Week 7 Reflection

     East Dale's liaison observed my lesson and instruction this week. I created a lesson for estimating three digit numbers in memory game format that I thought would be fun and stimulate fluency and frequency in rounding. I have worked with students with rounding for the past week and felt this would be an easy review activity. I have never had a lesson fail so miserably. I anticipated this lesson to be fun and more of a refresher to show my liaison what the students have learned and how quickly they can use the skill. I was so shocked by my students' misunderstandings and difficulties that I had to make complete changes to the lesson and go away from my original plan that my liaison had already evaluated. When I met with my mentor teacher to discuss my strengths, weaknesses, and noticings, I was surprised by her reaction. She felt that the lesson went really well and that my adjustments only showed that I was an effective educator, because I could make changes quickly without it upsetting my whole lesson. Before the liaison had came into the classroom, I had a discussion with my students about my teacher coming in and grading me just like I grade them. I asked them to be respectful, ignore her presence, and be extra attentive during the lesson. Two students acted out during my instruction and had to be reprimanded in front of my liaison. I was so embarrassed by their behavior, but my liaison stated that she felt the class was very behaved and that I handled the slight misbehavior quickly and smoothly. I had thought that all the faults in my lesson would make me look like an ill--prepared teacher, however, my adjustments to the difficulties seemed to only strengthen my appearance as a teacher.
     My liaison asked my to state what I felt were my strengths in this lesson. In doing so, I was able to recognize the good that came from this activity and how I still showed my abilities while my thoughtful plans were lacking. She reminded me that although it is necessary to plan carefully and thoughtfully, we cannot expect every result and must be able to quickly respond to those unanticipated reactions. It is quite intimidating being observed by people who have much more experience and education on the subject than yourself, but I'm glad my liaison was able to help me find positive in one of my biggest fails thus far in my teaching experience.