Teaching 3 (March 15, 2007)

After the things I learned from my Wednesday lesson, I decided to edit my Thursday lesson (which was in the same set up and format). It went much better. The timing was better on my part because of the use of a timer. Students were engaged with the making connections (list of celebrations of ancient cultures and ours, then connecting the similarities with yarn), and made a wonderful conclusion about culture from the mini-lesson.

A similar difficulty I had Thursday, as I did Wednesday, was the independent work. I thought that I designed the worksheet and activity for their level, but it seems I over estimated and over assumed (?). Linda had to help the small group doing the government lesson most of the time.

The small group that I was teaching was about the families of ancient cultures, compared to one another and to our modern day families. It was a bit of a surprise. I was thrown by some of the information the students shared, which was highly sensitive and personal in nature. The concluding activity (and form of assessment) for the small group lesson was writing about your family make up on an index card. I decided not to collect the cards, because I understood that one or two of the students felt uncomfortable sharing or showing their card to anyone. I didn't want to intrude on their privacy. It was a lesson for me to be more sensitive to the diverse family forms, dynamics, and make-up of my students.