Jumping Into the Great Unknown

Well, the first week of classes has concluded. Surprisingly, I don't feel as overwhelmed as I thought I would. Don't get me wrong; I'm still overwhelmed but I have all of my assignments and other things to do written in my planner. If you are a future student teacher, a planner is key!

Last Monday, we had to draw numbered packets from a pile. They had 15 minute lessons written on them that we were going to have to teach to our peers on Wednesday morning....yes that's right, 48 hours to come up with a lesson plan to teach on our 3rd day. That's right, no explicit teaching on lesson planning or teaching methods....hence the title of this blog post (at least part of the reason why it is what it is)!

It was kind of scary at first but after teaching the lesson on Wednesday, everything was fine. As part of our duties as future teachers, we must write blog posts reflecting on our weeks and in response to articles we read/videos we watch.

This one is going to be a reflection on the 1st lesson of the semester. We had free choice of 14 numbered packets, so naturally I picked my lucky number 13. I open it and out of all things....it's a 15 minute lesson on chess! I have tried to play chess before but it never went very well at all. Thank goodness that it's only a lesson on the pieces; their names, positions and point values. Not that bad once I started to look at it.

I think that was part of the reason why I was so nervous going into the lesson; because I was never good at chess. Anyway, here are some of the things that I will improve on for the next lesson I teach.

I need to....

• not rely on my notes so much (that's something that has always knocked me down while public speaking, a constant struggle for me).
• shared objectives (I even thought about that before I started my lesson).
• be more physically active, walk around the room more (that was part of my nervousness I believe).
• provide all materials and diagrams or videos to illustrate talking points.
• have a faster pace along with more enthusiasm.
• have an activity where the students are physically engaged in the lesson (I could have had each student be a piece in the chess game and made a large chess board for the floor).

Overall, I think the lesson went fairly well. I knew all of the things that I needed to teach but if I must say, I always feel as if I'm going to forget something very critical. That is why I get so nervous and rely on my notes all the time. If I can get over the worry of forgetting something, that will be the start to taking away most of my problems.

Among my school blog posts, you will soon see one that recaps my last summer as a junior livestock showmen! A more light-hearted, sentimental post coming soon!!!