My Experience
1) GK-12 Regional Meeting Washington D.C.- Poster
a) Met with other GK-12 Fellows around the country
b) Observed and traded different ideas and resources with other GK-12 Fellows
and teachers
c) Obserserved different posters and what problems are faced by the GK-12 Program
2) Challenges:
One of the most difficult challenges I faced as a GK-12 Fellow in the classroom was to keep
the students interested in the topics being presented to them. The method I found most useful
was to try to bring in new demos or activities everyday whenever I could, so that the students
would always be wondering and anticipating what would be the lesson for the day.
For example, bringing in my laptop for the topography activity got everyone interested first in
the cool GK-12 laptop, then the actual software being presented to them which they could
play around with to help them on their worksheets (Lesson 7).
3) New attitudes about teaching:
a) Very Tiring - to keep 8th graders interested for the entire school day drains a lot out of
you, mainly from questions due to increased interest in the material being presented to them.
Therefore, in order to teach the topics so that everyone follows, you need to go at a slow
pace, write BIG on the board, and ask your audience questions to test if they know what
your taking about.
b) Encourage "off topic" discussions which help enhance the lesson plans and student interest
ex. waves - how that relates to cell phones and light.
light - properties and spectrum, how does that relate to the sky being blue
Chemistry - why is carbon dioxide used in paintball guns
4) Effective Teacher:
a) Must be prepared and try to schedule everything in advance, rather than preparing lesson
plans last minute. This shows the students that you know the topic your talking about
and there is a greater degree of "trust" that they know you know the topic and that you can
relate it to what they see everyday
b) At the 8th grade level, always try to never "brush off" a question. Always address all relevant
questions since this can lead to greater student participation and student interest. Sacrifice being
that you may not cover everything you want, but the students will be anticipating your next class
c) Activities where students can get up, move around, and TALK during class so that they don't
become bored. Students then become interested and anticipate the next class, as well
as observing hands on activities of concepts being taught
ex. Conservation of Mass (Lesson 3)
5) Connections:
a) For those classes that I do not have good background in, I have asked one of my fellow
GK-12 Fellows to come and give a guest presentation.
When we were going over cells, I asked Tulay Tankir to come in and give a guest presentation
Result: students behaved differently, probably since there was a new face in the classroom,
something DIFFERENT and unexpected than they were use to, which helps to keep students
interested in your class
b) Talking with other teachers in Atlantic Middle School, I hear that my students say that they
love my class, but that they hate other classes (ex. Spanish). I have developed a homework
where all the science questions are in Spanish, conforming to what they are learning in
Spanish Class and developing it with their Spanish Teacher to try and show them that
all the classes they are taking in school are important, especially learning another language.
I have also tried to incorporate math questions into my homeworks to allow the students to see
that math is also an important class that they should not brush off.
6) Impact:
a) Time Management
b) Presentation of material to those who are just seeing it for the first time
c) Career as teacher (possibly) |