Webquest Reflection

I met with my mentor teacher and showed her the assignment printout indicating my requirements for the class lesson that I needed to conduct in the month of November. She thought it would be a great idea to introduce the new unit cover Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet by having the students conduct a webquest to discover information about the Elizabethan Era and the life of Shakespeare and presenting their information using a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation. I asked her if they were familiar with the PowerPoint and Prezi software and she said that they all have used PowerPoint before, but she was not sure about the Prezi. She provided me with a typed page of questions that she had used in past semesters, but she said that I did not have to use …show more content…
First, I should have insisted that my mentor teacher double check my group arrangements prior to the day of my lesson. Because I was missing a student on my list, I was forced to make another group of three. In my panic of feeling out of control during the moment of realizing that I missed a student on my list, I just put him with the closest set of students. I should have taken a minute and reviewed the group arrangements and decided where he would best learn the lesson. Additionally, I should have anticipated a grouping problem and had an extra webquest prepared in case I needed to move someone or form a different group during the …show more content…
This lesson made me realize that I should have taken into consideration the complexity of each question and the abilities of each group member. I know the students with IEP’s do not want their special education teacher seating next to them during group work, but I need to figure out how I can incorporate the differentiated activities to engage these students. I want them to feel like an active member of the class, not lost and frustrated. The one major regret that I have about this lesson is the feeling that not all of my students learned new skills to research information because they were not given the proper tools or environment to do so. In future lessons I will make sure to think about the complexity of the activities and what I am requiring of each of the students. If I have any hesitations about any of my students’ abilities to complete the tasks, I will make sure to differentiate my lesson to meet all of my students’ needs. Additionally, I will speak with the special education teachers for advice and guidance prior to conducting the class