Put to the Test

I’ve wanted to be a teacher all my life but I did not realize the role of teachers. Finally, I was put to the test. Earlier this semester I had the opportunity to teach a 1^st grade and 4^th grade Social Studies class. These were two completely different atmospheres.

Teaching the 1^st grade class on the map of Georgia was a good experience. I was able to show the class a video on maps and together we talked about and drew the different places in Georgia. This lesson was simple but allowed the students to learn. Being that the students interacted with me and met the objective goal of 85% accuracy, I think the lesson went great. The students enjoyed it as well. If I could change anything, I would have allowed the students to come up to the smart board to point out the things on the map.

Teaching the 4^th grade class didn’t go as well as I wanted it to. I was doing a review lesson with them on 6 explorers, the 7 continents, and timelines. The lesson didn’t go well because of the activity I had for them. The students were supposed to walk around the classroom and answer the “who am I?” and “what am I?” questions that were placed on the students backs. It was too advanced for them. The entire class ran around like they were outside and only a handful of students followed the instructions.  Therefore, I had to reevaluate that lesson and change it up for the next period. For 2^nd period, I decided to allow the students to play “All Around the World.” This gave the class more organization. At the end of both lessons I realized that the students didn’t know the information like they needed to. Therefore, as a class we read over the notes after the activities.