The same yet different

Part of being a (first-year) teacher is adjusting lessons and being flexible and making sure things work. A lot of times, this means that the last time of teaching a particular lesson will be much better than the first. I have 7 different 5th grade and 4/5 multiage grade classes and so sometimes (really, often times) my first lesson and my last lesson are vastly different. Today was no exception. I am teaching my students rudimentary conjugation skills so that they'll be ready for middle school next year. We are currently practicing how to say how we are feeling, in terms of being sick. For example, I have a cough, I have a fever, I am sneezing, etc. Here's the agenda for for my first lesson:


1. Students pull out pre-made flashcards, organize them into piles based on the categories on the board.
2. Have students tell me which cards belong in each category.
3. Introduce I vs You vs He/She using hand gestures and pointing. Practice for each vocabulary.
4. Introduce but don't explain verb conjugations.
5. Introduce and play the game of El Mago (The Magician) by saying one person is el mago and the other person has to do what they say. Play each role 5 times then have a seat. Must speak Spanish.


After the first class dragged on (you could definitely tell my students were bored with it and even I was kind of bored), I decided to make some changes. For the next class, I shortened the use of flashcards but that seemed to make it more confusing. Then I tried to adjust how I was teaching verb conjugations but students were struggling with that too. After a few more adjustments, my agenda for my last class looked more like this:


1. This picture was already on the board.

2. Practice speaking/gesturing vocabulary while switching up I, You, He/She then ask for translations at the end. (They caught on to this really quickly!)
3. Briefly explain verb conjugations (in English, ugh, but at least they weren't confused).
4. Review old vocabulary by having students recall phrases that fit in with what we're learning. (Ex: I am cold, I am sleepy, etc.)
5. Introduce and play the game of El Mago (The Magician) by saying one person is el mago who casts "sickness spells" on the other person. They must say the directions using the "You" format and the other person must do what el mago says (since the person is under a spell). Not only do they have to act out the sickness, they must also say it by changing the verb from "You" to "I". Play each role 5 times then have a seat. Must cast spells in Spanish.


I know that my last few classes got way more out of the lesson than my first few classes. I know this is a part of teaching and the fact that I can change my lessons between classes shows flexibility and adaptation on my part. However, I feel bad for my first few classes and wish I could go back and reteach them! My lessons were the same for each class, yet also different which led to very different learning experiences for everyone. This is all a learning experience for me too though, so I'm still happy! It's not like my first class didn't get anything out of the lesson; they still learned. It just wasn't taught as best as it could have been. My lesson can still be improved, lessons can always be improved, but I am happy with the end result.