Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Progress on my Lesson Plan
The biggest struggle I am dealing with regarding my lesson plan is the discussion factor. I have a first grade classroom full of rowdy wiggly students. I am afraid to open the floor up to a discussion where students can talk out of turn, etc. because I think the class will lose control or start to get off topic. I am trying to think of a strategy to direct a good discussion with students who are still learning how to raise their hand when they want a turn to talk. I believe this task is not impossible but I do believe it will be difficult. For those of you who have students in the younger grades, how are you thinking about planning your discussion? I would like to know what some of your ideas about this are... Thanks!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Nicki I totally understand your dilemma with your discussion factor for your lesson plan. In TE 301 I was in a kindergarten classroom and found it hard to have students sit still in their own seats let alone all together in one large area. I feel that even though these students are younger and may be a wiggly bunch of students it cannot hinder you from having a valid discussion with them. You have to focus questions geared toward their mentality and academic level. Does your teacher have any classroom management skills on ideas of raising their hand or not talking when someone else is talking?
I think as we discussed in class, a great discussion for your first grade class would be about behavior issues towards classmates. Erika suggested a book called Have you filled your bucket today? Children at this age love to share about how they want to be treated and what "fills their bucket." As far as management of the discussion, I think starting out with stating your expectations. Maybe tell them you are giving them some adult responsibilities and you want them to show you how grown up they are. Let them know you want to hear their opinions but they have to take turns talking. Maybe you could use a ball or stuffed animal to signify who is allowed to speak. In this case I think it might be cool to use a bucket!
I'm in a Kindergarten classroom and in the same boat that you are with anxieties of the discussion. Rarely do I ever see my CT use this method because she's came right out and said that it doesn't work for this group of students. Which doesn't really help me out at all...
After spending a few weeks observing just the sheer dynamics of the classroom that I'm in, I believe that we can have a discussion, but my definition of discussion is changing. The discussion that I'm planning is highly structured and I'm making a list of anticipated student answers so I'm ready to respond. Obviously I can't think of everything, but this is a strategy that I took away from TE 401 and it seems to help me with a lot.
One of the problems with discussions in these younger grades is that the teacher spends so much time getting the students used to the classroom and going to school that she doesn't focus a lot of classroom management. For my CT, making it through a day without crying and pushing each other around is a success.
I'm curious to hear about how you're going to structure your discussion based on your specific students...
Post a Comment