Lab 4 - Problem solving lab

This weeks lab for me was the problem solving lab and it went ok I guess although I didn't think I did well.  I started out teaching my lesson on welding by asking the students a little bit about welding to see what they already knew.  I had a situation to be improved as my problem solving approach so I read a prompt about a boy named Timmy and how he was trying to weld a new bumper that he got at a junk yard onto his truck.  He was trying to get the welder to work but it just wouldn't strike an arc so he could well.  He became frustrated and confused so as a class we helped him solve his problem.  All of this was going ok so far. The class got into groups of two and brain stormed so ideas as to what may be Timmy's problem and jotted them down on a sheet of paper.  I had one student come up and write down the possible problems that the rest of the class shared so we could all see and remember what they were.  Then all of a sudden at this point, my mind went blank and I couldn't remember what to do! Oh no!  We wrapped this up and then went over what we learned yesterday, today, and what we will tomorrow and then class was dismissed.

I think the problem solving approach is a great idea and very useful, it just requires that you be on top of your game as well as an expert in the field that you are teaching.  I feel that by not being an expert with welding or the problem solving approach, that may be some of why I feel the lesson didnt go that great.  I wish I would have better developed the ending piece so I wouldn't have forgotten when my mind went blank and I started freaking out inside my head so I could have wrapped class up much better.  I guess that is just how it goes, just got to keep working at it to get better each time.

Lab 3 - Demonstration

So for this lab we had to do a demonstration.  I thought it was going to be a fun lab as I planned and prepped for it but ended up not so much being the case.  I did my demonstration on learning how to make beads of weld by using crackers and easy cheese from a can.  I thought it was a wonderful idea for a few reasons. The first being Dr. Ewing suggested it to me and the second because it allowed you to practice but gave you food to eat in the end so nothing was wasted besides the trap chain link I had to cut up for my interest approach.  What is more fun than learning how to weld while getting to eat snacks? Nothing that I can think of!  I feel I did fairly well on my demonstration although I did forget a few things which is kind of expected since we are all still learning and not experts yet.  My grade however apparently revealed otherwise since it was awful.  My lesson plan was also much better and more organized since I used the template everyone is familiar with.  My times for the instructions even added up to the time length of the class although it was noted other wise on the plan.  I made it really easy to follow the teacher says, teacher does; teacher does, student does; and student says in my demonstration which was good because that is what our instructions were.  Either way, I had a lot of fun doing this demonstration that taught students how to weld as well as gave them cheese and crackers for a snack.