The lesson plan I created with my co-teacher was flexible and made it easy to modify our plans due to students’ reactions. The lesson was an experiment on stress and heart rate. We began with a discussion defining stress and students were asked to brainstorm a few stressful and relaxing activities. I noticed one student did not look happy, so I asked about her comfort levels with this activity. She told me that she did not want to think about stressors. I gave her to option to sit out of the parts of the lesson where we talk more about stress and invited her to join in during the de-stressing parts of the lesson. Ultimately, the student chose to not participate in the lesson at all. I am not sure what change to my instruction would have made the student want to stay in the lesson. I could have tried to partner her with another student in the class that I know she is more comfortable with.
During the bulk of the experiment students performed individual activities that were slightly stressful or distressing. Students held their breath, gave a short speech in front of the class, went outside to do a mindfulness activity, etc. My co-teacher and I did not have a pre-determined order for these activities. Instead, we decided based on how the students were reacting. One example was that we had a plan to do a dance circle as a stressful activity, but many students were strongly against dancing, so we did not end up using that activity. Working with the students to decide which activities to include and when to include them increased student engagement in the experiment. These conversations proved to be effective formative assessments.