When a Lesson Goes Wrong

On Friday October 19^th I learned a very valuable lesson: You will survive a lesson that does not go very well. I experienced this when I was in charge of teaching a double math period to my grade fours and fives about measurement. I had what I thought was a thought-provoking and exciting activity planned for that day. What I quickly came to realize about twenty minutes into my lesson was that these students were nowhere NEAR where I assumed they were in terms of their measurement skills. I was bombarded with “Miss Garside I don’t understand” and “Miss Garside what does this mean?” When these questions are coming at you 24-fold, it can be quite overwhelming. My associate teacher and I decided to get back to the basics…we actually taught our students HOW to use a ruler. We realized that if they did not know how to do this, they would not be able to digest the idea that 10mm = 1 cm, 10 cm = dm, and so on.

What I learned from this experience is that no matter how great you think your lesson is there is always a chance that students will not understand. Don’t feel bad about yourself if this happens. Regardless of how many years experience you have, you will always encounter a lesson that just doesn’t work with your students. My associate teacher approved my lesson before I began. She stated afterward for me not to worry because she would have been in the exact same position. That provided me with some comfort.

I hope that none of you will have to encounter such an experience. But in case you do, I just want to let you know that it’s not the end of the world!