Final Internship Blog Post #13

Video Reflection #2

During my final observation with my cooperating teacher, I also video recorded the lesson for later reflection. It was a science lesson about animal behaviors and the differences between types of behaviors such as learned behaviors, instincts, and habits. After watching the video back, there were several things I noticed. The lesson was well paced, with a good balance between teacher talk and student-directed tasks. In fact, I began to notice that my favorite parts of the lesson were those that were student-directed in which I was facilitating learning for the students in this manner rather than standing up in the front of the room talking. During the portions of the lesson in which students were sharing thoughts and responses whole group, I really saw the value of taking anecdotal notes about conversations with the students. In this way, I was able to connect small discoveries and wonderings students had simultaneously but independently into one seamless class-wide conversation in which students felt engaged and which encouraged diverse participation. I could also tell that in portions where new vocabulary or concepts were being reinforced, the real-world examples I provided were very helpful. In the future, however, I will try to have more of the new vocabulary visually displayed somewhere prominently in the room, especially for the ELL students. Some of the other things I would like to work on more in the future include giving shorter and clearer directions. I noticed that the more succinct directions were more successful and garnered a quicker reaction from the students. I also noticed a time when I asked the students if there were any questions and I missed a student that began to raise her hand. In the future I will try to provide a little more wait time after I ask if there are any questions. At the beginning of the lesson I went over the essential question, but I only read it once. In the future I would like to make sure I either have the students read it with me, or that I repeat it once more before jumping into the lesson. Though I did refer back to it throughout the lesson, it is important that students begin the lesson with a strong understanding of why we are doing the activities we are doing with the end goal in mind.