On Wednesday 29th November, 2014 I co-taught a lesson
with one of my colleagues as part of my UTT Practicum 111 Assessment.
Ideally, the lesson was designed to be taught to a group of twenty Infant 1
students, however, the actual lesson delivery was done with a group of ten adults (peers) who aided
in simulating the classroom setting (my
lecturer included). Our lesson was designed to introduce students to the
concept of the number three.
Before we even
attempted to teach the lesson, we had to draft a Lesson Plan. My colleague did a
Social Studies lesson and I did a Mathematics lesson. However, we needed to
decide on one lesson. This presented the first conflict for us as we each chose
a lesson with which the other was not most comfortable. I gave my colleague the
option to choose whatever she wanted to teach, and I assured her that whatever
she chose, I would support it one hundred percent. I made this decision because
I realized that in the Primary School setting, teachers would be responsible
for teaching all aspects of the curriculum regardless of how we feel about a
particular topic. My colleague expressed the same concerns. Eventually, she
selflessly opted to do my Mathematics lesson; hence, we crossed our first
hurdle together.
My colleague and I
divided the workload between ourselves and we communicated with each other via
emails and short meetings at school. A week before our lesson delivery, we
presented our Lesson Plan to our lecturer. She made a number of
recommendations; a sure indicator that we needed to go “back to the drawing
board.” My colleague and I also got some new ideas regarding how we wished to present
our lesson. We decided to do a complete overhaul of the original lesson and we
worked arduously to ensure that the new lesson was satisfactory in design and
delivery.
One of the concerns
our lecturer expressed when she viewed our Lesson Plan, was the impracticality
of delivering such a content filled lesson in twenty-five minutes. She also
suggested that we did a dry run of the lesson, and time ourselves. Once we completed
our Lesson Plan, we met to ‘practice’ teaching the lesson. This exercise took
much longer than we had anticipated as we often found ourselves being “stuck”
at key areas of transition. We rehearsed and gave each other feedback. We did
not leave the room until we were both satisfied that we were ready to execute
the lesson. Based on our lesson’s rehearsal, we made some final adjustments to
the Lesson Plan. These adjustments were also necessary if we were to stay
within our allotted time. Planning and working with my colleague was very rewarding
as we both have mutual respect for each other, and we share the same ideals of
striving for excellence. Although we often had very different perspectives or
preferences, we maintained respect for each other’s opinions. At no time did we
lose focus on the fact that we were a team. I felt comfortable working with
my colleague.
The day before our
lesson delivery, my colleague and I had one last meeting. We met to ensure we had not
overlooked anything, and to prepare the classroom, as a part of our lesson
incorporated the use of pictures stuck on the classroom walls.
When we entered the
classroom on the morning of our presentation, we soon realized that we had to
adjust our lesson delivery. Our lecturer had suggested that we incorporate the
use of technology to enhance the closure of our lesson. We did a PowerPoint presentation;
however, there was no projector in the class that day. We quickly realized our
first mistake was failing to remind our lecturer to walk with the projector. We
took it for granted that it would have been in class because our lecturer was
the one who suggested that we used it in the first place. Our second mistake
was that we arrived to class fifteen minutes late. Had we been present before
the start of class, we may have been able to deal with that matter. Despite the
setback, we were able to implement an alternative method by using a picture book,
which we had made to be used as a future resource tool in the classroom. Before
the lesson began, we already had key experiences regarding what to do (or not
do) when preparing for a lesson. We recognized the danger of taking too much
for granted.
My colleague blew a
whistle to call the class to order, and thus began the set induction. This part
of the lesson was well executed in my view as the class remained engaged the
entire time. I tried my best to observe my colleague and the class to determine the
atmosphere created at the beginning of the lesson. I felt pleased to see smiles
on every face and all eyes focused on what was taking place at the front. I
moved back and forth during this part of the lesson, but my movements did not
seem to distract anyone. The set induction went well, and I was particularly impressed
with my colleague’s delivery and level of questioning.
During the set
induction, I recognized my lecturer had taken on the role of a student who may
have been a special needs student. Her performance tested how we would address
diversity in the classroom. Fortunately, while my colleague and I were rehearsing our
lesson, we kept thinking and strategizing about what we would do if a student
was not conforming to our instructions. We had discussed how we would adjust
our teaching to deal with such students. I believe this helped us to deal with
the surprise elements that presented themselves in the form of students not
operating at the normal or average cognitive level.
The role taken on
by my lecturer was difficult to “diagnose” as it varied among characteristics
of various disabilities most likely to be found in the classroom. There was not
a constant adherence to displaying one type of disability, hence we got an
opportunity to teach a range of complex behaviours which we may encounter. Besides
our lecturer, other students also took on the role of slow learners or
disruptive students. They also increased the challenge of being able to teach
the lesson successfully. While every teacher would like to have well-behaved,
independent, intellectual students, that is not the reality of the classroom,
hence the odd experiences were welcomed in an attempt for us to get an all
rounded experience.
I was responsible
for delivering the next two teaching points. I tried to keep my focus on all
the students and I kept calling on those who may have had a tendency to become
distracted. A main fault of both my colleague and me was that neither of us had a
watch or other time keeping device on our persons. Again, had we used the
computer, we would have been able to gauge our time. My task was to introduce
the students to the “manyness” of counting to three, and also to teach and
evaluate how to choose a group with three items. While in rehearsal of the lesson,
we tried to strategize for deviations that may occur; I found it necessary to
change the teaching activity impromptu to make allowance for the students who
“did not readily grasp the concept.” At one time, I called three students and
had them demonstrate counting a group of three. These students initially carried
out instructions incorrectly, spoke constantly, claimed they were incapable of
doing the activity, or had a tendency to distract the class. While this
approach may have ensured the students grasped the concept, it also utilized
some time I had not catered for.
Perhaps I should
have asked my co teacher to briefly take these children aside and try to give
them individual attention while I focused on the rest of the group. Perhaps all
the children could have been regrouped to move on to the next activity.
During the entire
teaching exercise, my colleague and I circulated the classroom in an effort to give
each child individual attention. This worked well for us as we were
consistently able to detect the students who were misguided, and we could have
dealt with it immediately. We tried to pay attention to detail, for example,
my colleague encouraged a student to “pinch her pencil” so that she would have the
correct pincer grasp.
During the lesson,
an assessment checklist was done. The results showed that all objectives were
achieved, even by those students who seemed to be slow at grasping concepts.
For students who did not immediately understand instructions given, I was
mindful that before I dismiss it as a “learning deficiency,” perhaps I should
change my delivery approach.
We tried to praise
each child constantly and encouraged the rest of the class to applaud their
friends when they did or said something noteworthy. I even used stickers as an
added incentive to motivate the students to feel good about their work.
Students were also allowed to display their work before the lesson was over.
I enjoyed teaching
this lesson with my colleague. We tried to make it student centered and interactive.
We used concrete objects, bright colours, songs, actions and movement. While everything
was not perfect, I am pleased with the effort that was put into the lesson
planning process, and I would love to teach this lesson again and improve on
the areas that were marked for improvement.
No comments:
Post a Comment