Week 5: Reflections from an Interest Approach Lab
Hi everyone!
It is crazy to think that we have officially made it 1/3 of the way through this semester. This semester has been, and will continue to be, filled with high-impact learning experiences that have helped me grow as a future educator. These experiences have kept me busy, however, I know that this will all serve me well in the future.
In Week 5 of AEE 412, we focused our lab experience on interest approaches. An interest approach is a brief activity, typically used at the beginning of a learning experience, to stimulate students' interest towards a topic. Interest approaches are a very important part of any lesson, however, for me, they can also be the most difficult.
For this lab, I decided to highlight the interest approach from lesson 7 of my Rabbit Production Unit, titled "What are common rabbit breeds?". This interest approach was an observation activity for my students. I had posted pictures of various rabbit breeds around the room and tasked students with traveling to each of these rabbit breeds and writing down any observations they had about them. After four minutes of taking observations, students returned to their seats where I led a discussion on the observations they made. Overall, I think the lab went fairly well, however, there is always room for improvement. Over the past few days, I have been reflecting on my interest approach lab and have collected feedback from my peers to assist me in this reflection. Below, I have highlighted some areas for improvement that I will continue to work on throughout the rest of this semester and as I move into my student teaching experience in the spring.
Enthusiasm
One thing that I've noticed I really struggle with is having enthusiasm when I am teaching. I think my biggest obstacle with enthusiasm is that, in a lab setting, it simply doesn't feel real. However, I should reframe my mindset because one day it WILL be real and I will be in a classroom. Practicing having enthusiasm now will serve me well, especially when I am teaching courses that I am not as passionate about. In the future, I think I will try to add key phrases and questions to my lesson plans that can help me keep enthusiasm throughout my lessons.
Providing Clear Directions
Another area for improvement that I want to highlight is my ability to give clear instructions. Often times, I will write down word-for-word what directions I want to give in my lesson plan, however, when it comes time to give the lesson, I will try to come up with directions off the top of my head. I honestly have no idea why I do this, however, I recognize that, in the future, I need to make it a point to use my lesson plan as a tool while I am teaching.
I think it could also be useful to have students restate the directions after I give them. For example, after giving directions I could ask "Could someone explain to me what we are about to do?". This could be useful in making sure that students are understanding my instructions while also allowing an opportunity for me to provide calcification if needed.
"How much time do we have left?"
Another area that I need to improve on is giving students as many tools as I can to allow them to complete independent activities. In this case, I was asking students to complete quite a bit in four minutes. While this worked well among a small group of my peers, this could be challenging for a large group of high schoolers. In this situation, I think it would be very useful to provide a timer on the board so students will know how much time they have left to complete these tasks, without having to ask "how much time do we have left?".
This also made me think of other situations where I could provide students with extra support in completing activities. For example, I assign students a larger task, it may be useful to have guided questions or directions displayed on the board. Overall, I think this aspect of the lab really made me think about how I can provide students will some sort of visual or handout that will assist them with completing a task and also (hopefully) alleviate all of the questions that are typically asked like "what are we doing?" or "how much time do we have left?".
Where do we go from here?
As we move throughout the rest of the semester, I am excited to see how I can use the reflections from this lesson to improve my teaching in the future. I will work to provide enthusiasm within my future lessons, provide students with more clarity in instructions, and provide students with the tools they need to be successful. I am excited to see how I can improve these areas in our next lab experience, the Problem Solving Lab. Be sure to check back in the next two to three weeks to learn about that experience!
WE ARE... one third of the way done!
Hi Mckenzie! Wow, how have we made it to this point already! It is hard to believe we are one third of the way done with our final semester in State College. I enjoyed being able to watch the recording of your lab and reading of your reflections on how you will adapt this interest approach moving forward. I really liked your interest approach with the rabbit breeds - I believe the stations were a creative yet sustainable approach to starting lessons that could be used in many different scenarios. Many of these ideas are ones I will look to use in my own instruction, especially the ideas about asking students to repeat instructions back and putting a timer up in the board.
ReplyDeleteHey Mckenzie! You had a really great idea for your interest approach! I think it is a struggle that we are all having, in making our lab feel like the real thing. I this will hopefully change, once we are in a classroom with students! I think this will help your enthusiasm, one there are different people in the room. You brought up some good reflections, which I think are great ways to improve your lesson! When you teach this lesson to a group of students, you may find other things that work better depending on the group of students! Good Work Mckenzie, I look forward to seeing what else you come up with for this unit!
ReplyDeleteThank you Mckenzie for sharing, because I have run into similar dilemmas. It's great that you're reflecting on your teaching practices and looking for ways to improve the learning experience for your students. Providing students with the tools and support they need to complete independent activities is an essential aspect of effective teaching. Remember that teaching is an evolving process, and it's wonderful that you're committed to refining your methods to benefit your students. By providing them with the tools and support they need to succeed independently, you'll contribute to a more effective and engaging learning environment.
ReplyDeleteI love your idea of having your students restate your instructions, I will likely use that in my next lesson! I also struggled a bit concerning directions for my approach, as I should have made the effort to clarify that the materials (while edible) weren't to be eaten. When putting all this planning into our activities, we need to remember how we describe our activities to our students.
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