Self-Assessment for March 31st Lesson

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

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

Verbals are difficult to teach, partly because students often go back to what they feel comfortable with, and that is calling anything that sounds like a verb, a verb. I made sure that students first were given a grounding in the terms---gerunds, infinitives, and participles—before moving forward with a discussion of the phrases that have these verbals as headwords. I should have limited how much time I spent asking students what they know about these terms. Unlike other lessons where brainstorming worked well, this time it seemed to confuse students and lead to questions that required visuals which would come later on in the lesson. The one positive is the increase of student participation; at least students are willing to voice their confusion, which allows me to answer questions that are probably running through many of their minds.

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. This is particularly true considering that the next time I taught they took a quiz on these same ideas. Some bridging gap would have been nice.

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

Students participated. I, however, was off in terms of my enthusiasm for the subject. I did not feel well and my mind was slow to respond and navigate the logic that required of my presentation. This slow-down changed the tempo of the class, which while it did not produce a noticeable change in response from the students, certainly made me uncomfortable of how the session was moving. I am hoping that this won’t happen again, but I guess I have to accept that as a teacher I might not always be feeling 100% come class time, but as long as I make use of 100% of what I got, I’ll be fine.

4. 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 verbals. I had it with me but I spent the lesson reviewing concepts and answering questions, which did not let us get to group work.

5. 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?

Students were participating (though not all). It seems that there are a group of students that participate every class, and some that participate moderately. Some participate only when they are confused, and others sit quietly always. I guess the only way to reach those last students is to do group work, but whenever so far I have been introducing new material and that has forced me to spend time on making sure the concepts are clear. I could provide worksheets that they can take home, but I want to incorporate in-class work, where students can build of each other in learning. Group work seems easier when I am reviewing concepts that we have gone over instead of when I am introducing new things. I need to find a balance. .

6. 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?

This was an off lesson. I did not feel that it was a step backwards in terms of my ability to effectively explain concepts to students. Thankfully I was able to further review the ideas during April 7^th class.