Christopher Newport (Lesson 4)

(Taught 3/29)

At some point in their careers, every teacher must have a lesson, that for some reason or other goes horribly horribly wrong. I guess before this lesson, I forgot that could happen. The kids in our classroom are, for the most part, very well behaved. Also, they are idenified gifted in science and social studies (the block we observe), and almost always grasp the material without any trouble. There have been a few instances where they were fidgety, or slightly off task, but we've never had any major problems in the classroom either with behavior or students struggling to understand content. It might have been the "almost Spring Break" syndrome, but this particular lesson was out of control.

Even though TP taught, we had discussed the lesson together prior to her teaching. The plan was for students to pretend to "go along on the journey" with Christopher Newport, and even experience what sailors and their men ate while aboard the ships (seabiscuits, made of only flour and water). Afterwards, they were going to participate in an online Jamestown simulation where they were able to make choices as if they were settlers themselves. TP and I thought these would be meaningful learning activities, but on this particular day, they did not go according to plan.

First, the kids did not seem interested in pretending to be on the ship. They kind of sat there, as if they didn't know what to do or were to old for this. Then, when they were given the seabiscuits, they tasted and hated them (which led to throwing and spitting them). They were completely lost after that, and were no long focusing on TP and her lesson, but on how discusting the biscuits were. Finally, by the time we got to the online simulation, they were hyper and out of control. Treating the activity like a video game (where they wanted to attack and build a castle) only got them even more stirred up.

By the end of the lesson, TP looked completely miserable. I could tell how upset she was about how badly the lesson had went. Our teacher, who had attempted a few times to get the students on task, made them sit in silence before going to specials. She told TP that it was probably just Spring Break being so close.

There are a few things we could and would do differently if reteaching this lesson (such as more structure and classroom management) but ultimately I think it must have just been a bad days for the students. I know I always get pretty restless right before a big break!!