What went well? During the activity, I felt that the lab management portion of the lesson went very well and provided us the opportunity to build upon the content covered over the past two days. I was able to keep many of the students on task (often a difficult thing to do in my classroom) and because the activity was short, I didn’t have the attention-span issues which often plagued longer investigations. In addition, I because I was more explicit with my introduction to the activity and directions, the students were better prepared when they started the activity.
What would I have changed? I believe that I should have done a better job at explaining the Predict/Observe/Explain activity – even though the students have completed one of these activities in the past, they still seem unsure about how to effectively and successful engage in it – they are still confused about the important role of evidence in making predictions and synthesizing conclusions.
What did I learn about my students? I learned that it takes a lot to engage my students and that they can find sometimes inappropriate humor in any situation which works to derail productivity.
What did I learn about myself? I do feel that my energy and passion in the material does allow me to motivate certain students who might not otherwise engage in the material. I need to then channel that energy through more interactive opportunities to provide a more inquiry-based experience for my students to develop their individualized conceptual understanding. In addition, I have yet to key into the motivation of many of my students – it is extremely frustrating to plan activities and assignments thinking that because they are authentic, only to be “shot down” when the majority of students do not complete them. Hopefully my energy and enthusiasm can work to encourage more students to become engaged in the material and the planned activities.
How did I create a meaningful learning community? By integrating a variety of learning styles (written, visual, and auditory expression) as well as allowing for the social construction of a framework for the development of conceptual understanding, I believe that I was able to provide each student with the necessary content to build comprehension of the anaerobic processes of cellular respiration. In addition, by incorporating an authentic assessment I believe that I was able to introduce students to a different but more valid form of evaluation which incorporated their learning and expressive styles.
Also, students had the opportunity to work in groups of three on their Predict/Observe/Explain activity and fulfill a role most comfortable to them as a means of contributing to their group’s completion of the assigned work.
2 comments on this topic
7. December - 12:57 pm
Jake,
Your energy and enthusiasm certainly will have an affect on your students! I think it just takes a little time because initially they interpret the enthusiasm as being weird or silly but they will get used to it and it will become contagious. Having energy is something I need to work on for sure! It does take a lot go engage students, I think even really cool non-school-ish activities can be unsuccessful because students force themselves to view them as a school activity and don’t always recognize that it is different and really cool. Again, I think it just takes time, they aren’t used to this type of work but once they see themselves succeeded and enjoying it they will be hooked!
7. December - 1:31 pm
Laura,
I totally agree – I know that I seem nerdy and weird to my students sometimes because I can really get into the material, but I hope that it is infectious! One thing that I have to work on is my pacing – when I get into a topic, I tend to keep going and going and possibly lose students in my “relevant tangents.” It is my hope that I can implement activities so more of my students will engage in the material and like you said, they are not used to it (one of the frustrating parts of implementing inquiry – see my “rant”).
Thanks again for the feedback!