No turning back!

     

Inquiry 

As I sat in my class before Social Studies Methods, all I could think about was fieldwork.   I wondered how the students would like our lesson, how would I do teaching, and how would our group do overall.  Although I had many thoughts running through my head, I was not that nervous.  I had all the confidence in the world in my partners and myself.  Before I knew it, we were in front of the fourth grade class presenting our direct instruction lesson plan.

     I could not be happier with the way our fieldwork went today.  Our students were engaged, involved, and enthusiastic.  We reviewed previous vocabulary through a money-earning contest, reviewed the word incorporate because it caused some trouble for our students, and made sure to go over the pie chart and raising capital.  My group did a great job of presenting our Prezi presentation to the students I thought.  We provided them with examples, kept them on track, asked questions, and allowed them the opportunity to provide their comments on the new vocabulary.  One thing I definitely have to work on is using the word guys to refer to the students.  This is a habit of mine, but all habits can be kicked.  My favorite part of our direct instruction lesson was the guided practice.  The students were able to feel like they were at a fair while practicing their knowledge about the new vocabulary through the balloon pop game on the SMART board.  I knew our lesson was a success when the students were able to tell us the definitions of all of the words we taught them during the lesson when we played the balloon pop game.

     For the first time, I believe my fieldwork group did a pretty good job of presenting our students with the new BizMovie content.  Our lesson was scripted, straightforward, left no room for creativity, and did not provide the students the time to explore on their own.  Although we had a direct instruction lesson, I really think our students had fun learning about this material and it showed through their excitement, willingness to participate, and their smiles.  I can’t wait for the next session.

Learn About SMARTboard: I know I will use the balloon pop game in my future in the classroom.  The students were eager to answer our questions because they were excited to play this game.