What an Experience

Well, I taught my first lesson to a classroom of 2nd graders and it went great! I taught a lesson on Animal Classification through Direct Instruction. My anticaptory set was a hit with the students. I used the whiteboard to play a game of "What Animal Am I?" and they were so into it. It really showed me how much they love to do anything out of the ordinary and with interaction. My lesson was also well received, and each child was able to name all seven classifications taught by the time I was finished. The next day, we took them to the computer lab for my Animal Classification Webquest. I was a little nervous that they would have problems navigating around but it went so well. It was also the quietest I have ever heard the class! The kids took time to go through each link I provided and really enjoyed it. I am happy I ended the quest with many games to play to show what they learned. They were so excited that the computer teacher said she would save it for them to go through again the next day. I definitely feel better to have gotten my first lesson out of the way because now I am more excited about the next one than nervous. I think the kids can feel my enthusiasm and it rubs off on them. My cooperating teacher is VERY animated and I have been able to see how they respond to him over the past couple of weeks. It has been an incredible learning experience. He is also very big into creating healthy self-esteem for the kids and to promote empathy in his classroom. Even though I have my own seven year old, I never realized how many questions second graders like to ask!! Some pertained to the topic and some did not! One girl raised her hand and asked if I liked her haircut. Well, I have really enjoyed myself this week and feel I have grown immensely. I finally feel "in it" and am so excited for more.

Why Direct Instruction is Not Enough!

Direct Instruction is great for presenting basic information and skills. Yet after the student acquires this information, they must go on to more advanced learning. Indirect Instruction personalizes understanding through student-based learning. The student learns through problem solving and social interaction, they are active in their constructing of new knowledge. It is the teachers role to guide the student through discovery, experience and modeling. It was so nice to watch the video from LICM where the kids eyes just lit up as they discovered new things for themselves. You could actually see them processing it all by the looks on their faces! I know that when I was in school as a young kid, most of my classes were basically DI. It was that rare occasion that we did something different and were hands on in our learning that I came alive. I remember well how excited we would all become when the teacher would say"today we are going to do something special." It is so wonderful now that it is now the norm in schools to mix DI with Indirect Instruction and many different strategies of teaching.