So we had the second teaching lab and for this lab, we were assigned to teach an interest approach for a lesson. It was a fun lab because interest approaches are fun and exciting in order to pique the learners interest so the will want to learn and focus on learning. I got to see a variety of interest approaches from the other teachers in my lab be performed. That helped me kind of see what I want to try and shoot for time wise with interest approaches. I feel that some of them were a little to long, especially if the class is only 45 minutes like I will have at James Buchannan. A ten minute interest approach just seems to take to much class time for a 45 minute period but it may be about right for an 80 minute period.
I feel like I liked my interest approach of throwing a stuffed cow to the students and having them point to a body part on it and say the name was a good interest approach for a few reasons. I liked it because it was short, sweet, simple, and to the point. It didn't go to long so it didn't use much of the class time. Another reason I liked my interest approach was that it served as a pre-test for the students. If they can identify a lot of the parts already, you as the teacher will know to move fast through the material. If they don't know many parts, that is a sign that you should slow down as you teach the material and make sure they grasp the concepts.
I think this was a great lab for us to think about so we will get good at doing interest approaches, because without a good interest approach there isn't much of a point to teach the lesson if the students wont be focused on learning.
It was good that you figured out a timetable for your interest approach Billy. There is a fine line where you can keep the students interested, or lose them completely for the rest of the class. Your interest approach seemed straight to the point, and that can be good in some instances. Make sure, though, to place some inquiry/problem solving learning into your approach. I understand you wanted it to be a pretest, but discussing the parts of the cow and maybe some other information relevant to the parts would be more fitting to see what they really know. Make sure you focus on some important questions so you can transition into your lesson and create relevance. We are all learning through this process so keep it up!
ReplyDeleteHi Billy,
ReplyDeleteI like that by using your interest approach you're able to gauge the prior knowledge of the students, in order to set up the rest of the lesson. I'm sure that the students would like it much better as well because it's not a pre-test and they probably wouldn't even know that you're using this as an assessment. I think you handled classroom management issues, they don't seem to be an issue in your classroom! Great job Billy
Cool!! I love your interest approach, its a definite simple, fun way to gauge their understanding and get them ready for the content to be learned.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the time constraints, I only have 42 minutes and it seems like it is SO SHORT. But interest approaches are still important, as we need to be sure the students are set to learn so that the rest of our period is actually effective!
Billy; I really liked how you used a stuffed cow as part of your interest approach. I thought it was really cool how you had us toss it and point to different parts. It kept all of us engaged and gave everyone a chance to participate. I also thought it would be pretty cool if you were able to being a real small heifer into class for another idea for an interest approach for you! Not really sure what your school's rule are on that but it could be something to think about! Great job! Hopefully your students will enjoy it too!
ReplyDeleteBilly,
ReplyDeleteI liked the point that you made about taking 10 minutes on an interest approach for a 45 minute class period. Yours sure was fast and easy, and pretty funny with the name and the tossing of the cow! Also I like how Annette mentioned that the interest approach was a good way to gage how much the students knew about the topic starting off. Nice job!! :)