I got a good evaluation today
I'm extremely happy about that.
We do peer review at our school for formative evaluation, and administrative review for summative evaluation. I had my first peer review today. Unfortunately, my reviewer could only come during second period, which is one of my crazier classes, due to a certain nutcase, motormouth, wiggle worm in that class. He always throw me off my game, so I kept losing papers, my train of thought, etc. I even started the video in the wrong place and had to start over at one point. Those things would have been the kiss of death for me last year.
My lesson today was on the Boston Tea Party. I had about fifteen minutes of a documentary I wanted them to watch about the event and how it fit into the larger narrative of the war. First, they had a journaling activity, where they wrote about whether or not they would participate in the Tea Party. They do this while I check homework and passed out handouts. Then we discussed it briefly.
After that, we took out our homework for tonight, a KWL chart about the Tea Party. We did the first two columns together. We spent a week watching "Johnny Tremaine" at the beginning of the unit, so they would have a schema of the causes of the war before we started. They are able to give good details because of this. The last column, "What I Learned" is for them to do on their own tonight. My homework is ridiculously easy because all I really want them to do is review their notes every night.
We then previewed the handout for the video. Eight questions taken directly from the video. Some of the kids know the answers already from previous lssons. This video recaps a lot of things we did already this week. I try to present the same information in multiple formats, so the different learning styles are accommodated.
Now that they are primed, I start the movie. This is my big screw up. I start the DVD on the wrong chapter. We watched for about seven minutes before I realized my mistake and skip ahead to the correct section. I tell them I'll give them the answers if we don't finish the movie. While we're watching, I stand in the back and yell out things like "Remember when Johnny Tremaine did that?", "Oh, that's the same picture we looked at in class yesterday!" to help them connect to their prior knowledge.
After we reach the end of the section, we go over our handouts and make sure everyone got the right answers and understood everything. We've got five minutes left before the bell, so they get started on their homework while I sign planners.
Most people wouldn't do a video lesson for an evaluation. But I think I do a pretty good job of making it interactive and connecting it to the curriculum. I don't just pop it in and go grade papers in my office. My feedback was excellent. He even commented positively on my handling of Frisky Freddy, the student I mentioned before.
I've got to do one more peer review before I get to have an administrator observe me. But I think it'll go well.
I haven't actually had a good review since student teaching, because my last school was so crazy. I'm very happy today.
We do peer review at our school for formative evaluation, and administrative review for summative evaluation. I had my first peer review today. Unfortunately, my reviewer could only come during second period, which is one of my crazier classes, due to a certain nutcase, motormouth, wiggle worm in that class. He always throw me off my game, so I kept losing papers, my train of thought, etc. I even started the video in the wrong place and had to start over at one point. Those things would have been the kiss of death for me last year.
My lesson today was on the Boston Tea Party. I had about fifteen minutes of a documentary I wanted them to watch about the event and how it fit into the larger narrative of the war. First, they had a journaling activity, where they wrote about whether or not they would participate in the Tea Party. They do this while I check homework and passed out handouts. Then we discussed it briefly.
After that, we took out our homework for tonight, a KWL chart about the Tea Party. We did the first two columns together. We spent a week watching "Johnny Tremaine" at the beginning of the unit, so they would have a schema of the causes of the war before we started. They are able to give good details because of this. The last column, "What I Learned" is for them to do on their own tonight. My homework is ridiculously easy because all I really want them to do is review their notes every night.
We then previewed the handout for the video. Eight questions taken directly from the video. Some of the kids know the answers already from previous lssons. This video recaps a lot of things we did already this week. I try to present the same information in multiple formats, so the different learning styles are accommodated.
Now that they are primed, I start the movie. This is my big screw up. I start the DVD on the wrong chapter. We watched for about seven minutes before I realized my mistake and skip ahead to the correct section. I tell them I'll give them the answers if we don't finish the movie. While we're watching, I stand in the back and yell out things like "Remember when Johnny Tremaine did that?", "Oh, that's the same picture we looked at in class yesterday!" to help them connect to their prior knowledge.
After we reach the end of the section, we go over our handouts and make sure everyone got the right answers and understood everything. We've got five minutes left before the bell, so they get started on their homework while I sign planners.
Most people wouldn't do a video lesson for an evaluation. But I think I do a pretty good job of making it interactive and connecting it to the curriculum. I don't just pop it in and go grade papers in my office. My feedback was excellent. He even commented positively on my handling of Frisky Freddy, the student I mentioned before.
I've got to do one more peer review before I get to have an administrator observe me. But I think it'll go well.
I haven't actually had a good review since student teaching, because my last school was so crazy. I'm very happy today.