Lesson+Reflection

I never, ever feel quite prepared whenever I have the opportunity to be a part of a lesson. I expect this has a great deal to do with the shortness of my time in the classroom during this experience. I only had to be in the classroom for three days in order to satisfy the time requirements for this Internship credit, because I was planning on attending all of the PBL experiences.
 * Lesson Reflection**

I had a choice of lessons that were made available to me by my teacher advisor, to which I believe all were a review of concepts that the students had already had previous experience. I had chosen to do the review of metaphors and similes in relationship to the novel //Holes// that the students were currently reading in class. The students required a review of similes and metaphors before taking part in the Dakota STEP tests that were to occur in about a month’s time. Because this was a review and the last week of the semester, I chose to keep the preassessment rather informal.

I worked the lesson with a mind towards active engagement of the students, not only individually, but also in groups and as a class. I tried to keep most of my comments in a way that would provoke class discussion and encourage the students towards involvement and engagement. I also did my best to try to inject moments of humor into the discussion, because, let’s face it, sometimes metaphors and similes can involve some odd examples when pulled from out of context. I was told by my teacher advisor that the students often do not get the opportunity to work in groups, so I was very pleased by this chance to put them together to work on the song worksheets. It was actually her suggestion to do so, which I readily jumped at the chance to put into practice. It not only saved on materials, but it also gave the students a chance to interact.

Following each class period, I became more cognizant of the different things that had to be accomplished, keeping the students on task, remembering the little things such as making sure the lights are turned off, how to work the remote to the Smartboard, remembering to erase the Smartboard notations before the next class, giving clear directions, recognizing the students that always raise their hands as compared to those that do not, and about a million more different things. Gauging my time was also an issue. My first lesson went by far too fast, the second was better, and by the third I was managing to fill the time allotted in the class period from start to finish. I scanned the written comments that Mrs. Hovden provided to me following each lesson, which I tried my best to integrate. Unfortunately, the audio examples of the songs did not work in the Powerpoint, so I was unable to include that in the lesson.

Following each class period, I believe that the changes that I made to my instructional strategies following my teacher advisor’s comments improved the quality of the lessons. By reviewing the 10 statements with the class as a whole, it allowed the students to see where they may have made any mistakes and why those mistakes were made. The group work became rather chaotic at times with the students often asking a great number of questions, especially when I did not give clear instructions during that first class period. It did get loud and many groups would finish before other groups, leaving them to visit loudly with each other. As Mrs. Hovden addressed in her notes, some of the students were obviously getting “antsy”.

Many of the students showed interest in the 10 statements that were pulled from their novel, //Holes,// as well as the use of literary devices in song//.// This allowed them to associate this review lesson with items that they were already familiar with, providing a more direct context. I also tried to explain what each of the simile and metaphors meant along with any words in the statements that some students might not understand.

Assessing their work was a two-part process. In the first part, the students were given statements that they simply had to define as either being a metaphor or a simile. Because of the nature of similes and metaphors, some students incorrectly answered the statements when confused by the use of the word “as”. If I were to teach this lesson again, I would focus more upon the placement of the word “as” in the statements. The second part of the process involved the worksheet with two different songs upon it. I chose the songs that I did because they were shorter and I thought that the examples of similes and metaphors were more varied. If I were to teach this lesson again, I try to use more recent songs. I would also try to give the students more opportunities to locate examples of similes and metaphors in various contexts so that they have more experience in identification.