Weekly Reflection Week____4____ Dates 2/6 - 2 / 10

List number and title of InTASC Standard(s) Addressed in this entry here:

InTASC Standard 9: Professional Learning and Ethical PracticeThe teacher

engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually
evaluate his/her practice, particularly the effects of his/her choices and actions on
others (learners, families, other professionals, and the community), and adapts
practice to meet the needs of each learner.

Write your reflection here:

This week, I wrapped up The Odyssey Unit. We still are doing a final essay, but the
students took the final exam for the unit. In creating the exam, I added an
optional question at the end that asked the students to reflect on my teaching so
far in the semester and their overall criticism of the unit. Here are the questions I
asked: This question is to help me grow as a student teacher. Please use
constructive criticism in your responses if you choose to answer. How well did you
understand The Odyssey? What activities did you find most useful in
comprehending the poem? What suggestions do you have for the next unit? I
was surprised that a majority of students actually responded. (I have attached all
the responses to this reflection.) The answers were very helpful. A common
comment the students made was how they struggled knowing all of the vocab, as
there was a lot of it. They added that they enjoyed the vocabulary-based activities
we did like the flyswatter game and the vocab skits. However, they asked for
more activities that would help them understand the vocab. I researched some
more interactive and effective activities to help the students during the next unit.
Some ideas I found were vocabulary Pictionary or Catch Phrase, requiring
students to apply the vocab in their writing like journal entries, and having
students work with the vocab more deeply when learning it by having them find a
definition, synonym, antonym, and drawing a picture. Overall, my plan is to do
more short and enjoyable activities that help students actually learn the words,
and not focus on making sure the students memorize the words and regurgitate
them on a quiz. I hope to involve a vocabulary activity in my anticipatory sets
more frequently.
Another frequent response to the evaluation question was that students wanted
more small group discussion and interactive activities similar to discussion rather
than just answering discussion questions after each section. I fully admit this unit
was probably boring to the students. I got a little bored myself. As I addressed in
my last reflection, I was just trying to keep up. Now that I feel more acquainted
and know the students, I want to really mix things up and have class be more
interactive and student-centered instead of teacher-focused. By doing this, I will
cover a majority of the students critiques and comments. Overall, I am very
happy I asked for the students feedback. I plan to make it a part of every unit to
see how I progress over the rest of my time student teaching.
 The Odyssey Student Feedback

Question:

*OPTIONAL*

This questions is to help me (Ms. Franzen) improve as a student teacher. You do not need to
answer all of the questions, but I would like your thoughts on how things have been going so far
this semester. Please use constructive criticism in your feedback. How well did you understand
The Odyssey? What areas did you need more clarification on? What did you like about the unit
and what would you change? Were there any activities that you thought were useful in your
learning and enjoyable?

Student Responses:

I understood the Odyssey pretty well, but when we watched the movie, I understood it a lot more. I liked when we
watched the movie.

I understood the story of the Odyssey fairly well, if I had to change anything I would add more vocab activities as I
really was only able to look off of my definitions. I enjoyed the movie, it was fun to watch and helped with storyline
and helped to get a better feeling of what it was really like living during that time.

I understood the Odyssey quite well mostly the whole time and I think you did a good job reading it and having
review games for us to play and the story maps really helped me even more to understand what was going on and
they were just good recaps to have . Really the only part I needed clarification on was the beginning, but that is only
because I wasn't paying as much of attention then as I was the rest of the story, if I am being totally honest. Again I
enjoyed the review games and they were very helpful with studying and were a good refresher.

I understood the general story of the Odyssey, however, at the very beginning of the poem, I found it confusing.
However, as the poem continued, I was eventually immersed in part three and part four. Then, I rather enjoyed it. I
needed more clarification on the smaller characters names and who they were. Also, I enjoyed the fly swatter game.

Hard at first, but eventually got easier. It was a challenge to remember all of the vocab. I liked the vocab review with
the fly swatters, it was competitive and fun, ,and i learned the definition of a couple of words.

I understood the movie very well not as much for the book though. parts 3&4 of the book. I would have read with
the class over all parts. The class discussions were helpful, although i received a C which can kind of
be understood because I did not finish the guide, but i was one of the people that contributed to the conversation the
most. All in all i thought you did a good job.

I understood The Odyssey fairly well. Some areas I needed clarification on would have been the start of his journey
home from Troy. For example, I was a little confused on the order of events in that portion of the poem. I can't
remember what happened at the start(although I probably could have studied more). Something I really liked about
the unit was watching the movie(it helped clear some things up about the order of events) and the games we played
with the fly swatters and jeopardy. I also enjoyed it simply because I love learning about Greek Mythology. If I
could change one thing I would say to maybe take more time to go over parts of the story line since it skips from the
middle and goes back to the start(that got me a little bit). As I said before I really enjoyed the movie and the fly
swatter games we played. The fly swatter game was great for helping with vocabulary.

I thought that i got a much better understanding of what was going on after we watched the movie. I had some areas
where i didn't understand, but after watching the video it made more sense. I also like the games we played to help
us learn the vocab and content.

I felt I understood "The Odyssey" pretty well, the story maps and the use of repetition and clarification among the
class made it an easy story to understand. I felt I needed more clarification on the vocab, especially since most of the
story is in "bigger words" anyway, so it would have helped to really understand the words before reading it instead
of just basic definitions. I wouldn't change anything, i thought the unit was well planned out! The movie really
helped while reading the poem because it was nice to relate faces to the characters on the page, it also made it really
enjoyable to have a break from reading.

I understood the Odyssey pretty well. I knew all the major areas and most of the characters names. I had some
trouble with vocab but that is always something I could work on. Throughout this unit I enjoyed all the activities we
did such as the fly swatter game and I like the idea of the story maps to help with studying.

Well I was gone for a week of the time we worked on The Odyssey. But even though I missed a week of content I
was still able understand the epic poem pretty well thanks to the Ms. Franzen's guidance, and flexibility.

pretty well, it was all good

The Book was very hard to follow. I would have liked it more if we didn't have to read it ourselves and were able to
read in class with Ms. Franzen, and if we had to read at home discuss for a while to help comprehend.

The activities that I have liked and have been useful have been the team games. Jeopardy and the fly swatter game
helped me better understand plot and vocab by making it a competition and more fun.

I understood the story fairly well because the movie helped a lot when it came to understanding the story. Also, I
suggest that we go over each part a little more and go a little deeper because some parts i found pretty confusing. I
understood The Odyssey very well. Watching the movie was very helpful in keeping a mental picture of what was
going on and as well to remember which events came before the others. Personally the story map did not help me as
much as just talking through what happened in each part. I enjoyed the flyswatter game as it helped me remember
the words a little better. As far as tests/quizzes go I think they are well put together. What's difficult for me is the
questions that are multiple choice. The definitions are so short that it's hard to decide and once I make a decision I
have no way to cross it out. If there was anyway to have a hard copy I could cross out or something to that effect it
would be a better test for me and my peers.

I understood all parts of The Odyssey expect the last part when Penelope talked to Odysseus. I liked having
conversations with the group to compare what we interpreted from the text.

I understood the story fairly well. At times I got slightly confused, but I could get it strait pretty quickly. The activity
that helped me the most were the small group discussions. I could here everyone else's interpretations of the story
and that could assist me in understanding the story better. I would suggest more small group discussions for the next
unit.
The Odyssey was easy to understand but some wording was difficult and didn't get a message through saying that
this event occurred. What helped me remember and understand the story better was the story map. It was helpful and
easy to understand, also putting the events in order on paper helped me remember since I was writing/drawing the
event. For the next unit I think another activity with vocab would be good because I had trouble with the vocab for
the first couple weeks and finally just knew most of the words yesterday and today.

I understood the Odyssey pretty well, i could have learned it better or more in depth. The activities i found most
useful were the vocab list, graded discussions and i like learning with games because they are fun but you still learn
everything you need to know. Also just doing book work is less useful because it is straight from the book answers i
like doing things that make you think and learn new things. For the next unit please use more games, fun activities
and let us read more or act it out!

I understood the odyssey very well, i think the best way for me to learn the story was by reading the book which we
did a lot of. I think you did a very good job of teaching the story to us.

I understood The Odyssey pretty well. Some activities that were most useful for me was the story map which helped
me set my events in order. In addition the discussion groups were very beneficial as it helped me talk out questions
to others and get them answered. I also enjoyed the vocab fly swatter game as it helped me with realizing what
words I understood and which ones I didn't. My overall suggestion is to just not have the audio play in class but to
have the students read it themselves, as I am not a auditory learner and therefore didn't really get anything useful
from listening.

I understand what went on in the story, but all of the quizzes seem to focus on the names of the charters and the
vocab. Not a lot on what actually happened in the story.

The whole read this section and answer the questions in the book thing was not helpful at all and was a complete
waste of time. And the complete sentences?! just more of a waste. The movie was very helpful because it told us
what was going on in a clearer way, one that does not focus on vocab words. Idk what we are doing next but just
kinda chill out. Less stuff out of the book, it is pointless to do the questions and then talk about them the next next
day, when none of that is even on the test. Whats gonna be on the test is what we need to learn. Also no more vocab,
or at least a lot less. we dot need to know the definition of every word in the story, and for those of us who really
want to know, we ask google and that's that.

Hope I didn't come off as too mean there :)

I understood The Odyssey pretty well, I think that watching the movie helped a lot in my understanding of the story.
In the future I would suggest that we do a longer graded discussion because the short one we had for the Oddyssey
didn't seem to help very much for me. Overall, you did a good job teaching this unit.

I understood The Odyssey fairly well. I think the reading and comprehension homework was the most helpful in
understanding the story. For the next unit, spend more time allowing us to read and less 'bell ringer' activities.
I understood the Odyssey a lot better because you made us discuss what was happening. I just wish you would've
clarified some points further and maybe spent more time reading with the class instead of having us read it on our
own. That would have helped me quite a bit.

I, personally understood the Odyssey very well and the movie helped very much with understanding it better. I
personally would go over the name of Odysseus' father, because I completely blanked on that, and the story map
also helped a lot so I would definitely keep that.

I understood the plot well, but it took me a while to memorize all the vocabulary words from each section. The
movie also helped me understand the story even more. There are some things we didn't go over such as the theme,
and other key elements which confused me.

I understood the story well. I found the movie and the review questions at the end of each section helpful in
understanding the story. Both helped clarify details in story. I don't have any suggestions.

I understand the Odyssey content that we went through but the plot understanding would probably be helped a little
more if I read the whole poem and not just sections out of the four parts of the poem. The only suggestion is to tell
us more if it is an abbreviation of a story.

I feel like I understand the main plot of the Odyssey pretty well. The specifics are a little foggy, but the main points
are there. For me, the most helpful activity would be the story map, because it was a good way to organize my ideas
and not need to reread the entire story before the test. The only suggestion I'd have would be to do more fun
activities with getting up and moving because sitting and listening to the book can be hard to focus on (but class
time to read is great and appreciated)!

I found the story map helpful for remembering the plot. I did get a little confused rembering what was book and
what was movie towards the end of the unit.

I understood it very well. I thought watching the movie and seeing what was happening instead of just reading it was
useful.

I understood the Odyssey, and I liked the games (jeopardy and the fly swatter game) that we used to remember the
vocabulary and characters in the story. Watching the movie also helped me remember the timeline of the story. For
the next unit, we should do the same things but maybe focus more on the order of the vocabulary because that's what
I was having the most trouble with.

Though there were times I didn't understand something, I thought I got the just of the poem. The activities that I
found the most helpful were the discussions as well as watching the film after each part. For the next unit, I suggest
more group involved activities to bounce ideas off one another.

I thought that the Odessey was confusing a lot of the time. I didn't really understand a lot of the things they were
saying and the way Homer described things I found confusing. The jeopardy game helped me study for the test and
the story map made the parts a little less confusing. If the next unit is just as confusing I would suggest taking a little
more time to explain it.

I understood The Odyssey well enough (hopefully, I guess I will see when I submit this test). Not sure what I found
most useful, probably just reading it. Maybe next unit we could do less vocabulary based things.

I understood The Odyssey pretty well and the group discussions helped me understand it the most. Next time I do
not think that the story map would be as useful as just talking about some of it in class.
I understood the Odyssey very well. In learning it, I found that discussing the story helped in understanding it, as
well as the movie and vocab activities. For the next unit, assignments that we can relate to ourselves, rather than
things we might not have much in common with, would help it be more enjoyable and easier to learn.

I understood the Odyssey on a fair level but i wasn't able to comprehend the vocab, we should do more activities so
that the words will stick with us.

I understood it pretty well because we got to discuss things and go over them in class to get different views on it.
discussions helped and seeing the movie helped in some ways. Doing the questions in the book also helped.

I understood it pretty well for the most part. I think watching the movie helped me comprehend and understand it the
best.

I understood the Odyssey fairly well. The reason why was because of the story maps and the movie. Those activities
helped me better understand the story. I think you should have those activities in the next unit.

I liked when we all read it together, and particularly when you would stop and talk about what we just read. As
syntax and vocabulary was difficult, it was nice to have discussions, and explanations on what we just read.

The small group discussion wasn't very helpful, because we all had the same stuff.

I understood the Odysseus fairly well, and it helped when we discussed what happened in the story in class. The
story maps helped a little, but the discussions helped a lot more for me, but I can see the story maps working for
other people.

I don't really have much to say but I understood the Odyssey, and I found watching the movie and doing partner-
activities as useful ways of comprehending the story. Next time, have more graded discussions so students can
collaborate with one another and understand the story together. Also, have us write our own discussion questions
please.

I understood The Odyssey pretty well. I liked talking and reviewing what we read after we had read it. It really
helped me comprehend and fully understand what was going on in the story. I think that class discussions helped me
the most.

Since the Odyssey has a very confusing timeline, i found it very hard to follow. But i looked up some youtube
videos about the Odyssey, where they just summarize what happens, and it really helped me understand what was
going on. I found that watching things visually help me. The movie also helped me understand the timeline and
how things happened.

I understood it fairly well. Things like discussions and in-class reviews helped with giving the ideas a foundation.

I understood I like to think pretty well. The rap with the vocabulary words really helped. I think one thing that would
have been better than just sitting in class and reading or listening to the story then talking about it, would be more
activities. No offense but, I know a lot of people who thought it would be easier and more fun to do the content in a
different way. Maybe we could have done a skit with people as the people in the story. These are just my opinions
but, I want to help you become a wonderful teacher.

I understood The Odyssey really well. I liked the story map and being able to talk through what had happened to
better understand what we had read. One thing that I would suggest would be to have more group discussions about
the views people had on what went on in a section.
I understood the Odyssey pretty well, the only thing that was sort of confusing was remembering the order of the
events that were just summarized because they all kind of blended together in my head. The story map was useful in
understanding the story, and the background on Epic Poetry. Also, answering the questions that went with each part
of the story. Next time it would be easier to go over vocabulary a little more with each section.

I think personally, it helped to have Austin sit by me so he could explain the plot so I could better understand the
story. I think for the next unit we should sit next to each other in the back so we are both productive.

I understood the Odyssey well. I thought the pace was okay and easy to handle. However I would've liked to have
time put aside to go fill out the story map, because it was apart of our test and I was trying to fill it in as you were
reading so I wouldn't forget, but then I didn't pick up what you read about in the story. Also I think there should've
been either more time to study the vocab words or less vocab words on the quiz because that was a lot, and I had no
time to study.

Pretty good, the language was sometimes a little funny and left undefined, but it was mostly understandable. I really
liked watching the movie, it helped me probably the most. No suggestions, it was good

I understand the Odyssey pretty well but their were some confusing parts. I thought the picture/comic sheet helped a
lot. My only suggestion for next year would to maybe make a time line sheet to know the exact order things
happened.

I understood the Odyssey very well and the activities i enjoyed the most was the board vocab game and the jeopardy
game because it lets me understand the words better through that perspective. Some suggestions i have for the next
unit is more vocab activities, not necessarily games but more activities to help understand the vocab better because
the vocab wasn't gone over very much during the Odyssey.

I understood most of the events throughout the story, but not many of the characters/places. The activity I found
most useful was the siren song because it helped me better understand what/who the sirens were. I think that we
should have some sort of review over the characters/places, if there are a lot, in the next unit.

I understood the Odyssey pretty well after reading, but discussing it made the story a lot more clear to me. The
group discussions and class discussions helped me comprehend the story the most, i also liked doing the story map.
We should keep doing discussions next unit.

I understood the Odyssey in some parts, but then I had no clue what was going on in other parts. Overall, it was a
really good poem and I wish to read it again to better understand it. Some activities that I thought were really useful
were, the vocabulary on the white board and then you had a fly swatter. That helped me understand the vocabulary a
little better. I also liked the Jeopardy game because it was a review of the whole entire story and I also liked that we
did that a day before the exam.For the next unit, I think that we should review vocabulary a little better and play a
game, like Jeopardy, as a review.

It would've been a little more helpful to go over vocabulary as a class a little bit more. Studying isn't always fun but
doing activities as a class helped a lot with remembering facts and parts of the plot. I don't have any other
suggestions, this unit was good.

I found the visualization in the movie helped me remember the content well. The most difficulty I had was in
understanding the timeline and connecting it to the area in modern times. I did like the map you showed that let us
see Odysseus's adventures on an updated map, but maybe a large class timeline activity to straighten out the
sequence of events would help next time.
I understood most of the Odyssey except for some people in Question 1. The activities most useful to me was the
jeopardy game and the vocabulary game, but I would suggest doing more games/reviews on vocab, since we had
more quizzes on them.

i understood the Odyssey pretty well except the vocab I dont know how i could of understood how to learn them
better.

I think I understood The Odyssey fairly well. The activities I found most useful were the group discussions that we
had. The whole class discussions and the small group ones were equally helpful to me. I don' have any suggestions
for the next unit.

I understood the poem very well. Drawing out the story map helped to put the pieces of the story together, and
watching the movie helped visualize the events (although some were not accurate). I don't have any real suggestions
for the next unit.

I understood the Odyssey pretty well, i wasn't one that liked the story much but you made the experience a lot more
fun. Not much really to work on, i like student teachers more sometimes because they're alert and always ready to be
better, so stay that way as a teacher. Thanks!

I think I understood it pretty well, watching the movie definitely helped get the full grasp of what was going on. I
would try to go over the vocab more in class, like doing the fly swatter game, cause that really helped me understand
most of the vocabulary.

I understood the Odyssey pretty well, i wished we would have gone over the characters a little more to understand
them better.

I liked reading the book and watching the movie along with it.

I understood the story pretty well, but only after a read the entire story more then once. The movie helped me so
much because I was able to visualize what was going on in the story, even though the movie is slightly different.

In the next unit I would encourage doing more activities that have to do with vocabulary, because that is where I
needed help the most. I really enjoyed watching the movie to go with it, and I think it really helps.

I honestly understood the Odyssey pretty well. The best activity we did was going up to the board and playing slap
it. It was fun and also very productive. And for the next unit I dont really have any suggestions. I enjoyed and
learned a lot the way you thought this unit.

I understood the Odyssey very well, I thought that you did a great job explaining what we would need to know for
the quizzes and the final exam. By going over confusing parts in the story it really helped clear things up! Awesome
job!

I understood the odyssey very well.

I found some of the more fun memorable activities the most helpful such as the vocabulary skit.

For the next unit I suggest only that you stick with the good mix of both entertaining and academic ways of
learning;.

The story itself isn't difficult to understand, but it's harder for me to focus when people read aloud. I would rather
read to myself because some phrases I did not completely understand and would have liked some extra time to look
on the sidebars to see the actual meaning. Some activities I found useful were the fly swatter game, which helped
with the vocabulary. I also enjoy graded discussions since it gives me an opportunity to hear other people's thoughts
and how they interpreted the story. Next unit I would enjoy doing more graded discussions, but maybe with slightly
larger group.