Micro Teaching Reflection

This is a reflection of my micro teaching on March 28, 2021. 

Questions or statements to help work through the reflection are included in BOLD. 

• In teaching context, was the lesson plan realistic?

Yes, our lesson was realistic. If this was my actual class there would be more routine structured, for example, Trudy Keil gave a template for lesson notes from her thesis of a biology class and I have started using that within my French class. Here is a link to my template. If I were using this lesson, students would have recorded the vocab words, they are aware of the content objectives and would circle all of the skills being used (speaking/vocabulary and listening). This lesson is traditional English view/listening activity that is followed by an assessment of comprehension. 

• Was I able to follow the lesson plan as I intended? lf not, why not? (Remember, a good lesson, AS TAUGHT, is not necessarily one that rigidly follows the original plan!)

Yes, I was able to follow my lesson since it was the same as what we did with the Mexican English learners. As I discussed within my blog about the EAL students from Mexico, throughout the times we taught the lesson organically things change and flowed better because of practice. The lesson became much more vocabulary based which was not the intention but if this was a real class we would have picked up from that point the next time and practice more speaking. 

• Is it necessary that the lesson plan unfold the same way each time it is taught, or is it necessary to make adaptations? 

A lesson does not need to unfold the same way each time it is used and adaptations or reflections will be made during and after every lesson. If you were teaching different students then the lesson probably would not unfold the same way because the students aren’t the same- they have different likes/dislikes, different levels of understanding and different life events. If you were teaching this lesson multiple times to the same students (for practice) then it probably would not unfold the same way because the students have stronger prior knowledge each time. Going in with a lesson, especially if it is assessed or connected to the Saskatchewan curriculum, the teacher must be aware if the lesson plan is changed or does not unfold the same way, then changes to the assessment may be needed. After the lesson, reflections are important to see how you as a teacher can improve and how the lesson can improve. At times the lesson will need adapting but not always. As I explain in the next question, yes I would change things about my lesson but that does not mean that it is NEEDED but rather it means that I have reflected to see how to reach my students better. 

• What would I change if I had the opportunity to teach this lesson again?

I would have started with brainstorming of different vocabulary words the students knew about sports and have a little conversation with it. This would make our leaving/closure conversation stronger. I would have students do a poll of if they have ever heard of the vocab words and then add a sentence into the chat using the word (they could do this either in English or in their preferred language). Though the video was very informational, through this class we have learned about the benefits of songs or repetition so I would definitely integrate it in the lesson so students became more comfortable with the words. 

• Could this lesson be taught to a different teaching context? 

Definitely, this lesson would work as a great bell ringer warm up. I would go through the lesson as normal but have students write down the response if they do not like talking. This is a really beneficial type of free write or free speak because it helps look for important information from the video but also has them combining their personal stories. This lesson if altered to change speaking to writing (unless the students want to video tape themselves speaking) could be great for asynchronous learning. 

• What do I need to work on?

Wait time, especially with online teaching. As I mentioned appropriatewait time is difficult with both EAL students and online learning because students are pre-thinking about what they want to share. As a teacher I have a tendency to try to fill that space up sometimes it is important to give students a quiet time to collect their thoughts.  I also find it more difficult to create relationships with students online. This is something that comes natural to me in the classroom but online students have a tendency to be quieter (especially middle and high school students) and aren’t talking to their friends in the same way (they will be talking through the chat VS talking in person) which makes it harder to spark a conversation. As a teacher who recently had her teaching transfer to online I will see if it is difficult to continue an in person relationship online but I know that I need to improve my methods of connecting with students. My relationships with students also rely on conversation that as we have discussed in class, which is not something every student is comfortable with so I am going to need to find different ways of connecting with students.