I had never visited or seen the dynamics of the real classroom from a teacher’s point of view. This activity allowed me to witness how things happen in the real classroom. The lesson plan that had to be implemented was designed for three classroom sessions and thus it was required to visit the classroom for three consecutive days. the lesson plan contained three different kinds of classroom experiences for each day. I believe it is necessary to have slightly varying activities for students each day to accommodate the interest of various students. Because not all students learn the same way. Some enjoy learning regular classroom settings while others enjoy learning outside of the classroom. Therefore, wherever possible, the teacher should arrange out-of-class activities. The sessions went on smoothly but at one point, especially during the outdoor activity, I found it cumbersome to handle the students. Although I had only five students in my group I found it difficult to make sure that all students are making most of the outdoor activity because the students had so much energy especially boys that it became difficult at various points to make them focus on the actual purpose of the activity. I remember this one kid in my group who did not seem to take interest in the activity. Although I tried to ask her both directly (asking questions like whether she is understanding the concepts) and indirectly (asking her questions to probe her thinking) it was challenging to get any input from her. There was another kid the classroom who was quite reserved on the first day but during the rest two days, she seemed to be the most energetic child of the class. I believe that the little kids take their time in adjusting and responding the instructor you cannot make them like you or make them talk. They do everything on their pace.
I also observed that students enjoyed those video lessons that were related to their personal experiences. I remember students being highly engaged with the video lesson about effects of friction on various slides. The students automatically started to share their experiences with different kinds of slides and could relate the topic of friction with their personal experiences. I believe the teacher should find ways to connect lessons to student’s personal experiences. Moreover, for the third session it was initially planned that students will make portfolios on their own or in pairs but since the school had limited resources, we had to alter the activity accordingly. Although we were able to achieve our goal it could have been better if we would have acquired the knowledge about the resources that the school had and then would have designed the activity accordingly. But then I believe this is how things actually work in real world. One should be dynamic enough to alter the planned situations to fit the actual situation by making sure that end goal remains intact.
I found the experience of delivering the lesson in a real classroom setting quite beneficial because this experience lets me put myself in teacher’s shoe and examine things from their point of view.