I’ve been hard at work on my California PACT, a multi-lesson+video+context commentary assessment of my teaching ability. For the PACT, I’ve been teaching my fifth graders lessons on geometry, trying to make the lessons as fun, engaging, and innovative as possible. Frankly, I think I’ve succeeded.
The lessons:
- Introduction to Terms
- Angles
- Polygons
Over the course of these three lessons, I had students work in teams to present the terminology with their bodies. A line segment: two students as points and one student, arms stretched, standing between them. An acute angle: her head is the point and those two arms are separated by no more than 89 degrees.
The kids were pretty excited to get out of their seats and show off their knowledge, but still had some questions about how valid these lessons are to their real lives. I don’t blame them. So, for my lesson on polygons, I showed the kids a selection of pictures from my personal photo album. An ice rink, a cardboard box, tiles at the Getty, a castle — all of these subjects under scrutinizing eyes, searching for polygons and angles. We talked about geometry and how it relates to architecture, design, art, and even video games.
After my lessons, Mrs. M told me that she heard the kids in line talking about my performance: “You can tell she’s really interested in what she’s teaching.”
I hope the PACT evaluators can tell how excited my students were. Really, I hope they can just tell how excited I am for their learning — I loathe geometry, but I can’t wait to teach another lesson on it.
To those of you who finished the PACT, congratulations on another MAT@USC milestone! To read more of Amanda’s teaching adventures, you can follow her personal blog at http://theteachingbog.com/.
If you’d like to know about how to become a teacher in California and make a difference in your local community, contact our Admissions office at 888.MAT.1USC or email us at matadmit@usc.edu.
