Model Teacher

I've had a lesson go really well, three times in a row now. It's the lesson that had gone well on Friday. It must be a really good lesson, and I made it myself! I think I worked so hard on it because it deals with a topic that I don't particularly enjoy, physics. Everyone knows Newton's Second Law of Motion. F=ma. It's easy. But, the challenge I saw, was making it so I didn't have 30 8-th graders sitting in a room saying, "Why are we doing math? I don't want to do math! I hate math!" I needed to make it relevant, so it wouldn't fail like my entire sub-unit on calculating speed, time, and distance. I spent extra time making sure the lesson had all of the important things:

1) A Hook. I get the kids interested by having them discover the force/mass/acceleration relationship themselves. I do this in two parts. First, I push my rolling chair lightly, and then shove it across the room. I lead them to discover that more force creates more acceleration. Second, I toss a tennis ball across the room, and then pick up the rolling chair as if I would throw it. I don't throw it, but I get some laughs anyway. I lead them to discover that as mass increases, acceleration decreases. A little later, I keep them engaged with a short video describing Newton's Second as it relates to football kickers.

2) Key Points. My key points are simple and explicit. Newton's Second Law describes a relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. As force increases, acceleration increases. As force increases, acceleration decreases. Force can be calculated by following these specific steps. Somehow, if I pretend to throw a chair, it's no longer math; it's science.

3) Modeling. This is my strength. I was complimented on it during Institute. I feel comfortable at it. I just forget to do it. I get distracted by other things. This time, I took a specific piece of advice from last month's district PD for new teachers. I outlined each step in an aesthetically pleasing diagram, with spots for the students to fill in the details as we went through it in class. It was photocopied in everyone's notes packets. That way, when a student says "I don't know what to do", I point to the diagram. I went through the steps for calculating force, given mass and acceleration, and then asked them to do examples. I've never seen more comprehension before. It helps when I explain things well enough for them to actually do it.

4) Wrap Up. Okay, I was lacking a wrap up. I was busy walking around the room and fixing the details (include UNITS!), and ran out of time. My wrap up was pretty much: "Behave well for the substitute tomorrow!"

Yep, district PD again tomorrow. Not only that, it doesn't start until 9:15! I get to sleep in! Maybe I can plan some great lessons in the future, but not today. I'm tired out by all the pretty-good-not-great-but-improved classroom managing I did today.