Oh the Lessons You'll Teach

For our fieldwork this semester we were required to teach three different types of lessons: direct, inquiry, and cooperative. Each of these lessons has a significant purpose and end goal for the students involved. Reflection is vital in teaching, and now that I have taught I wanted to take time now to reflect on what I have experienced while teaching these lessons.

Direct:
Direct lessons are meant to teach the students the material. A direct lesson is teacher-centered with little student involvement. It is scripted with a very specific end goal: for the students to learn the information being presented. Direct lessons include a lot of repetition in the form of a choral response. For every definition that you present you must have the students repeat it after you. I find this lesson boring, and it was very difficult to maintain the students' attention. But I also find this type of lesson necessary. Students can not progress onto more difficult and engaging tasks until they learn the basic material. I felt this lesson went pretty well for my group because the students seemed to learn what we needed them to. I know that because the students did very well with the direct practice, and out of 12 students, only 2 struggled on independent practice. We took that information to heart and made sure we reviewed that material with the students. 

Inquiry:
During inquiry lessons, students are meant to answer a question. You pose a problem to students and it is up to them to solve it. This lesson type is student-oriented, meaning that the teacher takes a step back and does not teach the entire time. This type of lesson is great for science because it goes with the scientific method, but we struggled connecting this lesson to social studies. A hypothesis is apart of science, not social studies. We also struggled thinking of hands-on activities for our students. We wanted to do more than just give them articles to read, but we could not think of many things to do. I think inquiry lessons are great but maybe just for science and not for social studies. 

Cooperative:
This was my first time doing a cooperative lesson, so I was a little nervous about it. But in the end, it is a really great lesson for social studies. Cooperative lessons involve making a project and working in a group to do so. Each person in the group has a job that they have to accomplish. This lesson type does not only focus on academic skills but also social skills. It is important that students understand how to work in a group. This lesson is also student orientated and was engaging and interactive for them.

Teaching all of these different lesson plans this semester was great, and I can not wait to see what else I can incorporate into my classroom!