23 JAN 2015

[visit #3]

Talk about a major learning experience!

Today was unexpected.
So many things about today's class turned me on my head.
Basically, almost everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.
But, it will yield some good reflection and improvement.

I had prepared a step-by-step process for the students to follow on a document that I shared with every student's Google Drive so they could have access. I wanted the students to get a more comprehensible experience with the geometric shapes (tangrams), so I gave them a tangram template already made. Instead of having to make their own set of tangram tiles, they could just copy and paste onto a new drawing page.

Mrs. Stone's experience saved the day in multiple ways. First, she gave a deft example of how to make sure younger students understand what you are trying to get across. She took time on each step to ask students what that step entailed and asked of them. I could see why she is such a good fit for the students. She ended up taking a lot of control during this part; I later realized that whenever I was "teaching" the students, my back was turned, and I thought that telling them was sufficient for them to comprehend. Obviously, this is an incorrect assumption, as I have begun to find out through experiences like today.

When Mrs. Stone dismissed the class to their seats, I found another strategy to help the class stay under control: releasing them based on the primary colors they are wearing! So they all went and sat down, color by color, each one opening the file I had given them access to.

But what happens when 25+ students are all trying to work on the same document? Chaos. That's what ensues. Students were trying to draw and erase on the same page. Once one student would make a shape, another student would delete it because they did not want it on their page. It ended up that my whole page of instructions, tangram template, and examples was deleted by the students.

Talk about humbling.

I was doing all I could to get their attention and get them to at least be quiet enough to hear me. Thank goodness Mrs. Stone has so much experience working with elementary children! She saved the day from the chaos that I had created especially in the way I had set up the lesson. Experience saved the day from becoming a complete disaster!

In the future, instructions need to be simple and few in number. Having 12 steps for the students was unrealistic at best in the 40 minutes we had, even if they had done some of the steps in previous lessons. Additionally, if a template for something is to be used, it can be left in view only instead of edit; better yet, send the template to each student separately. These are just a few of the processes and working ideas that I came out of this crazy experience with.

Swan - by Aspen