Current/former teachers
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive September 2008:
Current/former teachers
I went back to school this Fall and am majoring in Education. I am excited and scared and am going through cycles of having a lot of self-confidence to having none at all. Lately, it seems as if I have no confidence at all where school is concerned. I was so looking forward to it but forgot just how stressful it is. I keep asking myself why I would willingly add the extra stress to my life! The funny thing is the instructor told the class that at the end of these 15 weeks he should have convinced all of us to become teachers, but he may be scaring me away! LOL
Well, we received our first assignment, due in two weeks: we need to present a lesson to the class. We need to write a lesson, choose what grade level we would like to eventually teach and present the lesson at that grade level and we are only being given 10 minutes to do it. I am drawing a blank. I am leaning towards teaching the primary grades, but still can't for the life of me come up with any ideas! Any ideas? Anyone? Maybe just some words of encouragement.  I'm not so much concerned about writing the lesson plan (yet) if I could just come up with an idea! I feel so unprepared. I feel more like it's sink or swim and I'm sinking! I wish I would stop feeling so discouraged. Ugh.
What subject would you like to explore for this lesson? Math? Science? Social Studies? Language Arts?
Ok, I dont know if this will help you at all...But I get a sheet of paper and brainstorm. Brainstorm the grade levels you think you are interested and then the subject...Then choose one that looks like it would be easy to do (find info for,etc), and do in 10 minutes. lol
I am not sure if this would be acceptable but, I would choose Kindergarten ART!!! And fingerpaint. But I am DORK. Or PE... I would so do a PE lesson. And make my classmates do jumping jacks or play a elementary school silly game, etc... Whatever you do, Make it FUN!!!!!
Good luck, you can do it!!!
I just started college last month for Early Childhood Education. I'm taking two online classes right now: Intro to Early Childhood Education and Child Growth and Development. So far I've just had to write papers, participate in online discussions (since it's an online class) and do some checklists. If I had your assignment I'd probably do a 5th or 6th grade geometry lesson plan or a science plan. Those are both really interesting subjects that can expand into something further. There are some really neat science experiments that can be done in 10 minutes that are relatively easy, not too messy and don't require a lot of supplies. A google search for kids science experiments will give you lots of ideas. Have fun with this! And you'll do great.
How about a fun fall activity for K? You could write a lesson plan that involves a class trip the orchard to pick apples. When they get back, it could turn into a science/cooking activity, making apple sauce. At the same time you'd be working on math, as they count, measure, etc. It's also lots of fun!
We used to play a game at the beginning of the year in both preschool and kindergarten to get introduce the kids to each other. The teacher would take a picture of the kids individually and paste it on an apple and then on another set of apples, the names of the children - then they would play "memory" and try and get a match.
Do you have present the lesson as if the class were the students? It sounds like no, because 10min. wouldn't be enough time. If you're just presenting the lesson from an informational point of view, then 10min. would be about right. I'm assuming you do not need to provide the materials for each 'student' to complete the lesson? 10min. is too short for that.
Are you getting an elem. or secondary degree? If elem., then you have 1-6 in my state to choose from. Kdg. is separate coursework and licensing, and not inclu. in the elem ed degree. Within that, do you prefer smaller kids or the older ones? You could pick a 1-3 lesson, or a 4-6 lesson, and then show how you might change the lesson based on the grade. What variations would you make for 3rd compared to 1st,for example,for the same lesson.
Or you could just choose one specific grade, pick a subject you like, and go from there. It sounds very open-ended, which often makes it more difficult IMO, because you're overwhelmed by the possibilities. You'll be doing this for the rest of your degree work though, so it's a good start! Constant lesson planning, constant presenting. Then you will start teaching and figure out that it didn't help you AT ALL...that nothing you learned in college is for real-life and you'll start over in the real classroom. (Aaahhh...that's the fun of it. Don't be discouraged!) Every teacher I know agrees that they should have been able to skip college and just get thrown into the classroom as their 'education'. It's the only way, but you can't tell that to many professors. That's a different topic.
Good luck! You'll do just fine.
IMO, a lesson and a subject are two different things. You have many different lessons in a subject. For instance, in third grade health, my kids learned about hand washing. The teacher broke it down like this:
* Why it was important to wash hands.
* Germs - what they are and how you get them.
* Did an experiment with 3 kids - one who washed with cold water no soap, one with hot/warm water no soap, and one who washed with hot water and soap.
* She then put some solution on the hands that showed all of the germs when a special light was shined on them.
* She then had them write some type of paragraph and do a drawing of germs.
In about 10 minutes, she had taught the kids a lesson on handwashing. The bigger subject was health. She used some visuals and an experiment to get the point across.
You could apply this principal to any subject. Good luck. I always wanted to be a teacher but it just didn't work out that way.
Dora, I'd like to do that lesson in my own home!
Thanks to all of you for reading and responding!
To answer some questions; I am leaning towards the younger grades (K - 4). Yes, we are only given 10 minutes to present a lesson on a specific idea - he gave examples of previous students teaching algebra, origami and how to read Braille. He left it very open-ended which makes it hard! At least for me. I thought about doing a science experiment or activity geared for 1st or 2nd grade, I just don't know yet what to do!
Deanna, you're scaring me a little bit! LOL I have to ask, though, would you do it again? I'm learning that many new teachers leave teaching for various reasons, but a lot of the time, it's just not what they expected. It's really giving me pause. This instructor teaches in an urban high school during the day and seems to be pretty straight forward about the profession, but I also wonder if he isn't just a bit jaded since he's been teaching for so long (30+ years).
The subject is just a broad area to choose a lesson from. If you like science, go with that. For your first time around, I would choose something in a subject that YOU really like (like science maybe).
I don't want to scare you. I L-O-V-E teaching! I taught for 7 years, and after year one I knew what I was getting into. I don't know your prof obviously, but he might not be jaded. You have to tell me if you think this sounds jaded: It's the hardest job (outside of parenting!), but so worth it. I do think that future teachers are not given a real-life view of what teaching is and what it involves though. I think it's emotional, stressful, fun, fulfilling, never a dull moment, wonderful way to impact the future. It keeps you young! You are expected to know how to handle EVERY child that comes your way, from the smartest easiest child right on through a special needs child with a diagnosis you've never heard of. It's easy to get burn-out, so you have to keep checks on yourself. I also know that it is a min. of 50hr/week job, there's just no way around that. It was a 50hr/wk job for me at 7 years in, more like 65 the first year. I know that secondary teachers I'm friends with aren't necessarily *in* the classroom that much, but they spend it instead at home grading/going through papers.
I think the people that don't last are the people who a)just don't have the family life to tolerate it so they don't have enough time for work; or b)just realize they don't love it enough for the time and pay. Speaking from an early childhood/elementary point of view, you are so many things. Teaching academics is just one part. You are often also mother, a confidant, a friend, always a disciplinarian, a nurse, a mediator, a psychologist, an advocate,and a social worker - sometimes all in the same day. You are constantly challenged to think of new ways to teach, to meet everyone's needs. I think that's why I love it so much. It's really a cool job - if you love it! Like I said, the people who don't, figure that out pretty quickly. There are MANY people leaving teaching and not ever starting in it because of the negatives (many I mentioned above), but if you love it, you find a way around those things. I absolutely love it and feel called to teach. The only job I'd rather be doing is being at home with my own little one.
You don't know when you're in college that the actually "education" you get to be an educator will end up being totally on the job.
Try looking at the state standards. Your state probably has them on their DOE website. Look at the standards for science in grades 1-2, and let that spark some ideas for a lesson you might be interested in doing. Then you can go from there. This is just your first lesson plan/presentation - don't get spooked. I think it's very responsible to be thoughtful about what the future job entails, and I think that's why I'm always honest when people ask me, because I value teaching that much.
Feel free to email me anytime if you ever want to talk elem ed teaching reds 9298 @ embarq mail dot com (no spaces). I would love to help if I can!
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