Train Wreck!

Have you ever seen a train wreck? I haven't  but I'm sure that my lesson today qualifies as a train wreck... The whole day wasn't so bad. We started off with practicing for the talent show and then some reading and writing. But after all of that I was in charge and things went downhill. I don't feel like I am completely incompetent but sometimes there is nothing you can do. If you are interested in my flop of a lesson here are the details...

For my math class I am required to teach two inquiry math lessons during practicum. My teacher decided that my first lesson would be a good one for inquiry. No problem, right? WRONG!!! Turns out inquiry is hard. Especially when the students aren't accustomed to it. The truth is students don't want to understand why something works. They just want to know how to do it. My problem was figuring out how to teach the students in a way that they understood. We struggled and math went way longer than any of us wanted but we learn from our mistakes, right? I was so disappointed in this lesson and I hope I can do much better in the future. I felt so bad but the amazing thing was the class didn't judge me (well, to my face). I can just imagine myself in their position. It was a struggle. So yeah, that was math today.

After math we did science. I was teaching the students about the Earth's magnetic field and compasses. The idea was a good one but I was so frazzled after math that my science lesson wasn't that great either and this was the first science lesson I have taught... Alas, it was only my first day teaching fifth grade, maybe I should give myself a break.

Tomorrow I'm teaching about multiplication and scaling (Multiplying by a number that is greater than one will give you an answer bigger than that number while multiplying a number by a number that is less than one will give you an answer smaller than one) wish me luck, I think I'll need it!!!

**Disclaimer** Just in case you were wondering, the students were great during the lesson. They were paying attention and struggling to understand what I wanted them to know as I struggled to understand how to explain it to them. Shocking that management wasn't my biggest problem. That is what I have been freaking out about... Some of my students were so sweet that they came up to me afterward and told me I did a great job. The little liars-- But it was sweet of them. 

This is what I thought of while trying to teach my math lesson today... The students and I were on different pages.