Field Experience Day 6 3rd Grade 3/22/12

Reflection of the Lesson

 

This lesson was the one the validated all of my hard work and perseverance. I have never had such a good overall lesson in my life, and it gave me such a good feeling when I was done that I have still not stopped smiling. Once again I was in charge of the class and my master teacher was merely acting as an assistant. We did a lesson similar to the one that we did with the kindergarten group, except we added in different objects as targets, such as rubber chickens and pigs, large dinosaurs, and a giant stuffed bulldog. To build further on the lesson, each target and object was given a point value, and the students were required to run to a back board and add up their point totals as they went. This was an easy modification that allowed us to bring in their regular classroom materials and incorporate them into our lesson.

After the first round of throwing, the students were sent out to reset all the targets and pins, as well as to gather as many objects to throw. When all the targets and objects were reset, the students waited in their lines and I walked by to see how many objects they had retrieved. Upon walking by I noticed a set of girls who had very few throwing objects in their barrel and asked the class if anyone with a lot of objects would be willing to give them some extra ones. Another group readily volunteered their equipment to the other group would have a better chance to earn points.

 I took this opportunity to stop the class and talk about character virtues. I talked about the virtues that I live and that were taught to me by the Marine Corps, and those virtues were: Honor, Courage and Commitment. I explained what each stood for and how living by these virtues and having these characteristics makes you a better person. The students were extremely responsive to this and I felt that it was an important message and the perfect time for these students to learn it. When I was done talking we started right back into the activity and proceeded to the end of the lesson. While this discussion lasted a few minutes that the students could have been being active, it was such a powerful moment for myself as well as the students, I felt it was perfect. The master teacher even stopped me after the lesson to tell me how great of a moment it was. He also said that it was a great thing that I felt comfortable enough to stop the class and do something like that, and even better that it came so naturally. These are the moments that I live for, and it further instilled that this was the best lesson of my life.