Yesterday, we had another lab! This time we were to design and implement an interest approach for a class of our choosing. I decided I was going to present the students a scenario with a small gas engine and have them attempt to diagnose the issue. I incorporated the "Thank, Pair, Share approach into the scenario and have the students partner up after considering the options and discuss with a partner the solution they came up with. Once the students paired up I asked each group to share with the entire class exactly what types of issues they decided upon.During this lab, we also had to work with our classroom management skills. Each student in the class was assigned a role to play to help us asses how we handle different situations. Some of the roles in the class included: the bully, the chatty student, and the technology student.
How I handled the approach:
Overall I thought the approach went very well in terms of the students learning what I wanted them to. As I look back at my performance though I notice that there are a few key areas for me to improve. First I need to continue to improve on my clarity in my lessons. There were multiple times where I noticed I was at a loss for the right word or that I forgot to explain a certain part of the approach. I can improve on this with better planning and preparation in my lesson play.
The other area I need to improve on still is my enthusiasm. I certainly did better this week, but I am still not where I want to be in terms of being excited about a lesson I am teaching. If I can't be enthusiastic about a lesson how can I expect my students to be?
I do believe my strongest area is my one-on-one engagement with the students. As they are working I find it very easy to walk around and discuss what students are doing individually. I feel as though I can work with this strength to improve the students learning
What did I take from this:
Once I begin student teaching, I plan on developing and implementing more interest approaches. Some of these may completely blow up in my face, but unless I am willing to attempt them I will never be able to design better ones to help the students.
Right now I will continue to work on my delivery when teaching lessons, especially when it comes to my clarity and enthusiasm, and find new and creative ways to work off of my strengths.
