How is a typical Co-op class organized?

 Our science Co-op classes run 90 minutes twice a week.  (I’ve led three hour classes which meet weekly, too.)  How do they run?  Spoiler!  I don’t just lecture. Before class, I queued up the slide deck and video.  I make sure my notes were in order. I pulled the dissection trays, instruments, cow’s eyes, gloves, and masks.

 Yesterday, was typical.  First, we start with a review.  We had a 20 minute review of the parts of the ear and how the ear hears.  It’s round-robin.  I go around the class and ask each student to identify the scientific names of the ear.  Another kiddo reviews how sound enters and is processed.  Next, I went over vision with notes.  The timing was good.  The class had about 8 minutes to work on the Vision packet they started last week.  At ten o’clock, the Human Anatomy Middle School kids arrived.  Together, we watched the Exploratorium’s Cow’s Eye video.  The kids partnered and did the dissection.  We allowed five minutes at the end of class for clean-up.  

I try to limit any one activity to 20 minutes.  The Advanced Bio class are all high school students with a longer attention span.  Activities or labs, such as the dissection can run longer because the kids are more engaged.  The Vision Packet was supposed to be homework.  I know my class; they had forgotten the assignment.  To be fair, the kids have coloring, study guides, and tests assigned for class.  A few didn’t have the packet.  I had extra copies.  I have no idea in advance whether or not the review and class discussion will take 20-30 minutes or 30-40 minutes.  I try to have extra activities on hand.  The teens bring their text books and can always work on their study guides if we finish early.

Please note, I try to have five or more different activities in 90 minutes.  When I teach younger kiddos, my goal is five or more activities in an hour.  Their attention span is shorter.  Tomorrow I’m starting a new module.  I’ll do a review (bones, muscles, brain, parts of ear or eye), overview of the new module, Endocrine System, broadcast a video, work through a POGIL, and start the study guide.  I have a ChemMatters article on hand, just in case.  We might pull out the microscopes and catch up on histology slides.

It takes some planning.  I review my slide deck, jot down a list, and queue up any video before class starts.  My guiding question is, ‘Do I have enough material about endocrine glands for tomorrow’s class?’  Yes, I’m still pacing the modules.  I need to complete two modules in February to finish by early May.  Hope this is helpful!