Instructional Activity:5

For this instructional activity I was able to take the lead on my own lesson about periodic

trends. I started off with a review on what the class had gone over about periodic trends. I would

ask questions that would allow the students to check their own knowledge about what groups/

families are and what periods are. I also reviewed with the class on different terms they should

have a good understanding of like valence electrons and electron shells are. These are a few

things the students need a strong foundation on in order to understand the periodic table trends

are. We started with showing the student a video that talked about and showed how reactive

alkali metals are. This video is important because schools in Arizona are no longer allowed to

have Alkali metals on school grounds due to past issues. Also, it showed how the magnitude

increased with each new element as we went down the periodic table. Once the video was

complete the students would answer check on learning questions. These check on learning

questions would ensure students took away what they were supposed to from the video. We

continued talking about key points on what made these elements so reactive and had a few

check on learning exercises as we moved on. If I could change anything about this lesson it

would be to find a way for students to be more interactive in this class. For example maybe a

group activity that the student could do that could help them understand that because alkali

metals have one valence electron they have a need to share that electron in order to be

satisfied. I believe finding creative ways for students to learn especially difficult concepts is very

important. A Lot of the students seemed to have a difficult time understanding these basic

trends of the periodic table.