Part of our reflections and assignments to do in our
Methodology course is to actually reflect on one of our classmate’s
microteaching. It took me a long time to actually write this one because I didn’t
really think I was in a better place than my friend to judge what she had to
present. After deciding to be really professional about it, I decided to
reflect on Youmna’s recorded microteaching. I chose Youmna’s because it was a
Science lesson (same as the subject I teach) for Grade 1 level (Same level I am
currently teaching in). I thought I could compare whatever she had to present
to my classrooms.
Youmna’s lesson was about “How do Engineers work?”. Her objective
was to guide the students into reaching a conclusion that engineers need to
plan their work and test it to make sure it is effective. The activity was
providing the students with boiled egg and materials. Students had to come up
with a way to throw the egg from w high place and make sure it doesn’t crack.
I believe that the activity was very engaging and does
actually allow students to think but I didn’t think it is the purpose behind
the objective of the lesson. I believe the way Youmna started the lesson with a
story and questions was very effective with kids. Such an interaction leads
kids to pay more attention into figuring out answers to the questions she was
asking.
The way she presented the instructions and materials to the
students before actually distributing everything was a great idea. That would
help students to actually listen to the instructions instead of starting to
work with the materials without knowing what to do. After that she split the
students into groups. In the class and in her lesson plan though, Youmna didn't plan the way she wants to split these groups. In her class, she might have
gotten groups of different levels without focusing whether that was what she
wanted to do or not. Dividing the groups according to certain levels would have
helped her differentiate later on, especially in Science. Some students need
more guidance into planning and concluding than other students.
Later on, she used one of my favorite techniques that I will
be using later on in my classes: Music. In order for her to time the activity,
Youmna used Music. She told her students that once the music is over, they
should stop working. The music helps calm kids down (especially if the session
is coming after the break). She started the music though before actually
distributing the materials. She wasted some of the students’ time.
During the discussion, the students had nothing to work on.
I believe that part of the objective Youmna worked on was for students to act
like engineers. I think that giving students handouts to write down what they
are observing would have been a good idea. I think that if kids were left with
nothing to do but observe a fun activity, they would misbehave and maybe loose
attention. Therefore, kids need to always be busy. That activity could have
targeted the observation part of the students. They would be able to translate
what they are seeing into words or drawings. That way, more discussions would
have taken place about the plans that the different groups actually worked on.
As an assignment, Youmna asked students to come up with
their own problem and design a solution for it. I think students need more
guidance in that particular part. In general, teachers sometimes forget that
they are working with kids who need to be guided into some of the problems they
might face in life. For example, one student might come up with a problem of
not being able to find the chocolate bar that his mother is hiding. If that is
the objective behind the activity, then I think it should have been mentioned
in the lesson plan.
I think Youmna’s planning was creative and very engaging to
the students. I do think that it could be better with some adjustment. I think
the lesson plan should be more detailed in a way where if a substitute teacher
took over, she could actually follow it in details.
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