Eye Opener

In yesterday’s class, some of my classmates were asked to be “substitute teachers” for the class period. These classmates were unprepared to teach the lesson. I was in Danielle’s group. Danielle took the challenge in stride. It was a biology lesson using onion cells and microscopes. I never enjoyed using microscopes. I could never focus them correctly and ended up seeing my eyelashes more often than the specimen I was supposed to be examining. I complained and Danielle readjusted the lesson so that she could help me focus the microscope. Rachel and I used different solvents – she used a hypertonic solution and I used a hypotonic solution. Danielle drew pictures for us and had us label the different parts of the cell. I compared a cell in a hypertonic solution to a raisin, a shriveled piece of fruit. Using this comparison, Danielle changed the words she was using and incorporated the “raisin” thought into our discussion. It made it much easier for me to understand the concepts rather than using the big terms. The three of us all used one microscope so that I could have help from both the “teacher” and from my other classmate.
I want to use Danielle’s technique in my own classroom. I will surely have students who will not want to participate in class activities because they have their own hang-ups related to the subject I’ll be teaching. Danielle was able to make a few minor adjustments to keep me interested in the activity. I got a lot more out of the activity since my teacher listened to my problems and re-adjusted the lesson so that I could accomplish the assignment.