Life Knowledge Reflection

What happened? For this lesson I decided to teach my students the "My Community" lesson. Being new to the area, I thought it would be helpful for my students and myself for me to learn more about the community and the role it plays in my students' lives. I taught 1st period which ran from 7:50 to 8:50. As what Mrs. Anderson calls her favorite class, things went pretty smoothly for me. All the students (9) participated in the lesson and seemed to enjoy the content delivered. My only struggle was that I gave my lesson on the half day before Thanksgiving break so there was some distraction in the classroom, i.e unexpected visitors and restlessness. 

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

This relates to what I know about teaching and learning in that even the "better" performing students might struggle to stay focused in the classroom. Given the circumstances, I can't be upset by this, these students are human too. Overall, I was really happy with how my students did and how the lesson itself went.

What did I learn from the experience?

I think the biggest thing I learned from this experience is that I need to stop stressing out about lessons so much before I give them. Looking back in retrospect, this was a pretty low stakes lesson. However, my whole drive into school I was jittery and shaking thinking about it. It was my first lesson at Manheim so that was a contributing factor. Ultimately, I think my nerves lie in a lack of trust in myself.

How can I apply this as an Agriscience teacher?

I think the biggest way I can apply what I learned from this lesson to my student teaching is by trusting myself more. One of my biggest struggles teaching is that I don't trust or validate my own capabilities. Looking forward, I want to continue to push myself to have more faith in my competency as an educator