Learning About Rocks

   Group 2 taught their lessons this week and they did a direct instruction lesson the first day, then an inquiry lesson the second day. During the direct lesson, they used individual whiteboards for the students to write their answers down to some questions. Their PowerPoint was a little difficult to read some days because of the format of their text, but they had students read definitions off of the board. I think that if students were going to be asked to read the definitions, then they should've been written in a clearer way. Information should always be displayed easily, but especially when students are asked to read it. Other than that, the lesson went smoothly for the most part. At one point, they filled out a chart about the differences between igneous and sedimentary rocks where the teachers displayed the answers in a tiny font and just had the students copy the information. It might've been better to put up one thing, then have them list the rest on their own then share what else you had in case they missed anything. I liked the idea of having the students put the post-it on the door as they were leaving.

   The teachers started the inquiry lesson with a word cloud, which they also printed out in order for the students to be able to have a better view of it. For the activity, the students were each given play-doh and got to create their own rock (either igneous or sedimentary). Once everyone created the rock, the teachers gave each kid a popsicle stick with a number on it and they had to go to that number rock and guess which type of rock the person created. After that, the students went back to their seats and the teachers pulled out the popsicle sticks again one at a time and the students had to stand up and say which type of rock they made, then the person who guessed for that rock checked whether they were right or wrong. I loved this activity; it seemed like so much fun. The use of the popsicle sticks was an amazing idea and it worked out so well. I wish there was a way to incorporate it into my group's lesson because I thought it was such an efficient way to do the activity!