Creativity Lab!

For our final lab of the year we had the chance to challenge our creativity. We were asked to bring along our favorite unit plan that we had written so far and that's all we knew about the lab. When we got there, we were told that we were going to the Dollar Store and we had five dollars to purchase some things to make a lesson or the unit more creative.

I chose to bring along my genetics unit plan and I had no idea what I was going to buy at the Dollar Store to help teach one of these lessons. When we got there I looked around for a while trying to get
ideas. Then I found a bunch of fun crazy colored hair pieces. I got two brown, two lighter brown and one really bright red! My plan for these hair pieces is to choose one color that is dominant and one color that is recessive. Students will then put two of the hair pieces together and determine what color hair the offspring will have.

I really enjoyed this lab and thought that it was a fun idea. It really got me thinking out of the box to figure out unique ways to teach my content. It was really interesting to see what my classmates picked up as well!

I think that having creativity in the classroom is great for many reasons. First, it can make the learning experience more fun for the students. It can also get students thinking about the content and ways that hadn't before. This lab definitely made me want to think of unique and creative way to teach more of my content during student teaching.

" Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen, but thinking what no one else has thought."

- Albert Einstein 

Lab: Inquiry Based Instruction

Today was our last lab that we taught in front of this group of peers and it was definitely the most
stressful for me. I really had trouble coming up with a topic to teach for my Inquiry Based Unit of Instruction. Once I finally got my lesson figured out I was pumped!

I was going to use Easter Eggs and M&M's to teach about genetics, specifically dominant and recessive genes. Each student was given an egg and the shell was either a solid color or a combination of two colors. After brainstorming with a partner and then as a whole class. The students
had to determine what color the 4 M&M's in their egg were based on the color of their plastic egg shell. After figuring out what color was dominant and which was recessive, they were then given 4 M&M's and had to determine what color their shells should be.

It took a while to get my lesson plan laid out along with the lab worksheets for the students. I was pretty nervous to do this lab because it was the most complicated of the ones I have written so far. The lab started out well but then got pretty intense. Once we got to the point of opening the eggs to figure out what the different colors were, I could tell the students were getting a little stressed
because they couldn't figure it out.

The most frustrating part for me was that it made sense to me and I knew what the answer should be but I didn't know how to explain to my students without giving away the answer. We were able to get to the answer and get the lab finished but the students and I were both frustrated at one point or the other.

I think the lesson can be really awesome with some changes. It was a great hands on activity for the students and a great visual of what dominant and recessive genes mean. Even though this lab didn't go exactly the way I had planned or hoped, I am looking forward to making some changes and teaching this lesson again!

"It's not about how bad you want it,  it's about how hard you are willing to work."

Lab: The Problem Solving Approach

This lab on the problem solving approach was by far the most difficult for me! Everything from coming up with an idea and writing the lesson plan seemed to be challenging. I finally decided to do my lesson on food supply and population growth. 

I began with a interest approach that involved cutting up an apple to display the different parts of the world where we are able to produce food. It ended with just a small piece of the skin that represented the total amount of land for food production. I was pretty excited about this part of the lesson and it went well. 

We then worked through a series of questions in small groups then as an entire class. I knew that questions were super important to the problem solving approach so I was really focused on making sure my questions were good while writing my lesson plan. However, when actually presenting in lab I felt my question could have been better. 

Another thing I struggled with was making the subject matter really relevant to the students and making sure they knew exactly what question we were trying to solve. The lab didn't go as well as I hoped but overall I really enjoyed it. 

I feel that the problem solving approach can be very beneficial and effective in the classroom! It may take some extra planning and thought but in the end can be really cool! I'm looking forward to use the problem solving approach during student teaching!

"Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven't planted"

~David Bly

Lab #3: The Interest Approach

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."

Lab #2: The First Day of School

I was very nervous to do my first day of school lesson in front of a small group of my peers who I consider my friends. I can only imagine how nervous I will be when I actually have to teach in front of real students, in a real classroom as a real teacher!

For this lab we had to come up with our classroom procedures, expectations and consequences then present them to our students just like it was our first day of school! The one thing we have heard over and over again that really played a part in this lab was making sure you hook the students in right from the beginning. This was the hardest part for me. How can I make sure the students are excited to be here and engaged in what i'm saying?

Those who know me know that I am obsessed with music. I thought that having a nice upbeat song playing while they students come into the classroom and begin their bellwork would make the mood a little lighter and would maybe make them a little bit happier! It would at least keep me sane for a while.

One of my biggest fears about becoming a teacher is classroom management. This was the first lab that our peers role played as typical students. Some were distracted by technology, some were sleeping, some were talking and the list goes on and on. I think this is such a good way to get us ready for what a real classroom is like. Of course its just a tiny sneak peak into what a real classroom would be like but it gives us the chance to try and work out what we would do in a situation like that.

Even though I was very nervous I was also very excited. I feel like these labs are really beneficial to our future careers! There are many things I want to improve on but overall I was pleased with the way my first day of school lab went!

Next weeks lab? Interest approaches!

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone"

Reflective Teaching Lesson: The First Lab!

I'm the kinda person who likes to have everything planned out. I like to know what i'm going to do and how i'm going to do it. Therefore, when I was given two days to plan a lesson on "magic squares" I was a little freaked out. I was nervous that my lesson wasn't going to be perfect and I was going to fail at the task. 

A Magic Square! Using numbers
1 through 9, each column, row
and diagonal adds up to 15 

After spending time trying to figure my lesson out on my own, I wrote out a short lesson plan, practiced what I was going to do and what I was going to say. My lesson was on magic squares and the task was to get my lab group to successfully complete a magic square by the end of my teaching. If you're wondering, a magic square is one where all rows, columns and diagonals add up to the same number but you can only use each number once! 

I was so nervous for my first lab, especially since we were being video taped! However, as soon as I got to the room, I wasn't nervous anymore. That's one thing I love about my major, we have all become so close that I wasn't afraid to teach my lesson for them. I knew they were going to help me and make this experience fun. My lesson went pretty well and the feedback that I got from my peers will be so beneficial in helping me move forward.

One thing I need to work on is making sure my directions are as clear as they can be. After explaining how to complete parts of the magic square I had a lot of questions. I feel that if I would have been more clear in my instructions that could have answered those questions. 

 I thought this was a great way to kick off our AEE412 lab. It gave us the chance to understand what was expected, got us comfortable in the room, with the video tape and with each other. This experience taught me that as long as you prepare, have an idea of what you are doing and have confidence in yourself and your lesson, things will turn out okay. I'm looking forward to the rest of our labs. I think they are a great learning experience and are gonna help prepare us to be the greatest agents of change that we can be! 

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong."

~Joesph Chilton Pearce