First Lesson

The first lesson we taught was on March 21st. Due to the responses we received on the pre-assessment we had administered, we decided that the first day we would focus on Virginia and its bordering states for a whole lesson. The students had shown little knowledge about this topic, so we thought this would be a good starting point.
We arrived early to make copies and got to spend some time with the kids while they were on recess. It was the first lesson we taught that I realized the block of time we would be teaching may be a difficult one for the students to maintain their focus. We taught in a 45 minute block that was between recess and the end of the day.
We began the lesson and at times it was difficult to keep the students on task. We had given them a map that was very similar to that of their pre-assessment so they could see the knowledge they were building. They were to fill that map out as we went through the lesson and introduced each state. However, there were some issues between students about some problems that had happened on recess and some of the students had to leave to speak to Mrs. S during the lesson. Also the students were very excited to leave so it was difficult to keep them on task. We also underestimated the length it would take for the students to acquire and practice the information.
This lesson definitely helped us practice our skills at getting the students focused and staying on task. We also learned that the students, though they had no prior knowledge, were capable of acquiring more information than we originally thought.