Post Teaching Reflection

Instructional Decisions/Teaching (InTask Standard # 9):

Discuss the implementation process and describe what went well and what didn't go well during the implementation of your lesson?

The implementation of my lesson was a little bit rocky. The problems I had with my lesson didn’t lie within the lesson itself. Ultimately, I was very nervous and I’m always a bit shaky when doing a lesson. My execution of the lesson was way off. I was reading from the slides and I showed a lot more media from YouTube than I had anticipated. This made the lesson go really slowly and caused the students to zone out. What went well with my lesson was my ability to come back and finish my lesson strong. I felt that my artifacts were really solid and that the activities that I had planned for my students went a lot better than my actual lesson part. It was cool to see my students doing their own research and finding out about the Civil Rights Movement.     

How well was the alignment to objectives and standards maintained?

It was maintained fairly well. The objectives were met by my students and the standards were definitely maintained within my lesson. I kept my lesson on track and strived to make all of my content relevant to student learning.

Describe any modifications made during the implementation of the lesson?

Because of times issues I had to cut one of my activities off from the lesson. I was ok with that although, it would have been cool to be able to get both of my activities in the lesson.

Mechanics:

What technologies did I use (for the teacher and the learner)?

For the teaching aspect of my lesson I used a smartboard and I used google slides to help implement my lesson. I was also able to use YouTube to introduce videos on the Civil Rights Movement. The students used a Venn diagram to compare and contrast similarities and differences between the Black Lives Matter movement and the Civil Rights movement.

How were the technologies used (by whom and in what manner)?

The technologies were utilized in various ways. I used YouTube to help students learn about the Civil Rights Movement and I used The Venn Diagram to help students compare and contrast differences and similarities between Black Lives Matter and the Civil Rights Movement. I also had various websites available for students to explore. These websites contained information on the Civil Rights movement and the Black Lives Matter movement.

My lesson was within the correct time frame

It was short because… My lesson was about 4 minutes short. It was short because I didn’t use my time well. I definitely was nervous and therefore I rushed my lesson plan and didn’t give students an authentic learning experience.  

It was too long because…

The lesson was within the correct time frame because...

Assessment of Learning (InTask Standard # 6): Refer to Assessing Student Learning

Include at least 2 digital artifacts that demonstrate what you or your students (peers) have created as a result of your lesson

Describe your students' level of success in achieving the standards and objectives for your lesson based on your assessment

My student success in achieving the standards and objectives set by myself was pretty good. I believe that they were able to create an artifact that accurately displayed their knowledge of the content area. I believe that the information that was conveyed in this lesson met the objectives set by myself.

Describe the level of success you had in teaching the lesson

I wouldn’t say I had a lot of success in the way I executed the lesson. However, I do believe that my students did learn more about these movements through the use of technology and media. What I failed to achieve was displayed through my use of technology and artifacts.   

How do your individual reflections support this?

I saw the survey that my students took and it came as no surprise to me that my body language and the way I executed the lesson was way off. Most of the comments said that I was “reading from the slides” and that I “didn’t know the content I was teaching” this was fairly accurate. I knew about the content that I was teaching but, the way that I taught it was not a good reflection of how well I knew my content.     

How do the comments from your classmates support this?

As you can read above, the comments from my students were very hard truths. They really let me know where I needed to improve upon. This will hopefully make me a better teacher in the future.

What did you learn from designing and teaching this lesson and how will you use this in the creation of future lessons/learning activities?

I learned that there is no such thing as a perfect lesson. I learned that everyone makes mistakes, everyone has off days. Designing and teaching a lesson is hard work and requires a lot of patience and durability.