Observation

I'm running on just a few hours of sleep yet again. I was able to observe at Gwinn Middle School yesterday morning. It was so exciting to see how the teacher set up her classroom and ran the hour. She had a quiet reading area filled with Science books where a special needs child spent a majority of the hour. For another class, we all went outside to identify trees. The kids got to see science up close and personal. The teacher had so much extra knowledge that she was able to answer questions on the fly. The kids were engaged and I really think they learned something. Not being familiar with identity keys myself, I asked the kids to explain it to me and to help me identify the trees. What's a petiole? What's the difference between a complex leaf and a simple leaf? The students at Gwinn Middle School can tell you!