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I'm student teaching in 7th and 8th grade and I taught a lesson last week in an advisory class where I had the students design a bulletin board. The lesson didn't go very well; I spent too much time setting it up. The bulletin board itself doesn't look well done. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to just fix it myself, but the students need to move on to the next advisory lesson when we meet later this week. Anyone have suggestions for fixing a situation like this? I'd also appreciate suggestions for knowing when to reteach and when to move on in general.

As for fixing the bulletin board, is there time outside of class for some students who are interested to fix it?

Hi Jannah-- I'm curious--what was the learning goal of the lesson? What was the purpose of the bulletin board? "Reteaching" implies that students did not meet the learning goals and need additional or alternative instruction in order to do so. Mary B.

Hi Jannah, Yes, I have similar questions...what was the lesson's objective? Was it an interactive bulletin board or informational display? Did you have a rubric for the finished product? Sometimes that helps to set minimal expectations, especially if appearance is built into the rubric. Carolyn

Thank you all for your comments. They helped to clarify the major flaw in my lesson. I didn't really have a clear learning goal, as the directive to have the students create a bulletin board came from our administration. I took the assigned activity and tried to teach it without really considering its purpose. Clarifying the goals with the administration or with other teachers would really help me determine what I should re-teach.