1Alexander Hayner

TE 407 L
Unit 3 Personal Reflection

I really enjoyed our first day of class for this lab. I was impressed by your ability to
remember all of the defining facts about each person, I was happy about the small numbers in the
class, and I was excited to be teaching lessons to my peers. The only thing I remember frowning
upon that first day was when I saw on the syllabus that every student was required to do a group
presentation for the third lesson. I was not pleased by this because I am not wholly comfortable
working in a group. However, I reasoned with myself that the reason for this lab is to improve
those areas where I do not feel comfortable, but I still did not look forward to the culminating
presentation.
My reason for feeling uncomfortable in group presentation settings is because I feel I
have a bit of a unique teaching approach. I go into a lesson with basic guidelines and objectives
for the class, but the way in which I present the material most of the time flows with the way I
read a class. This teaching technique can be seen through my use of many visual aids while
teachings. Pictures are my favorite supplement for instruction, seeing as the cliche goes, a
picture is worth a thousand words. I feel completely comfortable having just pictures in my
presentations for lessons, seeing as I know I will be able to talk to the class about why each
image goes in with the lesson. I do like to talk a lot, obviously, and I tend to talk a bit too much
while teaching (specifically on allowing wait time). I feel that my organic approach to teaching,
combined with my desire to talk a lot, make me feel quite self-conscious when teaching in a
group session. Should I organize my ideas more on paper for the presentation? Will I talk too
much and step on toes? Will I agree with the teaching styles/approaches of my fellow teachers?
These questions fuel such self-consciousness on the topic at hand.
With these reflections in mind, it is evident that I was pleased with our group’s decision
to break the presentation into five separate mini-lessons. This was ideal for me, seeing as it gave
me the freedom to have the floor to myself when presenting my portion of the lesson. I chose the
broad, yet simple, task of introducing the basics of drama to the class. A beautiful task, I felt,
because this all-encompassing topic gave me endless options to approach it. I felt the most
appropriate path to take was to address the question that echoes in every high school hallway
ever constructed: Why study drama? The answer I came up with allowed me explore the many
facets of American life that are one way or another built on a dramatic foundation, thus providing
many different ways to apply to the diversity of a high school classroom. I was able to use visual
aids in my presentation, which allowed me to create a comfortable environment for myself, as
well as an enriching lesson for my audience. Also, a final positive I took away from my
individual lesson within the group presentation was the fact that my approach to presenting
drama tied in to each of my fellow presenters’ activity. From this perspective, even though my
presentation was composed and displayed completely individually, I was able to work
successfully with my group in finding transcending themes with which to tie in each presentation
to one another’s.
Aside from my introductory presentation, I was pleased with the activities and
presentations of my peer presenters. I will provide individual synopsis in a moment, but I would
first like to mention that I observed that our group did indeed have a cohesiveness. Though each
member had a separate activity, we each embraced different teaching techniques that fell under
the same umbrella (which was held up by Antigone).
The following is individual comments and criticism of my fellow teaching partners:

Melissa J:
- Great toga idea!
- Class really embraced and enjoyed speed dating exercise.
- Exercise also was informative and educational.
- Lack of time deterred from perfection.

Julie G.:
- Movie casting plays well on student’s interests.
- Activity promotes creativity as well as familiarizes students with important characters.
- Time constraints again prevented enriching and fun class discussion.

Pat G.:
- Masks activity is great for helping students visualize the way the play was originally
performed.
- Good job of introducing the activity, and its importance, before students began construction of
masks.
- Excellent materials (especially the moldable clay).
- Art project did not pair well with following presentation...would have worked ideally as sole
project for a full day.

Jason L.:
- Well-informed on topic of presentation.
- Physical acting activity paired well with previous mask-making activity.
- Initial presentation did not pair well with a group of students with art supplies in front of them.

Overall, I was pleased with the lesson my group composed. I feel that we would have
greatly benefitted from more time, which I interpret as a good sign. Though I feel collaborative
teaching is a weakness in my teaching characteristics, I definitely strengthened these skills by
working with my great group for this presentation.

Group 3 Unit 3 Presentation

Presentation Date: December 3, 2008

Teachers: Jacky H., David B., Starr L., Julie D., Megan M.

Dramatic piece covered: Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

Group Positives:

- Entire presentation "flowed" well

o Good use of warm-up writing exercise

o "Simon Says" activity got the blood flowing

o Fishbowl activity played on the energy generated from previous exercise

o Discussion calmed the class back down a bit

o Cartoon clip calmed down class even more

- Well-thought out lessons

- Entertaining and educational

o I had not previously read the play, but after this lesson I felt like I had a good grasp on it.

Individual commentary:

Jacky H.

- Great job leading the "Simon Says" activity

- Diplomatic in running the activity

- Good "assistant teaching" when one of your colleagues had the floor

David B.

- Nice job facilitating discussion

- Good input when appropriate

Starr L.

- Maestro of the group

- Well played transitions from topic to topic

- Good overall facilitation of lesson

Julie D.

- Good small comments (authenticity and timing)

- Useful introduction of cartoon clip

- Educational and entertaining cartoon...great choice!

Meagan M.

- Did well facilitating fishbowl activity

- Addressed the class with confidence

- Worked well with other presenters (timing, shared teaching)

I did not list any negatives...why?

...I was very impressed with the cohesiveness of the teaching from this group. The material was
well-thought out, enjoyable, entertaining, and educational. I was intrigued throughout the entire
lesson. I prefer not to nit-pick for small blemishes because I was very happy overall with the
success of this lesson and its teachers!

Group 2 Unit #3 Presentation (Thursday Lab)

Presentation Date: November 13, 2008

Teachers: Rachel K., Stacy C., Alexis B., Katie H., Heather H.

Dramatic piece covered: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Shakespeare

Group Positives:

- Detailed handout

- Nice job using everyone in the class to participate

o Aids in active learning

- Well-written assignment

Group negatives:

- Did not appear to be a team effort

- Timing not well planned out

Individual commentary:

Rachel K.

- Good discussion lead

- Lacking concrete activity

- Needs to offer more insight

Stacy C.

- Good example of text messaging

o Students can relate

- Nice introductory
o Went from broad idea of general tone to specific point of focus (drama)

- Lack of participation after strong introductory

Alexis B.

- Friendly while presenting

- Well-explained instructions
- Got the class to laugh while learning (definite plus)

- Tried to aid her teaching peers when appropriate

Katie H.

- Good job involving students in lesson

- "one word changes a whole meaning"

- Fun and enriching activity

Heather H.

- Nice job relating students' examples to lesson

- Incorporated both exercises to relate to a common goal

- "Who's seen a play"...too broad of a question