I really like the idea of this reflection. I wanted to reflect back on this as something that won't get lost or deleted from my inbox, so I decided to post it in my blog that I created for this reason, but never actually typed in it. I would love that you post a response as a communication.
In response to the preparation, I feel that I spent many hours this past week learning and planning the material that was to be taught and even went further to explore thesis statements and topic statements in case that you wanted me to teach it this week. I was prepared. You mentioned how in the teacher assisting how you spent countless hours making ITIP lesson plans but in the student teaching phase you couldn't do this planning. I felt this way since the beginning of this semester. When talking with other teachers and asking you and Kendall's teacher about how you do you lesson plans, I have just decided to write notes and essential questions that I want to ask. I have created examples that I would like to do on the board for math to be prepared in our conversations. The one day that I didn't have examples, I felt lost and not prepared. I didn't want to feel that way again. I have prepared the first 3 lessons already for chapter 9. The thing that threw me off this week in math class, was how well they seemed to know this chapter. They seemed bored and ready to move on. They were not asking questions that seemed to indicate an struggle. I had to think on the fly twice this week. One to create a more engaging activity which was just thought up on the fly and went OK. Most kids seemed to enjoy the change of activity but I didn't like how competitive they became about points and how it seemed to get rowdy. Controlled rowdy, but it wasn't the ideal classroom management. The second time, was during review when a few kids said they lost their flashcards and I quickly made a review power point and went over these fractions at the end of review. I loved how I was able to get this out to those kids who wanted extra practice with some of the fractions to decimals. Chapter 4 was just a nice transition lesson into teaching because I could get in the groove, with them already knowing and feeling comfortable with the material, but it was frustrating to see the lack of engagement associated with this attitude. I am hoping with the conversions, that this does not become the same thing.
I felt well prepared for the time line activity, but in looking back on the week and their timelines, I wish I followed up and done a different example with them and emphasized intervals more. It was easy for them to use intervals on their own life since it was only 12 years and their were 12 boxes, but I wish that I had done a character that was older to explain how to use our divisibility rules on their time line.
I have been working hard on the book clubs and how I am going to present the mini lessons as well. I feel a bit nervous though with the book club discussion. I hope I can stimulate deeper thoughts about the books, and I hope that I can keep up with the two books.
I'd like the focus of our first week of reflections-over-email to be on preparation. Specifically, I'd like you to reflect on the following questions related to each lesson you teach this week:
- Did you feel over prepared, under prepared, or prepared just well enough for the lesson?
- Did the lesson go just how you thought it would? What surprised you?
- What did you do in advance to prepare for the lessson(s)?
- What thinking-on-the-fly did you have to do to execute the lesson(s)?
- If/When you teach this lesson again, what will you do differently to prepare for it?
- What more can I do to support you with lesson preparation?
