I have spent the past three days visiting 3 of the charter schools that the Audubon Center sponsors. It was quite the road trip with lots of time in the van and lots of time observing different teaching methods.
The first school we went to was in Minnesota City. I did not get to observe the teaching styles here but did teach a lesson of raptors. I taught the first hour after lunch (I always hate teaching the first class after lunch because so many kids go into a food coma). This class was of 9th/10th graders and pretty much unresponsive to my raptor lesson. We got the chance to talk with the director of the school and watch a board meeting which was interesting to see.
We got up super early the next day and drove to our second school - La Crescent Montessori. At this school we only observed classes. It is a Montessori school - so there are no lessons in the traditional sense. Each child in the class works on different lessons so there is lot of hands on activities and no lecture. To an outsider it often looks messy. It is a interesting teaching style and have no idea how I feel about it.
That same evening we got back in the van and headed to our last school - Cannon River STEM School. We spent the evening at the school in the living room of the staff housing. The school is situated on the campus of a boarding school so it really has a campus feel to it. This school was my favorite. It has an emphasis on science and technology so the kids learn alot about nature and science through projects. All of the teachers had really good rapport with the students so it was a positive learning environment. I observed for most of the day and then helped teach the Kindergartners about owls.
Overall, I learned a lot about various teaching styles and have a better understanding of the schools that come visit the center. The trip was exhausting though and I am happy to back in my own room!
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