Group 3~ Complete

I cannot believe that group 3 has finished and we only have one group left to teach! Group 3 did great! It is true that we are all learning from each other. The other groups get to see some mistakes that previous group have taught and can avoid making the same mistakes! It is scary, but also so helpful!

Group three started of with a direct lesson that they taught on Tuesday. The class came a little later than usual, so that was pretty stressful for them I would assume. They taught about metamorphic rocks and the rock cycle. They had two topics so they did two guided practice activities. The first activity was putting pressure on a piece of clay to represent a rock and see whether it was foliated or not. I loved this activity and the students did too. The second guided practice was group work. Each group got an index card with one or two words/processes on it and as a class they filled in a blank rock cycle poster.  For checks for understanding, students were given cards with red, green and yellow dots. They were to hold them up to represent how comfortable they felt with the material. As a closure, students were given a post it note and instructed to write what they learned from the lesson, or were still confused about. As they left, they hung it on a stoplight poster. I love how these two were related! The class was unusually chatty and energetic on Tuesday for some reason! The teachers did a great job and ending their chattiness and regaining their focus on the lesson.

Group three's second day teaching went very well also! They got cut off with a lot of time so that was making them feel very nervous. Regardless of that, I still think they did excellent and the lesson was very successful. They had wonderful activities that the students really enjoyed. There were two aspects of the lesson that I thought were exceptionally planned. First, to introduce the problem to the class, they had a "phone call" from a geologist Dr. Granite. Their timing of the phone call was awesome and the kids loved it! My second favorite part of the lesson was that they got in touch with the author of a book! The author wrote the class a letter that gave them some tips about how to write a story, which was related to their independent practice!

Both of the lessons went so well! All of the groups hard work is really paying off. These are great experiences that we are getting! I am excited to see what group 4 has planned!