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Kate McDaniel
EDUC 350
Fall 2021
TWS4: Narrative Reflection

In your formal lesson(s), what things went well and did not go well? What would you do differently

if you were to teach this lesson again? What did you learn about yourself as a teacher through this

lesson planning process and delivery? (4 points)

Although I didn’t get a chance to teach this semester while Mrs. Scott and I were planning what

lesson I should teach, plans and lessons were changed a little. I was originally going to teach the 4th

lesson in the perspectives unit, but as Mrs. Scott began to teach the unit she realized she was going to

need more time on the first lesson of the unit than originally planned. As she was teaching this same unit,

she realized students in a certain class period would need more time editing their work before peer

revision was done. As she added editing into their lesson by typing it into their slideshow for the day, I

realized how flexible a teacher has to be. In my own lesson that I wrote, “Breaking Down Poetry”, I

noticed that I had tried to put a lot into one day. While I think some class periods might be able to do the

work, I wish I had added more flexibility for other class periods. I would have made more work time for

students to ask me questions and so students can get more work completed in class where they have me,

their peers, and classroom resources to help them as they start their poem.

With so much planned in one day in my lesson plan, there are a lot of transitions in my lesson.

Some students do struggle with these transitions and, again, I’d rather give them time to do work than

make them transition often. In Mrs. Scott’s 4th period they have lunch B, so transitioning from class to

lunch back to class again is hard for a few students, especially as they are adjusting to being back into a

physical classroom again. Often Mrs. Scott had students continue their work time when they came back

from lunch. Having students sit and answer questions about what they were doing before they left for

lunch before they continued with their work. This seemed to help students continue their work a bit easier
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when they got back into the classroom. I learned that transitions take longer than I thought they did,

especially for some classes that just struggle with transitions a bit.

What do you see as your strengths and weaknesses as an educator? (2 points)

One thing that I made sure to do before I taught my lesson was to organize myself with how much

time I would be doing each activity. I know I lose track of time easily, so I gathered resources to find

different timers I can put on the board in my future classroom. I feel these will help both myself and my

students be more aware of time and manage it better while we are in the classroom.

I’ve been told I’m good at organizing and building relationships with students. I think being

organized and setting goals for myself, which I often stick to, will help me continue class flow and keep

up with grades and communication with students. While I didn’t have much time or many days to see

students to build better relationships with them, I found ways to begin building that student-teacher

relationship starting with learning names. I also discovered how hard it is to learn names, especially with

masks. I only had two classes that I observed regularly, but even with two classes I found learning names

is harder than I thought it would be. I found that building those connections does help with classroom

management as you know better what is going on in students’ lives and they want to listen to and talk to

you more when they know you care.

How did you do with classroom management? (2 points)

I thought I would do well with classroom management when I began this semester. I didn’t think I

would be perfect, but I thought I could hold a class’ attention well and set expectations to be followed.

However, I learned quickly that there are too many students to keep track of all at once and as soon as you

leave they often continue what you just asked them not to do. Technology was wonderful when it came to

sharing assignments, turning in assignments, and looking at lesson plans. Technology was also a huge

distraction at times. Students often said that they forgot to charge their laptop in order to sit in the back

and play computer games. One of the first things I learned about management during work time was how
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to get students to refocus on a task they got distracted from. I thought at first I could look at them with a

certain expression from further away, but I learned quickly that you have to be closer in proximity to

middle schoolers to get their attention even if it’s to monitor them to see if they’re ready to move onto the

next task. Occasionally I had to say something before they knew I was there. Awareness of the volume of

my voice was another thing I had to work on. If I was talking to a group or the whole class, I got used to

talking louder to be heard. However, when I was talking to individual students I often found I was talking

too quietly and had to repeat myself. I need to be more aware of the volume of my voice in both group

and one-on-one discussions.

What elements of your own professional experience will you work on to improve in your next field

experience, EDUC 450? (2 points)

Learning more about students as the very first thing I do while I learn their names I feel will help

me get to learn names better and hopefully faster. I know several of our guest speakers have mentioned

getting to know one thing about a student along with their name to make that connection between the

student and their name faster. This also allows you to get to know students better and build a connection

with them. Having those timer tools on hand to display on the board will also help me keep the class

flowing when I teach in EDUC 450 will be very helpful for me and the students. Writing out an agenda to

help me keep track and to show students at the beginning of class will help me and the students to know

what to expect and stay on task better. Lastly, I would keep volume in mind for when I’m trying to get a

students’ attention even if it’s to ask them some monitoring questions to see where the class is in their

work. The top three things I learned from my experience in EDUC 350 and 386 that I would like to work

on in 450 is working on learning names and more about students sooner in the semester, being more

organized and finding/using resources for time management, and checking the volume of my voice to

make sure students can hear me.