So, today was somewhat overwhelming. I taught my first lesson to my first grade class on centimeters. As part of my lesson, I had prepared small ziploc bags for each child that were filled with 5 pieces of long candy that they could measure in centimeters. As I began to give the lesson I could tell that they were so excited, so excited that I had a hard time managing them as they were all wanting to know if they were going to get their own bag of candy to eat. The lesson went very well, I had their full undivided attention on the rug, and I could tell that they were understanding the concept of measuring in centimeters.
After the lesson, I had them go back to their seats and I passed out a bag of candy to each child and a worksheet. What I found was that they were almost too excited about the candy to even complete the worksheet. I told them that they may have one piece of candy after they have completed the worksheet though so that they would have their focus on the worksheet and its completion and not just the candy. Overall, I feel like the lesson went very well. The students did a great job with the worksheet and seemed to really understand what we were doing. I did have to answer a lot of questions at each child's desk and give a lot of individual attention. I also had to modify the lesson quickly as I realized that their everyday math rulers only went up to 15 cm and the pencil I had given them to measure was 19cm. I had to change things up and put them in pairs to answer this question so that they could use two rulers and measure as best as they could to the nearest centimeter. I called this more of a challenge question to get them to think and they seemed to love it.
The only thing that I had some difficulty with was classroom management because they were so excited about the candy it was a little bit difficult to keep them focused on the task at hand and several times I had to raise my hand to get them to quiet down and re-focus. Other than that, I feel that the lesson went very well and I look forward to teaching more as they will get easier and easier the more that I do and the better that I know the students in my class.
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Glad it went well. Candy can be a big distraction for some. I am glad you learned from it though. I am sure Mrs. Fisher was able to give you good suggestions for your next lesson.
ReplyDeleteI just gave my first lesson this morning and I would say the biggest issue I had was the management of the group as well. I did not give out candy but I had them playing a matching game. I talked to Theresa after my lesson and she made a great point as to why they may have been a little rowdy. The game had only one child go at a time, so it seemed that the children waiting got bored and distracted quite easily. I will definitely take this into thought when planning my next lesson.
ReplyDeleteWhen I did my math lesson, I had to deal with classroom management too. When the students are actively envolved and moving around. It tends to cause them to get excited. However, I would rather have them excited about learning instead of getting off task because they are bored. With our teachers help and colaborating with other canadates, our classroom management skills will improve.
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