I was very prepared for today. I had ALL my grades done for the first nine weeks. I had copies made. I had cleaned my room and rearranged the desks into groups on Tuesday. My lesson plan was a creative two-part review for a BIG test next Tuesday. The first part was low on Bloom's, a simple competition to test them for knowledge. The second part was more complicated and ambitious. I had separate groups prepare an outline for one of the possible essay questions on the test and share with the rest of the class. That way, the whole class should conceivably have the outlines for all the questions. I thought things would go simply.
In second period, not surprisingly, they did go smoothly. My students weren't as familiar with how to support an argument as I thought they would be, but I taught a good mini-lesson on it on the fly. They participated and some decent learning took place.
My seventh period seriously pissed me off. They ruined my day just as it had started. We could not get through the first part of the review because a rebel group in the back left part of the room seceded from the rest of the class. The talking was contagious and they didn't learn anything.
My fourth period kept cheating and calling the answers out loud, so the game I had planned took a nosedive. Then Lunch. Then, a "Code Red" was announced on the intercom. I knew that meant some s*** was going down, but I wasn't sure what the students and I were supposed to do. Thankfully, they announced that all students should be in a classroom or office and that teachers were not to allow anyone out of the room for any reason. It was Code Red for 50 minutes. Considering the situation, my kids did pretty well with the second half of the review. Some of them even listened to me when I said it would be a smart idea to copy down the outlines. It turned out there was a fight and possible weapon sighting in the student parking lot. I feel like I got beat up today, especially since I was so prepared. Preparation is a necessity when teaching, but it is not a guarantee of success.
posted by Mr. Moore at 4:33 PM
2 Comments:
I know it's probably hard to articulate, but can you tell us what its like when you see people learning in front of your eyes? Like when "They participated and some decent learning took place." Thought it would be cool to hear about that...
Stay cool.
11:09 PM
It's amazing when I see learning, but it's very hard to quantify.
I know I have taught a good lesson when the students are independently motivated to finish the assignment. Here's the 5-step learning I try to stick to.
Do Now: warm up activity they have to do right away.
1) Opening: Gotta have a hook and tell them what their objective is. It's also good to connect back to prior knowledge.
2) Intro to New Material: lecture, reading, etc. on whatever the topic is.
3) Guided Practice: Students try to do it on their own and I help.
4) Independent Practice: Students work alone.
5) Closing: broader implications, look ahead
6:27 PM
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