Micro Teaching Reflection

I thought our lesson went over really well overall. We kept student's interest levels up through the whole lesson. I think people were enthused by the historical perspective, as well as the problems we did in class and assigned for "homework."

Although people did enjoy themselves there were many complaints about our lack of clearly prescribed (to the students) learning outcomes. So, most people didn't see the mathematical reasons for the exorcises. We also ran short on time which cut off a lot of the discussion we were going to have about error, methods, and everyday applications. Oh well.

I wonder if our "class" had a copy of our lesson plan as the lesson was being taught would the feedback be better? I think that it would be easier to see where people's lessons went off course if we could see what that course was supposed to be.

As for my thoughts on our presentation, I'm feeling much more comfortable in front of the group. It's funny how when I started juggling everybody immediately started to pay attention. That may be something to think about. From there, I definitely felt the compression of time. What I'd wanted to be a leisurely discussion ended up being a rushed presentation. I hope to learn more about this time management thing in the classroom over the next couple of weeks.

Reflections on Microteaching Lesson

Overall, I thought my lesson went extremely well. I had not really figured out how I was going to start the lesson so the beginning was a bit rocky. I wanted to reveal the true intent of the lesson after the quiz so that I could get a bit more of a wow reaction. Like I said, this made the beginning a bit rough.

Throughout the lesson I relied a bit too heavily on my passion for the material, I substituted this for actual teaching style at times. This is not to say that I did not have a plan or a clear idea of what my objectives were. If I were trying to teach a subject where my passion was not as obvious I think that this could be a problem.

The technique I used that I think the learners liked was my build up to the learning outcomes. I didn’t reveal right away what I was expecting from them that way, when they took my introductory quiz, they would not have any preconceived ideas of how I wanted them to answer. This gave me a truer knowledge of their understanding of the material.

One thing I learned from the experience is that it is very important to know your audience and have a good idea of where they are coming from. I think having a good idea of who I was teaching to made it much easier to teach the lesson.

Hmm. . . .it seems that I am being fairly negative here, but I enjoyed the exercise and felt like my lesson went really well. I look forward to doing more in the future.

Summary of Microteaching Feedback

The feedback was generally the same. People enjoyed the use of my “quiz” to introduce the general idea of the lesson. Everybody really enjoyed the activity. I came off a little disorganized but made up for it in enthusiasm. My disorganization may have muddled the learning objectives for the lesson. In the end, my enthusiasm for the subject made up for the shortcomings.