Group 3 Direct Instruction

Now that my group, group 2 has finished teaching, it our turn to watch another group!

Group 3 focused on the Outer Planets and Beyond for their lesson. Before they began teaching, they went over classroom rules for the students to follow:

• Each student was given a bag with three planets in them. When instructed to, they were to hold up a planet depending on how they felt about the information that was learned. Red meant they don't understand, blue if they somewhat understand, and green if they do understand.
• A game for teachers vs. students was played. There was a chart on the board, and if the students were being too loud or misbehaving, the students lost a star and the teachers gained it. The students loved this because they wanted to beat the teachers at the game!
• To get the class' attention, the teachers would say "Infinity" and the students would respond "and beyond!

The teachers introduced Astronaut Annie as a way to ask the students questions. A ring tone would go off, and a text would appear on a slide with a question on it. The students loved this because it made it seem more realistic, like Astronaut Annie was actually texting and asking the questions!

When it came to their guided notes, the students were having a bit of difficulty following along. With this and the amount of information the teachers needed to get through, they began to run out of time before they accomplished everything they needed to. This rushed their guided practice, which was a cool activity! A vortex was displayed on the board with inner and outer planets names and descriptions. The students came up in their groups and matched the planet to their description. If they were the correct match, the vortex would suck it up, but if it was a wrong match, the vortex would spit it out (this didn't happen once though, such smarties!).

Astronaut Annie was used throughout the entire lesson, ending with the students writing letters to her about one of the planets they learned during the lesson. They even provided the students with a rubric to guide their writing.

Group 3's direct instruction lesson was taught great and I can't wait to see their inquiry lesson!