Reflection 3: Observational Reflection

For this reflection, I observed my mentor teacher, Melynda Stewart, teach her first grade class a lesson on writing a nonfiction book. As a class, the students are writing a nonfiction book about animals. Each group of three students created a page on one type of animal. The objective of this particular lesson was brainstorming ideas and introducing the entire project. Throughout this lesson, Mrs. Stewart used many of the principles we have discussed in the class.

First of all, she used Vygotsky’s principle of scaffolding in the lesson. First, Melynda demonstrated what they were going to be doing. In order to do this, she chose two students, Bracken and Kenia, to be part of her “group.” With this group, Melynda modeled how to select an animal for the group. She guided the group, thereby showing the rest of the class how to choose an animal they all agreed on by working together. Once they chose an animal, Sharks, they started out by writing facts down that they knew about it. Melynda demonstrated how they would use other nonfiction books on chosen animals to research additional facts. She then showed them how they would select the 3 favorite facts. Throughout the entire lesson, she emphasized working together for the students. After she had finished her demonstration, Melynda removed her scaffolding and influence and allowed the students to work individually in their small groups.

During this lesson, Melynda also used different principles of Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory. In her lesson, she did not focus on one type of intelligence. Rather, she allowed groups to use linguistic intelligence through writing and research, visual-spatial intelligence through drawing and designing the page, and interpersonal through group work.

The different concepts and principles that Melynda used in her teaching of this lesson are ones that I try to incorporate in my own lessons. After having watched this specific lesson of Melynda’s and many others throughout the practicum, I have seen how well the use of these ideas helps in teaching young students, particularly first graders.

During this lesson, the students were highly focused and excited to begin the project. They paid close attention to the modeling and later worked well in their groups. As I observed each group working on their own projects, I was able to see how much they had learned about brainstorming and researching. The various groups were all engrossed in various nonfiction books to learn as much about their animal as they could. It was a really neat experience to watch Melynda work with this group of students to teach them how to brainstorm and research in order to create a class book about animals!

In-Class Teaching Reflection

As a teacher, it is important to be able to look back at each day’s experience and reflect on how the lesson went. By doing this I will be able to improve and become a better teacher. During my in-class teaching experience, I was able to notice some strengths and weaknesses in my teaching style. As I notice these areas, I can focus on them to make those specific areas better.
One of my weaknesses in this lesson was confidence. Without confidence in a teacher, students are less willing to take everything the teacher says at face value or even respect them as a teacher. . Although I knew the material to be covered, I did not feel entirely confident throughout much of the lesson and I’m sure that carried over to the class. In the future, I will need to look over the material enough that I feel confident. If I cannot do that, then I need to at least convey the message of confidence to the class.
Another weakness was in the rote memorization portion of the lesson. Throughout this portion, we explained and gave examples of rote memorization. However, we never really gave a meaningful example or experience for the class. In future lessons covering Cognition and Memory, I would rework the rote memory portion so that it is more meaningful to students. Perhaps I would give them some real life experiences that they can build on and connect to themselves.
One of the strengths of the lesson was class participation. Throughout the lesson, Christina and I gave the class ample opportunities to participate in the lesson. For example, when teaching the class about Keyword Mnemonics, we gave them a chance to create a Keyword Mnemonic using the lesson’s vocabulary. This helped to involve the class, as well as using different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (remembering vocabulary, creating a mnemonic device, etc.).
Another strength in the lesson was the use of different intelligence types. Throughout the lesson, different types of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence theory were used. We demonstrated musical intelligence through the song, “My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants” to teach the 11 planets. We also allowed students to use their linguistic intelligence to create keyword mnemonics. Finally we used logical intelligence with math problems to teach algorithms.

Self Teaching Reflection

For this assignment I decided to hone my cooking skills and learn how to make a new recipe. When I first came out to college, my mom made me a cookbook with some of our family’s favorite recipes. I am always pleasantly surprised when I find a recipe in there that I have never made before, but really enjoy. This was the case with my mom’s banana bread. Banana bread is one of my favorite things to eat, yet I had never ventured into its world enough to actually make it. For that reason, I chose to make banana bread as part of this project.
For the most part, I taught myself how to make banana bread through the use of a recipe. However, as I began making the bread, I did come upon a few problems that my family and roommates were able to teach me how to solve. First, the recipe called for shortening but I had no shortening. After talking with my mom about what I could do about that problem, she taught me that butter can make a great substitute for the shortening. So I was able to solve that problem. Later, I was very impatient for the bread to be done as its aroma drifted around my apartment. When I looked at it 4 minutes before it was supposed to be done, it looked perfect. Although it appeared done to me, I wasn’t completely sure and the recipe didn’t really say how I would know. Thus I turned to my roommate, who teaches Home Economics in Spanish Fork High School. She said it would be done when the inside was no longer doughy and I could check that by sliding a knife into its center. Thus my education on baking banana bread was enhanced with guidance and explanations.
The success of this experience was completely exciting. However the moments where I thought it wasn’t going to work out due to not having shortening was a little upsetting, but it all worked out in the end. Through this experience, I was able to learn more about my preferred style of learning. This experience shows me that I prefer to work independently in a hands-on type of setting. At the same time, I like to have somebody who knows more about it available that I can approach with questions when I am having trouble. Following this experiment, I am excited to find more recipes that I haven’t made before and learn how to make them as well as expand my horizons in other areas as well.