When my mentor teacher asked me if I would like to teach a lesson to the class the following week, my brain’s first reaction was, You’re not ready for this; yet I found myself saying, “Yes, I would love to!”

(Sometimes you just need to do the “scary” things, because they help you learn and grow.)

I spent the next week pondering and planning my first official lesson-in-action for a 6th grade class. I came up with an idea for the lesson within the next day. I wanted to do a Science lesson that involved hands-on exploration of the human heart through a series of lab stations. I emailed my ideas to my mentor teacher, who responded with an excited “Yes!” He offered to bring some materials and reserve two lesson blocks for the activities.

Over the weekend, I created a Learning Plan and reconsidered activities and discussions that would bring out the big idea and core competencies I’d identified for the lesson. I created instructions for the different stations and a student worksheet. By the time Wednesday rolled around, I was well-prepared for the lesson and excited about finally being able to teach.

The lesson in action was effective: the students were well-engaged in the lab activities and responded well to discussion questions. Although it did require much effort on my part to keep the students on track while they were going through the stations in their groups, it was a pleasure to see the students make learning connections between their activities and the structure and function about the heart.

Later, my mentor teacher and I debriefed the learning experience. By far, his main positive highlight was the hands-on, inquiry-based learning. “I love that you made the learning practical for students. I think it makes learning more meaningful, and it allows all students to participate because it gives everyone the space to discover something new.” This is so true; during the lesson I was overjoyed to see the student who is rarely willing to do worksheets participate eagerly in the practical stations.

This point launched us into a discussion on the merits of practical learning plans. It is true that hands-on learning activities can require a lot of prep work for the teacher. It took me a while to assemble my ideas and materials, create a worksheet and stations instructions, and lay out the lesson plan. Yet it was clearly worth it. Students were engaged, exploring the wonders of the heart on their own, asking me questions out of their own curiosity and initiative, and simply displaying a greater respect for the processes they were learning about.

My mentor teacher drove one crucial point home: What is important before lab activities, especially with this age group, is to clarify expectations about behaviour before the lab begins. During the lesson, some groups simply sat at their tables chattering away when they were finished with a station, instead of taking initiative and moving on to the next station. Although most students worked well as a group, there were some instances where some students simply “tagged along” in the learning activity instead of being an active team member. My mentor teacher admitted that this particular class needs quite a bit more guidance than some other groups their age. No two classes are the same, so expectations need to be laid out clearly prior to the learning activity.

In your opinion, what are some of the most important things to keep in mind when planning a lesson?

To view my lesson plan for this learning experience, click here.

To see my heart stations instruction sheets, click here.

To view the student handout for this lesson, click here.

Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash