Going Overtime

This week I presented another lesson in my Master Teacher's (MT) class. The topic was on Summarizing. I used non-fiction literature for this lesson so as to get students used to reading factual information, stories based on reality. I picked articles from Scholastic News, wherein most articles are written by students and are read in the school. I chose articles on the topics I know the class will enjoy: basketball, money, health and Dr. Seuss (which was the students' favorite because the school just celebrated his birthday through a program called Read Across America, a project by the National Education Association, and the students get to wear pajamas to school!). I gave them a strategy of the 5 W's and H (who, what, where, when, why, how). Though the lesson was well-written (based on feedback from Prof. Ruppert and my MT), it was quite a stretch for the kids and I spent a very long time on it. I think the lesson went well, but I felt so embarrassed with my MT because I went well over time on the delivery of the lesson. She was really gracious in saying that that's how we learn, the more time I spend in front of the class, the better I'll be in teaching lessons and managing class environment. I am really thankful for her. So for the next time, if it seems a lesson will be longer than 1 hour, I should split the lesson over a span of a few days, which will give students time to absorb new information little by little.