My practice teaching 2 took place at Waverly High School in an animal science class. The lesson topic was animal welfare vs. animal rights. There were nine 10th graders in the class. One specific management technique I used was a bell ringer. This allowed me to organize my thoughts and set up the first activity while the students completed the bell ringer.
Thinking about my lesson through the lens of ACTE Element 4, my prior knowledge and preparation made it successful. This was my most well-thought-out lesson and the one I spent the most time preparing. As a result, I was able to focus on lesson delivery and not content. I was able to build momentum through discussion instead of worrying about the content. Without this preparation, the lesson would’ve been much more difficult to complete because my attention would’ve been split between content and management. There were a couple of times when I had to reference my lesson plan on my computer to know what was coming next. However, I continued to talk, or I called for a quick think-pair-share so that momentum wasn’t broken while I prepared for what was next.
My explicit behavior expectations for the activity helped to create psychological safety in the classroom during this lesson. I made sure to tell students before the activity that I expected respectful discussion and open-mindedness. I had no issues with this during the lesson, and I’d like to think my explicit expectations made that possible. Going forward, I will continue to explicitly state behavior norms before activities so that students understand my expectations. Additionally, I will continue to move around the room during a class period to engage all learners. So far, I’ve found that to be easy and highly effective.