It was a difficult week in terms of planning due to Eckstein taking the MSP test. For some reason, the way the schedule turned out, we had 1st,2nd, and 3rd periods one more day than we had 4th, 5th, and 6th periods. Luckily we still had some presentations that didn’t get finished in first and second periods that allowed us to make use of the time. The rest of the periods were used as review of the moon phases and eclipses. It is difficult to try to plan around disrupted week schedules. To add to the scheduling difficulties the band was allowed to schedule a field trip for one of the days. This means that every student who goes on the field trip will have to make up the test on Monday. Situations like these make planning difficult. They also highlight the need for well thought out plans and the need for alternative plans. This has been a weakness for me not only throughout this internship but in my life. I have always been someone who lives a bit spontaneously. I have found myself on several occasions this year trying to be spontaneous in my lesson planning. As one might expect these lessons didn’t always go so well. It feels bad to have a bad lesson and even worse when the lesson is bad due to your lack of planning. i have gotten much better in my lesson planning as the year has progressed. Not just the lesson for the next day but for subsequent lessons.
Lesson Reflection Introduction to Rocks February 3, 2010
The minerals and rocks unit is somewhat new for the science department at Eckstein. For that reason I had some freedom to do what I wanted with the unit. Since this isn’t a unit that was done extensively before there are limited numbers of rock and mineral specimens. Me being the student teacher I got to start off with rocks as opposed to minerals. Minerals is probably more appropriate to start with since many rocks are made of minerals. I decided to start the unit with an introduction to rocks with emphasis on how different types of rock have been used by various cultures through history. I Gathered quite a few pictures online of rocks as building material, artifact, or sacred site. Some of the pictures were of early stone tools, stone roads, ancient buildings such as the pyramids, Ankor Wat, and sacred sites such as Stonehenge and Uluru (Ayer’s Rock). The lesson ended with an extended talk about Easter Island and the Moai statues that dot the Island. I think the the lesson went pretty well. Even though it was mostly a discussion/presentation lesson the students seemed to stay attentive (or asleep). It was a useful lesson in that I think most people don’t really think about the rocks around them and all the ways rocks are used around the world. I hope the students learned, or at least heard, a couple of new and interesting tidbits. See the written lesson plan here.
