LifeKnowledge Public Service Lesson

Yesterday I taught my LifeKnowledge lesson.  I chose to talk about public service.  I chose this topic because I think that public service is an important part of every community. 

                When I got there Mrs. Oberholtzer asked to have the first twenty minutes of class to review for a quiz they were having today.  During this time I got to observe the class dynamics and let me tell you what.  These students are not a lively bunch at quarter to eight in the morning.  It was like pulling teeth to get these students to answer a question or open their review packets up.  So, I realized it was going to be an uphill battle during my lesson and that I would have to be one step ahead of the students to get them engaged in my lesson. 

                I began my lesson with an interest approach reading them a story and leaving the ending out until the end of my lesson.  The first activity I had the students do was define the word civic, leadership, and come up with their own definition of civic leadership.  In the final quadrant of their folded up piece of paper I had them write or draw examples of what they thought civic leadership was.  During this activity I was impressed how well they only used their phones for looking up the words I had asked them to.  After they had all defined these words I had them group up and discuss if they had come up with different definitions or examples.  Even while they were in groups they did not speak much.  We continued on with the lesson and I passed out papers that had different public service organizations titles on it for example medical, governmental, educational, and service organizations.  During this activity I had the students come up with the professions that would be listed under these titles.  This activity went more successful than I envisioned it.  The students were quite interested in listing off the professions under each title.  We then talked about their importance in our society and without people who do services like this there would be no one to help the sick, represent our political thoughts, or protect our nation. 

                Some things that really worked for me that I carried with me from my microteaching were name tents, addressing students by their first name, thanking them for their participation, breaking directions up into sections, and allowing time for critical thinking.  While we all think name tents are the lamest thing.  They really help out the new teacher learning names quickly and efficiently.  Addressing students by their first name makes the classroom feel more personable.  Thanking the students and showing them that I appreciate their involvement in the lesson once again paid off for me.  A few students were brave enough to answer my questions and every time they did I said thank you and stated their name.  By the end of the lesson these students were very engaged in my lesson.  Using clarity eliminated student confusion.  Allowing for critical thinking time was a bit hard because sometimes the students just didn’t know the answer.  But I wanted to allow for them to take an educated guess.

                There you have it the successes and struggles I had during my LifeKnowledge lesson at Lampeter Strasburg High School.