Capture 8

This week was just a bunch of teaching. I was supposed to teach on Thursday but didn't realize that Geoff wasn't going to lecture. Up until this week, we had been observing schools on thursdays so I figured that Tuesday was a teaching day and Thursday was a learning day. Anyway- Thursday is also a teaching day apparently and I wasn't prepared. I sat next to Geoff in class as the rest of my group presented. I thought about leaning over and saying, "I'll just go today" but as I weighed the pros and cons I thought about the quality that would come out versus the quality I could get to come out. I started thinking about cool learning activities I had seen in schools growing up, and decided to do something really cool.

At the end of class Geoff got up and talked to the class about how the only teaching method he was seeing was direct instruction. He told everyone to try out more inventive things, take the class into the lab and do things there, etc. I was a little disappointed because I had already been planning on doing something rad, and now it was just going to be the same as everyone else's.

I guess the thing that I really cemented in my mind was the difference between teaching on the fly and teaching with a plan. I have always considered myself a capable teacher on the fly, maybe even better than many prepared teachers (in church at least). I realized though, that that isn't good enough, not for my students, not when I can do so much better.