Week 6 & 7 - (Teaching my first class)

I would have posted earlier in the week, however, today was the first day I taught and I wanted to talk a little bit of my experience. The lesson that I taught today was on Acids, Bases, pH scale, and Neutralization (the last chapter for the Unit test on Monday). I was pretty nervous for teaching this lesson as it was the first time I taught a lesson to a classroom full of students. I had a lot of practice in my undergrad and at teacher college, but they were always in front of friends (who knew the topic as well). But in the end I feel that the class went well. I quickly went through the first few slides (I'm saying it was because of the nerves), but by half way through the lesson, I slowed down a little bit and relaxed. I have to say that it was nice to have my associate teacher in the room, as she helped me prepare my lesson (told me of a great online activity the students could do), and gave me great feedback at the end of the lesson. Since I taught the last chapter of a unit, there is not that much more I can do before the unit test. However, the next unit is the Physics Unit, specifically Optics (which I am super excited about since I LOVE OPTICS!!)

I thought I would share this with you, Terry. I told one of the other science teacher at my school about the lesson that Brittany and Mary (I think) did on planets with the play-dough and he loved the idea. He told me that he will use it for the next time that he teaches the solar system. I think he was planning on using this for his grade 9 applied, but I still thought that it was cool, that he is going to use their activity.

As for you questions in the last response:
"Did doing and seeing them help with your own misconceptions?" I would have to say yes they did. The presentation definitely helped me with my own misconceptions. Some of them I already knew, but was a great fresher, and others I had no idea so it was great to hear them.

"How did doing the presentation help with your confidence in teaching science?" In some sense doing the presentation did help my confidence, but I think it was a different feel because I was presenting with a partner, and I was presenting in front of a group of my friends. I think of myself as a good public speaker, so when it comes to speaking in front of people I am fine, it is always the after math that makes me nervous. As in: did everyone understand what I was saying, did people like it, etc.

In the long run, I am looking forward to more teaching experiences!!