Week 2

This week during class was a big one. Lesson Plans. I am SO excited to have been introduced to writing lesson plans! This is what I wanted to do when I decided to become a teacher- to brainstorm and develop ways to help students learn to the best of their ability. I believe that every student can learn and that every student has a great mind! We, as teachers, have to learn how to develop lessons that draw out the strengths in each of our students. On Monday we had a chance to experience the "Walking Classroom" for the first time. I personally loved this learning experience! I learn well when I am able to take information in at my own pace and can get more details when necessary. With the walking classroom, I was able to pause to think and take notes when I needed to, and able to replay information that maybe I missed the first time through. The walking classroom was ideal for the way I learn. This is similar to how I learn through videos as well. I LOVE to learn with videos because of all of the same reasons that I loved the walking classroom. I was so interested in this teaching style that I read an article about some other ideas for creative ways to engage a class. One idea that I stumbled across was "lightning round" discussions.

Lightning Rounds

Just the name "lightning round" suggests energy. Make it even more dramatic by playing up the concept of speed, fun and excitement. Have your discussion questions prepared in advance so that you can ask them faster. Short-answer questions obviously work best for this technique. Students have 30 seconds (or a more appropriate time for your particular class) to answer. They can either answer or pass -- and no negativity is associated with passing. Ask the questions rapidly while growing the anticipation for each next question by imitating quiz show lightning rounds: "Are you ready for the next question? Here it comes." Ask the question before calling on a student so that all students must be ready to answer. The lightning round should take no longer than ten minutes, the approximate time that the energy begins to diminish.

I love this because it creates fun in your classroom! Students hardly even realize that they are sitting in a classroom learning because it feels like a game show! I love that.

Through this fun and different learning experience, we got a chance to be introduced to the 6-Point Lesson Plan. I loved getting to start working on writing my first one. I think it is really interesting to see how my teachers followed a very similar structure throughout my time in grade school. Learning how to write these lesson plans is so important to us as teacher candidates. Being able to successfully plan your time in a classroom shows that you are able to lay the groundwork before you step in front of students. If we had not learned how to do this, our classrooms would be a wreck because of the lack of planning. With my future class, I think that I will go through and unpack all of my standards during the summer. Then, I will plan all of my lessons one week at a time. I can plan the lessons over the weekend (or even earlier) so that I know what I am doing every day for that given week. This gives me a chance to have time for creativity and I will be able to be fully prepared with all of my materials needed.