My Direct Instruction Lesson!

    On September 18, my group and I had the opportunity to present a direct instruction lesson to a group of fourth-grade students. We taught them about botany and plant oragnelles. I did very well, even though there were a few things that we could've improved upon.It was nerve-racking, but overall an awesome experience that gave me a chance to teach in front of a whole class for the first time. I was a little intimidated at first because my group and I were the first ones in our class to go, and we weren't sure exactly what to expect. We prepared a lot for our lesson, but not seeing a lesson with this class beforehand worried me a little bit. However, I think my group and I did a great job, even though we had some things to improve on.
    I thought my group and I did a good job of controlling the class through a lot of the lesson. The fourth-grade class we were teaching was full of good kids who were ready to learn, but as a whole, could get pretty rowdy from time to time. My group and I did a good job handling this though, and had a few different ways to refocus the class when they were getting a little out of hand. We would clap a certain way, and then the class would clap that same way back to us. There was also a button in the classroom that we used that played a snippet of a song, which indicated to the class that they had to settle down and refocus. I thought we used these strategically and they definitely helped our lesson out. I also thought we all did a great job using appropriate teacher voices and interacting with the students. I know we were all really nervous before we presented, but I don't think that you could tell. All of my group members sounded very confident while they were presenting, which I know was not easy considering this was our first experience teaching in front of a whole class. I also thought we all did a very nice job addressing the students by name, and making sure that we got multiple student responses for each question. Although it was a direct instruction lesson and was supposed to be teacher-centered, we didn't want the students to just sit and take notes for an hour. So, we interacted with the students as much as possible. I also think that the students really enjoyed our rap at the end about plant organelles. By the second time we played it, the kids knew the words and were singing along! However, there were also a few things that I feel that my group and I could've done better.
    I thought that I could've done a better job with time management. I spent way too much time at the beginning of the lesson explaining classroom rules and basic stuff that I should've quickly covered. This led to other members of my group having to rush through their parts so that we could finish everything on time. Every second in the classroom is valuable, and can't be wasted. Next time I teach, I will definitely keep a better eye on the clock, and use classroom time appropriately. I also feel as though I could've prepared my part a little bit better, and next time definitely will do so. I thought I was prepared going into the lesson, but I wasn't as prepared as I should have been, and it won't happen again.
     Although my group and I didn't have a perfect lesson by any means, I thought that for the first group, and for the first time any of us had taught a whole class, it went very well. I learned a lot about what to do, and what not to do when teaching a whole class, and that is very valuable information for me as I continue my teaching career.