Students teach, Mr. Shields learns

On March 21st through March 27th if you walked into Mr. Shields’s classroom you wouldn’t see him up there teaching. You would see his students, and if you looked around the room, you would see him sitting in the back of the room acting like an eighth grader.

As an assignment for fourth term, Mr. Shields’s students had to teach a part of a lesson that they researched and prepared on their own. Mr. Shields said he did this for two reasons. “The first reason is to give the students an opportunity to learn to research and prepare themselves if they ever have to speak in public. The second reason is to put the students in the shoes of their teachers, so they can see what it’s like to teach.” He continued, “I think you learn more if you teach then you do if you listen.”

Chance Farr, an eighth grader in Mr. Shields’s sixth period class, agreed, “This assignment a fun way to learn.” Chance did his lesson on the growth of the cotton industry.  He said, “I didn’t even know there was such a thing.”

Some groups brought food like cotton candy and salsa when they taught. Mr. Shields was pleased with the effort put into most groups, unfortunately not all the students did their best. “Some of the groups did awesome, but some of them could have done better. Teaching isn’t as easy as it looks,” he said.

When everyone finished teaching, Mr. Shields rewarded the students for their hard work with a party. They had a great time with all the drinks, food and games.