My Direct Instruction Lesson
This week was my first time ever teaching a lesson to a class before. The thought was very nerve-racking. Will the students learn? Will they listen to me? Will they have fun? All these questions were running through my mind while trying to come up with a lesson. After a lot of planning and practice it was time to teach. I believe that the lesson went well overall, but there are a few adjustments that could be done to make it even better!
There were a few things that really stuck out during the lesson that made the lesson flow and students cooperate well. First we introduced ourselves to the class and checked for understanding of previously learned information by asking students three questions. Then I explained tips to take note of during the lesson. For example, using the thinking cap and pencil symbol. The thinking cap symbol was used after a topic was taught and students were asked a question and to reflect on what they have learned. The pencil symbol was used to show students which slides they were to copy down the underlined words into their worksheets. Giving students a worksheet with most of the notes already typed was great because students were not wasting time copying down so many notes. Also, once students saw these two symbols they knew exactly what was expected of them. What also really helped me present was knowing the information well. Knowing the information so well , I was able to have high energy and talk to the class while explaining the topics instead of just reading from the slides. Throughout the lesson I would stop every few slides to check for understanding from the class about what they just learned. Then, at the end of the whole lesson I checked for understanding by doing guided activities. Allowing students to be involved in a smart board activity is very engaging. Although, students were prohibited to come up to the board and complete the activity themselves, I still believed students enjoyed the activities being included in the lesson. The questions throughout the lesson could be answered by going back into their notes; however, the guided practice activities required students to critically think and use what they learned and apply it to a real situation.
Even though the lesson went well there are always things that need to be improved. One thing that frustrated me while trying to teach was having students talk over me. I had a signal that I used when they started to get loud and that was to put two fingers up in the air. I realized that students got used to this signal and would still be talking even with their hand in the air. To fix this problem for the future I could use multiple signals so that students do not get used to just one. Another thing I noticed while teaching is that the same students are constantly raising their hands and being called on while others are laying back and relaxing. It is a teachers job to make sure ALL students in the class are learning, not just a select few. To make sure that everyone in the class is learning teachers can ask a question and have students work in different groups to come up with an answer. Like I said before, I think that having activities incorporated with the smart board is great for students, however; time permitted us for having students to come up to the board and do the activities themselves. I think having the students come up to the board would have been more exciting for the class. However, these guided activities should be done throughout the lesson not just at the end.
After teaching my first lesson I am more comfortable teaching a class. I am familiar of what things work and what things do not work while teaching. While observing other teacher candidates direct instruction lessons I got even more ideas of what works and what does not work. For example, the first group spent a lot of time waiting for students to copy notes that is why we created fill in the blank worksheets to not waste time. After every lesson taught there is always something new to learn and ways to improve ones teaching skills. I am very excited to see how far I will come along and improve this year!
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