Hannah: Hi, Dean. Did you have a good weekend?
Dean: Yes. It was good to relax after a whole week of teaching practice. I really enjoyed the experience, though.
Hannah: Yes. So did I. And I think it went well. Anyway, are you okay to talk about the report we've got to write on the geography lesson we taught together? I was thinking we could make notes now and then divide the actual writing up between us.
Dean: Sure. Good idea. Let's begin with our lesson aims, shall we?
Hannah: Right. Well, 1-2I know the main one was getting the class to think about how people in different parts of the world are connected to each other through the things they buy and sell.
Dean: Yes. We took that from the syllabus for grade four, and then we decided to use pencils as our example, because they're relatively simple in design and everyone's used a pencil at some time or other. We should include that information, too.
Hannah: Right. 1-2And we also wanted to get the class thinking about how things are moved around the world in different ways, from the farms and the mines to the factories and then the stores. That wasn't in the core syllabus. I think we added that ourselves.
Dean: Yes. I think you're right.
Hannah: Okay. Then the last section of the report contains a post lesson analysis.
Dean: We have to mention any problems we identified in our lesson when we taught it. So any ideas?
Hannah: Well, I know we were really satisfied with our handouts and worksheets. We both thought they'd been at just the right level for the class. And I don't know about you, but I think we worked well as a team.
Dean: Absolutely. Neither of us was too dominant, and we supported each other. 3-4Personally, the thing I think we didn't get right was the way we paced things. Some things seemed to be rushed, and others seemed to drag out too long. I don't know how you feel about that.
Hannah: The same as you. If we did the same lesson again, I'd want to make some adjustments to that, but keep the same basic lesson plan.
Dean: Okay. We see eye to eye on that. But there's one other thing. 3-4At the time, I seem to remember we both thought that organizing the children in sets of six didn't work very well, and that pairs would have been better for certain tasks, so that the Shire kids got more chance to contribute.
Hannah: Yes. I remember that too, and we should put it into our report as well.
Dean: Now should we go over our lesson plan together before we write the report? It seems ages ago now.
Hannah: Fine. Well, the whole lesson was based on the production and distribution of pencils. First, we gave out the pencils and got the students to decide what they're made of. 5Then when they'd come up with all five of the component materials, we talked about which countries produce most of these materials.
Dean: 5Oh, yes. And we got volunteers to come to the front and mark the location of those on a map of the world. I remember they were really keen to volunteer. We had to stop them from calling the answers out loud.
Hannah: Right. 6Then we brainstormed all the different ways of getting goods from one place to another and what the advantages and disadvantages of each one would be. I remember one girl talking about using horses.
Dean: That's right. She seemed to be a bit stuck in the past. It was hard not to smile.
Hannah: Yes. 7After that, we put them in small groups, and each group represented each of the countries on the map. They had to use their atlases to decide an itinerary for sending their raw materials to The USA, specifying the different ports and places on the way there.
Dean: That's right. And by the time they'd done that, it was break time.
Hannah: 8And after the break, they had to imagine they were pencil manufacturers in Chicago and fill in details on a worksheet about how they dispatch their pencils to different parts of the country.
Dean: Oh, yes. Okay.
Hannah: 9And then we had a class discussion about whether people will still be using pencils in 2050 and whether the design of pencils is likely to change. And to round the lesson off, 10the kids had to spend ten minutes planning a short presentation for another class about possible developments. And that was it.
Dean: Good. So I'll write up that part.