Third Week

The third week was a shorter week due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday.  My partner and I were set to teach a math lesson on Tuesday, however, we were unable to teach it because we mistook Tuesday for Monday.  On Tuesday, we stay in the class for a shorter period of time and we are out before students do math.  For this reason, we had to scramble and after discussing it over with our teacher, we decided to teach a different lesson during Thursday's math class.  This was an interesting dilemma because it allowed for us to see that teachers must always be flexible.  No matter how much a lesson is planned and practiced, something may happen to interfere with the implementation of that lesson.  This was the case for us on Tuesday.  My co-teaching partner and I practiced and went over the lesson a few times during the weekend and were ready to go on Tuesday.  However, early Tuesday morning we realized the mistake and had to make quick arrangements.  Thankfully, our mentor teacher is extremely understanding and had no problem working with us to switch the lessons.  So, we ended up teaching the lesson today.  Although the topic was somewhat difficult and we did not have as much time to prepare, I believe we did well.  It also helps that our class consists of only about 11 students.  The fifth graders are the only ones in the class during math while the fourth graders are out for science.

The lesson that we taught was about using line graphs to describe relationships and tell stories based on the relationships.  The lesson already followed a modified version of the "I do, we do, you do" model, so we were able to get a feel for how our future Pathwise lesson might be.  The lesson was taught out of the teacher resource book, so the framework that I read about in our Better Learning Through Structured Teaching book was not followed exactly.  In addition, my partner and I did not write or come up with the lesson ourselves, therefore, the framework is not exactly as it is described in our book.  Still, we went over what students have been learning during the past few days and then introduced our new topic (I do).  We provided examples and explanations while looking at new material.  Then, we went over a few examples with the students, walking them through the questions when necessary (We do).  Finally, students were given ten minutes to work individually on the rest of the problems (You do).  Clearly, the "you do it together" step is not used.  This is something that I want to make sure is included in my Pathwise lessons.

Lastly, my co-teaching partner and I were able to work with the fourth graders during social studies. The teacher let us work with them as they read from their textbooks and discussed the information.  We also provided guidance as students answered questions about the reading.  The students were somewhat rowdy when we were with them alone.  This was probably due to the fact that this was a new situation for them and they felt less intimidated by us.  This leads me to wonder in which ways and what strategies I could use to show students that I am firm but caring with them.