Geoff and I devised a lesson called ‘How Technology Changes the Human Experience’. Geoff began the lesson with the ‘hook,’ a PowerPoint of past inventions that have shaped the world we live in today. The purpose of the hook was to express that technology affects every aspect of our lives from reproduction to cell phones. Geoff went on to discuss which inventions have changed our society in profound ways. This discussion led into a turn and talk discussion among the students. From there, the discussion turned to the impact of technology on socialization and manners of the next generation, in which I led. To incorporate differentiation, I called on two volunteers to ask out a social situation that …show more content…
First, the presence of the teacher can have an impact on how well students learn and contribute to class discussion. I learned that by making eye contact and interacting with all students, rather than a select few, I am creating a comfortable environment in which students want to be involved. Secondly, I learned that when creating lesson plans sometimes less is more. I often get excited to teach a topic and relay too much information at once. Children, especially lower school, need time to process and make sense of information and I have come to realize that I need break down some of the bigger topics into smaller ones to help with …show more content…
Discuss what you learned about your classmates as learners.
This class has made me realize that all learners want to learn. As stated above, a common recommendation from my classmates was that the lesson was to broad and too much information was presented in a short period of time. Many of them said they had a hard time processing any of it because they were overwhelmed. This leads me to believe that my classmates are hungry for knowledge. They also enjoy discussion and thinking through high level questions.
5. Consider the implications for future teaching. (What did you learn that will impact your future teaching? What do you still need to learn/work on?)
In the future, I plan to work on creating objectives and assessments first, as outlined by backward design. Designing lesson plans in this way allows for the lesson focus to remain. I often find myself designing lessons with the activities first and lose track of the big idea or essential questions. It is something I plan to work on by collaborating with my peers and pursuing professional development in this