Teaching Reflection

Reflect upon you lab teaching experience. Describe your teaching strengths and weaknesses for teaching this lab.

Each and every time I am given the opportunity to lead a lesson, I relish the chance to further improve my skills. I take every chance to further my skills in hopes of becoming the best teacher I can be. This very brief teaching opportunity was no different, because it still has the same make up I strive for in every lesson; minimal time wasted and maximum time practicing/playing, but not just that. It must be FUN, because if it isn’t fun than who wants to do it? I think that this lesson, though short was still successful. The students seemed responsive to my directions and when asked, they said they enjoyed it as well. I did a good job of keeping my directions and expectations simple and achievable, but I need to work on my hook more. I wasn’t able to create the excitement I was looking for, and I will say that this is due to a lack of planning priorities. I spent more time thinking about the actual activities rather than the lead in.

Identify one of your most effective teachers. What teaching behaviors did you admire most in the way he/she taught?

Since I didn’t have the best of examples when I was going through school, my most effective teacher is one that I have had in college. While I won’t name him, he has been by far the most influential person in my teaching and learning to date. He has such a passion for learning that it is almost infectious, and he couples this with such a professional knowledge that it boggles my mind. He pushes the limits while still maintaining complete control over the class. When looking at him as a whole, there are co-workers that think he is crazy, but his effectiveness as an educator is hard to argue with.

What goals will you set for yourself as you prepare to teach in the Education 355 Field Experience?

My goals for this experience, as well as any other experience is simple, to be effective. I want my students to take something away from every lesson. Whether this is a newly learned skill or a new tip or trick to make them a better mover anything is better than nothing in my eyes. This could mean simply making a student feel better about themselves after receiving some positive feedback or encouragement, I just want my students to feel important and that they are able to do and learn anything they set their minds to.