My first lesson: How can I make it better?

The day has finally come, I taught my first lesson today! I taught maths to year one and two (I have a composite class). I’m happy to report both lesson went well and I felt so comfortable (to a certain extent) in front of the class and really enjoyed myself. I also used the IWB with the kids for the first time ever. I must say I was amazed at the children’s response to the maths games I played with them, and will definitely be using the IWB again and again! My YR 1 lesson focused on counting by 2’s and 5’s and YR 2 on place value.

Here is a link the IWB games I used:

Spooky Sequence Counting by 5's (year One)

Place Value game (Year Two)

My teacher had lots of positive (only a few negative) pieces of feedback about my lesson.  After my lesson my teacher asked me how I thought I had gone. I was very honest and said I thought I struggled with the way I explained the concepts as well as behaviour management, but overall enjoyed myself. I am fairly lucky not to have a lot of behaviour management issues in my class and when I watch my teacher implement strategies she makes it looks so easy! When I got up there I almost felt apprehensive to discipline the kids.  I found the discussions with my teacher extremely helpful for me personally and made me think about the importance of being reflective as a teacher. I asked me teacher how often she reflects on her own teaching to which she replied “All the time, I’m constantly reflecting to see how I can make my lessons better” It made me realize if my teacher is still reflecting on her teaching after 27 years, I better start to master the art of reflection!

Reflecting as stated by Briggs & Potter (1999) is a way in which teachers maintain professionalism, continue developing their teaching skills and knowledge about themselves and their profession. As a beginning teacher having completed a formal lesson and a handful of small lesson, I’ve found that I  have already been critically reflecting about myself from my lessons. I have already found areas I can improve upon and am looking at literature to help achieve this for myself. The ability to be critical and reflect on your teaching will probably not always be easy but a skill I hope to develop and continue throughout my teacher career. 

As my teacher, who is kindly passing on her 27 years of teaching knowledge to me says “you will never get two classes that will be the same, what has worked for one class, won’t work for another so you are constantly reflecting and changing your teaching style to suit you and your class.”

References:

Briggs, F & Potter, G. (1999). The early years of school: teaching and learning. Frenchs Forest: Longman

Technology?!

Element 4; Aspect 4.1.5 – Use a range of teaching strategies and resources including ICT and other technologies to foster interest and support learning.

How ICT can be used in the classroom

I am very excited today; I have seen a lesson on the Interactive whiteboard! I observed a writing lesson which my teacher conducted with my prac class. My teacher conducted a modelled writing lesson with the students and then used maths games on the IWB as a warm up for a maths lesson. The children’s response to the IWB amazed me. As soon as the teacher said we are going to play some maths games on the IWB it was like a switch and the children were sitting beautifully, facing the IWB and ready. If this is what technology can do for children in the classroom then I need to be a techno genius!

Learning and teaching in the classroom in the 21^st century requires future and practicing teachers to be ready to meet the transformational challenges of ICT use in education (Finger et al, 2007). This is the future of education as a teacher and there is nowhere to hide from technology falling upon us. I admit it is scary to think a lot of children I could potentially teach will be more highly skilled than me with technology, but the benefits of ICT in the classroom far out way my apprehensions.

As a beginning teacher I know the more I embrace new technologies which are being used in the classroom the better equipped I'll be when it comes time to take a class of my own.  A case study conducted by Hammond et al (2009) looked at the way student teachers use ICT in teacher education courses. What the case study found was that many beginning teachers who had good use of ICT skills during teacher training, found themselves to be better contributing to the professional idea of being a ‘good teacher.'

I agree with findings of the case study conducted by Hammond et al (2010). I know from only one semester at university I have learnt so much more about ICT and technology then probably ever! Professionally I know I am learning the skills I’ll need not only to teach the children but to meet the standards set out by the NSW Institute of Teachers. I guess I am intrigued to see what I am capable of doing next...the technology world is my oyster!!

Until my next reflection where I will have taught my first lesson and am using the IWB for the first time. I am excited to see what lies ahead, fingers crossed it will be a positive!

References

Finger, G., Russell, G., Jamieson-Proctor, R & Russell, N. (2007). Transforming learning with ICT: Making IT happen. Frenchs Forest: Pearsons Education Australia.

Hammond, M., Crosson, S., Fragkouli, E., Ingram, J., Johnston-Wilder, P., Johnston-Wilder, S., Kingston, Y., Pope, M & Wray, D. (2009). Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 18(1), 59-73. Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy1.acu.edu.au

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