Week 3, "Remembering Our First Lesson Plan"
"My first ever ENGL101 lesson plan was... interesting, to say the least. I tried to cram so many different activities and exercises into one excruciatingly rigid time table. That wasn't the best plan because, like all UTAs and professors know, things happen, people want to discuss more than you allot for/people don't say a peep, technology is evil, etc. The actual "sit down and lesson plan" aspect wasn't too challenging for me. That was the easy part. I could do that every day (ha ha, I'm going to with a teaching career). When I was just starting, I would wind myself up too much getting anxious about timing, phrasing, and transitions. These are all valid concerns, yes, but I'm confident that those skills with grow with more time up front in the classroom. I'm not focusing on delivery so much anymore. Nowadays, I'm more interested in content. Are we asking the best, most engaging questions? Are we reaching each student? Is our content differentiated? Is our material even remotely interesting?! These are the things I focus on now, and these are the aspects that I hope the new UTAs will begin to think about (not necessarily plan a lesson around, but at least be aware of).
One of my all-time favorite readings from 388V was the one that discusses all kinds of different discussion group formats. I'm blanking on the title and author. I did my big semester project on this topic (facilitating discussion) and this topic continues to be near and dear to my heart... and my lesson plans."
One of my all-time favorite readings from 388V was the one that discusses all kinds of different discussion group formats. I'm blanking on the title and author. I did my big semester project on this topic (facilitating discussion) and this topic continues to be near and dear to my heart... and my lesson plans."