I began teaching with fears of not successfully connecting with students, fears of not being understood, fears of missing what students needed, and fears of not being and acting confident in front of the classroom I was teaching. Before any of these fears were confronted in the classroom, they were confronted as a class with my instructors and colleagues, as well as by my host teachers where I observe. Knowing that my peers were facing similar fears and knowing that veteran teachers faced those same fears when they were new teachers in the field, contributed to a more prepared calm. In addition, hearing someone say to, “focus on the reason you are there- the students,” alleviated those fears almost entirely when applied in the classroom. I found myself in a forgiving and supportive environment both on site and in the USC classroom. With this lowered anxiety, I surprised myself with unexpected confidence and a more objective perspective when examining my faults on the video recordings.
In my first Teaching and Learning experience, I struggled with managing the time appropriately for my chosen activities. Things did not go as quickly as planned in one activity, which resulted in a lesson extended by 10 minutes. I had planned for students to be more involved in the lesson by letting them write their answers on the board. However, what I had not anticipated was how long each student would take in writing their answers, while the rest of the class sat disengaged. I struggled in the moment realizing I was wasting valuable time in which I could be engaging the students, and found myself stressing out about the time constraints for the rest of the lesson, thus creating a snowball effect of issues including speaking too rapidly and not modeling instruction. After discussing the issue with my host teacher and hearing suggestions from students in class, the daunting issue became much less intimidating and a learning experience for how to formulate future activities. My host teacher recommended using both sides of the board and having multiple students come up at once, while a classmate recommended breaking students into groups to share answers on large post-its to present to the class. For the following TLE, I was more aware of the time in preparing the activities and monitored the time during the lesson much more effectively. I made a point to plan activities that would not depend on one student at a time, and also planned time to model the activity myself.
I also noticed that I used hand gestures that could have been interpreted as intimidating to the class. I was more aware of those gestures and facial expressions when teaching my second lesson. For my first TLE, I pointed to the class frequently. While this was a benign gesture on my part and simply the result of talking with my hands, it could have been seen as overly assertive or intimidating to the students in the class. For the following TLE, I made a point to keep my hands open as I gestured so that my students would not feel intimidated.
Improvements Needed:
Through both TLE experiences it became clear to me that I needed to prepare and consider my own verbal presentation of the materials to the class. My instructions were often too fast, too wordy, not clear enough, or contained many false starts because I was not mentally prepared for how I would address the class. This was especially evident in the first TLE when I was asking for an example quote from the class. I did not make clear what I was asking for and did not offer any scaffolding with which to follow up the question. This resulted in having to re-phrase multiple times before a student could answer. In my second TLE, as I transcribed my instructions for a group activity; my explanation contained at least 3-4 false starts which ultimately confused even myself as I watched the video. I realized that I needed to outline my instructions and slow down to consider my speech before presenting my ideas to my class.
When I addressed this issue with the class, peers made suggestions regarding an outline of the class to which they refer during class instruction. It was suggested to slow down and consider what I wanted to say before diving in to an explanation. Also, my host teacher made the point that ensuring students understand before moving on is important. I made a habit of checking in with the class by addressing the entire class with, “Does that make sense?” not realizing that many people will nod their heads to save face in front of their peers or even me. It is important that I find ways to ensure students are truly following my instructions and not simply nodding to save themselves or me the embarrassment.
In addition to my own hands on experiences in the TLEs, I was able to glean valuable ideas and approaches from interacting with my peers regarding their own issues and insecurities. Being able to troubleshoot problems I have not yet encountered was a great opportunity to consider more deeply and in advance, how I would address a variety of issues in the classroom. Seeing the various teaching styles and classroom environments also afforded me with ideas on my own presentation and lesson planning, while adding to my repertoire of classroom strategies. The reality of diverse classrooms comes to light when exposed to so many classroom settings and styles.
Ultimately, my initial fears subsided and the real challenges with which I have been presented are not intimidating, but rather case studies for future improvement in my teaching practice. I feel more confident and more fully equipped to face the potential tragedies in the classroom that I initially feared, and I feel the support of a network of teachers both new and veteran, which I can access in addressing future issues.
In my first Teaching and Learning experience, I struggled with managing the time appropriately for my chosen activities. Things did not go as quickly as planned in one activity, which resulted in a lesson extended by 10 minutes. I had planned for students to be more involved in the lesson by letting them write their answers on the board. However, what I had not anticipated was how long each student would take in writing their answers, while the rest of the class sat disengaged. I struggled in the moment realizing I was wasting valuable time in which I could be engaging the students, and found myself stressing out about the time constraints for the rest of the lesson, thus creating a snowball effect of issues including speaking too rapidly and not modeling instruction. After discussing the issue with my host teacher and hearing suggestions from students in class, the daunting issue became much less intimidating and a learning experience for how to formulate future activities. My host teacher recommended using both sides of the board and having multiple students come up at once, while a classmate recommended breaking students into groups to share answers on large post-its to present to the class. For the following TLE, I was more aware of the time in preparing the activities and monitored the time during the lesson much more effectively. I made a point to plan activities that would not depend on one student at a time, and also planned time to model the activity myself.
I also noticed that I used hand gestures that could have been interpreted as intimidating to the class. I was more aware of those gestures and facial expressions when teaching my second lesson. For my first TLE, I pointed to the class frequently. While this was a benign gesture on my part and simply the result of talking with my hands, it could have been seen as overly assertive or intimidating to the students in the class. For the following TLE, I made a point to keep my hands open as I gestured so that my students would not feel intimidated.
Improvements Needed:
Through both TLE experiences it became clear to me that I needed to prepare and consider my own verbal presentation of the materials to the class. My instructions were often too fast, too wordy, not clear enough, or contained many false starts because I was not mentally prepared for how I would address the class. This was especially evident in the first TLE when I was asking for an example quote from the class. I did not make clear what I was asking for and did not offer any scaffolding with which to follow up the question. This resulted in having to re-phrase multiple times before a student could answer. In my second TLE, as I transcribed my instructions for a group activity; my explanation contained at least 3-4 false starts which ultimately confused even myself as I watched the video. I realized that I needed to outline my instructions and slow down to consider my speech before presenting my ideas to my class.
When I addressed this issue with the class, peers made suggestions regarding an outline of the class to which they refer during class instruction. It was suggested to slow down and consider what I wanted to say before diving in to an explanation. Also, my host teacher made the point that ensuring students understand before moving on is important. I made a habit of checking in with the class by addressing the entire class with, “Does that make sense?” not realizing that many people will nod their heads to save face in front of their peers or even me. It is important that I find ways to ensure students are truly following my instructions and not simply nodding to save themselves or me the embarrassment.
In addition to my own hands on experiences in the TLEs, I was able to glean valuable ideas and approaches from interacting with my peers regarding their own issues and insecurities. Being able to troubleshoot problems I have not yet encountered was a great opportunity to consider more deeply and in advance, how I would address a variety of issues in the classroom. Seeing the various teaching styles and classroom environments also afforded me with ideas on my own presentation and lesson planning, while adding to my repertoire of classroom strategies. The reality of diverse classrooms comes to light when exposed to so many classroom settings and styles.
Ultimately, my initial fears subsided and the real challenges with which I have been presented are not intimidating, but rather case studies for future improvement in my teaching practice. I feel more confident and more fully equipped to face the potential tragedies in the classroom that I initially feared, and I feel the support of a network of teachers both new and veteran, which I can access in addressing future issues.