Looking back, if I could change anything, I think I would have been a little more prepared for the presentations on Monday. Our projector has a nice habit of turning off unpredictably, and although I did manage to print out some sides for the students as a back up, it was sort of done at the last minute and it was a little bit of a scramble to have it done in time. This reinforced the fact that over-planning is almost always necessary.
The most beneficial part of my week was using things that the students are interested in to tie into the lesson. For my first lesson on the stock market I used a clip from Batman Begins for the intro where Bruce Wayne and the CEO of Wayne Enterprise engage in a conversation about "going public" and the selling/purchasing of shares. This fit in nicely with my lesson throughout the whole hour that I taught. Also, I had students talk about the clothing they wear and the stores they shop in, and used this to expose them to finance.google.com and nyse.com. This all seemed to work well.
I'm continuing to look forward to the following weeks, and continue to enjoy getting to know the students better. They are opening up more with me and seem to enjoy getting to know me better as well. However, I am still feeling like I'm pushing mud in my "lunch class." It seems now matter how much the first class loves the material, the second class is always half asleep and doesn't want to be there. I have a feeling this is an uphill battle I'll be fighting all semester. Aside from that, I couldn't ask for more up to this point.
Rich, I know how you feel about the technology. Every once in a while, our projector "overheats" and I worry when I'm teaching that it will just turn off. It's always good to have a backup plan though. Keep up the hard work with your lunch class, eventually they may turn around and get used to it as you teach more. To me, that is the hardest part about teaching so far, trying to make it exciting and pushing the students that just do not want to be there, but as teachers we just have to try different things. Sounds like you are doing a great job thus far so hope you have a great week!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your lessons are coming together well for you and you're using unique ways to get them interested-good job! We are going to be playing the stock market game too in one of my classes, let me know if you have any tips to share! I hope your lunch class gets better, it sounds like a tough class to handle. Have a good week!
ReplyDeleteI am lucky to have observed the day of your Batman lesson. The clip was a perfect choice for a successful anticipatory set as the intro into stocks and bonds in your Personal Finance class.
ReplyDeleteThe power of multimedia in the classroom is unlimited the more we use it in our lessons to appeal to our students.