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| The "Ways to Earn Beads," extrinsic motivation that really worked! |
1) I was very surprised that the eighth graders only had their science class for about 25 days. I had originally thought that they would have a science class for much longer!
2) In middle school a large goal is to prepare the students for high school. This includes intense practices that force them to develop organizational skills and turn in their work on time.
3) Extrinsic motivation is key! In Mrs. Weneck's classroom the theme was "ninjas!" The back wall was decorated with posters that explained characteristics that ninjas possess and students should strive to obtain. I appreciated the system that was set up where each kid had a small bottle with a face on it and they received a bead for their good acts. I have added the photos of the system! Once their "ninja" would get 15 beads, they would go up a belt level. The kids really like this system and it works!
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| Each student had a bottle and an assigned number. Their ninja could change belt colors as they earned more beads. |
4) I loved the size of Mrs. Weneck's classroom! There was so much room for activities and for the kids to move around. This allowed for more interaction and attentiveness.
5) In summary, teaching the same class for every block or period of the day would make preparation much easier than prepping for 3 or more different classes. Science and agriculture are closely related and knowing that the kids learned a basic foundation of a few things that I will be teaching in class was good to know!
Core class teaching is similar but different than teaching ag classes! It was great to see a different age group of students and a bit of a different content approach than what I have learned so far.
Angie, it’s awesome that you got to observe middle school students, science, and a large classroom all in one shot. How can you incorporate motivation like this into your classroom? What is your personal “theme” for your student teaching experience to keep you motivated?
ReplyDeleteI feel that my personal theme for student teaching is "It will not be perfect but as long as growth is achieved in my students, I'll consider it a WIN!"
DeleteThat is super fun way to motivate..."going up a belt"
ReplyDeleteThe notion of "gaming" or advancement is similar in FFA Degrees, ie - Greenhand, Chapter, State, American!
A big part of the success of our K-12 MC family of professionals is to always share new teaching ideas, tech tips and methodologies with each other. Some of the best interest approach tools in my teacher toolbox have come from elementary ed teachers!
ReplyDeleteAs we work on enviro journaling in our CASE NRE 9th grade class I thought it would be good to start a digital photo collection on Dropbox of "all the places we go" in Angie's student teaching experience with us at MC. So far it has been a new adventure or TWO every day.