Overall, I was very impressed with my classmates' lessons, especially for being everyone's first time teaching a lesson. Everyone had a lesson that commanded the student's participation. Everyone displayed the four parts of direct instruction and asked questions that rose on Bloom's levels of taxonomy. Most of teachers accomadated their lessons well for time, as 15- 20 minutes is much shorter than the average class time. It is difficult to reach objectives intended and practice direct instruction in a short time frame. Everyone modified their lessons well and most came within the time limit.
A notable strength that I saw in two of my classmates was their presentation skills. All of us spoke loud and clearly however, two classmates looked as though they were seasoned professionals in how they spoke! They incorporated proper intonation when it was necessary and captured the students' attention with their tone of voice.
Something to work on for next time would be making sure the board and the teacher are visible for all students. I was blocked a few times by the computer monitor that was not being used. I could not see the examples on the slideshow and could hardly see the teacher's face. This could be an issue when trying to show students examples on the board. The teacher should always make sure they are visible to every student, and every student to them for both engagement and behavior reasons.
Another area of improvement would be getting over the fear of being in front of the room. We were all nervous, however we were in a comfortable environment with peers who are our classmates. When we are in front of 20+ adolescences we cannot show nerves or fear. When we are professionals we do not have the advantage to request hitting the stop button and starting over because we are not feeling the first 5 minutes of our lesson and want to start off differently. I was surprised when this occurred. An important technique to have as a teacher is to improvise. It is like a play where the show must go on, no matter what may be going on in your head. We will have to teach lessons on days when a million things from the outside are running through our minds. We have to learn how to turn all of that off and just focus on the now, what is happening and what you want to happen during the lesson. We have to make the best of our situations even if that means we come up with things off the cuff. We have to be ready to improvise and move on.
While I'm glad to see this commitment to professionalism, remember that the students will be back tomorrow. It is always possible to recover from a weak lesson the next day.
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda!
ReplyDeleteGreat job on microteaching – I really enjoyed your lesson. I like how you framed the topic with the use of the photographs and the pop song; it really allowed us to take a journey back in time. I thought you were very professional and clearly enthusiastic about the subject – it helped me get excited about the lesson. I think your handout was very effective. Instead of writing the photo descriptions on the board, you could have put them as captions on the handout. There was a lot of teacher-talk in your lesson – how could you have made some of that more student-centered? I also noticed that when you asked us to think of something, you then followed it with numerous examples – just one good example would be enough and would give us more room to think of something on our own.
Brava!
Hi Amanda!
ReplyDeleteI’m not a big fan of history, but you had me hooked with your presentation! Your enthusiasm for the subject was what drew me into your presentation. The handout you provided was very helpful and effective, but I don’t necessarily think that you needed that many examples. For a longer period of time, that many examples would have been ideal. I completely understand that we only had 15-20 minutes to teach our lesson though, and I admire how prepared you were. You also seemed very confident at the front of the classroom, and your intonation was very professional and mirrored that of a teacher’s. I was stimulated by your interest in Civil Rights, and I enjoyed the music at the beginning of the lesson. The incorporation of music was a nice way to draw students in, and it’s even better that it was meaningful. Thanks for an engaging and thoughtful presentation!
Great job on your first lesson! As a student who struggles with history I really enjoyed this lesson. I thought the packet you made was a great supplement to your lesson. I think that there were a lot of photos in the packet and although it is better to be over prepared than underprepared, giving students enough time to go through and put down their thoughts and ideas. Maybe assigning 3-4 photos for students to really dig deep in at first would be better for next time. Over all I thought it was a really strong lesson! I'm excited to see what you will teach next time! Good Job! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda!
ReplyDeleteYes, the music as the beginning was a hit for me. As a person who has always been moved by music (as many young students are) it's a great way to bring in the focus and reach students in a deeper way. I also agree with our classmates there were a bit too many examples that didn't seem to quite connect as smoothly as they should have. After reading the comments I was thinking perhaps a good idea would be to break the photos into categories then assign them to groups and do a jigsaw like we modeled in SED to have students share their thoughts and reactions. All in all I loved your passion and knowledge of the topic and also your use of visuals and music and your way of teaching to emotions which has a huge success rate with students! Great job!
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteLet me just say, I really enjoyed the content in your lesson. It was a good time period to pick and I think you showed a true interest in teaching the content. The song was a great idea. I think it really helped to initially engage students- since there's a pop culture aspect to it. You picked a lot of good photos on your print out. I loved how you asked for a response from us about them-there were a few in there which I still feel affected by. I do agree with the others though, the photos were too cumbersome. I think the idea about jigsawing would have worked well or maybe just fewer pictures and more focus on the few.
Great lesson and content Amanda!