Katherine Lemley

Sept 12, 2005

Posting on Chapter 5

            Today in class, we learned about essential questions.  I found today’s lesson to be very helpful because it helped relieve many of my concerns I had about the essential questions. Outlining the key elements and understanding of essential questions helped me better understand what was expected of me for this assignment.

            For this week, we read chapter five of our Teaching and Learning Elementary Social Studies textbook. The chapter mainly focused on reflective thinking and constructivist theory.  Many people hate history because they feel it has no real significance to them. The constructivist theory discussed in this chapter emphasizes the importance of making the learning meaningful to them. It is also suggested pulling away from the textbook and making social studies a more of a social learning process.  Students also need to take the time in class to stop and reflect on what they are learning.  Reflection goes along with meaningful learning and therefore essential in the learning process. 

            I know History was a subject I struggled with when I was a kid, so I hope to create a meaningful learning experience for my students by emphasizing reflective learning and social interaction.            

Katherine Lemley

EDI 418

11/21/05

            On Thursday, I taught my science lesson to my class.  Let’s just say it didn’t go as planned. The lesson ended up taking a lot longer than I thought and I encountered quite a few problems. They class almost constant talking and students playing with the manipulative proved to be a big distraction. I was bad enough where I had to take away some of the manipulative from some of the students. About six of seven of my students were constantly getting in and out of their seats. I also encountered some discipline problems with David (false name). He tossed his handout aside and said, “You ain’t the boss of me.” Looking me dead in the eye.

            There were some good things about my science lesson. I evaluated their homework from the lesson and I could really tell who did and did not pay attention in class. The majority of the class did alright, with occasionally getting confused between a lever and an inclined plane. Some students didn’t finish the assignment at all and I did have a few students get a perfect score.

            I have learned a lot about classroom management from this class, and it has even helped me “toughen up” as a teacher.