JOURNAL 4 - Lesson Planning with Teacher Fraul

LESSON PLANNING WITH TEACHER FRAUL 7 September 2018 - Journal Entry #4 So far, whenever Teacher Fraul and I discuss her feedback on my lesson plans, she’d start with the good points first followed by the things I can improve on. For my first LP, about on Economic Reasoning, I felt a bit nervous and overwhelmed when I saw the markings and comments she wrote on my LP. I thought, “Hala marami bang mali?” But when we talked about it, she did commend parts of it, particularly the group activity which had them make an informal business proposal and defense. I also appreciate her being attentive to details, even correcting my typos. It made me realize that apart from her being a self-proclaimed former perfectionist, I guess it also means that she really is taking the time to help me be a better teacher for our students. She also made sure important parts of the lesson were emphasized. For example, in the closure part, she wrote that I had to go over it again with the class so they’ll be able to remember it.

Overall, Teacher Fraul was very constructive and helpful. As for competencies I learned from my Eduk courses, I’m not quite sure I can put a name on them. But important points that really guided me were: (1) making sure there’s a right mix between teacher talk and activities, be it individual or group, and (2) connecting the concepts to the students’ personal experiences as well as society so they can appreciate these concepts more and actually see their relevance – something that’s always been a goal of mine as well as a social studies major. Looking back though, I realized how classroom management isn’t exactly something you can explicitly include in the lesson plan. An example of this would be the time it takes to have the class settle down after doing the activity. These kinds of skills are really more experientally learned, I guess, as opposed to being theoretically just talked about in class. In other words, you know what to do because you’ve learned about it in class, but when you’d only really figure out how to do it once you’re actually in that situation.

One hand, of course part of it seems stressful to some extent: the mental energy it takes to come up with creative activities that are fun but also meaningful for the students, while thinking of how you’re gonna manage class time to make all of it fit – including assessment.

But on the other hand, it also makes you realize the beauty of teaching as a truly lifelong learning experience where every day, albeit challenging, is also always full of learning experiences.