The First Day of School Lab

This week in AEE 412 Lab we were tasked with teaching a snapshot of what we thought a first day lesson should look like. In the last few weeks, as the 2022-2023 school year begins, many teachers have taught lessons to their new students that develop their classroom expectations. 

My First Day lesson snapshot was an activity with students, helping them to develop communication skills and learn more about each other. We created blobs and lines based on alphabetical order of first and last names, birthdays, and other fun variations. Students were to get into groups or line up in order with little or no speaking. 

Something I found very important in this lesson was explaining the "why" behind the activity. Students often go through class with thoughts like "I don't understand why we are doing this" or "this has no tie in to this subject". To prevent this, I told my cohort members, who were serving as my students, that standing up and introducing themselves isn't always easy. I also explained that it is important to me that I know all of my students, not just their name, but who they are.


This exercise seemed like a great introduction to how we are exhibiting qualities of effective teachers. After spending my 10 minutes teaching, I realized that 10 minutes of class time goes very quick, especially when you take the time to get students out of their seats and move around the room. Looking back, I will want to add a directions slide to my materials for this lesson, that way students can look back at the directions throughout the activity if anything is unclear. 


One other take away I took from this experience is that there is more than one way to get the job done. I think in each of our own ways my cohort members and I showed enthusiasm, even though we did different snippets of our lessons and said different things. 


Shout Out to Morgan for entertaining us all with her toilet paper game. I think this activity would be a fun one to adapt and add into my own lesson! 


Here's to Part of the Whole Tree, 

Ms. Holtry

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2022 at 12:56 PM

    Great !!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ms. Nicolette CusateSeptember 10, 2022 at 8:25 AM

    Liz, I always love to read how your lab goes because I know how much time and effort you put into everything you do. I love how you were able to use an activity that got students moving and did not require them to speak about themselves if they did not want to. Way to think deeply about your learners while developing your lesson!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2022 at 8:30 AM

    Liz, if I could’ve been a fly on the wall to watch this I would! It seems like you were very prepared and had a great takeaway from this. I’m excited to see how you apply this into your actual first day of school lesson! Great job! -Carly

    ReplyDelete
  4. Krista MathiasSeptember 11, 2022 at 7:01 PM

    Liz, I had the same realization that time in the classroom goes so quick! And i love your emphasis on the "why" behind the activity; I have struggle to include the importance behind some activities that are not as academic as others. Great job, Liz!

    ReplyDelete

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