Self-Assessment for March 22nd Lesson

Self-Assessment Questions: Please comment on the following areas:

1. Your presentation of concepts in areas of clauses and sentences. What worked well? Where is improvement needed?

I began the lesson by reviewing concepts that the class had gone over the session before, and I spent significant time having to work through the five basic sentences because that was not yet firmly set in the students’ minds. I do not believe this is bad, considering that without the foundation we reviewed, understanding complex sentences and clauses (adjective and adverb) would have been very problematic. But this review did prevent me from reviewing nonessential and essential clauses, though since it was reviewed the following class in detail (and for the majority of the session), I think in hindsight spending time solidifying knowledge was an appropriate course of action. There was a lot of built in interaction with the students and I thought that the new material that was introduced did not seem to confuse students (though the reality of my assumption will be clarified with the test that they are taking today and on Tuesday. Again, I think that while there was more student participation, I can do better in that department without sacrificing teaching content.

2. The homework assignment. What worked well? Where is improvement needed?

There was no homework. I think it would have been helpful to include a worksheet that students could take home. This would have given them an opportunity to review the material we had worked on in class.

3. Your communications with students: What worked well? What areas need improvement?

I made sure to involve students in breaking down of sentences because I think that is the best method of clarifying how these terms they learn are applied. There was more student participation and with repeated sentence parsing, I think that the grammar we were discussing was beginning to sink in. I think it goes without question that the more these students go over the same material the more likely they will internalize the information and thus learn grammar that they can apply in their writing.

6. Additional materials that you might have prepared for this lesson. Would you prepare any additional materials if you could teach this class again? What would they be?

Yes, I would have provided an exercise on adjective and adverb clauses.

7. Student learning: How can you judge student learning during this session? Could anything be added to the lesson to help you assess your students' learning? Or to help them assess their learning?

I think asking students to break down sentences gives me an idea of whether they understand how parts of speech function in a sentence, along with how larger sequence of grammatical units affect the sentence.

8. Student participation: How would you rate student participation and engagement in this session? What worked well? In what areas is improvement needed?

Students strangely did not respond to my request for them to put out their name plates; certainly some did, but there was inconsistency. I’m not sure why this is the case but I feel they do not treat me with the same respect as they do the professor. That of course would not be a problem in my own class, but I did not make it a point in class because I did not want to waste time on this. Anyway, I thought participation was much better and some students are really coming out of their shell and participating. I need the nameplates however to call on others, but many who did not put out nameplates also do not look at me or the screen.

8. Overall assessment of the class: How would you evaluate your lesson overall? Which areas are you most satisfied with? Which areas are you least satisfied with?

I feel that with each lesson I am becoming better in connecting with the students and teaching the material. I need to keep doing lessons and revisiting information to help students internalize what they might not have on the first exposure.