It sounds like your doing very well teaching the students and learning a lot from them. It’s wonderful that you are sharing your experiences which will help other people in the future, even people who aren’t going to be teachers. Keep working with the tough kids they should come around. Just out of curiosity what do you do for a lab about circuits with 6th graders?

Dan Bowling
02/07/06

We build basic circuits, such as hand generator/switch/lamp/motor stuff. I have also talked with them about power plants, and energy use in the home.