Preparations

Preparing to teach a fourth grade class for fieldwork is one of the more intimidating aspects of this course. Working one on one or in a small group with students is a much different dynamic than being in control of an entire class. In the past for fieldwork, it was much easier to design lesson plans based on the needs and interests of one or two students. Having to account for the needs of each student is an intimidating task, although exciting. Teaching the class in a group will be the first experience I have being in front of an entire room of students, and hopefully will not be the last.




Not only are there three lesson plans to create, but classroom management strategies to consider. One student being temporarily off task is easier to bring back on task because you are right next to them and able to quickly remind them what you are working on together. With seventeen students, one or two off track students have the ability to derail the entire class if effective classroom management is not put in place. While the goal is to create engaging lessons for meaningful and active learning to take place and for students to be excited to take part in, it is important to consider how to ensure that the student's excitement is channeled back into the lesson in  a productive manner. If this energy and excitement is left alone, students may become off track and lose focus of the lesson of the day.

Another aspect of being in front of the class that I find myself preparing for is how to channel my own excited and nervous energy into excitement for the content I will be presenting. Especially because the lessons will be recorded, I want to be sure to try my best to control nervous fidgeting while teaching. There are so many small elements involved, from voice projection to making sure to use academic language, it is important to remember everything that needs to be done. It is difficult sometimes in the moment to realize when you are speaking too quickly, or not pronouncing words clearly enough for the class.

Auction for Information

The first day of fieldwork was incredibly exciting! In order to both get to know the students a little bit, and start to introduce the topic of economics to the class, my fieldwork group created an auction. The students each got a certain amount of monopoly money to start with, and then we "sold" questions. The more students wanted to answer the question, the higher the bidding price went. So, for example, if students were really excited to answer "If you could have any super power what would it be?" the bidding might go up to $100 before it was sold, whereas if less people wanted to answer "What is your favorite color?" the bidding might only go up to $25.

The activity we planned went really well. The students were engaged in the activity, and got more and more involved and enthusiastic about it the further we went along. Even students who seemed reserved and soft spoken found at least one or two questions that opened them up and had them involved in the process as well. Then, we would ask the students to make the connection between how many people wanted to answer a question and the price, and used that as the basis for explaining supply and demand.

I was very happy with how well the students responded to the activity, as it can sometimes be difficult to have students volunteer information and answers the first day meeting new people. The students seemed very eager and excited to have us in the class and to learn from us, just as we all were very excited to have the chance to teach them. Overall, I think it was a great start to our fieldwork journey this semester.