ED 2500 Reflection Seven- March 10th and 12th

At the start of this week I was incredibly excited. Last Thursday, my TA had told me that
she would like me to try and run the morning meeting in her class. I knew how important these
things are in terms of getting the day going so I knew it was a pretty big deal to even be given the
chance. I also had the group presentation to look forward to with Toni and Rachel. I was actually
really excited about the presentation because I thought we had put together this wicked little
lesson with an organization that I thought would certainly have allowed us to keep everyone
focused and interested. However, both the morning meeting and the presentation proved to be
learning experiences. I would be lying to myself if I said that either of them went swimmingly,
but looking back I am totally ok with that because they have both provided me with ideas as to
how I can improve. How can I go from being the Nicolas Cage of the classroom (he is
moderately good, yet also definitely needs to improve) to the Kevin Spacey of the classroom (he
delivers a flawless performance, particularly in House of Cards)? The truth is I dont think
anybody can ever become flawless in anything, particularly in fields like teaching, because
things are constantly changing. This reflection is going to breakdown some of the smaller
components that I can at least improve on for the next time I get up in front of a class.
The morning meeting was fun for me. This meeting has become a very important
component to my practicum class day. It serves as an outlet for some- frequently the kids will
ask something along the lines of can we draw our feelings now? But more importantly it serves
as a warm up, getting the brainy juices flowing. My TA once told me that it is a good way of
easing into the day. It also allows my TA to see whether the kids are with it or whether they are
going to have an off day. So, to some this meeting may seem insignificant or pointless but it is
almost as important in the morning as a cup of coffee. A sort of breakfast for the brain (too far?
Maybe). With all this in mind, it was a big deal for me to get to be the host of the meeting. It was
my first time at the helm, even though it was only for 10 minutes, and I really wanted to see
what I could do.
The meeting itself had some strong parts and some weak parts. I got a bit flustered at the
beginning because rather than just writing date in the top right-hand square, I actually wrote
the date, immediately sparking a revolt in the classroom. I didnt go into the meeting with plans
to ruin everyones day so it was a moment from which I needed to recover. Thankfully my TA
stepped in and told the kids that different people will do things differently, stifling the rebellion.
Who ever thought that a group of grade three children could cause me to become so flustered?
Luckily I managed to move past this. Its strange though because I never would have thought that
making such a small mistake could upset people, but I am glad that my TA explained to them that
its ok to do things differently. Lesson 1-dont let the little things bother you. The part I was
pretty excited for was a component that I thought would be fun to add. I had spent about twenty
minutes or half an hour the night before looking up Canadian history facts because I really

wanted to add a this day in Canadian history component. I eventually settled on the first
telephone call, which was made on March 10th, 1876. I thought it was cool, and I think some of
the kids did too. I know that Alexander GB had a very ambiguous nationality, but I thought that
because much of his research and experiments were done in Canada that this fit in perfect to the
plan. I asked the kids to draw a phone- even going so far as to allow them to draw iPhones and
things like that, and some of them got really creative. In my head I was happy, because I love
history and I thought that I had successfully taught them a cool little history tidbit. But then
Im a pretty jokey person. I love to laugh and I think when I get my real classroom that will
reflect in whatever environment I manage to establish. I thought that it would be funny to say so
tell all your American friends that a Canadian invented the telephone, causing one kid to reply
uhh thats just bragging. WHAT?!?! Did I just blow this whole thing? I actually did not know
how to respond so I think I mumbled something about pride. I also think that maybe making a
joke like that would have been better received by an older group of students, and by making this
joke I came off the tracks a little more. Lesson 2- know your audience. I think the goal in any
classroom is to not distract your students and I think to some extent I did distract them by
making this joke. Lastly, it was my TAs birthday on Monday so I thought that being Tuesday, I
would make one of the squares ___s belated birthday just to be fun. Immediately the
classroom got loud HAPPY BIRTHDAY! and CAN WE SING?!!! Once again I had kind of
derailed the meeting. Lesson 3- think ahead. I guess I should have known what would have
happened when I mentioned this. It is a grade 3 classroom, after all, and at this point in their lives
everything in the world is exciting. If I had have thought about what would happen when I
mentioned the belated birthday beforehand, I probably would have decided not to. And I think
this goes for anything else as well. It is important to kind of anticipate how the students may
react to certain things.
After the meeting, though short, I was feeling a little bit like what just happened? I had
gone in thinking that it would go smoothly. There were some strong parts as well, so maybe I am
beating myself up. There are nine squares, after all, and I only had problems with three.
Afterward I mentioned to my TA that I thought I did bad. She responded by giving me some
awesome advice. She said first of all to never say you did bad. Second, I mentioned the date
thing and she said that it is important to be yourself. She said dont try and be the teacher, be
yourself. To me this was the right thing to say because a) at that time I was feeling a little
critical of myself and that brought me up again and b) in the long run, being myself in the
classroom is the only thing I can do. If I go through my PSs trying to be an exact clone of the
teacher, I will never truly figure out who I am as a teacher. The support that my TA gives me is
so valuable. One of the students also came up to me and told me that it was the best morning
meeting ever and gave me a hug, which also was nice.
That afternoon, I had the group presentation in the seminar portion of the class. My group
and I had rehearsed the thing five or six times and honestly I had thought that this would make
the presentation perfect. We had initially planned to do a pre-assessment with a class discussion

about why people chose to sit where they sat. ie- in favor, opposed, or unsure about standardized
testing. The general idea was that throughout the presentation the people could move if their
opinion changed about the issue. The classroom itself was the spectrum, and we had thought that
this would allow us to see if people were grasping what we were talking about. The first problem
arose when we could not get the computers to work. Literally everything we had prepared aside
from the class discussion and the handouts was on the computer. At that moment I hated
computers. It probably took a good five minutes to even get our Prezi open, and an additional
four minutes to figure out how to get the links, that we had included in our Prezi, to work. In
rehearsal these things worked great. In the presentation, our computer overlords have other plans.
While all this was happening, Rachel, our resident computer expert, was helping Toni figure out
the problem. I kind of just stood there watching, waiting. It was awkward and I will be the first to
admit it. Lesson 4- have a backup plan. If we had have only had a backup plan, this
presentation would have gone so much smoother, and the same goes for everything else that I
might teach in the future. I also think that before the presentation our group could have discussed
some things we could brush over in the event where time is running low. Doing this would have
left more time for discussion at the end. Lesson 5- use your initiative. While they were fixing
the computer, why didnt I start the conversation with the class that we had planned before?
Being a group, that would have been an option for us. If I were a real teacher in my classroom I
could have said something like start working on X or start talking about X, something that
would keep the class occupied. And I know that I should have done something to tackle just how
awkward the situation was. The technology issue caused us to skip over our first class discussion
so we almost just ran right into the presentation. We did have some cool little things, like the
plickers and the polleverywhere, but it did seem as though the presentation part just kind of
started. Our plan to have this fluid audience where people would move around also failed as
well. I think one person moved- at the end. This idea ties into lesson number 3. If we had of
thought ahead, Im sure we could have figured out that people wouldnt move. People are raised
to sit still and listen, not get up halfway through and switch seats. I think we imagined that this
movement would have been a good way to keep people focused. Ultimately we only had about
three minutes to have a class discussion at the end. Lesson 6- time management. I think if we
had have better timed ourselves we could have had more time to get this part done. It is
important that people can say what they want to say rather than just be talked at, and I think it
was a letdown for everyone. I LOVE debating things and I was particularly looking forward to a
bit of back and forth with the class at the end of the presentation, but it was not to be. We did lots
of things right. Many of our reflections that we received from the class told us that we were very
knowledgeable and well spoken. People appreciated the design of our Prezi, and some of them
like the idea of being able to move around.
Lesson 7- never stop building. Perhaps the most important thing the two presentations
taught me this week is that there is always room to grow, and it is essential to turn our mistakes
into learning opportunities. I dont think many people want to settle for second best, and I think
that often we go into things envisioning these flawless outcomes. But I also think that sometimes

the not-so-perfect moments are good because they encourage growth. If people didnt take those
second best moments and turn them into learning experiences, there will be no improvement for
the next time. It would be impossible. I plan to take these learning experiences and use them in
my microteach (hopefully about Stalin) and any future morning meeting I may host. If I look at
the big picture I see that all of these mistakes are small. It is impossible to become perfect,
particularly when the education environment is constantly changing, but all I can do is take
mistakes or weaknesses and manipulate them into being something that I can use to improve
myself.