Michael Martinez

10/23/14
EDUC 693
Second Teaching Reflection
For todays lesson I taught Mr. Stevens first period Business Economics class. I was observed by
him, but not by either of my Masters program professors. Honestly, Im glad it was just him, otherwise I
wouldve embarrassed. The first half of lesson went great and the students were so supportive as usual,
but I stumbled through the presentation at the end of class. It was a major shot to my confidence. The
main problem I had was just remembering all the content. I passed my PLACE exam back in August, but I
have so much to review. I was forgetting simple business concepts and I felt like I was letting the
students down. Thankfully, Andy was there to help bail me out.
I think one of the reasons I did so poorly with the content was because I used one of Andys
PowerPoint presentations instead of creating my own. We discussed this after class. From now on Ill
use his PowerPoints as a reference, but Ill create my own. There were some slides that I got lost on
because I didnt know what they were referring to. Had I created the presentation myself I would have
known all the different stories the slides were alluding to.
I received positive feedback about my presentation skills, but one point that has been addressed
on both of my formal observations is the fact that my voice tends to trail when I get in front of the class.
I need to speak louder. Andy is such a great speaker and is never talked over. His voice is booming, but
not in a bad way. I need to work on using my voice like he does. I know that will come with time, but the
faster I remedy it the better.
If there is one thing that was very positive about the lesson it was the student participation. The
activity we had got every student engaged and provided a means of assessment. Students worked in
groups to simulate a working economy. In doing so they demonstrated how the forces of supply and
demand affect buyers and sellers and form the equilibrium price. They used the knowledge gained
during previous classes to complete the activity. Following the activity we had a discussion to check for
understanding and address questions students had. Students then completed a worksheet in which they
determined how certain scenarios would affect supply and demand. They would identify shifts in supply
and demand and how that affected the graphs on the worksheet. After the worksheet, I presented for
about twenty minutes as addressed above. The presentation presented new material that would also be
discussed in the next class meeting.
Overall I felt very good about the first part of class. The only part I was disappointed with was
the ending presentation. Andy gave me great feedback and was very supportive. Im very lucky to have
him as my cooperating teacher. We havent discussed when my next teaching will be, but Im excited for
it.