Observations Week of 11/13 - Back at it again!

The past week and a half I have been on a break from observing in my classroom to focus on preparing for our MNU conference, and because our teacher ed class was switching up our school assignments!

But, I choose to stay at my same observation school/classroom and not switch for a couple of reasons... 

One, the drive time to the observation school is unbeatable as it only takes me about 2 minutes or less (which is really convenient when I get held up at my home high school during the morning for activities!) But MORE importantly I chose not to switch my classroom because I felt like I was finally getting to know the kids, and they were finally getting to know and feel comfortable with me. Plus, my observation teacher is the best! She's so kind, knowledgable, helpful, and open to and excited for me to help out in student teaching the class! 

This week in their class (6th-grade social studies... in case you have forgotten 😉) they have now moved away from Ancient Egypt and are now learning about Ancient India! 

On Wednesday, they spent most of the time on teacher-led instruction/class discussion on the geography of Ancient India and it's significance/impact on its ancient empires and people. What I found quite interesting is that even though it was a day with a lot of teacher instruction, that it wasn't lecture style like I expected. Their teacher would ask a question that prompted them to think critically and then come up with the answer/content themselves, while still guiding them, adding more info occasionally, and correcting them when they weren't 100% right. So, even though it was a day of taking notes and learning new material, it was more of an open class discussion of the material which really helped the kids become more focused and fascinated with the content. 

On Friday, they continued to build on the content they were learning on Wednesday. They divided their time pretty evenly between three activities: watching a video, reviewing, and homework work-time. They started class by watching a 20-minute animated, informational video that introduced new content they would be learning in the coming week, and it also reviewed material they had covered on Wednesday; it was an informational yet entertaining and relaxing way to start off a Friday class period for the students. They then took another 20 minutes to review their packets and material so far in a unit, while also having a class discussion about it. This review had very similar benefits to what I mentioned on Wednesday, and it was very interesting for me to listen in on what the kids had to say about the content and how profound they were in making connections! especially for their age! They ended the day by having 15 minutes to work on homework, which I know the students REALLY appreciated and they were all very hard at work and used their time wisely. 

In all, this was another fantastic week of learning about new concepts and ideas that I can incorporate into the classroom and lesson plans, while also growing my love more for my future profession.