Week 14 Reflection

November 30th - December 4th, 2009

This week didn't begin very well. I've been battling a cold that seems to be lingering for months, but on Monday I came into school with practically no voice. It wasn't the best timing: this was the first day back from break so all of the students were very social, and in addition, we were doing a group project. I attempted to teach, but by Tuesday my voice was completely gone. As my luck would have it, Molly and I had scheduled an observation with our liaison for Wednesday. So Mrs. Chico was my voice during Tuesday's lesson so I could regain my own for the next day.

My voice was stronger on Wednesday, but this observation was still pretty stressful. First of all, our liaison Mrs. Weaver (who was also my very first host teacher), could only come in during first period, so we didn't have a trial run. Also, Mrs. Chico brought in her video camera to record us. And to top things off for Molly, she is normally only in our classroom during third period, so she wasn't familiar with the majority of the students.

Molly and I had split up the lesson to introduce two new components to the digital story. I was going to explain how to create a screen capture of their pictures, and she would review the proper format for the final script. We had prepared for the lesson by making a detailed procedure list and assigning tasks to each other. I was going to begin by having the students review what they accomplished last period. However, I jumped right into the lesson because I wanted to make sure the students had enough individual work time that I completely forgot to introduce Molly. Eventually I had realized this when it was time for Molly to begin her part of the lesson.

I thought the lesson went fairly smooth, and it got better with each class that we taught (and luckily we were videotaped during 4th period). However, I am looking forward to Mrs. Weaver's comments because she knows a lot about coteaching and can help us with new strategies. After all, I never learned much about coteaching in my education classes, nor have I seen coteaching modeled before in my PDS.

There are a few things that I'm curious to see when I watch this video. First of all, I'd like to make sure that we shared the floor and one person didn't try to run the show. Most likely that person would be me because I tend to assume the leader role when I work with my peers, and I always seem to overtake the conversation. I found myself often interjecting when it was Molly's turn, and I hope it didn't come off as being rude. Mrs. Chico and I often do this when we are teaching, but with Molly being the new teacher in the room, I probably should have been more formal. I also want to see if the lesson was natural and didn't appear too rehearsed. Sometimes the flow of the lesson is choppy if the activities aren't transitioned well. And when two teachers go back and forth with components of a lesson, students should be able to see how they relate.

I have had the opportunities to see the benefits of coteaching because we have a preservice teacher that comes in two days a week, and we have a special educator and another intern come in and help one period every day. It's especially helpful when doing group projects because we can monitor groups more closely and give more personalized assistance. I hope to learn more about effective strategies because I'd love to work with other teachers in the future.

Below are some pictures from our coteaching lesson. Enjoy!