Reflection 6 (Chapter 5)

Chapter 5

This chapter discusses how to plan and manage a classroom with inquiry instruction. Using state standards to frame your work is the basis for lesson planning. With such emphasis on standards, teachers need to understand that standards are set up to help them. They are supposed to be used as a tool for teachers to accomplish activities throughout the year. They also are a way for teachers to organize units. Teachers can pick which standards they want the students to comprehend, and design lessons around them. The other main topic for lesson planning is objectives. These tend to be confused, and Bass does a great job going over the construction of them. He asks teachers to keep in mind the ABC’s when composing an objective: ‘audience, behavior, and conditions’ (Bass, 114). These are important concepts for all teachers to think about, because objectives are student-centered. He also provides a great list of action words that can be used in objective sentences.

The next major discussion in the chapter is on designing the lesson. This area goes into details on the introduction and the activity. What I found most interesting was the activity on the ‘Raisin Elevator’ (Bass, 119). This activity was one of my first science memories from kindergarten, and I wrote about it in my science reflection paper. I can actually picture the room I was in, when the science teacher came into our class, and completed the experiment. I think that this activity is such a great engage activity, because it allows the students to experience something that they know nothing about. Then, as teachers, we can fill in the information for the students.

Moving on in the chapter, Bass discusses a variety of different inquiry activities that teachers can utilize with their students. These activities range from exploration, open inquiry, learning centers, and fieldtrips. Each one of these ideas are great ways for the students to be actively engaged. As future educators, we need to remember to not simply give our students busy work, and bore them. Some students need to be able to manipulate objects in order to learn, while others are fine with busy work. We need to make sure that we are addressing each of our students needs in the classroom. We also need to make sure that we partner up these activities with information material. We cannot simply take the students to the zoo, and then move onto the next lesson. The students should be acquiring information before, during, and after the fieldtrip.

Bass finished out this chapter by discussing safety in the classroom, as well as classroom management. Both of these are very important ideas that teachers need to touch on right away. Teachers need to let their students know of the classroom rules, and enforce them whenever necessary.