Video Critique 2

Video Critque

What are my strengths?

While I am reading to the class, I speak loudly and clearly so everyone can hear. I do the same when I am giving directions to students. A lot of the time I walk around the classroom to check on how students are doing while they are having group discussions or doing individual work. I am there to answer questions when they are asked. Students are quiet and respectful while I am talking, and if they aren't I wait for them to stop talking and don't just talk over them. While I am reading, students are following along in the book even when I am not watching them.

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

For the first half of class, I am sitting down on a stool at the front of the classroom. This is fine while I am reading to the class, but I give them a few instructions without standing first, and I think it is easier to ignore the instructions of a teacher who is sitting than one who is standing. I start standing while giving instructions during the second half of class. Students were chatting while they were getting out their books; this causes the transition to move slowly and wastes instructional time. While I am reading to the class, I am often fidgeting with my feet or putting my hair behind my ears. Although most students are looking at their books and not at me, this could be distracting to them.

How will I improve my teaching effectiveness?

When everyone goes around the room and says a word about how they are feeling, I noticed that it is almost impossible to hear them at the back of the classroom. If I did this lesson or one like it again, I would have everyone stand in a circle facing each other to say those words, that way it would be easier to hear everyone speak.I should make sure that I am always standing while giving instructions, so that students know to pay attention. I will try to stop fidgeting while I am at the front of the classroom. I hope to find a way to improve transition time so it doesn't waste so much time in between activities.

Lesson Plan:

To Kill A Mockingbird Ch 21 and Iceberg Activity

Learning Targets:

• Students can understand that multiple factors influence decisions.
• Students can recall important historical information that influences the plot of TKAM.
• Students can understand the reason that Tom Robinson was convicted.

10 minutes Journal: Oftentimes, there are many different factors leading up to one decision. Write about a time you made a particular choice that was greatly influenced by multiple factors. What were they? Would an outsider be able to tell all the reasons you made the choice you did? What factors could have led you to make a different choice? Example: When I graduated from high school, I chose to go to college in Missoula. This was influenced by multiple factors: the school I really wanted to go to I couldn’t afford without student loans, I got a scholarship if I stayed in Montana, I didn’t want to go to Bozeman because it was too close to my parents, UM has a good English program, one of my best friends was already in Missoula, part of me was afraid to move too far away from my family, etc.

Read: chapter 21 to class. (30 minutes)

Journal: After reading, students should take about 5 minutes to reflect in journals about their thoughts and feelings about the outcome of the trial. Then, circle 2-3 words in their reflection that capture their feelings about the outcome of the trial.Share: Go around the classroom and each student will share one word that sums up their feelings about the outcome of the trial.
Iceberg Activity:

Draw iceberg on board. In the tip, write the following questions: What happened? What choices were made in this situation? By whom? Who was affected? When did it happen? Where did it happen?

Explain that an iceberg is bigger below the surface of the water. Say that the facts about the trial outcome that they write in this section are things that the public can see.

Handout iceberg diagram and ask students to list everything they know about the facts of the trial outcome in the "tip" area of the iceberg. They should answer the questions written on the board. (5 minutes).

At tables, students should share what they have written in the tip of the iceberg.

Now explain that what is below the surface of the water can be much more influential that what is on the tip. These are things that the public cannot "see" that influenced the outcome of the trial.

Write the following questions below the surface of the water: "What factors influenced the particular choices made by the individuals and groups involved in this event?"

Ask students to think about what caused the outcome. Factors might include events from the past (i.e. the great depression, jim crow laws, segregation) or aspects of human behavior (fear, obedience to authority, conformity, opportunism). Students should work on these alone for 5 minutes, then work together with their tables for an additional 5 minutes.

Ask for some answers to write on the board.

Assessment: Exit Ticket: How does the information in the iceberg help you better understand why Tom Robinson was convicted?