"In thinking about my past week teaching what is one thing I would do differently, and why?"
In thinking about this question, the first thing my mind went to was my evaluation for the practicum class. Of course, knowing it was coming up, I was stressed the entire week leading up to it. Trying to prepare and prepare some more and then revise those preparations....only to realize you can only prepare so much and the chips are going to fall where they may.
I would have corrected my set induction first and foremost. I created a slide show depicting vehicle accidents caused by DUI drivers. I had this playing on a loop when my students arrived. As they entered the room, I asked them to watch the slide show and reflect on the consequences of driving while impaired. Mr. Chandler recommended that in between photos of the accident scenes, I should have included a slide with my objectives or a slide with instructions for the students to reflect on the consequences of impaired driving. I did not even think to do that. I could have also had the students write five consequences as they were watching to keep them busy...something other than simply asking them to watch quietly and reflect.
Another thing I would have corrected about that evaluation day is I would have tweeked my lesson plan a bit more. I learned from my evaluator that I needed more detail in my Transfer In. I stated that today we will put the field sobriety evaluations into practice. I needed to elaborate on what that actually meant.
One thing I needed to change but honestly, I am still struggling with....is my closure. I had 50 minutes that class period and I was trying to cram so much in and really put on a great class for my evaluator. The depth of knowledge associated with my three closure questions did not measure up. I feel torn about this misstep. In one way I certainly feel that the closure questions could be more in depth; However, I also know that my classes are short and I never have time to ask the closing questions as I would like...more challenging and requiring a longer answer or more critical thinking. This is the third thing I would have changed about my evaluation day.
These are the three mistakes I made and the things I would have done differently to correct them.
Laura, I don't feel you should beat yourself up about your evaluation. They are, after all, designed to observe us and give feed back as to how we can improve, more tools and strategies we can implement, and really as a learning process. I am having my evaluation next Tuesday, and I have a bit of anxiety about it, especially since I haven't felt well for quite some time now. But not to fret or stress over it too much. My suggestion would be just to implement those things that were noted, and knock the evaluator off their feet next go round! You/we got this girl!
ReplyDeleteThank you for responding Yvonne. Also...sorry to hear you've not been feeling well. I hope you get better very soon. Thanks also for the encouragement. I was so stressed and I get very angry with myself if I do not achieve perfection (and yes I know those are not realistic expectations). I will certainly make the noted changes next time. You got this as well...I know you will do great!
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ReplyDeleteWell, I have it from a good source that you were fantastic!