Watch the tape of your lesson and respond to the following questions:
· How would you describe your teaching style? What do you believe has influenced your teaching style? Are you comfortable with this style? If not, what would you change? If so, why?
The lesson that I gave was 6th grade physical science and it was focused on convection of solar energy. Direct instructional and cooperative learning models were used, and there is also a component of a hands-on experiment. I watched the video and realized that my teaching style was heavily based on frequent question-asking throughout the lesson. I tried to be as friendly as possible while maintaining the classroom environment tolerable for errors, so that my students could feel comfortable about providing answers to my questions. Prior to the lesson however, I realized that having such a relaxing classroom environment might cause me to lose a control over the class. In order to avoid losing a control over classroom management, I kept my rapid pace by increasing the number of questions. Yet all of the questions were previously prepared (71 MIntz) and none was improvisional. Asking many questions certainly kept my students busy and the class was effectively managed. The lesson had a clear direction and I could tell that my students were diligently following the directions which gave me a great deal of confidence as a leader.
The only problem with this teaching style was that it was easy for my students to feel overwhelmed and rushed. It is true that I overloaded the class with an excessive number of questions, sometimes feeling that I did not have to ask some of the trivial questions. Yet I was greatly influenced by the pressure that made me feel the need for a clear instruction throughout this direct instructional lesson. Since the entire class was under this pressure, the atmosphere was somewhat stressful which reduced the intended effect of casual interaction between me and my students. It also caused my voice tone to be higher and faster than necessary which made the lesson even more stressful for the students. Believing that a 6th grade science class should not be so stressful, my peer group members were concerned about this unintended effect. They also pointed out that the clear direction and guidance gave the feeling of confidence only to the teacher while students were left overwhelmed and did not have enough time to appreciate what they were learning. In other words, they believed that it was only the teacher who felt comfortable with this teaching style.
Reflecting on what my peer group members suggested me, I believe that I will have to modify the number of questions that I will ask to students so that I can maintain the uniquely casual atmosphere of the class while still having a control over its management. In order to reduce the number of questions, I can perhaps remove some of the trivial questions. I could also try to maintain my voice at a constantly neutral speed, as well as calm and reassuring tone. At any rate I will still ask my students a fair number of questions so that I can still present my students with a clear direction while keeping a dynamic, casual and engaging atmosphere of a science class.
· What did you learn about the instructional model used in the lesson? Is what you learned congruent with the information provided in the text and/or classroom discussion?
· Would you use this model again? Why or why not? Was the lesson’s content and skills appropriate for the instructional model? How do you know?
Because the content area is physical science that involves an experiment, I wanted to make sure that my students are successfully following my instruction. The only way to make sure that I am leading the class correctly is to ask students questions about the concept, experiment steps, and other materials. Some of the questions were trivial. For instance, before I began the experiment, I pointed out some of the prepared materials and ask students what they see and what they think those materials would do in this experiment. When the questions were trial as such, students seemed a little bit perplexed at first, but soon provided appropriate answers because they quickly understood my intention to provide them a secure ambiance by walking them through the questions. Walking through the experiment with my students was also a part of my effort to guide them with a clear direction. Science as a content area involves many hands-on activities and experiments that often conclude with open-ended questions that require divergent answers. This inquiry-based learning is a good way to stimulate students' creativity, but the teacher will take a risk of losing her students while they are left with open-ended questions. Direct instruction also involves teacher's asking questions but its questions are convergent (71, Mintz).
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