Lesson Evaluation: Video 1

Lesson Evaluation: Video #1

On September 13^th, 2016 I completed my first official lesson on video. The subject matter surrounding this lesson was Using Blind and Modified Contour Lines, and for this lesson I did provided teacher samples of the assignment but I also conducted two separate demonstrations for the students to help them in the understanding of both the Blind Contour Assignment and the Modified Contour Assignment, and the techniques associated with each. At the end of this evaluation, I will be providing the directions of the assignment to help ensure a better understanding of what the expectations were of the students during their time of independent practice.

1.)   What are my strengths?

·      As I lookback on my lesson introduction and demonstration, I have found myself quite pleased with the overall outcome of the video its self. Truthfully, I forgot I was even being recorded during this entire process, and I think that actually benefited me greatly in the sense of not feeling like I was being critiqued or grade on the lesson by anyone. When it came to giving the actual lesson and the introduction, I felt that my students were very captivated throughout the intro and the demonstration, which can be a very had thing to accomplish when it comes to having your students watch you give demonstration for twenty minutes instead of them actually just diving into the assignment. With this, I did feel that having them watch be throughout the demonstration really solidified what the assignment expectations for them were and understand better how to achieve those expectations through the techniques I was demonstrating to them. Throughout the entire lesson, I personally felt very confident in myself and how I executed the lesson and I felt that that was something that could also be seen within the video itself as well. It also made me feel incredibly confident when at the end of my lesson, my cooperating teacher took the time to be very complimentary about how well the lesson went overall in her eyes as well. She also noted my confidence as well, which I feel is a great strength that not nly did I feel confident in myself but that my cooperating teacher was able to note that same confidence in me as well. Another strength I feel that I had was that I had teacher samples ready for my students to view. They were not strictly relying on the sample of my demonstration but they could also see the final outcome of the project with my samples as well. My hope was that them seeing the finished pieces within the teacher samples would allow them to feel confident in their own works they would be completing with this assignment as well.

2.)  In what areas do I need to improve my instructional delivery?

·      I feel that the areas I need to improve my instructional delivery is to attempt to refrain from using the phrase “um… or ahh…” when delivering the introduction and the instructions throughout the demonstration. This wasn’t something that I did too much or overly often but when I went back and viewed the video, I was able to note a few different instances where it occurred. I know that using such phrases are fairly common in today’s society, but they are something the I feel really should be refrained from being used within the classroom as an educator because they may be perceived by the students as the educator possibly not knowing what they were talking about or trying to find filler words throughout their instruction or demonstration. In the instances that I found myself using these phrases, they were at moments when I was trying to find or decide on the best words or phrases to help in my explanation of the lesson and the demonstration. This is a weakness that I believe can be mended throughout my student teaching experience, and I’m sure will be a weakness that I will note in future lessons as well, but it is also a weakness that has made me develop the goal of making sure that I a providing clear and concise instructions and expectations to my students, and I believe will help me achieve that goal by addressing the weakness now. Another weakness that I personally felt within myself during this lesson was making sure that I covered all the key points of the lesson and even the smaller side notes of the lesson as well. Although when I went back and viewed the video, I found that I did cover all the needed points, during the actually lesson, I did find myself second guessing whether or not I had remembered to cover one particular aspect of the lesson or if I had already mentioned a key point and was mistakenly mentioning it twice.  

3.)  How will I improve my teaching effectiveness?

·      To help myself refrain from continually using filler words like um or ahh, I want to make sure that I am fully prepared in my lesson. Now, with that being said, I don’t meant to say that I wasn’t prepared in this lesson, what I mean is to outline how exactly I plan on phrasing the directions or the introduction of the lesson by organizing my thoughts. I want to help ensure that however I am meaning to teach or whatever the lesson may be, that I am able to remain on track with organized thoughts and able to refer back to how I would like to phrase something through my organization. Now, obviously this is something that can be conducted in a variety of ways from note cards, to a slide show with electronic notes or even printed off notes, it also could be done by means of having a more detailed lesson plan or rubric for myself to help aide in the organization as well. Although there are a variety of ways that I utilize to help in improving my effectiveness of my instructional delivery, I think it would be best to try a few different ways of organization, to help ensure that I am maintaining comfortable and confident in my instructional presentation. I believe that another way of dealing with the weakness of ensuring I am covering all the material and key points of the lesson along with being mindful of not accidently repeating myself throughout the lesson could be utilizing different organizational methods like I stated previously. One thing that I have learned not only through the beginning weeks of my student teaching experience but also my field experiences that have taken place during my actual school time at the university is that organization is your best friend as not only a student but especially as a teacher. Being mindful of my organization throughout my delivery of the lesson and demonstration will help both myself as an educator and my students in their understanding of the lesson as well.

Lesson Assignment Directions:

Pure Contour Line Drawing:

1)    Find a place where you can be alone and uninterrupted for at least 20 minutes (set a timer if you think you won’t make it to 20 minutes)

2)   Place your sketchbook down in a position that feels comfortable

3)   You are going to draw your hand using pure contour lines. Arrange yourself so that your pencil is ready to draw on the paper

4)   Now turn all the way around to the opposite direction, gazing at the hand you will draw. Rest your hand or arm on something so that it doesn’t get tired.

5)    Find a pose for your hand that is somewhat complex. Not a flat hand….

6)   Very slowly move your eyes along the edge of your hand. As your eyes move also move your pecil point at the same slow pace, recording every variation of line, edge, wrinkle, etc. Try not to pick up your pencil, and DO NOT LOOK until you are finished with the drawing (at least 20 minutes later…) They will seldom resemble a hand when they are finished, but you are recording the importance of all contour lines

Modified Contour Line (Part 2)

1)    Arrange at least 20 minutes of uninterrupted time

2)   Sit comfortably, this time in the usual position. You are going to draw your own hand again. Arrange your hand in a complex position

3)   Begin drawing your hand by looking for all the important lines, where your hand bends, the wrinkles, two edges meet etc. (the ones you found during the pure contour part.) LOOK AT YOU HAND 90% OF THE TIME!!! Only glance at your paper briefly, once in a while. Try not to label the parts of your hand in your mind, just think of everything as types of lines