Field Experience Relection

Looking Back...

As I think back on my first lesson I’ve taught, I want to take a step-by-step look at what made the lesson succeed or fail, and what I could change in the lesson and myself to be a more efficient and effective instructor. I want to examine all aspects of the lesson, interactions with the class and my materials to differentiate between what works and what doesn’t.

It may seem conceded, but I loved my anticipatory set. The instructor had not introduced the next unit, dealing with Romeo and Juliet, which my lesson was connected to. This did not deter me and my focus. I wanted the students to draw parallels between the story I had concocted, and the storyline of Romeo and Juliet, whenever they made it there. As I ended up being the introductory lesson, I used the prior knowledge the students had of stories, what makes them successful, and directed their attention to my story, “A High School Tragedy,” and invited them to explore the story with me to examine if it was a tragedy. This enabled them to understand what a tragedy was, and wasn’t, before they even were introduced to Shakespeare’s tale.
The story I produced involved characters from their city, age group, and even their high school. The use of an ice storm from the previous year allowed a strong connection to their locale and present day. I blended humor and elements of tragedy, just as Shakespeare had done in R&J, while not being overly comedic and destroying the dismal mood at the end of the story. The effect was as I had hoped. The students read the final paragraph. The main character awoke
from a four-month coma, his beloved had long since moved, and the sighs and ah’s filled the room. It had truly hit home with these teens.

I noticed that my demeanor with the students was very involved and down-to-earth. They were able to converse easily with me and felt no pressure to hold back comments. The demeanor of the class was truly excitable and engaged. I attempted to continually thank readers, those who commented, and all those that expressed opinions. I tried to question, then allow for students comments to lead to further exploration of points. It was truly an on-topic discussion that turned insightful.

Although there was no shortage of individuals who wanted to comment on the story, I did my best to make sure someone from differing groups was asked to read. Students who wanted to read more than once were thanked, but dismissed for another of offering, or my choosing. I didn’t want it to be a one-man show of certain outgoing students. I varied my choosing readers and raised hands from boy to girl. This was not an intentional decision, as much as one made by trying to get to all of the hands and comments.

I think my best decision regarding this lesson was the story I created. It was very edible to the students, and they quickly devoured every morsel. The story immediately connected them to the characters in time and space and allowed for personal voice. The follow-up top the story was a Power Point presentation that highlighted the key elements of a tragedy; exposition, rising action, climax/crisis, falling action and resolution. I think the slideshow was flashy, colorful, but only enough that it grabbed their attention and made them want to read what was on the page. The additions to the page, animation and such, were minimal so as to not detract from the text and main points.

My downfall, since I have to choose one, would be that I was unable to call on students by name. The school requires name badges, but on my third visit, it was difficult to remember twenty names and the badges were never visible. It would be useful to learn a technique for making this happen quicker, but I’m sure it comes with time. As this area was deficient, I utilized an open hand directed at the student I was calling on, and stated “Yes, go ahead.” I will make sure to learn the students in my classroom quickly.

I noticed that even when I called on the students to read or comment that I managed to reward their efforts with praise for the majority of the class. However, about halfway through the lesson, I became engrossed in how much interaction was occurring and failed to give thank you’s as I should have. I was able to regroup during the individual group presentations at the end. After thanking the students, I had the remainder of the class join me in giving the presenters with a round of applause. Theirs was generally weaker than mine, something I will attempt to work on in the future. I also blended praise, some open-ended, some with affirmation, and some that led the questioning further for the other students to answer.

One of the benefits of the teacher education program was the intense focus on giving directions. I would give the directions, and then allow a short time for questions if there was any confusion. Then throughout the lesson, I would ask again if there were questions at several points in the lesson.

Upon returning to my objectives, I notice that I did not have time to develop one of them. I wanted the students to take a sequence of events that led up to a tragic ending, and re-evaluate and rewrite these for a “happy” ending. I would like to do this in the future, but it might be better used at the end of the R&J lesson. They could rewrite the falling action and resolution and give the readers a “happy” ending to the teen tale of love.

One of the things that I would change would be the time-frame. Instead of attempting to shove all of this material into one lesson, I would develop it over three class period. One to really focus on the story and dividing it into its parts, one to develop a sequence based on a given crisis for a tragedy, and the final class to make our tragedy a “happy” ending. I think this would really ingrain the lesson and the objectives into the students and make it even more unforgettable.

There were two different forms for assessment in this lesson, one individual and one group. The group presentations called for the groups to create characters and rising action for a given video clip. They then had to develop a series of events for the falling action, and wrap the story up, with either a tragic ending or a “happy” ending. It was the choice of the group. They did need to have the events be logical and sequential. Other than that, I gave no limitations as to what they could create. I was very interested in their group presentations and let them know this by my attention. I did not allow interruptions or comments, as I truly wanted to hear what they had created. I asked question, “Why did this happen again? And “So, you’re rider was paralyzed from the waist down, or the neck down?” I wanted them to know that what they wrote was entertaining me as well as their classmates.

The individual assessment plan I had for closure was one of connection. I wanted the students to make a connection between what they had just done, and connect it to R&J. I asked them, based on what they had just studied, to predict the outcome of R&J, knowing it was considered a tragedy. Many of them were correct in their predictions. It truly was amazing to see how much the lesson was a success.

The first block I taught this lesson to was completely engaged. The second block was a different story. Since I had written the teen tale they were reading, I knew where the breaks in the story were, where paragraphs ended, and so on. This allowed me to focus my attention on all the students, those engaged and those doing other things. During the course of the reading, a couple of girls decided to do their nails, one student had his head down, and another was texting below her desk. I was very aware of these individuals, but instead of saying something that might draw everyone’s attention from the reading, I simply walked behind them and asked them to read. This way, they knew I had seen what they were doing, plus it made aware that it could be potentially embarrassing to slack off during my lesson. Moving around the room is a vital tool for a teacher to use at all times.

If a student had asked me, “Why are we doing this?” I would have given the explanation I gave in class, without being asked. I told them the lesson taught us how to analyze our decisions, how one event can lead to another, and a tragedy happen without us thinking about it. Many of the students had their characters become drunk before the motorcycle wreck (which occurred in the video clip), and I used that to demonstrate how one bad decision could lead to the wreck, being paralyzed or possibly death.

Transitions between the activities were somewhat smooth. This is mainly due to the layout of the computer desk, and the remainder of the classroom. The layout made it difficult to address the PowerPoint while moving the slides from the computer desk. I would definitely rearrange this class if it were mine to avoid this interruption in lessons which involve technology. Other than that minor hiccup, I felt that the entire lesson was smooth and seamless.
In my first block, the entire student body was engaged and interested. The second block was restless, but that as I stated earlier, is due to their attitudes. The lesson was thoroughly engaging, but not to a class who doesn’t want to do anything because it’s last block on Friday. I believe you could ask them to watch one of their favorite videos and they would rebel. The individuals who were attentive, inattentive were a blend of all personality types from the teacher’s assessment. She stated that this girl was a loner, but she was engaged in the lesson. Another girl who was of the “popular” crowd was disengaged; doing her nails, but quickly was on-task when asked to read.

The ration of teacher-student talk was about 30-70%. The students did the majority of the talking, both in discussing the story and their group presentations. Most were split as to how much they liked this. Some enjoyed hearing each other’s tales, while others felt this was the most boring part of the lesson. It’s amazing how you can have two extremes on the same topic. During the discussion of the story, the students argued as to the climax of the story, so much so, that I had to tell them what I had determined as the climax. I explained as the author, I had that authority. I also explained that none of them were incorrect. Each one could consider a different event the climax of the story, as long as they could support it. This didn’t seem to satisfy them. They wanted a clear-cut decision and mine was it.

If I was a student in this class I think I would have been interested. The idea of being able to create my own story and events is captivating. I like the freedom this lesson gave the kids and they did too. I’m also a bit of a visual learner and the video, no matter how small, would have been a treat. The exit plan also would have been fun. I love to predict things and see how they
turn out. In the case of this lesson, I predicted they would like it and be engaged and they were. I would have thoroughly enjoyed the entire lesson.

I could have engaged the students by having them create their own list of events, resolution and exposition, but the time constraints were there. If it were my class, this would have been ideal for an individual homework assignment. It is something that is easy to do and would develop differently since each student has different life experiences.

I believe that my interaction and use of technology was a success in this lesson. The presentation in PowerPoint enhanced the lesson, while the video clip excited the students. Technology in this instance was not a distraction from the lesson but added depth and visuals for those learning types. Overall, I was very pleased with the lesson and would change little. I think I might find a better clip for the video portion, but the activities and assessments were a product that I was very pleased with. First lesson = Success!

~Stan