I recently presented my Life
Knowledge lesson at Cumberland Valley High School to the first period Advanced
Leadership class. The freshman leadership class also joined us making a total
of twenty students. My Life Knowledge lesson was called Defining Teams which
compared the difference between group work and team work. It was a very
interesting topic and the students reflected on successes and things that didn't
go so well in their chapter. It encouraged students to think about how they
approach tasks with other students.
To add to the lesson I had the
students do two team building activities both very similar to each other. The
first was the students were in groups of four. I provided them with a piece of
paper and a sponge and asked them to all maintain both hands on the paper and
then flip the paper over without dropping the sponge. After a few quick trial
and error attempts every group was successful. The next team building activity
was I divided the class into two groups. I laid two blankets on the ground and
instructed each group to flip the towel over just like previously but without
anyone stepping off. Their methods of attacks were interesting. After having to
have one group restart they determined a new plan. The students were challenged
to be outside of their comfort zone to complete this task. After both
activities were completed I asked them if they felt they were working as a team
or a group. Both groups felt they needed to support each other to accomplish
the task and that it was team work.
I really enjoyed my lesson at
Cumberland Valley. I was nervous going in because I was concerned the material
would be hard to keep the students engaged which for parts of it, it was. Many
students said later they really liked the team building activities despite how
challenging it was. I defiantly pulled some great ideas from their reactions to
incorporate into my Spring leadership class. It gave me a better handle on how
the senior class needed to be taught because they are harder to keep engaged. They
really enjoy independent work that they work in small groups on.
When comparing this experience to
mine at Tyrone I felt both were enjoyable experiences that were good ways to
develop my teaching. I think I maintained the same style in my teaching not
changing too much. I really like doing something hands on that keeps the
students physically engaged because it results in having to do less classroom
management in terms of talking or behavior. Both experiences gave me insight on
how to be prepared with students on both ends of the spectrum of understanding the
content which was good. I think it will help be focus my teaching to meet the
needs of all students. One big difference between the students are that at
Cumberland Valley it was a greater struggle to halt some of the talking between
the older students. Overall it was a good experience and I am looking forward to working with them in
the Spring.
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