Final Reflection
Over the following year I feel that I have acquired many tools that will help me in my future teaching. The topic of planning and backward design had always been a crucial part of my teaching since my very first lesson. Before every lesson I feel a necessity to be as prepared as I can since I don’t trust my ability to improvise quite yet. However, I didn’t feel that my lesson planning was as effective as it can be, and that I could really use more guidance. Learning about Backward design changed the way I plan lessons. Before, my planning focused around finding creative ideas to teach the topics the cooperating teacher asked me to, and fill in the 45 minutes of my lesson. Considering my objectives and putting them into writing, …show more content…
I often used the topics and materials provided by the textbook, since it is a safe option that is mostly suitable for the students’ level of English. Being a student teacher, I felt and still feel like still have a need to rely on the textbook as a source of information, but I have also learned that the routine of working with the textbook must be broken up once in a while to create interest. I selected the parts of the textbook that I felt the students will find relatable, and incorporated new activities as a replacement or addition to the content in the textbook. For example, I took three movie reviews offered by the textbook and turned it to a Jigsaw activity with a worksheet completely different then the follow up question presented in the book. Surprisingly, the textbook helped me the most in planning for lessons I knew I would be observed, which usually cause student teachers to design lessons that are more innovative than usual. The starting point the textbook provided was stress reducing and helped find some really good ideas and activities connected to the topic of the unit I attempted to teach. I definitely work better when I have a certain …show more content…
I was very pleased to know that I can incorporate my love of Art into lesson and use it as a teaching tool. It made very pleased realize I can engage students in meaningful learning that involves higher order thinking skills, cultural understanding as well as new vocabulary words and other language skills. I particularly liked the activity using cartoons, which I think most students can relate to even if they are not into art as I am. I think that is what I like about being an English the most- the possibility to bring to class almost any topic and use it to improve language skills. Learning about the use of songs also opened my eyes to the possibility of using songs to teach about certain themes or culture as well as grammar and vocabulary. I liked the idea of using the song Englishman in New York to discuss the feeling of isolation and cultural differences. Using the same structure, and plan meaningful activities around a song of our own choice, and seeing the work of other students was extremely beneficial and gave me a lot of ideas for future
Over the following year I feel that I have acquired many tools that will help me in my future teaching. The topic of planning and backward design had always been a crucial part of my teaching since my very first lesson. Before every lesson I feel a necessity to be as prepared as I can since I don’t trust my ability to improvise quite yet. However, I didn’t feel that my lesson planning was as effective as it can be, and that I could really use more guidance. Learning about Backward design changed the way I plan lessons. Before, my planning focused around finding creative ideas to teach the topics the cooperating teacher asked me to, and fill in the 45 minutes of my lesson. Considering my objectives and putting them into writing, …show more content…
I often used the topics and materials provided by the textbook, since it is a safe option that is mostly suitable for the students’ level of English. Being a student teacher, I felt and still feel like still have a need to rely on the textbook as a source of information, but I have also learned that the routine of working with the textbook must be broken up once in a while to create interest. I selected the parts of the textbook that I felt the students will find relatable, and incorporated new activities as a replacement or addition to the content in the textbook. For example, I took three movie reviews offered by the textbook and turned it to a Jigsaw activity with a worksheet completely different then the follow up question presented in the book. Surprisingly, the textbook helped me the most in planning for lessons I knew I would be observed, which usually cause student teachers to design lessons that are more innovative than usual. The starting point the textbook provided was stress reducing and helped find some really good ideas and activities connected to the topic of the unit I attempted to teach. I definitely work better when I have a certain …show more content…
I was very pleased to know that I can incorporate my love of Art into lesson and use it as a teaching tool. It made very pleased realize I can engage students in meaningful learning that involves higher order thinking skills, cultural understanding as well as new vocabulary words and other language skills. I particularly liked the activity using cartoons, which I think most students can relate to even if they are not into art as I am. I think that is what I like about being an English the most- the possibility to bring to class almost any topic and use it to improve language skills. Learning about the use of songs also opened my eyes to the possibility of using songs to teach about certain themes or culture as well as grammar and vocabulary. I liked the idea of using the song Englishman in New York to discuss the feeling of isolation and cultural differences. Using the same structure, and plan meaningful activities around a song of our own choice, and seeing the work of other students was extremely beneficial and gave me a lot of ideas for future