Reflection of Lessons

Reflection 01

9/05/2017

For my introductory activity my students signed onto a Kahoot this is a formative assessment tool used to measure how much they know, and to inform my future teaching. In previous classes I have identified that kahoots resonates with students. They also identify with this activity throughout the school. Almost all of the students interacted with the Kahoot as I ensured everyone was logged on, by counting up the number of students in the class and not starting until everyone had entered. Moving forward I presented the task of analysing either a baseball, basketball or net ball shot (challenge by choice) and also enabling students to choose a topic they are comfortable with, rather than just have basketball.

I recognized that during the lesson students were unclear with the instructions. Most of them had opened the video analysis tab but hadn’t opened the resource (Quizlet) this was an important fundamental of the task if students wanted to inform their answers in the grid. As a reflective point this questions the way I provided my instructions. As a potential way to remedy this I could do it in steps, step 1 open up the, step 2 open up quizlets. Structuring the instructions in a step by step method ensures that all students know what they are doing. If the students don’t know what is required of them, then they are more likely to be off task and distracted from actual work. Therefore, it is important that I look at strategies to improve the way I give instructions. Additionally, I found it difficult to talk to the class when they are positioned around corners, or out of sight. As a remedy, I could move the students closer or, get them to move out AFTER I give out instructions.

Delegating: My efforts and time spent of different parts of the classroom could be aligned to better suite the students who are in more need. This requires on my part, to take a step back and scan the classroom for students who are struggling, or not on task (especially those whose screens i cannot see). I found that I spent most of my time on one area of the class and didn’t spend enough time on those who needed help.

Do I need to review any work or topics to ensure students aren’t left behind, or to inform their assessment coming up.

Reflection 02

10/05/2017

Today’s lesson was comprised of linking the knowledge learnt from theory lessons into practical lessons.

I found as a secondary lesson students enjoyed and fully participated in both activities especially in playdoh statues. However, when I said flexion at the trunk students were confused about what this meant, as a result there was some slight stoppage, conflicting with the flow of the lesson. I also forgot to add the activity as a build to touch muscle groups.

Thumb gauge as a formative assessment tool worked well with the students as they understood the universal concept and I could clearly measure/identify how they felt throughout different parts of the lesson. 80% of students were happy with the task, others were ranging between satisfactory.

Another observation I found with my lesson was the instruction giving, as a goal or an addition to my last lesson i personally felt this was something I needed to place emphasis. Students understood the playdoh activity really well and laughed and enjoyed it. This is also another formative assessment tool as it demonstrates how well they know flexion, extension, and different muscle groups (the content we have covered in theory)

However clarity was needed for the main task where students would log onto Mrs Samu’s website via level 1 > biomechanics > located at the bottom under no flex zone. In the next lesson i play to clarify this instruction to improve flow. Students always closed the chromebooks impacting the efficiency and flow of how much time could be spent engaging with the padlet task.

Once again, stepping back and analysing the classrooms/students needs. I identified and helped a specific students with learning disabilities and spent time helping him to understand concepts of abduction. However, moving around the room and improving classroom management is something I need to focus on.

Classroom management was good, i felt that i was able to center the students to bring them in closer together so i could see all the students and notice their attentiveness.

Another formative assessment tool that I incorporated in my lesson was to use padlets to inform weaknesses and strengths. Through direct analyses of this material i was able to identify that students were weak in their knowledge of hinge joints ie students knew flexion of arms and legs but didn’t suggest the associated joints). Formulating a strategy to help benefit this weakness is a task needed for next lesson.

Reflection 03

15/05/17

For today's lesson my associate teacher was away, as a substitute I had a reliever. I felt that this was a massive influence impacting the overall students’ behaviour requiring frequent behaviour management. Students didn’t enjoy the Kahoot, therefore scaling whether this is worth bringing in next lesson, I felt I could have done this better. Maybe a google docs, or a Kahoot. .Or the way I asked the students. A quarter of the students didn’t participate in the kahoot and positioned themselves in corners of the rooms. I felt that moving them to the middle whilst giving instructions helped to get them on task. Some students still were unsure of the task, for next time I need spend more time on this or make use of the whiteboard. If you don’t know what's going on refer to board, or your friend next to you.

As my goal for my lesson I was able to step back and analyse those particulars who needed more assistance.

Atmosphere of the room. Do they all learn the same? Some students struggled with the task regardless if there was an example.

Reflection 04

18/05/17

Todays lesson was my observation lesson, I felt that at the beginning of the lesson my time management and self management could have been conducted more efficiently. Knowing that I was being observed had made me more flustered than usual, though over time I became accustom to this pressure and I felt that I became more fluid as the lesson went on.

The class didn’t seem to be change even though there were three teachers in the room, some students still talked and were disruptive throughout the lesson. This was an opportunity to demonstrate my behaviour management strategies. This consisted of mainly waiting for the class to be silent and singling out particular students who had been overly disruptive. I felt this worked well for the most part, however, this may not work for other situations given the culture of the class.

The students moved onto Kahoot (I was able to assess how many students were actually logged on). This took some time out of the lesson because of my time management and self management at the beginning of the lesson. As a form of feedback from my lecturer, she stated that I should also find a way to have my learning intention up on the board, whether it be on the projector or on the whiteboard. I also found that having the instructions on the board once again helped to remove any misconceptions of the task, originally i had issues with students no knowing what is expected of them, this was an effective strategy in ensuring that students know what to do. Typically, students would idle and making it seem that they’re listening when they’re actually zoning off, having this as a resource helps the students to fill in the blanks of their knowledge.

Sheena also liked that I set goals for the students (giving them direction)
Those who weren’t on task I gave a subgoal to them to help them move forward (whether it be half the task or a quarter the task)
Sheena commented on my professionalism towards the students and said she liked the way I conducted myself around them
Additionally, she commented that at times students may be talking but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they aren’t listening/learning
I have found that this class in particular talk at points of the lesson, naturally, this isn’t out of respect but it is not being able to refrain from doing so (once again they are teenagers).
Use of Te reo Maori was a positive.

Overall I found that the lesson flowed well and students managed to achieve some of the goals that I had set for them, majority of them weren’t confused and knew what was expected of them.

In the next lesson I need to think of alternative ways to have the lesson intention up for the class.

Reflection 05

18/05/2017

The class took awhile to bring the gear back in to me, when they didn’t bring everything back in they played with a few balls that had been lying around the gym. This caused unnecessary distractions within the class. IN future ensure that ALL unneeded equipment is returned back to the shed, although this takes up more time it is still worth it to increase the fluidity of the lesson.

The first task the students seemed to not enjoy it so I decided to join in to encourage the students to participate, they started to enjoy this more as this went on. I found this to be effective.

I had to freeze the lesson a few times, to reinstate that these are important tasks for their learning (I always direct behaviour management around learning rather than making it personal). I do realise that this was the period of the day and the students seem to be quite slow and unenthusiastic. This requires myself to be extra excited and enthusiastic to help bring up the atmosphere within the room. Having a positive relationship as well as a friendly attitude goes along way with these students as they are able to read this quite clearly.

The students moved with the task really well it was evident that their knowledge had grown more in comparison to the last lessons that we had. This was seen evident in their padlets task where they demonstrated more content and knowledge of what was happening during their analyses therefore indicating to me that the formative assessment tool is helpful to me.

Reflection 06

22/05/17

Today's task consisted of expert groups, this first task had a few issues namely; when ensuring that everyone has a group and they are doing this appropriately. I found that clusters of group members who usually muck around or sit back tend to associate themselves who also do this. Therefore, when it came to the teaching part all four group members provided poor teaching/insight defeating the purpose of the task. I also found that even though I said get yourselves into groups it took a long to do this and others who felt left out/ scattered on the sides didn’t do it. How can I improve this situation? I could set/ make my own groups however, I can’t predict who will be there on the day so it could be a matter of mixing and matching group members. Additionally, I needed to monitor/ensure that all the groups were equal and weren’t missing a group member. This was discussed as foresight from my associate teacher who claimed having foresight is an important teacher technique. What could happen as a result of my task/ activities? Tagging with chalk, group members not joining in with the other groups, group members not sharing, group members not engaging with the task. How do I react to these situations?

I felt that offering the students a choice in what way they want to produce their learning/ articulate their ideas was an effective strategy and affected many of the students positively. Also distributing only a single chromebook per group was a good strategy for classroom management, lesson students were off task and not on Facebook etc.

The students overall claimed they liked the activities andprefered it OVER doing chromebook/computerized work. Therefore, how can I improve learning situations in class that stray away from this type of learning? In hindsight I wrote three questions down for them to discuss, and at times only one leader would do all the work. How can I make it more explicit so that those who like to muck around are not idling by as one person does everything for them. I feel that during my briefing to the students I could have added a few extra comments that could have influenced them positively. Say for example, I should have said we’re using chalk so I expect the class to be mature about this use (talking about trust with the student's/ responsibility). In addition if I had added you’re going to be a teacher thus, you will have to teach your original group about these aspects requiring responsibility on your part so that you’re an expert.

Reflection 07

22/05/17

Today's lesson started off quite shaky as a few things were unclear at the beginning of the lesson. Firstly, having all the coloring pencils or writing equipment, many of the pupils within the class did not have these materials as they have strayed away from using free hand writing and are now digitized. I accounted for having paper for the students so that they could draw on this. Secondly, I didn’t know which room I was teaching in, this caused dramas at the beginning of the lesson as I didn’t know where to tell the students to go or what classroom was free. Potentially, I could ask my teacher if she knew where this class might be for future reference (the classes don’t have a set schedule or room). Thirdly, chromebooks were left in the classroom this meant that students immediately grabbed them, therefore resulting in me to take action and ask the class to bring the back in. To improve this situation I could move into the classroom before the students and scan the room for any potential distractions, seeing as this class at times do get distracted easily, having foresight and identifying this in future could help in future lessons.

As we moved into the task the students worked together as a group contributing to their brainstorm. Writing down all the information they knew about the topic that we had covered over the past few weeks. It was easy to identify who were on task and who were not (formative assessment tool) ie; how much was written on the paper, who was writing and who was actually contributing, this was typically the usuals on the outskirts of the class. As a behaviour management I had a conversation about why the task is important and why everyone needs to provide valuable contributions. After this conversation and guidance to what is expected the students started to move through the task, this became evident as I returned and saw that the brainstorm had grew with more additions.

Overall the classroom enjoyed the activity and as it went on more students contributed and engaged with the task. The students were excited and started to tell me how much they enjoyed pictionary/during and after the lesson. This was an awesome turning point for me as I was able to construct a lesson that resonated and emphasized what they had learnt throughout the last 7 lessons. Adding the elements of teamwork and contribution drove the students to succeed beyond what they expected of themselves. A particular group enjoyed the activity so much that they wanted to keep going even though they had successfully finished all the words, this required that I challenged my content knowledge and kept naming bones and movements to maintain momentum of the task.

I did find it difficult to see if the students were cheating or not. I did have a conversation about fair play and why we shouldn’t cheat, the students understood this and took this onboard, it is with that trust that I hope not many had cheated.

Reflection 08

25/05/2017

Todays lesson was very similar to the last physical lesson, students are getting used to the routine and way of thinking about analysing what is front of them and what they’re doing. This has become evident through formal assessment as more and different students are answering my verbal questions during classroom discussions. I ensured all of the gear was away this lesson this made it more free flowing and minimized potential distractions. I will make sure to keep this frequent for next lesson. During the questioning time I felt I could have conducted this better, maybe start with “have a conversation with the person next to you” that way students can collaborate ideas and build on their answers for when I question them next time. I plan to implement this strategy in my questioning time.

Reflection 09

25/05/17

This was a fun lesson to have with the class I found that the students for the most part thoroughly enjoyed this task. I incorporated a game they love (dodgeball) and added capture the flag ( a well known game across the school). Students enjoyed the task so much that parts of the class said they enjoyed it MORE than speedball which is a surprise seeing as there is a massive culture around this sport. As an improvement for next time ensure that the medics rotate, this will ensure that they are helping to revive their team members when some of the medics were tired they didn’t bother to revive their team member resulting in parts of the class not participating.

I felt that overall this lesson achieved my learning intention where the class enjoyed/ participated throughout the activity.