Scott Battaglia

EDSE 3204

December 6, 2004

Teaching Analysis

The lesson I taught at my apprenticeship site was interesting. I’m not sure if my cooperating teaching forgot what lesson he wanted me to teach or just did a poor job of explaining what he expected from me. I thought I was going to be teaching about climate, things that affect climate, and how climate impacts people and their decisions.

I had planned on lecturing about various types of climates and then having a class discussion on how climate impacts peoples’ housing, vehicle, clothing decisions, etc. I read the chapter in the book, researched the internet and learned about climate and found a number of examples of houses, vehicles, jobs, etc. from various climates so the students would have some concrete examples of what I was covering.

However, when I arrived at class, my cooperating teacher had me teach a lesson on the wind systems of the world and how they impact weather. I really was not very prepared to teach a lesson on this, but I did my best. I used a similar format to the lesson I had intended on teaching, by lecturing on winds systems of world for about 15 minutes and then giving as well as asking the students in a class discussion what things winds affect and how they are helpful in determining weather.

I felt that the lesson went fairly well, considering I was anticipating teaching something else, but it was not great by any means. I felt my lecture was effective and I also felt that the classroom discussion and summary went very well. I did not call on the first student with that raised his/her hand, I made sure I allowed for wait time, and for a summary of the lesson, I asked a question and then randomly called on a student for the answer. I used multiple teaching strategies. I had lecture, a classroom discussion, and I think I was able to provide the students with example that they could relate to, by using local places, bodies of water, news stations, etc. I also thought the transitions between activities went well. I waited until I had all students’ attention and then stated we will now be discussing some examples of how wind impacts the weather.

There were a number of things that did not go particularly well with my lesson. I had no introduction because I thought I was teaching something else. I did not move around the room, for the most part I was in the front of the room or up by the white board. One reason for why I did not move around much was due to the fact that the room was very crowded with desks, tables, and cabinets. My classroom management could have been better. I had no problems gaining the students’ attention. I made sure that I had all eyes on me before I started the lesson or activity. However, I really did not have a very good idea as to how long each activity would take. I also failed to display much enthusiasm towards the lesson. I was not nervous being in front of the students, but I was nervous because I had prepared to teach a different lesson. I also did not feel my closure to lesson was real strong. I was not real sure if my cooperating teacher was planning on building on my lesson or if he was going to move on to something else. One other thing that did not do a real good job of was using students’ names. I had very few opportunities to get to know the students’ names, so when I was asking questions and calling on students I had to find their name on the seating chart before hand, which made it awkward. I think in this case in order to improve on the things I mentioned are preparation and knowing what exactly I will be teaching will be keys to fixing those areas. I think that experience is going to be the best way to gain knowledge and become an effective teacher. Experience will give me a better understanding of how to move about the room, a better idea of how long activities will take, and how long my students can take notes before becoming bored just to name a few things.

Overall the lesson went better than I had expected after finding out I would be teaching a lesson other than what I thought I would be. The main thing I learned from teaching this lesson is to be expected for the unexpected and always have a backup plan for the day.

I feel that my lesson and teaching aligned quite well with my philosophy. I had a classroom discussion that forced the students to think about what we discussed because I randomly called on students. I felt the overall atmosphere in the classroom was quite comfortable. I encourage students to ask questions and if I received answers that were not exactly what I was looking for I asked someone else in the class to build on to the answer as opposed to saying the answer was wrong. My lesson also only lasted about

20-25 minutes which gave a majority of the students’ time in class to finish the worksheet that my cooperating teacher wanted me to have to students do with this lesson. The students worked hard during class and did not have homework in their social studies class the day I taught.

Self Evaluation

A-

I feel my analysis provides information on what I did well during my lesson and what I failed to do well during my lesson. I also think that I gave reasons backing up why I taught my lesson the way I did. I also discussed the different parts of the lesson (the transition, the summary, the questioning technique) and discussed how I went about doing those and why I did. I applied things I had learned in class to my teaching such wait time, letting the students know the question before calling on someone, do not always call on the first hand, allow the student to ask questions, and have the students summarize what they learned. I also discussed what things did not go well (my classroom management, movement around the room, the content of the lecture and examples) and although I was not able to pinpoint why exactly they did not go so well I mentioned I felt it was because I was unaware and unprepared to teach a lesson on the wind systems. I also was lacking overall teaching experience, which I felt was a reason in some things not working so well.