Student Practice Reflection - Lessons #2 & #3

     On March 7th I got to conduct two different lessons. The first one was a class on the impacts of global warming on the environment, while the second one was a math lesson on budgeting, which also included a project based around climate change. I was quite scared to have to prepare and conduct two classes in one day, but hopefully this prepares me for what it's really like as a teacher. 

    The first lesson was English Vocabulary with the topic of impact of global warming and climate change on our environment. I started the lesson with a short video showcasing how animals are impacted by climate change. Even though the topic was more narrow than impacts on the entire environment, it contained a lot of vocabulary and concepts that we would talk about later on. I could tell the animal topic was very engaging for the class and they enjoyed it very much. I then introduced concepts such as desertification, deforestation, extinction, habitat, ice caps, and biodiversity. We discussed what these terms meant, created sentences with them, and talked about their connection to the global warming topic. At the very end I did a revision task, where I showed the students different pictures and they had to come up with sentences with the words they learned today. I could tell the students had a lot of fun being creative and coming up with ways of including different words for all the pictures. The pictures were general enough, where they didn't allude to certain words in particular. Since we had a lot of time left, we went over all 4 pictures I had prepared and revised all the vocabulary - not just the concepts we learned today, but also all throughout the whole unit of climate change. I was very pleased with how the lesson went. The students really enjoyed it, especially the video about animals and the revision at the end. I definitely improved with my time management and the lesson went smoothly without being too chaotic.

    The second lesson was a math class about budgeting. We started by explaining what a budget is, how it works (through analogies), explaining all the different parts of it, and finishing by how to calculate it. The lesson concluded with a group project. The premise was - we are going on an eco-friendly camping trip in 4 weeks. The students had to calculate their individual budgets, their group budget, and then make choices what things to buy for the trip. I prepared an imaginary store with different options for transport, sleeping, food, and additional items one might need for camping. The kids were very involved in discussing how they should manage their money, what choices would be cheapest, but also how to make sure they are still being environmentally conscious. It was the perfect way to combine the topic of budgeting with the global warming module. I could tell the kids had a lot of fun, while still learning and putting all their knowledge together. I was very nervous for this lesson, because I never received a lesson on budgeting myself, but it turned out to be a success. All the concepts were understood, the analogies I used made it easier to comprehend but also fun, and the project was very engaging. 

    This day was the most nervous I have been so far during my student practice. Preparing and conducting two lessons seemed like a big challenge, especially since the topics did not seem like my forte. To my surprise, the lessons went extremely well and were my biggest success I've had so far in my student practice. I think I am starting to realize what my strengths as a teacher are and how to utilize them in class. I am excited about how my lessons are going and I hope the last two will go as well as the first three.