Second Lesson

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...
The second lesson did NOT go well at all. It was taught in the afternoon, which meant the kids were all riled up, and there were so many behavior issues it was like pulling teeth to have anyone pay attention. And, to top it off, Jen was coming to observe our teaching!

We began with a re-reading of Caps for Sale, just to remind the children about the basic economic concepts in the book and have them move around a little bit as they did hand motions along with the story. Then we had the children practice role-playing: the peddler vs. the customer. They could choose which caps to buy based on the amount of money they had and then we ended with a group discussion in a circle about what they enjoyed, what was difficult, and if they could choose to sell or buy anything, what would it be. I think they at least understood that part, and I thought it was interesting that the children could identify why they would sell or buy certain things, based on how much money they had or would make.
The wrap-up was a nice lead-in to the next lesson, which will be comparing needs and wants.

I am trying to have a more stern, "teacher-face" so that the children treat me like a teacher, but the problem is that they treat their own teacher with the same disrespect. There really just are not good discipline structures in place in this classroom to get children in a place where they are learning without a million distractions. A helpful discussion afterwards led me to conclude that in my own classroom, it's important to me that I establish expectations for school behavior right off the bat and address explicitly the behaviors that will promote a learning-friendly community, rather than reacting to behaviors after they occur. I also think it's important to be flexible in classroom management techniques, and change these from year to year if need be to fit the students of that particular year.