Reflection of other classmates' lessons

Teaching the lessons has been the best part of the course so far because it really hits the target of education. The behaviors cards, although we disliked them, they were effective in giving us the opportunity to feel and observe how to handle discipline. Each lesson taught me something. For example, Stacey and Rebecca’s lesson demonstrated how having work for students, meaning keeping them busy, at all times allows for less distractions and conflicts. The students did not have free time to misbehave. They had work for us to do after each work we completed. Lauren’s lesson taught me how it is possible to be a nice but firm and confident teacher while having the students be respectful and productive. Her homework pass idea was also an idea I found motivating for students that I would consider using in my future classroom.
Overall, the books were followed with creative and effective lesson plans. I remember having had my teachers read much of these books when I was in the early grades, but I do not remember such creative lessons as these, especially in terms of technology usage. Although I did not use any technology in my lesson, I did enjoy and would have liked to have used the smart board as others did in their lesson. In the last lesson, for example, Yermen and Renee had the students write their sentence about the animals on the smart board. Even I, as an adult, felt motivated to do the work, and even more so with the pie chart reward system they used. It was certainly enthusiastic for us to do our work.
There was a lesson, during which I was able to understand how crucial it is to keep a stern attitude with students. I noticed how one of the teachers was losing her confidence due to the students’ misbehavior. The students immediately noticed something was wrong and even thought she was about to cry, but she was just not handling the entire situation very well. On the contrary, her partner was able to stay confident. That is important because although one may feel vulnerable, one has to show and try to keep a confident and strong attitude so the students will take you seriously. For the most part, the lessons used coloring as an activity, in my case, my partner Jessenya and I used a more hands-on technique. Seeing the students make the clouds with cotton balls was as fun as having done them myself. Nearly all, with some very few exceptions, of the students made the clouds and appeared to have enjoyed to do so. Therefore, I also learned something from my own lesson, and that is that hands on is important, can be very productive, and is still educational all at the same time.