Week 5

Another good week is in the books.  It was a very active week, as most are these days, and once again there were many things I learned.  

Last week we had a good start into our new section on the stock market, and i continued with the content on Tuesday.  However, it seemed like I never got into a"flow" in the lesson and it seemed to be somewhat dry at times, which I didn't like.  Everything went well, in that there were no problems or embarrassing moments, but it just wasn't what I would call a "Good Lesson."  So, that caused me to rethink some of my approaches and recognize that preparing, and then preparing again, is always essential, even when you feel like you're getting into a groove.

That being said, the one thing I would have changed this week, is to see to it that I had a better, more captivating lesson on Wednesday.  Part of this could have been due to slighter-than-usual planning due to time crunches, and part of it could have been trying to fit a large amount of content into one lesson.  So, despite it not being an A+ performance, I still benefited from it. Chalk it up to another lesson learned.

What was most beneficial this week is a couple of approaches I took to implementing the stock market game that my Personal Finance classes are participating in.  I assigned their groups (which some were O.K. with and others were not; though I held my ground none the less), and I saw to it that I got plenty of one on one time with each group.  Also, my learning center that I made has plenty of practical rules, guidelines, and tips for everything that the students have the most questions on concerning the stock market game.  It was great to be able to direct them to the board when they had a question on the rules, processes, or questions pertaining to a variety of things.  This took a large amount of demand off of me, and helped them learn how to locate and apply information without it being spoon fed to them.  Also, I started using the Google "Define: " command quite a bit this week.  If you're not familiar with that, check it out - it's very beneficial.

Overall, like I say, another good week.  There was much accomplished, but still much to do.  And so it goes...