Lesson Reflection
For my second formal observation, I choose to teach a social studies lesson from the Northeast Region unit plan. I chose to teach this lesson because it incorporates many different learning styles, technology, and group work. During the planning and delivery of the lesson, I focused on improving the areas I need to strengthen. This included on my pacing, questioning, and giving clear directions. Overall, the lesson went very smoothly. I feel that I improved on my pacing and questioning, however made an error in giving directions. I believe that with more experience many of these areas I need to work on will greatly improve.
The instruction part of the lesson went very smoothly. I used student participation to recall what had been learned about Plymouth in the prior social studies lesson. I emphasized the reasons the pilgrims left, the type of government they were unhappy with, and prompted them to think about the kind of government the pilgrims would set up for themselves. I assessed student comprehension of these concepts through the questioning of various students. I feel that I did this effectively, but with more practice I will be able prompt students to make connections more independently. I passed out the worksheets explaining the activity and used the overhead projector to go over the instructions. I feel that one strength of the lesson was my use of technology and different learning styles. When going over the directions, students were able to listen and read. I also had a student explain the directions to ensure I was clear. Up to this point, I feel that the lesson was going very well.
When I put my directions and the activity into action, I realized that I had confused myself in what the groups were going to do. Initially I explained that each group would go to each letter corresponding with the specific type of government and describe the government they were assigned. Once students were in groups, I had them choose the government they felt was best instead. By the time I realized my mistake, I had already told many groups to choose the government they felt was best. I did not want to cause total confusion so I stopped to clarify and chose to have all the groups choose the government they felt was best. I feel that either way the lesson would be effective, however my error during the lesson became confusing for a few minutes for students. I feel that even though this could have been a disaster, the lesson continued successfully. Instead of letting the lesson fall apart, I was able to think on my feet and make it work. The groups made strong arguments for the governments they choose and were able to compare different groups’ governments. They formed strong opinions and were able to see the strengths and weaknesses of different governments. I realize I need to be clearer in my directions. Even though there was a moment of confusion, I surprised myself in my ability to think on my feet and make my mistake work effectively.
Another area I need to work on is my closure. I focus too much on having students emphasize and reemphasize the points of the lesson. I need to work on having a clear and concise end to the lesson. In this lesson, I brought up the vocabulary word democracy too late in the lesson. I should have discussed democracy earlier in the lesson, and then had a strong closure. I have a hard time judging when to emphasize something in the lesson and when to move on. It is difficult find the perfect balance, I do not want to go over something too briefly and leave students lost, but I also do not want to over emphasize something until it looses their interest. This is another skill I feel will improve as gain experience and learn more about the individual students.
Overall I feel my lesson went very smoothly. I have seen improvements in the areas I wanted to strengthen my teaching from my previous lessons. I have improved my pacing and flow of the lesson. I was able to transition from each part of the lesson smoothly. I am also able to move from instruction, to class conversation, to group work, back to class conversation, and closure without behavior problems. The students are very responsive and time is not wasted on transitions. The groups stayed focused on the task at hand and came up with many different arguments. Earlier in the year, students were unmotivated and would not come up with creative answers. I have used different strategies and emphasized thinking outside the box. The students even know “think outside the box” as my favorite phrase. The students were much more engaged and made many connections. One of my strengths has been my ability to form community and relationships with the students. As a result, they are very responsive and I can be very natural while teaching. I need to continue to work on my pacing. I feel that if I can become more concise, my pacing will also become much better. One of my major goals is to be able to have students make connections and direct the lesson without relying on my prompts. I am working on strengthening my ability to incite students’ critical thinking skills.
The instruction part of the lesson went very smoothly. I used student participation to recall what had been learned about Plymouth in the prior social studies lesson. I emphasized the reasons the pilgrims left, the type of government they were unhappy with, and prompted them to think about the kind of government the pilgrims would set up for themselves. I assessed student comprehension of these concepts through the questioning of various students. I feel that I did this effectively, but with more practice I will be able prompt students to make connections more independently. I passed out the worksheets explaining the activity and used the overhead projector to go over the instructions. I feel that one strength of the lesson was my use of technology and different learning styles. When going over the directions, students were able to listen and read. I also had a student explain the directions to ensure I was clear. Up to this point, I feel that the lesson was going very well.
When I put my directions and the activity into action, I realized that I had confused myself in what the groups were going to do. Initially I explained that each group would go to each letter corresponding with the specific type of government and describe the government they were assigned. Once students were in groups, I had them choose the government they felt was best instead. By the time I realized my mistake, I had already told many groups to choose the government they felt was best. I did not want to cause total confusion so I stopped to clarify and chose to have all the groups choose the government they felt was best. I feel that either way the lesson would be effective, however my error during the lesson became confusing for a few minutes for students. I feel that even though this could have been a disaster, the lesson continued successfully. Instead of letting the lesson fall apart, I was able to think on my feet and make it work. The groups made strong arguments for the governments they choose and were able to compare different groups’ governments. They formed strong opinions and were able to see the strengths and weaknesses of different governments. I realize I need to be clearer in my directions. Even though there was a moment of confusion, I surprised myself in my ability to think on my feet and make my mistake work effectively.
Another area I need to work on is my closure. I focus too much on having students emphasize and reemphasize the points of the lesson. I need to work on having a clear and concise end to the lesson. In this lesson, I brought up the vocabulary word democracy too late in the lesson. I should have discussed democracy earlier in the lesson, and then had a strong closure. I have a hard time judging when to emphasize something in the lesson and when to move on. It is difficult find the perfect balance, I do not want to go over something too briefly and leave students lost, but I also do not want to over emphasize something until it looses their interest. This is another skill I feel will improve as gain experience and learn more about the individual students.
Overall I feel my lesson went very smoothly. I have seen improvements in the areas I wanted to strengthen my teaching from my previous lessons. I have improved my pacing and flow of the lesson. I was able to transition from each part of the lesson smoothly. I am also able to move from instruction, to class conversation, to group work, back to class conversation, and closure without behavior problems. The students are very responsive and time is not wasted on transitions. The groups stayed focused on the task at hand and came up with many different arguments. Earlier in the year, students were unmotivated and would not come up with creative answers. I have used different strategies and emphasized thinking outside the box. The students even know “think outside the box” as my favorite phrase. The students were much more engaged and made many connections. One of my strengths has been my ability to form community and relationships with the students. As a result, they are very responsive and I can be very natural while teaching. I need to continue to work on my pacing. I feel that if I can become more concise, my pacing will also become much better. One of my major goals is to be able to have students make connections and direct the lesson without relying on my prompts. I am working on strengthening my ability to incite students’ critical thinking skills.