Observation 1, Thursday September 2, 2016
My initial observation was done by my mentor, Michelle Tremmel. My lesson was more of a lecture than a lesson, and this was noted, being that Iowa State University is a student-based institution, meaning my students should have more active input in their learning. My mentor and I discussed creating more complex lesson plans after my first observation.
I began my first class by calling roll, and I mentioned the upcoming Assignment 2, which involved writing a letter to a friend, and using a map. I had uploaded maps to Pinterest of places that did not exist, (fantasy worlds such as Alice in Wonderland) but the purpose of the exercise was to show the focal point of the maps. I asked the students questions and praised my students when they answered them, any answer being praiseworthy, even if it were not the exact answer I wanted. My students then completed a group-activity answering question, and each of the groups contributed one answer. The rest of the class, even though it was a long Thursday class, comprised of me discussing rhetoric and questioning the class on it.
Dr. Tremmel gave me resources on lesson plans in our follow up. I have since been using a lesson plan with six activities, each detailed with bullet-points. As stated above, I lack organizational skills which come naturally to other people, and the new templates for activities were longer and more detailed, enough to last through a 75 minute class. The biggest issue besides the lecturing method of teaching I had, was a connection to the student’s own processes. The group activity seemed too much like busywork than adequate preparation for the assignment. That busywork however, did not fill up the required class time.
Observation 2, Tuesday October 4, 2016
By my second observation, I was following the template shown to me by Dr. Tremmel. I had six activities. The first involved my opening statements (however I forgot the day’s objectives) and those opening statements were still in the lecture mode. But I had relevant work for my second activity, which was for students to work on their own, finding pictures. Small groups were going to make their own memes, which they did. Dr. Tremmel said my activities had more relevance this time. However, the class ended five to ten minutes too soon. But there was much improvement.