Smyth Reflection Two

Describe
On Monday of my final week of full control I had been battling a cold over the weekend and was
feeling under the weather. My energy levels were running at 60%, I could sense that as soon as
my class sat down on the mat for roll call they too were feeling tired and a bit distracted. I found
myself repeating instructions frequently, with responses to instructions delayed and slow. During
my writing lesson I had planned out exactly what I wanted to do, during this time the majority of
the class were wriggly and restless. It was at this point where I should have adjusted the plan
and sent them off to work in smaller groups to get them up and moving around. My writing
lesson started off really well, but engagement levels dropped as I kept them on the mat for too
long. Some students were whispering to each other or fiddling with things, I felt like my lesson
had taken a turn and was not as successful as I had hoped.

Inform
After this lesson, I discussed how I was feeling about my lesson. She suggested to keep them
on the mat for now longer than 15 minutes, otherwise they can become fidgety and restless. My
AT also discussed ways I could have changed up the lesson on the spot to keep engagement
levels high. Some of these included breaking them off into small groups and getting them to
plan ideas together and then reporting back. I found this lesson reflection time with my AT
helpful as she was able to give me tips and tricks on how I could use this lesson next time and
improve it.

Conform
I was feeling like I had failed the class because my lesson did not go to plan. This feeling of
failure comes from my desire to be perfect. I have always been a perfectionist, so going with the
flow and accepting the things might not always turn out the way I want has been my biggest
challenge. Teaching has been my biggest learning curve for this area, things are constantly
changing, evolving, not working or working well. It may not turn out exactly how I wanted it in my
head but it’s reminding myself that it is ok, it is how you manage yourself and change the
situation to make it work again for the students the counts.

Reform
After reflecting on this lesson, I made some adjustments to the plan for the following day. I
made sure that there was enough scaffolding time, discussion time and group work time. Even
in this lesson I was changing pieces as I went but I was remaining calm, reading the classroom
and going with the flow to give my class the best learning experience possible. This resulted in a
positive writing lesson with students expressing excitement about the writing project we have
started.