Micro Teaching Experience

This week was filled with many days of teaching. I had the awesome experience of teaching a 3 day unit of instruction on floral design at Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology (CPI). Each lesson held a different aspect of floral design that interested students. I saw the passion and excitement that the students have for horticulture throughout my teaching experience. 

I taught a lesson on 4 principles of design and the color wheel, an operational lesson on creating an arrangement, and a managerial lesson on pricing out arrangements. Here are some take away's that I got from each of these lessons.

• Day one was full of excitement as I began teaching about floral design. I had the students create a "note" book by using sheets of blank paper. They were to take notes in the book on the principles of design and color. I wasn't very clear in my instructions for this book. I wanted them to use one page per principle and was hoping for them to use colors to illustrate the principle. I did not state this in the directions for the book, which was poor decision making on my part. Next time, I will need to make a note in my lesson plan to give instructions on how to utilize the book during class. 

• With day one behind us, the students were to put the principles of design to use through an operational lesson plan. Mr. Luther had asked me to give him a list of plant materials and he would gladly order them for the class. I got to CPI that morning and wanted to prep the shop and flowers. He had about 6 bunches of mini carnations waiting to be prepped, but nothing else. (For a floral arrangement there is usually a green and a filler.) He also only had enough oasis for 5 students to create an arrangement, and there were 6 students in class. I worked some things out and in the end each student was able to create their own arrangement using holly cuttings. This day brought about a need to be flexible in the classroom. When you expect one thing, always be open to other possibilities. 

• Day 3 was my managerial lesson. I was really nervous to teach this because it was math based. I have never taught math before and was worried the students would loose their enthusiasm. I wanted the students to walk away knowing the importance of pricing floral arrangements and how to complete pricing problems. This lesson was far from successful. I didn't stop and check for understanding. This was a large issue with the lesson because I felt some frustration among the class. Some best practices I want to try are writing out in my lesson where to check for understanding. 

Although there were a few bumps along the road this week, it was a learning experience I will never forget. I got practice with some lessons I will be teaching in the spring, learned how to better my teaching, and became flexible with the cards that are dealt.