Yep, I have officially begun teaching my unit...
The first day went very well - much better than expected. That is not to say that I thought I was going to do terribly, I was just shocked at how well my students responded to my first day. We started off with a short warm-up activity that served almost as pre-test to the unit, which is: interpreting tables and graphs in order to make informed decisions. In addition to that, though, it allowed students to mentally prepare for the lesson... I gave two short table/graph interpretation problems and told them to think about why these problems might be difficult for them. I was more interested in that than any answer they might give, so I made that specifically clear when I gave them the handout.
Sure, there was some resistance by a few students, but most of them participated in some regard.
Then, I had them turn the paper over, and we focused on the lesson, which was essentially teaching them how to address the types of problems that they had on their handout. Class involvement here was probably the best it's been all year. I don't know if it's just because I left all the questions open, or what, but they were legitimately engaged!
After the lesson concluded, I had them return to their warm up worksheets and do a quick reflection on what they wrote to start the hour. I instructed them to make a note on the sheet if they felt more comfortable with the problems or if they still felt confused by them. I got some nice responses from these. Then, that night, I went through and wrote a short note to each of them, either asking them some extension-type questions (that they aren't expected to formally answer), or to invite them to talk with me personally, or a tip that might help them out.
I think they appreciated that personal touch, and I could tell that the couple of students who didn't turn one in were disappointed that they didn't get a note from me.
---
My second day wasn't as eventful or well done. They had a Friday remote quiz, which took much longer than expected. Then, I gave them time to discuss their homework with another student in class, and then the opportunity to review one question (of their choosing) as a whole. Sadly, when we ran out of time at this point, and I very nearly ran over.
Because of my poor time management, I didn't collect anything from them. I feel pretty bad about that, but I'll see if I can get something tomorrow (Monday).
---
In all, I think it went well. I just need to note the time and be more wary when I don't have any more of it.
I'm more nervous for tomorrow than I was last week. Also, I'm already behind.
:)
2 comments:
It's great that you got some good responses to the warm-up/summary. Writing an individual note to each student is one way to give immediate feedback and make them feel valued. It will be interesting if you notice any differences in student participation or willingness to engage as a result of how you started the unit.
I'm actually quite curious to see how the notes develop classroom culture, too. Great start, Matt.
Post a Comment