Teaching America’s Youth
Last Monday, Lorenzo and I had the privilege of taking a trip down memory lane to teach at Polytechnic’s Lower School. We spent a whole day teaching three classes of second grade students all about fly-fishing and watershed ecology. Throughout the entire lesson, we prioritized starting with small, easy-to-understand chunks of information, and building from there. We began by defining important terms, like ‘watershed’ and ‘ecology.’ Thanks to prior meetings with the Lower School Science teacher, Ms. Dolan, our presentation was tailored to fit specifically within their curriculum, so terms like these were already familiar to the students.
We continued to explain all about the Arroyo Seco and Los Angeles River watersheds, as well as our impact on watersheds as polluting humans. Then we took a thorough analysis of the many plants and animals that live in watersheds who are affected by our pollution, specifically steelhead trout in our Arroyo Seco watershed. We then transitioned to talking about fly-fishing and entomology.
After watching a few videos, answering never-ending questions, and laughing at silly pictures, we finally arrived at our main destination, the activity we had planned: mock fly tying! We brought chenille stems and small wooden dowels which worked perfectly for everyone to craft their own mock flies!
I was certainly nervous about leading this class, as I had never done something like this before. But after just a few minutes of presenting, I noticed something I wasn’t expecting through some of their questions and comments. These kids, despite being in 2nd grader, were phenomenal thinkers, making connections to things I never even considered. It was very refreshing to spend the day with such young and bright minds, especially after second semester senior year classes!
Teaching these students was truly transformative. Being a teacher for the first time in a setting like this was a completely unique experience that gave me a huge insight into the lives of my teachers. I now have a more profound admiration and respect for all of my teachers who do this everyday! Through firsthand experience, I witnessed the immense amount of time, effort, and dedication required to plan and execute a successful lesson. The level of exhaustion and emotional investment that comes with teaching was also made abundantly clear. It is a profession that demands unwavering commitment and passion, especially when it comes to teaching the same material repeatedly in different classes.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to have this experience, and I strongly encourage all future Global Scholars to do something similar! Click here to take a look at the presentation we used!
