Hernandez 1 EDUC 201 Danielle Hernandez

Master Teaching Reflection

Our group taught a lesson on self-efficacy. I started out the lesson by going over what was in the textbook. I agree with some classmates comments that the slides were a bit too wordy. I definitely could have made them more concise and clear and could have used more supplementary video clips. My lecture was not just reading off the Power Point presentation so I was content about that. I did notice, as others noticed too, that there was a lack of flow at times between the textbook readings, the textbook lecturing, and the two studies connected with selfefficacy that we presented. We really should have all had a solid knowledge in every part of the lesson rather than splitting it up amongst the group members. If that had been the case, it would have been easier for one of us to step in and offer some help to a group member. Overall, I believe that our group couldve performed a lot better than we did. I felt that our planning was satisfactory, our understanding and familiarity with the subject matter should have been better, our teaching style was kept very professional, and that we tried to engage students to an extent. Engagement was not as high as wed hoped; however, it is difficult to make students excited about something that you are not personally excited about. I do believe that, had I been teaching in the subject area I am interested in (history), I would have been able to engage students much more. I know this from past experiences tutoring history. It is a subject that I am familiar with, comfortable with, enthusiastic about, and I am familiar with many supplementary aids in the subject. These factors are, largely, what makes a teachers

Hernandez 2 performance good and their students engaged. Additionally, when we gave students the worksheets at the end of the lecturing, we should have walked around more and tried to offer some scaffolding. This would reinforce the material learned, assure that students were actually doing their work, strengthen relationship between the students and the teacher, and it could also heighten students self-efficacy. As a teacher, standards-based instruction really does not match my beliefs of education and teaching. I think that an education should not necessarily be completely the same for every student. Ive heard of administrations refer to teaching as processing students and more and more schools today are enforcing more rigid standardization. I recently spoke to a teacher who told me that when her school tightened up on standardization, she was literally handed a scripted lesson plan. It included the exact words she was to use for her lesson, the exact questions to ask her students, when to ask them, and appropriate responses. Similarly, the teacher I am working with in my observation told me that Littlestown High School has still managed to hold on to some individuality in the classroom which she finds to be incredible important. I feel that this type of individuality does not mean that you are giving students a slanted view. You are simply offering them one perspective. And if every teacher emphasized, to an extent, a certain focus that they are personally knowledgeable and passionate about, then their students will begin to gain a variety of perspectives and knowledge supplementary to the basic subject areas. This definitely means that not every student learns the same thing, but that is extremely important. As students socialize outside of school, they are learning. If they all learn the exact same thing, then there is no reason for them to have intellectual discussions outside of the classroom. If they are all taking the same course but each have received a different perspective, it will, ideally, lead them to learn from one another, debate, think, question, and finally form their own opinions. Stepping away

Hernandez 3 from standardization would not allow teachers to brainwash students; it would let them form their own personal beliefs in accordance to knowledge rather than ignorance. The concept of Blooms taxonomy does not pose a problem in light of my educational and teaching beliefs. It is a broad enough concept and offers a reasonable guideline for classroom activity. Its order may not be as accurate for one student as it might be for another, though. One student may find create to be at a lower level than remember and vice versa. Therefore, it should not be seen as a stepladder, but as a pile of things in no particular order. I still consider lesson planning necessary. It helps to arrange your thoughts and processes and, when you see a lesson plan in writing, you can hopefully see holes that need filling in. The lesson plan, however, should not completely dictate a lesson. Improvising and impulsive activities should be used in the classroom and, therefore, time should always be allotted for such elasticity in a lesson plan. Unfortunately, we were not able to come up with something improvised to fill in the remaining time when our lesson ended much earlier than planned. Prof. Miyazawa made it clear that if we were in a public school atmosphere, we would not have the ability to simply release a class earlier than scheduled. Recommendations regarding how to fill in the gap included giving students study time, a chance to get a head start on a future lesson or that nights assignment, or, most likely to the chagrin of many a teacher, playing a game unrelated to anything. Again, I believe that if I were teaching a subject I was interested in, it would be easier for me to give an anecdote- personal or historical- related to the lesson that was just taught. Perhaps I could talk about a movie or a book that students who had liked the lesson topic might be interested in. If I have electronic tools available, it is all the more simple to fill in time gaps. If students have

Hernandez 4 laptops with them (I went to a high school where it was mandatory for every student to always have a laptop on them) I could direct them to an interesting site (which should be included as a side note in my lesson plan). If I have a projector, a SmartBoard, etc., I could show a video clip that I would know is accurate (i.e. from the History Channel or National Geographic). Perhaps, as a teacher, I could have an entire back-up playlist saved on YouTube in case a situation like this should arise. Aside from thinking ahead, thorough reflections of your own practices in teaching are very important. The only way to improve yourself (in anything not just teaching) is to completely honest- and even critical- with yourself. Instead of a reflection paper like the one I am writing right now, maybe a rubric could be used. In my future teaching, I think I will attach a rubric to the end of each of my lesson plans so that I remind myself of my own performance. This would be a great thing to do for a good number of years until I grow into a teaching performance style that works for me and my students. When reviewing the comments from our lesson, one common criticism was that the fillin-the blank worksheet did not completely align with the lesson. I know that part of this was absolutely my fault. I felt that I started out strong, but after a while, I noticed that the class was definitely less than engaged. I then made myself nervous, began to fumble a bit, and did not mention some necessary facts. Also, while teaching, I felt a distance between myself and the students. Ideally, I would like to relate to my students on their level. But connections like that, Im guessing, develop gradually throughout a school year. As a teacher, I hope to, obviously, maintain a role of authority. I dont want this role to elicit a fear, but a respect. In this way, I hope to be able to

Hernandez 5 relate to students on their level. I want to be able to discuss things with them that they have an interest in. I want them to offer just as much input as I offer. Id like to learn from them as they learn from me. But I still want them to show me the respect that a teacher should be shown by her students. In the Master Teaching exercise, I did not succeed in this respect but I have seen it happen in classrooms- including the one that I am currently observing in Littlestown. The teacher and her students have a great deal of mutual respect for one another, and they relate on a perfect level. In the end, I was satisfied with the lesson given the fact that it was our first lesson and it was not all that traditional. It definitely was under par, but it probably would have been better if it was a subject we were planning to teach, if it were confined to the length of a traditional high school classroom setting, and if we werent trying to teach as a group.