Instructional Activity Two

Author: Zachariah Deans

On Friday September 24, 2021, I had the privilege to introduce new material in a lesson about

pressure and while the teacher was out for the day and a substitute was present. I worked off what the

teacher Mrs. Sanner, Britney left for the lesson. We began by talking about why gas particles move and

what causes them to move faster of slower and watched a movie as a class that gave more information

and then discussed it as a class. For all three classes this was difficult because I had to strategically find

ways to motivate the students to get involved in the conversation. I would attempt to give them an

example that they could relate to. I allowed there to be silence to give students time to think each

question through and choose not to rush or just give in to the silence. Eventually, student did start to

participate. Not all students but the majority. We continued the lesson by watching a movie that talked

about what influences pressure. This was a difficult concept for students to understand at first and even

took a few lessons after for all student to gain a grasp of the concept. During this lesson though I used

images and used commonly used words so students could make sense of the material. For the last 30

minutes of the class, students worked with their table groups. As I walked around the class I listened to

what each group was or was not saying. I also would check on each students work to ensure they were

staying on task and understood their answers and guided the students to fixed their own mis

conceptions about the material.

When it came to classroom management. Only the second class was a little bit of a challenge.

This class is before lunch and the students seem to be more energetic than the other classes. With this

class it was difficult only because it does not feel that a strong standard of classroom norms has been set

for the classroom by their Mrs. Sanner. At least none that I have noticed. This does make it difficult

because it is not my classroom. Thankfully, from prior times I have spent interning in the class it has
allowed me to build a relationship with the students as I’ve given mini lessons or assisted them in their

work. This made it where I was able to redirect students and keep them on task to waist as little class

time as possible.

If I where to make this lesson plan, I think one main change I would do is create a hook that

would draw in the student’s interest. I believe if the students had more interest the students would

have had taken in more of the content. The students may have been more willing to participate in group

activity and discussion. Because this was a new topic it is understandable for there to be some

misunderstanding and later, I would use whiteboarding in groups to share their answers and allow for

student to discuss why they have that answer and allow student to ask questions on what is the same or

different from their own answer. I noticed as I went through each class, I slightly changed things in order

to improve how I gave the instruction.