What
were your thoughts regarding planning as you read this section?How will the "secrets" you have read about
planning influence your own instructional planning?
Just from my first week and a half, I have already realized the importance of planning. My co-op has me take groups of students to the hall in the morning to work on previously completed work that needs revised or concepts that need retaught or reiterated. I always walk away from these groups in the morning thinking of things that I have could had said or done to help the students even more, rather than what I tried doing. I’m sure if I would have planned a review or help session, then I would have been able to ask better questions and facilitate more effectively.
Earlier this week, my co-op told me to that she wanted me to think of a way to review a science lesson she had taught to the students before I was there. I did as much planning as I could, but she didn’t want a formal lesson plan since it was just something she “threw” at me. So, using the worksheet she had given me that the students had already completed and a few details, I racked my brain to think of something to do to review the concepts. Eventually I was able to find a song online that was perfect for the lesson, along with some other things. I sort of winged the review science lesson but was able to successfully have the students meet the objectives of the original lesson. Without even that little bit of planned, that review lesson would have been a total flop.
Even though I have just read this book, I have been applying most of these planning secrets already. I try to be as proactive as I can be although sometimes it doesn’t always work. I am flexible in rearranging a lesson or continuing it the next day. I make sure the students know their objectives. I know it is important to state a purpose for an activity or lesson in order for the students understand why they are doing it. And, I definitely plan when I’m able to, especially since it is a university requirement!
The planning secrets that I definitely will try to incorporate as best as I can are the over-planning and managing time concepts. Over-planning is definitely something I have yet to do for a lesson and I have noticed that some of my students get bored because they are finished earlier than the others. I really liked the idea of the 5 minute lesson planning intervals and I am definitely going to try to incorporate that into all of my future lessons. I know I have a short attention span sometimes so I know exactly why those kids start misbehaving.
I am glad you can see the importance of planning. I think it is something we should not forget no matter how long we teach. Even though I have been teaching for nearly twenty years, I still have my plans for my classes written out. They are certainly not as detailed as when I first started teaching, but they do give me the opportunity to work through my thinking which is really important.
I completely agree with you that being flexible with the lesson plan is important and I tend to over plan and not need it then be underplanned. I am struggling with the time management aspect of teaching because our special schedules changes every other day. I also have a short attention span so I find myself relating to the Kindergarten class well. If I'm getting bored then I definately know they are.
I think the biggest point that I took away from this chapter was the section about dividing the lesson into 5-minute segments. I tend to think of my lesson plans from a holistic perspective, trying to break them down between activities, lecture, and transitions. However, breaking the lesson down 5-minutes at a time might be a very beneficial perspective to take in planning my future lessons. I guess I hadn’t really thought about it before, but since most elementary students only have the attention span to focus for about 5 minutes at a time, breaking down the lesson so that I have a plan for each 5-minute interval makes a lot of sense.
Also, I thought that section about how to be more flexible was very relevant. I feel that even though I don’t have a lot of experience in the education field, one thing that I have observed is that the most cynical, unpleasant teachers also tend to be the least flexible ones. I think everyone would like to assume that a good lesson plan should meet all the objectives and require no schedule changes for re-teaching or reinforcement. However, despite the fact that I know that is wishful thinking, I still tend to get easily frustrated when things don’t work out that way. I think this part of the chapter encouraged me to be more accepting of schedule changes and re-teaching. I think that once I learn to be more accepting of the unexpected bumps in the road my planning abilities will become more effective.
Being flexible is one of the most important characteristics of teaching! It makes your life so much easier and the people's lives around you easier, too! Although this is sometimes hard to think about; it really benefits everyone!
I have to agree completely with you on the rule of five. Breaking it down this way can make managing our time so much easier and can really help us utilize our time in the classroom. Also I thought that you had a very good point on flexibility in the classroom. All teachers need to learn that in order to have a successful classroom you have to be able to take all the turns and hard balls that might be thrown at you. The classrooms that I have observed have been most successful when the teachers can model and fit to the needs of their students. Remember to take deep breaths when things seem to get too rough or don't go your how you originally planed. You are going to make a great teacher.!
After my first two weeks of teaching I have come to the realization that you can never assume that the students know how to do something. In the chapter it talks about modeling for your students and how it is one of the most important parts of teaching. Being in a Kindergarten classroom I have seen this done with everything we do. Modeling really helps the students understand what to do and what is expected of them. They see exactly how an activity is supposed to come out. This will benefit me in many ways during my first placement and I will know to model with everything that I do. I also like the idea of the 5 minute segments. I have never seen it broken down this way but it would help my students and any age students stay on task if they only have to focus on one thing for that short period of time. Making my objectives clear is also something that I need to work on in the future lessons that I teach. I never really have told my students what I expect from them, before we start the lesson. I see now why this is so important. Students will know exactly what I am looking for. -Hannah Rankin
I definitely agree with never assuming they already know anything. I have third grade and because they are so accustomed to the routine and rules of the classroom, I didn't think that I needed to state some rules that I thought they had already known before my lesson. Boy was I wrong. The lesson went fine, but it took a little longer than it should have.
That is so true that you can not assume that the students know how to do something. I have observed my co-op model what the students should be doing and it seems to help the students visually see what they should be doing.
I am glad you talked about modeling with us. This is important no matter what age you are teaching and is something for us to think about now and remember later! You also can never assume what kind of background information your students have. I remember when I taught my first writing lesson as a reading specialist. It centered around creating a store for the mall. I was so surprised that only two out of fifty sixth graders had been to a mall!
In my field placement I taught in a Kindergarten class in Cambridge Springs, for the last two weeks I have been placed in Kindergarten in McKinnley Elementary. Ten minutes into my first day I realized that regardless if the grade level is the same the students are definitely not. I have also realized that no matter how perfect I feel the lesson plan is prepared, I always need to have a backup plan on how the lesson can or may go. While reading this chapter, I agree with and have been trying to be flexible in rearranging a lesson. I need to be able to be flexible and have the ability to adapt to what the students need during that time regardless if it is more physical movement or breaks. I also really liked the plan 5 minute segments, that way if there is something that needs to be changed while teaching I’m not changing the whole lesson just same parts of the lesson. This will always allow me to stay calm if something arises. Also it allows me to plan for students that are below benchmark that need a higher level of instruction or students that are above benchmark that need less instruction and more self-directed activities.
I think knowing that all students are different and have different needs is really important. I think seeing the similarities students share is also important and interesting, too!
The most beneficial part of this first secret that I have found has been the idea of dividing the whole day into five minuet increments. I never thought of applying this kind of process to the day. When thinking of a lesson I try to plan how much time the activity or lesson before it might take, how much time my lesson or activity might take, and then how much time the next will flow. I look at it as more of a thirty minuet when I should be look at each part. I think it will help me manage my time a lot better if I think in the five minuet rule rather than the whole day kind of thing. I did notice that a lot of the planning information in the book as far as lesson plans and such were things that we had focused on in my classes. It was a nice refresher to go over these kinds of task ideas and skill bases but I think I more or less breezed through it just because at this point it did feel repetitive. Another part that did interest me was the teachers who were positive and negative attitudes in the classroom. I did like how we could see how different people might approach something like giving directions and how it can produce two different outcomes. Overall I enjoyed this first secret and look forward to the rest.
The 5-minute increment secret is definitely the one that I think is the most beneficial as well. I always tried to look at my lessons as a whole instead of breaking them down. I greatly agree that this will help to keep the students focused and on track during lessons and throughout the whole day.
I agree with you about the how it is sometimes nice to refresh what we have learned. This reinforcement is beneficial to us as we reflect on and apply what we have learned.
I can really relate to this chapter in the book. During my field experience, I was teaching two sixth grade science classes. I found that for this age group, they really enjoyed doing experiments to connect their learning. As I was planning these experiments, I found that the more specific and planned out the lesson, the better the lesson went. When my lessons were planned out everything went more smoothly and effectively. When I planned out each step, the students got more out of the lesson and I felt more in control of the class. I am still working on planning out each step effectively but it helps greatly to know exactly what to expect out of your lesson. It also helps to plan extra activities. Even if you think that your lesson is long enough, always plan an extra activity. Not only will you have another activity to fill extra time but you will also have an extra activity in case something goes wrong.
It is also important to be flexible. If something goes wrong in the lesson, a teacher should be able to adjust in order to keep the students engaged and learning. I am learning to tell the students clear learning objectives for the day. This way students can connect what they will be learning for the day to what they alreay know. It is also important to explain to the students why they will be learning the content. They can connect better to the information if they know why they are learning it.
I agree with the planning and making sure the teacher knows the plan and the experiment before the students are given to do it. I also agree with the flexability part of and I almost feel like it should be written along the title of teachers. "Flexible teacher". Deffinistely makes it for a less stressful classroom when a teacher can adjust without a problem.
I agree with you about being planned; I have also experienced this. I would also say this is true for materials. Making sure you are well planned and prepared by having all of your materials ready is very important to your lesson being successful!
In many ways this secret part one was more of a review, didn't neceserrily get anything new out of it other that viewwing and reading about others views on ceertain planning strategies. Before I moved to PA in 2008 I taught pre-K during school year and summer camps during the summer for 8 years. Having that kind of an experience I think is more than anything that could be read. Planning, Planning, Planning and Overplanning is the key from what I have learned and I am happy to see that the book talks about that being one of its secrets as well. I now teach in 5th grade at Girard as my 1st placement and even though it is the 5th grade I find myself sometimes talking to them and saying things that are geared towards the younger students, but the talking and lesson planning has been great and implementing those lessons with the students has been fun. We have 2 block and the first block would do the lesson within the time alloted, where as the second group just takes a little longer to do lessons (write, cut out) anything that they do I had/have to be flexible and allow a little more time to those students to finish and get the same knowledge that the first block got. these are both LA and SS 5th grade classes and even the planning for them is different as well as the time flexibility. One thing that I did learn and wasn't aware until this week is makng sure to let the students know what our objective is and talk to the students about those objecctives. I did this on a Monday, but I failed to mention it every day and I see the point in it now and will deffinitely mention it to the students. my favorite part of this secret was this line and I think every teacher should know or be aware of it "...they're working toward mastery, NOT mystery" and I feel at times teachers even tell the students once they do ask what we are doing today? and teachers response is "you'll see". I hope this finally posts, please let me know if anyone can read this so I know its posted..... Thank you!
Yes, yes "they're working toward mastery, NOT mysery" I agree completely! At least you are aware of your behavior (failing to mention objectives) and plan on self-correcting. We can learn from one another. I will go to first grade tomorrow with that thought in my head, "Did I mention the objective of this lesson? ...and more importantly did they understand the objective of this lesson?"
I like the connection you shared about working towards mastery and not mystery. I think this ties in well with communicating the learning goals of the lesson before beginning; it certainly takes the mystery out of the lesson and gives students a sense of accountability for their learning.
I would like to start out by saying, "What a great read!" I read every day during lunch. The introduction to this book begins with how you don't have to have the highest IQ to be the best, that being that best is made-up of seven simple secrets. I believe this! This book is an essential tool to help with teaching techniques, strategies, and meeting the various needs of students'. During my field placement and my current placement, I have witnessed the teacher that I will be and the teacher that I never want to become (dreaded screamer). I want to be the organized teacher and to always have an engaging lesson that reaches each student and I always want to have a back-up plan for when it doesn't. When I started student teaching, I had all my lesson plans for the week and they looked great; however, there are some things that are not planned. My first week was hectic due to some behavioral issues and it followed into the second week; so, being flexible and adapting was my first lesson. I quickly learned that there are some things that I will not be able to control. In addition, I don't want to ever be the queen of worksheets. Not ever! I understand that effective teaching starts with me. I want my lessons to be inviting and exciting because I have witnessed many that are not. The direction from Seven Simple Secrets makes sense to me. I don't ever want to become burned-out like many educators because I didn't implement these "secrets" into my style of teaching. This book is an educators' bible.
I am so glad you feel this book is valuable. Whether it is brushing up on what we already know or broadening our knowledge, I believe this is an important resource to have in our repertoire. I also think it guides us in being a reflective thinker which we know is so important.
I like what you said about not turning to worksheets just because they are predictable and safe. My last placement of field was teaching 6th grade math where the students were just getting old enough to lack motivation and start having more serious behavior issues. It was definitely became easy to fall into the pit of prescribing worksheets every day to keep the students in a routine and avoid running into anything unpredictable by doing interactive learning. However, the longer I was there, it became pretty obvious that my lack of flexibility and willingness to take a risk with the class was hurting them more than it was helping. The days we did hands-on learning were definitely more stressful and demanding, but I know it benefited them more than just doing a worksheet would have.
Just from my first week and a half, I have already realized the importance of planning. My co-op has me take groups of students to the hall in the morning to work on previously completed work that needs revised or concepts that need retaught or reiterated. I always walk away from these groups in the morning thinking of things that I have could had said or done to help the students even more, rather than what I tried doing. I’m sure if I would have planned a review or help session, then I would have been able to ask better questions and facilitate more effectively.
ReplyDeleteEarlier this week, my co-op told me to that she wanted me to think of a way to review a science lesson she had taught to the students before I was there. I did as much planning as I could, but she didn’t want a formal lesson plan since it was just something she “threw” at me. So, using the worksheet she had given me that the students had already completed and a few details, I racked my brain to think of something to do to review the concepts. Eventually I was able to find a song online that was perfect for the lesson, along with some other things. I sort of winged the review science lesson but was able to successfully have the students meet the objectives of the original lesson. Without even that little bit of planned, that review lesson would have been a total flop.
Even though I have just read this book, I have been applying most of these planning secrets already. I try to be as proactive as I can be although sometimes it doesn’t always work. I am flexible in rearranging a lesson or continuing it the next day. I make sure the students know their objectives. I know it is important to state a purpose for an activity or lesson in order for the students understand why they are doing it. And, I definitely plan when I’m able to, especially since it is a university requirement!
The planning secrets that I definitely will try to incorporate as best as I can are the over-planning and managing time concepts. Over-planning is definitely something I have yet to do for a lesson and I have noticed that some of my students get bored because they are finished earlier than the others. I really liked the idea of the 5 minute lesson planning intervals and I am definitely going to try to incorporate that into all of my future lessons. I know I have a short attention span sometimes so I know exactly why those kids start misbehaving.
I am glad you can see the importance of planning. I think it is something we should not forget no matter how long we teach. Even though I have been teaching for nearly twenty years, I still have my plans for my classes written out. They are certainly not as detailed as when I first started teaching, but they do give me the opportunity to work through my thinking which is really important.
DeleteI completely agree with you that being flexible with the lesson plan is important and I tend to over plan and not need it then be underplanned. I am struggling with the time management aspect of teaching because our special schedules changes every other day. I also have a short attention span so I find myself relating to the Kindergarten class well. If I'm getting bored then I definately know they are.
DeleteI think the biggest point that I took away from this chapter was the section about dividing the lesson into 5-minute segments. I tend to think of my lesson plans from a holistic perspective, trying to break them down between activities, lecture, and transitions. However, breaking the lesson down 5-minutes at a time might be a very beneficial perspective to take in planning my future lessons. I guess I hadn’t really thought about it before, but since most elementary students only have the attention span to focus for about 5 minutes at a time, breaking down the lesson so that I have a plan for each 5-minute interval makes a lot of sense.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I thought that section about how to be more flexible was very relevant. I feel that even though I don’t have a lot of experience in the education field, one thing that I have observed is that the most cynical, unpleasant teachers also tend to be the least flexible ones. I think everyone would like to assume that a good lesson plan should meet all the objectives and require no schedule changes for re-teaching or reinforcement. However, despite the fact that I know that is wishful thinking, I still tend to get easily frustrated when things don’t work out that way. I think this part of the chapter encouraged me to be more accepting of schedule changes and re-teaching. I think that once I learn to be more accepting of the unexpected bumps in the road my planning abilities will become more effective.
Being flexible is one of the most important characteristics of teaching! It makes your life so much easier and the people's lives around you easier, too! Although this is sometimes hard to think about; it really benefits everyone!
DeleteI have to agree completely with you on the rule of five. Breaking it down this way can make managing our time so much easier and can really help us utilize our time in the classroom. Also I thought that you had a very good point on flexibility in the classroom. All teachers need to learn that in order to have a successful classroom you have to be able to take all the turns and hard balls that might be thrown at you. The classrooms that I have observed have been most successful when the teachers can model and fit to the needs of their students. Remember to take deep breaths when things seem to get too rough or don't go your how you originally planed. You are going to make a great teacher.!
DeleteAfter my first two weeks of teaching I have come to the realization that you can never assume that the students know how to do something. In the chapter it talks about modeling for your students and how it is one of the most important parts of teaching. Being in a Kindergarten classroom I have seen this done with everything we do. Modeling really helps the students understand what to do and what is expected of them. They see exactly how an activity is supposed to come out. This will benefit me in many ways during my first placement and I will know to model with everything that I do.
ReplyDeleteI also like the idea of the 5 minute segments. I have never seen it broken down this way but it would help my students and any age students stay on task if they only have to focus on one thing for that short period of time. Making my objectives clear is also something that I need to work on in the future lessons that I teach. I never really have told my students what I expect from them, before we start the lesson. I see now why this is so important. Students will know exactly what I am looking for.
-Hannah Rankin
I definitely agree with never assuming they already know anything. I have third grade and because they are so accustomed to the routine and rules of the classroom, I didn't think that I needed to state some rules that I thought they had already known before my lesson. Boy was I wrong. The lesson went fine, but it took a little longer than it should have.
DeleteThat is so true that you can not assume that the students know how to do something. I have observed my co-op model what the students should be doing and it seems to help the students visually see what they should be doing.
DeleteI am glad you talked about modeling with us. This is important no matter what age you are teaching and is something for us to think about now and remember later! You also can never assume what kind of background information your students have. I remember when I taught my first writing lesson as a reading specialist. It centered around creating a store for the mall. I was so surprised that only two out of fifty sixth graders had been to a mall!
DeleteIn my field placement I taught in a Kindergarten class in Cambridge Springs, for the last two weeks I have been placed in Kindergarten in McKinnley Elementary. Ten minutes into my first day I realized that regardless if the grade level is the same the students are definitely not. I have also realized that no matter how perfect I feel the lesson plan is prepared, I always need to have a backup plan on how the lesson can or may go. While reading this chapter, I agree with and have been trying to be flexible in rearranging a lesson. I need to be able to be flexible and have the ability to adapt to what the students need during that time regardless if it is more physical movement or breaks. I also really liked the plan 5 minute segments, that way if there is something that needs to be changed while teaching I’m not changing the whole lesson just same parts of the lesson. This will always allow me to stay calm if something arises. Also it allows me to plan for students that are below benchmark that need a higher level of instruction or students that are above benchmark that need less instruction and more self-directed activities.
ReplyDeleteI think knowing that all students are different and have different needs is really important. I think seeing the similarities students share is also important and interesting, too!
DeleteThe most beneficial part of this first secret that I have found has been the idea of dividing the whole day into five minuet increments. I never thought of applying this kind of process to the day. When thinking of a lesson I try to plan how much time the activity or lesson before it might take, how much time my lesson or activity might take, and then how much time the next will flow. I look at it as more of a thirty minuet when I should be look at each part. I think it will help me manage my time a lot better if I think in the five minuet rule rather than the whole day kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteI did notice that a lot of the planning information in the book as far as lesson plans and such were things that we had focused on in my classes. It was a nice refresher to go over these kinds of task ideas and skill bases but I think I more or less breezed through it just because at this point it did feel repetitive. Another part that did interest me was the teachers who were positive and negative attitudes in the classroom. I did like how we could see how different people might approach something like giving directions and how it can produce two different outcomes. Overall I enjoyed this first secret and look forward to the rest.
The 5-minute increment secret is definitely the one that I think is the most beneficial as well. I always tried to look at my lessons as a whole instead of breaking them down. I greatly agree that this will help to keep the students focused and on track during lessons and throughout the whole day.
DeleteI agree with you about the how it is sometimes nice to refresh what we have learned. This reinforcement is beneficial to us as we reflect on and apply what we have learned.
DeleteI can really relate to this chapter in the book. During my field experience, I was teaching two sixth grade science classes. I found that for this age group, they really enjoyed doing experiments to connect their learning. As I was planning these experiments, I found that the more specific and planned out the lesson, the better the lesson went. When my lessons were planned out everything went more smoothly and effectively. When I planned out each step, the students got more out of the lesson and I felt more in control of the class. I am still working on planning out each step effectively but it helps greatly to know exactly what to expect out of your lesson. It also helps to plan extra activities. Even if you think that your lesson is long enough, always plan an extra activity. Not only will you have another activity to fill extra time but you will also have an extra activity in case something goes wrong.
ReplyDeleteIt is also important to be flexible. If something goes wrong in the lesson, a teacher should be able to adjust in order to keep the students engaged and learning. I am learning to tell the students clear learning objectives for the day. This way students can connect what they will be learning for the day to what they alreay know. It is also important to explain to the students why they will be learning the content. They can connect better to the information if they know why they are learning it.
I agree with the planning and making sure the teacher knows the plan and the experiment before the students are given to do it. I also agree with the flexability part of and I almost feel like it should be written along the title of teachers. "Flexible teacher". Deffinistely makes it for a less stressful classroom when a teacher can adjust without a problem.
DeleteI agree with you about being planned; I have also experienced this. I would also say this is true for materials. Making sure you are well planned and prepared by having all of your materials ready is very important to your lesson being successful!
ReplyDeleteIn many ways this secret part one was more of a review, didn't neceserrily get anything new out of it other that viewwing and reading about others views on ceertain planning strategies. Before I moved to PA in 2008 I taught pre-K during school year and summer camps during the summer for 8 years. Having that kind of an experience I think is more than anything that could be read. Planning, Planning, Planning and Overplanning is the key from what I have learned and I am happy to see that the book talks about that being one of its secrets as well. I now teach in 5th grade at Girard as my 1st placement and even though it is the 5th grade I find myself sometimes talking to them and saying things that are geared towards the younger students, but the talking and lesson planning has been great and implementing those lessons with the students has been fun. We have 2 block and the first block would do the lesson within the time alloted, where as the second group just takes a little longer to do lessons (write, cut out) anything that they do I had/have to be flexible and allow a little more time to those students to finish and get the same knowledge that the first block got. these are both LA and SS 5th grade classes and even the planning for them is different as well as the time flexibility. One thing that I did learn and wasn't aware until this week is makng sure to let the students know what our objective is and talk to the students about those objecctives. I did this on a Monday, but I failed to mention it every day and I see the point in it now and will deffinitely mention it to the students. my favorite part of this secret was this line and I think every teacher should know or be aware of it "...they're working toward mastery, NOT mystery" and I feel at times teachers even tell the students once they do ask what we are doing today? and teachers response is "you'll see". I hope this finally posts, please let me know if anyone can read this so I know its posted..... Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYes, yes "they're working toward mastery, NOT mysery" I agree completely! At least you are aware of your behavior (failing to mention objectives) and plan on self-correcting. We can learn from one another. I will go to first grade tomorrow with that thought in my head, "Did I mention the objective of this lesson? ...and more importantly did they understand the objective of this lesson?"
DeleteI like the connection you shared about working towards mastery and not mystery. I think this ties in well with communicating the learning goals of the lesson before beginning; it certainly takes the mystery out of the lesson and gives students a sense of accountability for their learning.
DeleteI would like to start out by saying, "What a great read!" I read every day during lunch. The introduction to this book begins with how you don't have to have the highest IQ to be the best, that being that best is made-up of seven simple secrets. I believe this! This book is an essential tool to help with teaching techniques, strategies, and meeting the various needs of students'. During my field placement and my current placement, I have witnessed the teacher that I will be and the teacher that I never want to become (dreaded screamer). I want to be the organized teacher and to always have an engaging lesson that reaches each student and I always want to have a back-up plan for when it doesn't. When I started student teaching, I had all my lesson plans for the week and they looked great; however, there are some things that are not planned. My first week was hectic due to some behavioral issues and it followed into the second week; so, being flexible and adapting was my first lesson. I quickly learned that there are some things that I will not be able to control. In addition, I don't want to ever be the queen of worksheets. Not ever! I understand that effective teaching starts with me. I want my lessons to be inviting and exciting because I have witnessed many that are not. The direction from Seven Simple Secrets makes sense to me. I don't ever want to become burned-out like many educators because I didn't implement these "secrets" into my style of teaching. This book is an educators' bible.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you feel this book is valuable. Whether it is brushing up on what we already know or broadening our knowledge, I believe this is an important resource to have in our repertoire. I also think it guides us in being a reflective thinker which we know is so important.
DeleteI like what you said about not turning to worksheets just because they are predictable and safe. My last placement of field was teaching 6th grade math where the students were just getting old enough to lack motivation and start having more serious behavior issues. It was definitely became easy to fall into the pit of prescribing worksheets every day to keep the students in a routine and avoid running into anything unpredictable by doing interactive learning. However, the longer I was there, it became pretty obvious that my lack of flexibility and willingness to take a risk with the class was hurting them more than it was helping. The days we did hands-on learning were definitely more stressful and demanding, but I know it benefited them more than just doing a worksheet would have.
Delete