Post 10: 6th Grade

When my group taught a sixth grade class, we focused on their social studies curriculum and taught a lesson on invention and innovation. As a team, we has three sections. Jessica M. and I taught about the assembly line and had an activity in which the student created their own production plan. We gave each team unassembled pens and some paper to insert a logo. We gave them time to come up with a plan, then gave them one minute to put their plan into action, then some more time to fix their plan, and finally three minutes to make as many pens as possible.

It was fun, but I could also see that the students were making connections to real life applications. One student used the term "assembly line" before we did and another student brought up Henry Ford before we did. The students made it clear that the content we were teaching was not new to them, but the activity was well received although they were familiar with the material, the practice was worthwhile.

Post 9: Teaching Noted

One major mistake I made in this teaching exercise was during a class discussion. I was doing a pretest to determine what the students understood as reasons for maintaining equipment and I did not record the responses I was collecting. I should have written the correct answers on the board. I did go back over the list with the students orally, but it would have been more clear if I had written it down.

I don't like it when teachers do this. I have a tendency to ignore the comments of my peers. (I find it obnoxious when students constantly raise their hands to tell stories. This is hypocritical because I often make comments or ask question in class, but I don't find it annoying when I do it.) If their comments are relevant to what I need to know, then I often miss it. I need the teacher to authenticate students' observations as valid.