Logan Hykes

SSC 403

Professor Eric Stein

September 22, 2020

Wormeli Reflection Four

There a few things that stuck out to me from the Wormeli readings this week. First, the

idea of using sponge and warm up exercises in class, and second, it really struck me how he

suggested for teachers to structure field trips in order that students can get more of an

education out of them.

I had never really thought about using certain activities for the sole purpose of using up

time at the end of class. I knew that having a large amount of extra time left over is not good,

but never gave much thought with what to do with extra time. I like how Wormeli gives

examples of certain activities that can be used to fill those last few minutes of class. I also like

that Wormeli gives suggestions for warm-up activities as well. These can also be very useful on

days that students seem particularly sluggish or can just be used to get students minds thinking.

I will apply this in my classroom by having a group of activities ready to go to use in the

instance that there is a large enough amount of time left over. I will use such time, if there is

any to sometimes ask for feedback on a recent test, quiz, or in-class activity. I will also use what

Wormeli calls “Summary Ball” (p. 221) by asking students to either state something that was

taught during the lesson that day or something new that they learned.
 I also appreciated the article on getting the most out of field trips. As a kid, when I went

on field trips, I remember having certain scavenger hunt sheets to fill out, sometimes we filled

them out and sometimes we didn’t. I like how Wormeli talked about how these activities don’t

really work like they should. Most students just look for the thing on the paper, if they are

filling out the sheet at all, and don’t make any, or very few, connections to the material that

they are learning in class. I really appreciated how Wormeli offers some alternatives to help

students learn during a field trip.

I will apply this in my classroom by making sure students meet with some sort of

museum worker or park official that could give them the story of what happened at the site we

would be visiting or what the museum is telling the story of. I want to make sure my students

learn something from their field trip. I would also ask students to look at the destination’s

website before visiting and research something about that destination that interests them. This

will hopefully make the trip a little more enjoyable for them by allowing them to focus on

something that they have a particular interest in.

As usual, I saw something in a new light or learned something new from this book. I

learned more things that I will make use of in my future classroom. I plan on continuing to

learn new ideas or new takes on old ideas, that will help me improve my teaching style and help

me be the best teacher that I can be.