Observations Assist in Learning

   

 Observing other educators is a fantastic way to incorporate various teaching styles into any new educators repertoire. For four week's of class, each group presents a lesson to the after- school science program students. Our job is to observe the lessons while our colleagues present them. Taking notes and evaluating each stage of the presentation allows my colleagues and I to learn what works and what should be done differently.

     I give a lot of credit to group one for presenting their lesson first. Fortunately, my groups teaches our lesson the last week of the program. Our observations of each group will be helpful to creating the lesson plans and also managing the class. After group one taught their lesson, a discussion occurred about what worked and what we should all keep in mind when planning lessons. 

     Each group consists of 4 or more members who each presents part of the lesson. The transitions between the presenters went smoothly. Each educator knew their subject well and could easily present the material from the power point presentation. The lesson was engaging and kept students interest. The students looked most forward to experiments and hands-on learning. 

     Constructive criticism is also an important key to creating successful lessons. What could be improved? Some students sat next to a friend. Side conversations may interrupt learning so group placement is important. Keeping the activities moving allows the lesson to be engaging. The program consists of students in grades third to sixth which means that there are varying levels of learning and prior knowledge. Over planning is better than under planning enough activities to fill the lesson time. Who knows how the lesson will flow? Discussion about a particular topic may be require more or less time than anticipated. Having extra activities planned helps to avoid 'extra time'. These concepts will certainly be addressed while planning the lesson that my group will present. For now, I look forward to seeing the other groups present their lessons.