Improving Teaching

1. Reflect upon your lab teaching experience. Describe your teaching strengths and weaknesses for teaching in this lab.

• My strength in this lab was my lead in. It made the lesson interesting and relate able to the students. Although we learned in 255 that we do not always need a hook for a lesson, when teaching younger students it is better to have one because it makes them more interested. My weakness in this lab was teaching a small group. The lesson plan that I designed would have been more affective for an entire class and not just two students and I had a hard time adapting to that. 

2.Identify one of your most effective teachers. What teaching behaviors did you admire in the way he/she taught?

• My most effective teacher was my 10th grade english teacher. She just made class fun and entertaining and not boring. We had to read Shakespeare as part of the curriculum, and after every scene she has us act it out as it would happen in today's society. It made you learn and understand the material better, and it was also a ton of fun. This is what I aim to do when I write my hook's and my lesson plans. 

3. What goals will you set for yourself as you prepare to teach in the Education 300 Field Experience?

• My main goal is to make my students have fun while they are learning. You have can have the best lesson in the world,filled with information and relative material, but if it's boring and dry, students are not going to remember it very well and they are not going to want to learn it. Also, one of my goals is to not be afraid to be firm with students. Being a lab assistant has definitely made me improve in that area since the mentors themselves are to timid to tell children to stop mis-behaving, but I am not consistent with it and I would like to improve upon that.