The day started with the friday morning briefing in the teacher's lounge...not much to report on that. First period was "Bones." I will be taking over this class next week after their bone dissection. I will begin my lessoning for this class on skeletal muscle and its effects on the skeletal system. I think it is an appropriate segue into bone levers.
The following class was "Animal Inside." I was happy to give them their Melbourne Zoo field trip information forms for next month. The class was extremely happy with the planned trip. The school received funding to take students from a couple classes on the all day adventure! I'm looking forward to attending as well. The class was still stuck on the classification idea so I provided them with an activity to help them visualize the Animal Kingdom. The students seemed receptive.
The next class, after recess, was year 7 science. I will also be taking over this class next week with my lessons and activities. I still think this class is going to be my hardest to come up with lessons. Its not that the lessons need to be dumbed down, at all, its that I'm worried that I will cover topics too in-depth. I think after a few goes I will get the hang of it. The lesson today involved a tour of the science center and the safety equipment in the building. I think this may have been best at the beginning of the term, but it was great that the students were excited about the different assets that the center had to offer them. They may not know this now but they are very lucky to have a school which values their science education so much.
The last class of the day, after lunch, was year 11 biology. So far my favorite class because the students always seem to be interested and are more times than not paying attention. It was nice to see the whole class contribute to the lesson. My lesson worked well but after some conversation with my cooperating teacher afterwards, it was clear that the vocabulary that I was using in my lessons may have been at a too high level for the students to understand. I also think that I need to slow down a little to make sure that EACH student is in full understanding of the concepts. I will work up a lesson for next week to go over today's to gauge where they are at in their understanding.
I just got home from my bike ride and am getting ready to go out tonight with my fellow teachers. We are headed to the pub in a bit for some dinner and drinks. Should be a fantastic end to the first full week at school. Its hard to believe that I've been in Australia for over two weeks now!