Reflecting on my first "mini" lesson

The other day I had the challenge of teaching a lesson that was given during the first day of class. These lessons were anonymously chosen. I had one of the harder lessons try and teach. As I look back on my video from the 15 minutes, I realized that there were many things I did wrong. I thought I had it planned out very well, until it was actually put into play with a live audience. The three things i picked up on right away were:

1. I had no objectives! :(
2. two minutes into the lesson I realized that my method was NOT working
3. I took too much time on revealing the symbol's matching word 

Now let me back it up a little because you are probably wondering what my lesson was. I had the task of teaching 31 symbols with a matching word to each. The end assessment was to decipher a paragraph and have the students fill out a learner satisfaction form.

After the lab was over, I read those learner satisfaction forms. About half of them said they were unsatisfied with the learning they received. I compare the comments to what I saw in the video and they were all right. I needed to put more enthusiasm into what I am teaching. I also needed some sort of learning activity to go with the symbols. As I was half way through the lesson, it dawned on me that I was boring them.. a lot. But I couldn't stop then. I kept on going, and I feel like that was one good thing I did during the lesson. I learned a lot from this one experience and it can only go uphill from here!


Until next time, "Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer."   -Denis Waitley

~Erin Yoest~