This is the first activity, where a solar panel is used to light up a light bulb. Douglas is showing the class how to do it.
Some of the students are trying out the experiment.Activity 2:
This activity involves a field trip to the Solar Fountain. Here, the students are taught about the Solar Fountain. Leon is currently teaching about the different switches.
Given three scenarios: Sunny day, cloudy day and at night, what will happen to the height of the Fountain? This is a demonstration on a cloudy day, using an umbrella as the cloud.
Here, the students are contemplating about a question which Leon posed to them. This question involves some calculation.
Back to the class! The students are shown the blog with Mr Flavian telling them about the blog.
Douglas, Leon and I were tasked to carry out the lesson plan, which we designed some time ago, with the class 2E2. They were the first class which we went to teach. Leon and I taught the class about the Solar Fountain. It was quite a fun experience actually.
ReplyDeleteWe had a day to prepare for the lesson. At first, we were told to do it on the next day, but was postponed a day. This gave us a day to prepare for the lesson, which was much needed. We went through the class work first, where Douglas was in charge of. After that, we went to the Solar Fountain, which was the second part of the lesson. This is where Leon and I taught. It may not be the best environment to teach in, as it was rather sunny and hot, but it is definitely one of the most important part of the lesson. I taught about why the solar panel was tilted slightly, and given three scenarios, what would happen to the height of the solar fountain.
On the actual day, I was pretty nervous about teaching the class as it was my first time teaching. Overall, it was quite successful as we sort of met the timing and that the class was responsive. I had no problems with the class as the class was eager to answer the questions. Also, the preparation before the actual day helped a lot as we got the gist as to what we have to say and this helped us to be fluent. Thus, we did not have to pause a lot to think about what we have to say. The teachers also helped a lot as they taught us how to teach and gave us some help.
Some factors to take note of are that we need to be prepared for the lesson. For example, we need to prepare an umbrella and the key before the class. Overall, it was quite a success.
Last year our school selected the three of us, Douglas Ying Ying and I for the WGS solar fountain project. We were told to do a lesson plan with the teachers on a short 2 period lesson sharing our expirence and knowledge we learn from the entire 6 month training with Temasek polytechnic. We started off dicussing about our agenda, which is to teach them why soloar energy i neeeded to be use dispite the trouble maintanece and high cost of a panel. We decided to let then get out of their seats and go to the fountain themselfs. This way it not only give them a clearer image of the fountain, this allows us to expain more specificly the components and the stucture of the fountain. The class was split into 2 half with me ang ying ying to the fountain and half with douglas doing a simple experiment on a circuit which is powered by a lamp. Previosly when we were learning, we did a solar powered car which was a useful aid in teachimg them.
ReplyDeleteOn the acual day, we carried out the lesson as planned. Half with Douglas in class and Half with me and Ying Ying.for my Part, I as was asked to show the components the solar fountain contains and also to show them how the individual swithes work. At the start, it was a little shocing as we had to present on something to our sec 2 junior. However, we got the hang of it and the whole processs went quite smoothly as planned. As the class was split into 2, i had to present it 2 times! But it help realese the pressure as the people we were presenting to was half of the class at a time.
The areas of improvement were to have more content knowledge on what we were presenting. Some questins asked by our junior was a little challenging even for us. This was basically the only thing that needed areas for improvement.
When I was asked to teach a lesson, with my fellow group mates Leon & YingYing, I was taken aback. I have never taught lessons since I was born. Let alone a class of 40 pupils.
ReplyDeleteWe ran through the lesson plan & had tiny rehearsals. My greatest worry was that I fear the class would not be co-operative. Though nervous, I was determined to do a good job.
When the lesson started, I was the first to teach the class. I went through powerpoint slides with them and showed videos of solar energy. Soon after that, the class was divided into 2 groups of odd & even index numbers. One group followed Leon & YingYing down to the WGS Solar Fountain for an outdoor activity while the other stayed behind to have a little experimental activity.
They were then split into groups of 4-5. Then, I showed the class how to set up a solar powered circuit. After that, they had to set up one of their own. When the other group came back, I had to demostrate the circuit again.
Overall, the lesson was a success. It would not have been a success without our great teachers Mr Jerry, Mr Flavian, Mr Ng & Mr Junus, who guided us through. I want to thank the teachers for giving me a shot at this experience.
I also want to thank 2E2 for being co-operative & attentive throughout the lesson.
From this experience, I realised that being a teacher is not facile. We had to plan lessons & be familiar with the topic/subject that we are teaching.
I was overjoyed when some students from 2E2 told me that I did a great job, looking forward for more lessons from me. With a simple 'thank you', all the hardwork paid off.
Though a success, there is always room for improvement. I hope that when we have similar lessons like this next time, we would be given more grace period to familiarise ourselves with the subject/topic. And I hope that there would be more fun & laughter in the classroom, so that the would be livier, making the lesson more enjoyable