Pace is a charter school located in south Jersey. The school is small and services students in the surraounding areas. The classroom I was in had 15 students. I student taught three days a week for half the day with a partner. Towards the middle of the semester we were going to the school full-time. We taught lessons everyday for almost three weeks.

The experience taught me many things about teaching and how students in first grade learn. Teaching is not just about putting together a good lesson plan and thinking of great ideas and projects. For students to be successful they need the opportunity to explore new ideas and topics through various methods. Because students learn differently, lessons should also be presented through different means. This does not mean teach the same thing five times in five different ways. Rather, alllow students to use their talents when learning new content and demonstrating the new concepts they learned.

In the lessons and topics demonstrated here, you will see various methods and styles in presenting new information to students. The entire lesson may not always be shown, however, I will explain different methods used and the theory behind it.