Nichole Oswald							9/13/07
MED300								Journal 1
September 11th and 13th 

	I really enjoyed being at Lafayette High School this week.  I was very nervous and hesitant about having to go back to Lafayette, after not having the best experiences there on previous occasions.  The students were very well behaved, remained on task the entire class and actively participated.  We (Kristy & I) had the students coming up to the board working out problems, working in pairs, and also explaining the concepts in their own words.  We tried to use this approach as opposed to direct instruction, this way the students were more engaged.  I feel that it is easier for the students to lose focus on what is being taught if the lesson is primarily lecture.  However, there were some points in the lessons where direct instruction needed to be used, i.e.: introduction of new vocabulary and properties.  
	This week I realized that not everything is cut and dry when it comes to teaching.  While teaching about identity and inverse properties, the students needed multiple explanations.  I had to be on my toes to think of a different way to explain it.  The lesson plan is very helpful because it contained definitions.  However it does not include the answers to every question that the students may have.  The explanations and examples in the lesson may not be enough.  Therefore I realized that when explaining the material it is very important to always be thinking about the next question that the students may have.
	I feel overall that the material was delivered clearly to the students.  All of the students understood the material and were able to apply what they learned to complete the worksheets.  If I was to do something differently I think I would use more difficult examples in class; this way the students would be better prepared.
	Throughout the lesson I had to make slight modifications.  Some of the examples had to be cut out because of time constraints.  There is just so much material that needs to be covered in such a short period of time.  Therefore is the students are struggling with something, the remainder of the lesson gets pushed back.  For next time, I’m going to try to deliver a more concise lesson, where the students develop a clear understanding but also remain on schedule.  I know that it may be wishful thinking, but I’m really going to try to stick with this plan.