Interest Approach Reflection 

What happened?

• Writing my lesson plan for this lesson I felt really intimidated given the rockstar teachers my peers are becoming. I wanted to come up with/find and interest approach that would be fun and exciting both because I knew my peers would have some interesting ideas to bring to the table and because I want to formulate engaging lessons for my students. After looking through my lesson plans and combing through internet interest approach ideas I came up with....absolutely nothing. Frustrated, I eventually found a video through PBS learning that I thought would be an "okay" thing to use. Using it in lab seemed to go pretty well and everyone appeared to be invested in watching it. My biggest take away was that it would be helpful to "set up" the video a bit better by asking my students thought provoking questions that would encourage them to pay close attention to the video. 

Speaking of rockstars, here's my favorite people!

How does it relate to what I know about teaching and learning?

• This relates to what I know about learning in a few different ways. For starters, something Carson said that really resonated with me is that my lessons don't need to be flashy to be effective. Especially as a new teacher/planner, it can be really easy to want to go the "extra mile" every lesson but ultimately overdoing it in my lessons. I felt really insecure about my interest approach but after doing it, I feel a bit better because it was relatively easy and realistic for me to do in a real classroom.  

What did I learn?

• I think the biggest thing this lab taught me is that I'm not my peers and they're not me. As we all grow and come into our own as educators, its tempting to match those who meet success. What this lab showed me was that I don't have to try to be something I'm not to engage my students. Additionally, students want someone authentic, not an actress. 

How can I apply this as a teacher?

• Considering how I might apply this as a teacher, I think the biggest thing is that I need to remain authentic with my students and my teaching. Ultimately, this is my journey as an educator and focusing on what works best for me not only benefits me but also my future students.