I had a really good conversation with Ms. Wink about my lesson tomorrow. I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around the elements of the lesson. The science lesson is about materials that either conduct or insulate electricity. It's a simple concept - materials that have loosely bound electrons (conductors) will allow the electrical current to pass through. Materials that have tightly bound electrons (insulators) will not allow the electrical current through. I had a great ideas, but kept getting tripped up by this one mini lesson within the larger lesson - parts of an atom. For those who have been exposed to atoms before, it makes sense to explain conductors and insulators through visuals of atoms - to see tightly or loosely bound electrons around a nucleus makes great conceptual sense. However, to 10-year-olds who have never learned about atoms before, I just thought that it would be confusing. I realize that I'm a worry wart, but I just want the lesson to be engaging for the students.
Ms. Wink agreed with my thinking, and we decided to cut the atom segment out of the lesson. Suddenly, the mental block was lifted, and the lesson came together in my mind! It was a half day, and Ms. Wink had a meeting to go to, so I worked on my handouts and amended my lesson plan. When she returned, I did a dry run of my lesson for her. She pretended to be a student through the process, and had great feedback for me! I took her suggestions and tweaked the Conductors and Insulators lesson so that it would be ready for tomorrow.
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