495 Assignment #8 - Science Classroom Visit

Quality example of teacher effectiveness

How do we become better teachers?  Well first, we practice.  Practice implementing teaching strategies that are highly engaging. Secondly, we observe other teachers.  How are they teaching similar topics?  What methods for classroom management are they utilizing?  What techniques are they using?  Then we add them to our book of tricks and...we practice.

Today, I observed a science class to see how a lesson is taught.  Many subjects in agriculture are science related and a science class is very similar.  Therefore, it only makes sense to ensure one of my first observations is in a science classroom.

The class I observed was a Biology and Natural Science class for 43 minutes.   Rather than describing what he did in class, I'll explain what I was thinking during his class.

I was thinking "Yes! Yes! Yes!!" He just did an e-moment.  He's asking students questions to make them think about the answer!  He's adding variability!  He's so calm!  Wow!  It was a really great example of a bunch of teaching strategies being meshed together into one 43 minute cohesive lesson.

I think back to the lessons that I have taught so far.  I've been implementing these strategies to the best of my ability.  Yet, it just doesn't seem to go as smoothly as the observed teacher's does.  Aha! It's my transitions.  I think through every transition very carefully when writing my lesson plans.  Unfortunately, they don't come second nature to me like a seasoned teacher and are still a bit jerky.  That's ok though, as I continue to practice, I am confident that my lessons will become more cohesive.