Tyler Hall Lab B

Posture!

Lab B was another excited and fun experience for me. This was our first time actually giving instruction to students. This required giving of a lot of feedback which I thought I could have done better at. Most of the time when I gave feedback it wasn't very specific which included "Good Job (so and so)". I realize that when in the moment it is harder to think of saying "Good job keeping good posture but try to work on the slow steps a little more".  I need to give more congruent feedback such as "Greg your doing a great job keeping your back straight but your first step needs to be slower". Also during the lesson, I kept messing up the students names. I know everyone's name in the class and I messing them up pretty easily, most likely due to the fact that I was a little nervous.

Time Analysis:
The time analysis sheet seems to be a very helpful tool in the future. I never dealt with one of these before. I think it will help greatly in focusing on getting 50% of physical activity in a lesson. One thing I noticed on my time analysis was that 68% of my lesson came through instruction. The targeted percentage was to be less than 30%. I believe I could have improved on that by going longer on my practice time. I planned on my practices to be longer but I cut the time because I thought I was out of time. I was unprepared in the fact that I didn't have a watch. Another thing I noticed was that my activity time was only 23% which isn't even half of what is supposed to be of 50%.

C9: One positive or strength that came out of my C9 was maximum participation. This is one of the biggest things that I try to focus on when planning a lesson. Every practice or activity that I did not one person was standing around or waiting for someone to finish. Another strength that comes up on my C9 was that all of the students were active which is another thing that I harp on when planning a lesson. This is important because if students are standing around they won't focus on the lesson or when the teacher is giving direction. One weakness on my C9 was intelligible. I would have to agree with the TA on this one because I messed up my cue board. It was supposed to be 2 slow and 2 fast when i had 2 fast and 2 slow. It may also have showed in my lesson also because I wasn't fully comfortable with teaching the foxtrot dance. I researched the topic quite a bit but I still wasn't fully comfortable most likely due to the fact that I haven't danced much in the past.
Observer:
One thing my peer observer said that I fully agree with is that they told me that I could have done the practice before the demo. This is very true. It is because when I taught I did my instant activity and went straight into my demo. The first practice before the demo is big because it helps the teacher realize what they can work on. Also, it gets them into the lesson by engaging in an activity before the teacher talks and bores the student already.  Another thing my peer wrote down was that he liked my prop. I also thought that my prop was clever and related very well to the lesson.
Transcript and Video:
I also noticed when I watched my video and did the transcript lab, was that I said "so" a lot. There were a couple "Uh" but mostly I repeated "so". There is a lot of improvement in the little words that are said. I also said "guys" many times too. I didn't even realize that I was saying it either. I need to change these into "everyone" or something along the lines of that. One thing I noticed along with that was that I rushed the activity parts of the lesson. I would start the activity and it wouldn't last that long when it could have lasted quite a bit longer. If I had a watch that day, I would have planned the time a lot better. Another thing I noticed in my transcript was that I didn't converse as much as I can/need to with the students. I need more checks for understandings and even more challenges to the class such as a intra-task variation. These can be huge in dealing with students not being bored with the lesson.

Some personal goals that I would like to work on for next time will include, increasing my voice, eliminating the "so", slowing down when I speak, and smoother transitions. I thought my transitions were alright but could have gotten better. One time I had them moving from one end to another and then brought them in to the other side which slowed things down.Lab B has been great so far and I am looking forward to Lab C already. Everyone has done a terrific job thus far and I'm excited to observe the last group.