Today was my first day going to Science/Social Studies with my homeroom (Red Class). Science and Social Studies are taught by the same teacher during the same period. Generally, he teaches science three days a week and social studies two days a week. His classroom is completely different from anything else I have experienced. Each table has one exercise ball that students sit on. The ball is rotated to a different student each day. At first, I was really distracted by all of the bouncing bodies, but I soon realized that this was a great way for students to get their "wiggles" out while also paying attention to instruction.
They are beginning their study of life sciences and are focusing on classification systems using physical characteristics. Each table was given a handful of buttons of different sizes and shapes and asked to come up with at least two ways to classify or group their buttons. It was really awesome to see how the students worked together to come up with and justify their classification systems. This was also a great way to get them prepared for a lesson on the Linnaean Classfication system which has specific criteria and is much more technical than their button classification systems.
The demeanor of the class as a whole was dramatically different from what I have observed so far in Language Arts. They are much more engaged and full of life, likely because they are given more opportunities to move around and work collaboratively to complete hands on activities. It is amazing to see the difference that the teacher's style can have on the students. This single observation has really motivated me to create engaging lessons that allow students to participate more in their own learning rather than sitting and listening to lectures.
