They always say the third times a charm. By our third lab I felt more comfortable with the peers I was teaching, the room and even being video taped with the microphone attached to my shirt. As nervous as I get for the labs it's also really exciting! For this lab we were challenged with the task of coming up with an interest approach. Something to get our students hooked into what we were doing and excited to learn. I chose to do my interest approach on my monogastric digestion lesson.
After the bellwork, I began by having the students gather around the table with me so we could do a hands on activity. I had the students tear up a peanut butter sandwich like the teeth of an animal would. Then we added water which acted like the saliva or the water the animal would drink. From here we used a cup as a funnel (the esophagus) and put the mixture into a Ziploc bag which acted as the stomach. We even added soda to act like the stomach acids! 
We then moved to the small intestine (a nylon) and talked about how the water that was leaving the nylon was like the nutrients that go into the animals body. We then used paper towels to soak up the excess water just like the large intestine. I was pretty excited to teach this lesson because I definitely am a hands on learner so teaching a hands on lesson was a lot of fun. I was more pleased with my lesson plan this time around because I had my power point printed out and ready to go as well as my guided notes for the students. I definitely think with each lab I am becoming more and more prepared.
The one thing I noticed that I still need to work on is my clarity. This has been a goal of mine for a while. I need to improve on clarity especially when I am giving directions. Sometimes it makes sense in my head but I don't articulate as well as I could.
I really enjoyed this lab and I'm looking forward to our genius hour we are having the next lab session!
"Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out."
Wow Laura! Your interest approach sounds awesome! I'm jealous that I wasn't able to see you demonstrate it. From the sounds of it, your interest approach is a great way to hook students while showing them what actually happens in the digestion process. I know I haven't watched your lab videos yet but from reading your blog post, it sounds like you are growing as a pre-service teacher! Keep up the great work and continue to reflect!
ReplyDeleteLaura, I think your interest approach sounds awesome! Great creativity. As for your clarity one thing you might try is typing out instruction sheets for tasks in class, you can pass them out to students to follow while reading them allowed before the tasks. This allows you to make sure what you want to say is clear and concise, and also gives students a reference so they don't have to ask what they should do next continuously.
ReplyDeleteLaura
ReplyDeleteThat is a great interest approach! I am kinda jealous I didn't get to participate! Clarity is definitely something we all struggle with so don't feel like you're alone. We all know what we want to say and we may even put it down in our lesson but sometimes it just doesn't come out right. Practice makes perfect and after we are more comfortable with the material and how to teach I am sure it will be easier.
Great job!!